Asking Why the Bell Tolls
Allison | June 22, 2011Of all the burning issues to flame through Decatur, the school bell schedule is the one I personally could not care less about. I know that this betrays my woefully Allisoncentric view of the world. But perhaps I am slightly redeemed by the fact that I have tried — really tried — to listen to a few of the fellow dwellers in my corner of the city wax indignant on all sides of the matter, because I know the issue is very important to them.
It just isn’t to me. I really have tried to listen, but I confess most of what I’ve heard has slid off of me like slices of bologna thrown at a plate glass window.
One slice did stick, however. It’s a refrain that comes around just about every time we have a burning issue, as regular as a chorus in a folk song. It goes a little something like this:
“We’ve been here [random number] years, and things just aren’t the way they used to be. These people who have not lived here as long as we have don’t really belong here. They aren’t ‘Decatur.’ They don’t understand how we do things here.”
I think that “Old Decatur/New Decatur” is a false, oversimplifying dichotomy. It doesn’t account for many other kinds of differences and divisions in our midst that are far more real.
For instance. My grandparents lived here for 54 years. My father grew up here. Agnes Scott kicked my butt for four years, and for more than seventeen I have lived in the little house my dad was raised in. I love this town. I feel in my bones like I am “Decatur.” But I didn’t grow up here, and I haven’t lived here for even half as long as my grandparents did, or even half of my own life. So am I “Old Decatur” or “New Decatur”? My dad lived here until he was in his late twenties, but he hasn’t lived here for most of his life. Is he “Old Decatur”? Is he even “Decatur” at all? It hardly matters. The more relevant points are that my grandparents barely acknowledged many of their own generation of Decatur residents, that Decatur High School was segregated when my father was there, and that Oakhurst Village wasn’t even on our radar as a place to hang out when I was an Agnes Scott student.
I think when people reach for that refrain, they are seeking a kind of credibility—something we all want when we express our views. And indeed, there is something to be said for the perspective of an ever-deepening memory of a single place. Even since my early childhood, when I came to Decatur to visit my grandparents, I have witnessed profound social, cultural, and economic transformation here. Some of it has been wonderful, and it makes me proud. Some of it has been—and remains—complicated and painful.
All of those changes, though, are opportunities for us to hear and acknowledge the lessons—good and ill—of the past, to celebrate progress, to allow for lament when the transformations we witness make some of us sad. There is credibility in that perspective. There is a context for every decision made that affects our communal life, and it’s worth taking a moment to ask someone who was there when it was settled on, ’way back when, why the school bells ring when they do, who made that decision, and how.
Equally credible, however, is the wisdom and honest inquiry of fresh perspective. It’s worth stepping out of one’s own story long enough to ask someone just now coming into the scenario what their experience of the bell schedule might be. From their point of view, what about it works, and what doesn’t?
This isn’t to suggest that we can banish all messiness when we disagree about decisions, who should make them, and how they are made. It’s only to say that a mere attempt to listen and open ourselves to narratives other than our own might make for more productive and informed conversations about our shared past, present, and future.
My question is where on the timeline do we draw the line for Old Decatur/New Decatur? It keeps moving! During the first reconfiguration Old Decatur was saying that enrollment was declining and New Decatur was saying “No it isn’t! Look at our families!” But there’s a whole lot more old and new contrasts going on with CSD. For example “Diversity is important” vs. “Gentrification has happened; get over it”. “Clairemont is the popular K-3″ vs. “Now Oakhurst is the popular K-3″. And I’m sure folks could come up with a whole lot more examples. It’s kind of scarey how fast one can move from “New” to “Old” in the school system because our kids grow so fast and, in no time at all, one has forgotten what it’s like to be the parent of a preK or kindergartner. And a change in principal, a few teachers, a few portables, and class size can completely change the feel of a school in just a year or two.
Karass, with due respect, I recall the 2004 reconfiguration debate entirely differently with folks who would definitely represent “Old” and “New” Decatur on both sides of the debate. I think it’s worth speaking up here not to pick a fuss with you, but to go on the record because I think characterizing that particular fracas in that way–Old versus New Decatur perspectives–is a vast over-simplification that distorts and obscures the broad and multi-faceted scope of that entire decision.
