Small is Still Beautiful

In our relative old-age, Larry and I have become creatures of habit, although we’ve not yet succumbed to the 10 p.m. bowl of ice cream my parents enjoyed for so many years. When it’s time for “Madame Secretary” and “The Good Wife” on Sunday nights, or Gibbs and Abby searching for answers on NCIS on Tuesdays, we’re right there, glad that new episodes are finally airing. What’s ironic is that we could record “our shows” to watch at a different time, view them “on demand,” or catch a back episode from the network’s website. But at 8 p.m. on Tuesday nights, guess where we’re at? Definitely showing our age.

A friend recently introduced me to “On Being with Krista Tippett,” self-described as a public radio conversation and podcast, website and online exploration, focused on what it means to be human. Its underlying question asks, “How do we want to live?” Tippett and her colleagues, “pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge,” in disciplines ranging from economics and religion to astrophysics and the arts.

I am definitely late to this dance, but better late than never, as proverbial wisdom teaches us. I hadn’t come across her radio broadcast before now because I seldom turn on the radio when it airs on Sunday mornings at 7 a.m. on WKSU-FM. But with podcasts, mobile apps, website access and Facebook links, it’s pretty much available any time, any place – just like NCIS. Welcome to the twenty-first century, JoAnn.

Courtney Martin, one of the regular “On Being” columnists recently wrote a piece entitled, “Small is Still Beautiful.” In searching for ways in which an economy can be stabilized, she suggests we ask this question: “What if one of the virtues for a stable economy wasn’t scale, but its opposite? What if the safest thing we could possibly do is invest in the people and places within walking distance of us?” Or, in our not-so-urban county, within a five mile radius, a ten mile circle of our home?

One of the obvious ways to do this is to shop local. Climbing aboard the downtown Ashland bandwagon, I’m excited the Gilbert’s building has a number of small shops in its renovated space. Across the street, Juliana Bridal just won the Best Retail Rehabilitation Award at the Heritage Ohio Annual Conference. Woohoo! With a wedding in our family’s future, I’ll be stopping in soon.

But local is not just downtown. Just around the corner on Claremont, Kimberly’s Closet is now opening where the fabric store had been, and Eva’s Treats is a fun stop for dessert after dinner at Kelly’s Restaurant, Lotus Chinese Cuisine or O’Bryan’s. On the other side of town, “local” is even in the name of Local Roots, a great place to shop for – you’ve guessed it – local produce, baked goods and lots more.

Here the challenge: before you let your fingers do the walking to the Internet, or head for Wooster or Mansfield, ask the question – could I get this service, this merchandise locally? What would that mean for my neighbor who owns a small business, or for the waitress at a local restaurant?

We also invest in the people around us by giving local. One delicious way is at the ACCESS Soup-er Saturday event today at Grace Brethren Church from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Because of ACCESS, homeless families right here in Ashland County have a safe, warm place to sleep each night. It’s on my list for today, and I’m already tasting the soup. Or make an investment in United Way by “tripping the light fantastic” at the Harvest Moon Dance with the Kroc Center Big Band – tonight from 7 – 10 p.m. on East Liberty Street.

Eat soup local, dance local, dream local, invest local. I’m committed to investing in Ashland because I know that “small is still beautiful.” I’m right there with Ms. Martin, except . . . my precious granddaughters live nearly sixty miles away. So yes, once a week I climb in the car before the sun rises so I can be present with two sweet little girls. How much more beautiful small is when named Madelyn Simone and Elizabeth Holiday.