I don’t disagree. The Old vs New distinction, like any oversimplification of an issue, is misleading because every issue has several levels to it and every person involved, even those supposedly on the same “side”, has a different read on the issue, different personal agenda, and often can see both sides of the issue.
Oh you have done it now, I am predicting this will be a top 5 in number of responses when we look back at the numbers…you captured my thoughts on this whole bell issue nicely, much ado about nothing….regarding old/new its called progress but I am comfortable in the fact that it is intelligent progress and us Decaturites keep our history and diversity top of mind..
Allison, this is one of the best posts I;ve ever read on this site. Thought-provoking without being judgmental, and beautifully written. Kudos, and I look forward to reading more from you!
Ditto what cubalibre said.
Thank you, Allison.
Y’all are sweet. Thanky.
Well, if you don’t have any kids who attend the high school, then this wouldn’t affect you at all. But if you DO attend DHS or have a student there, it does affect your life in a big way.
It also affects working parents of Fifth Avenue students because it makes it harder to get to work early. Many employees need to be at work by 8 AM. Even the bus may not be early enough.
And…cue–BOOM! Here we go…
Snooze.
This must be a northside Decatur discussion, because here on the southside, I’ve never heard the “Old Decatur vs. New Decatur” refrain. I guess because most of us are “New Decatur”.
I live on the north side. I’ve never heard the Old vs. New split either … apart from a few comments on this blog.
I don’t hear that refrain often face-to-face either. But I also don’t really have as much time to mingle with neighbors as I used to either. Plus anyone who knows who I “am” is probably a bit more guarded than usual around me. (Which I understand, but lament anyway).
As for the comment being made on this site, other long-time commenters can correct me if I’m wrong, but I tend to recall that the “I’ve been here blah years…” comment was more prevalent back in the earlier days of this blog. DM’s tendency as a social space to jump all over knee-jerk reactions tends to scare away the argument that Allison details above. That’s not a good or bad thing, I just think it’s a necessary sacrifice we made in order to promote the kind of dialogue we all keep coming back for.
To me, that’s the real value of Allison’s post. Beyond it a non-judgmental look at an age-old tension within towns and cities, it reminds us that conversation spreads far beyond this little blog and that those conversations can be quite different (in both good and bad ways) than the ones we usually experience here.
Yeah, and there’s the similar “why don’t you move to Cobb county if you like it that way” comment…
Actually, I think this post is a bit of a troll, along the lines of Andi’s frequent Free-for-all Friday post of “Why hasn’t anybody done anything about all the problems”? As for “New Decatur” just wait until the city considers annexation again (probably right after Selig gets it together at Suburban Plaza). I have enough problems getting my one child up and to school on time, I can’t imagine how parents with mutiple kids/schools deal. Also, I am willing to bet that a slice of bologna WOULD stick to a plate-glass window, particularly in this weather. Nice metaphor, though.
I didn’t know bologna, my mother’s favorite staple, still existed. And why do folks throw it at windows? Why wouldn’t it stick? I’m either too old or new in Decatur to understand.
Yup. Yawn.
Hence my “snooze” comment from above.
If you have been in Decatur 20+ years, you are ‘old’ Decatur. After all, that is the length of time one has to wait before one can get an ‘antique’ car tag for their car. You been here even longer? You’re just older Decatur.
A person’s claims- – false or not — to have historical roots, at their best, tap into the proper notion that someone without a sense of history of how we got to the spot we’re in is more likely to repeat old mistakes. Having a sense of history is a good thing; for me, it’s a critical part of what makes good leadership and good decisions. However, standing alone, it does not make a bad argument good. The fresh perspectives of folks without the experience of previous years in the place is always useful. However, it can be subject to manipulation — either way. Human nature being what it is, people who don’t know first hand the history of a place tend to adopt that version that best suits their current predilections or needs. (And there are multiple, often conflicting versions of our historical story.) Certainly, just because “that’s the way it was” has to be one of the weakest arguments around.
Not caring about the bells because you don’t have a kid in high school, not caring about Westchester closing because your school stayed open, not caring about pedestrian safety because you drive everywhere, not caring about the development of tall buildings on the property along Howard because you live over on Nelsons Ferry, are all natural and understandable outgrowths of the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and each of us has a finite amount of energy. As a matter of survival, so that we can be caring and supportive for those in our “immediate world,” you cannot empathize or become enthused about every cause. That being said, it seems wrong to me to come close to characterizing an issue as a tempest in a teapot just because it doesn’t move you. Regardless of which side you come down on, important consequences of public policy decisions have been highlighted in all of these debates, including the one over the bell schedule.
If there is one wonderful constant I have seen in my most recent 20 years here, it is not a particular policy or position or thing. It is just a commitment to broadbased community involvement. The outcome may be right, wrong, crazy, perfect, divisive, uniting or otherwise, but it has frequently emerged from the messy, mucky dialogue that local heros such as Jon Abercrombie have pioneered for communities. Treasure that.
+ 1 to broadbased community involvement
I love these long and thoughtful posts on this blog. I never seem to have time to write much more than “me too”.
More–much more–Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.
Ask someone in the City of Atlanta about this trifle and they will laugh in ya face.
And state politics folks laugh at City stuff, while folks focused on national issues laugh at state brouhahas. (In my experience, none of these places can hold a candle to the Machiavellian politics of churches and university faculties.) The amazing thing is that someone like my neighbor from Libya whose family members are long time Ghaddafi dissidents, whose lives have been at risk in Benghazi, who has a personal stake in a massive international crisis and who has every reason to see how “small and insignificant” bell schedules and pool poop and the like are, still pays serious attention to local stuff. That seems to me to be the balance to strike. You keep perspective. You recognize that most things “will pass.” You see the bigger picture and know that love and health are the most important things. But you also see that even local issues are important and due respect, that the person with whom you so strongly disagree today may have a great idea tomorrow.
More F and L (HST). Circumlocution at its behest.
Yeah. You’re right. It boils down to take everyone seriously but yourself.
Old, new….lets’ just make a few comparisons:
1980’s 2011
Restaurants D’town- (on Ponce) 2 a whole bunch
# of people jay walking 0 hasn’t everyone?
# Festivals 0 what, another one?
# of places for $5/cup coffee 0 make mine a grande
Average median age we were all younger 37.2
Median Family Income $65,064(2000) $94,455
Per Capita Income $7,087 $37,130
Population 18,404 18,147
City Budget $12.9 Million (2001) $18.5Million
School Budget $27.7 Million(2003) $36.2Million
# w/ Bach. or Grad. Degree 3,234 7,266 (2000)
So, as I see it the difference between old Decatur and new Decatur is, we are older, more educated, make more money and spend it more, paying more for services, & we eat out a lot more while jaywalking with a $5 cup of coffee in our hand.
I concur that I am older now than I was in the 1980’s.
I have 4 1/2 years to go until I am an old Decatur resident, if we’re using the 20 year rule. I have had neighbors in Decatur who lived in a house that had been in the family over 100 years! Perhaps that would qualify as Very Old. I love to meet old and very old Decatur residents because they know more about the history of the town than I do and I learn a lot about Decatur and my immediate neighborhood from talking with them, and it helps me gain perspective.
I certainly don’t think living here 15 years makes me anything but lucky— house prices were much lower back then, at least they were on the south side! When I moved here downtown Decatur had only a couple gift shops, relatively few restaurants and no pizza joints. I remember reading in a local newspaper that the graduating class at DHS was about 80 students. What impressed me most when I first moved here was my neighbors. I had neighbors who were new residents like me and others who had lived in Decatur their whole lives and had raised their own children here. Growing up in the suburbs, I did not know people who had lived in one town that long! And we loved our little 1920’s bungalow, and that the houses in the neighborhood were all different from one another.