GR gets a mention

Here's is one visitor's opinion, Joann Fitzpatrick's:

"But what of the vast Midwest? Is it really different from New England or California?

Darned right, it is. I was in Grand Rapids, Mich., for a wedding. What I knew about Grand Rapids before going there was that it was the hometown of President Gerald Ford and site of his presidential library and museum. And also the home of Amway, though I and other out-of-town guests had only a vague idea of what Amway sells.

The small talk that predominates at events like this was punctuated repeatedly by wedding guests proclaiming to one another, ‘‘What a nice town, what a surprise!’’ Many if not most of the guests flew in from both coasts and interesting places in between, such as Santa Fe. There was elitism to spare but at the same time a willingness to be charmed by a place that truly seems to represent good old-fashioned American values.

If there are surreptitious litter police, they keep themselves well hidden, but the streets of Grand Rapids are as gleaming as the refurbished buildings throughout the downtown. Community pride is everywhere. I couldn’t help but compare what I saw to cities and towns back home.

In Grand Rapids, Midwestern friendliness and helpfulness were everywhere. I left my camera in a cab and within minutes of calling the hotel, staff was on the case. They called back 15 minutes later, not having located it yet but to let me know I had not been forgotten. I nearly fainted from the shock of random kindness. (Yes, I got it back.) When was the last time someone actually cared that you lost an item in their store, or even that you were shopping there?

Downtown Grand Rapids, a city of about 200,000, is a laboratory of urban renewal. Formerly a manufacturing city - home of Kelvinator, for example - it faces a huge challenge in reshaping its economy. The state of Michigan is no help, since its automobile-reliant economy has been in the hopper for years, with more bad news sure to come.

So what is Grand Rapids turning to? Health care. And here is where it could be interesting to Massachusetts. Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids’ biggest employer, is creating a cancer center and also expanding its medical research, including a new center for molecular medicine. Michigan State University is moving its medical school to the city. You may say, ‘‘So what?’’ But think about all those Boston-area college graduates, our biggest source of human capital, and the cost of living in Massachusetts, and then compare it to Grand Rapids. There you can buy a five-bedroom house in the historic district for $400,000. Yup, $400,000, and you could walk to work, breathe clean air and not worry about litter blowing in your face. And your children could attend a neighborhood school. The historic district, a microcosm of American architectural styles, was rehabilitated decades ago solely because of the efforts of public-spirited citizens."

I thought this article, originally from The Patriot Ledger, was interesting, first of all because it's about my hometown, and second because it's so glowing.   I do have to wonder, however, if the author realizes where the source of all of this community spirit comes from: Grand Rapids is located right in the middle of one of the more religious areas of the country.  It has the historical reputation of being a city of churches.  We're religious here. 

Grand Rapids was partially settled and populated by Dutch of the Reformed tradition who were (and are) frugal, hardworking, and organized.  There are plenty of other Christians traditions in Grand Rapids - Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Orthodox.  The RCA and the CRC aren't even the majority.  If I were to guess I'd say that lapsed and nonobservant (or barely observant) Christians, atheists, and agnostics are in the majority.  But none of these are the organizational drive for the large amount of volunteerism Grand Rapids boasts.  Things get done here because the Dutch organize it and, often, fund it.  And then the Baptists and the Lutherans and the Methodists and the Catholics and the fundies provide more manpower and more cash.  

Tithing is big here, and not just in terms of money.  I've heard the Time, Talent, Tithe sermon many, many times in my lifetime.  Christianity, at least any living, breathing, growing variant of it, requires its practitioners to give back locally and abroad.  That means manning soup kitchens, doing intercity mentoring, traveling on work trips to build schools, churches, and hospitals in third world countries.  Christian Stewardship is more than money or civic-mindedness, though.  Its roots extend into caring for animals and wildlife and even into environmentalism. 

Grand Rapids benefits from the religious commitment of its citizenry in all these ways.  There are, of course, flip sides to these same traits.  Read the Public Pulse opinion section of The Grand Rapids Press, and you might get the idea that Grand Rapids is simply brimming with people who will fight to the death to angrily proclaim that the earth can't possibly be older than 6,000 years old.  These same people will quote scripture to back up any local or federal political issue and will yabber on unceasingly about abortion or gay marriage.  Not so far back in recent past, people would give you dark, dark looks if you mowed your lawn, or did any work, on Sunday.  There's intolerance here, and its favorite friend, hypocrisy.  

But on the whole, Grand Rapids is a very nice place to live - clean and neat and law-abiding.  We don't have the front porch atmosphere of the South; it's just too cold too much of the year up here.  But if you need help, chances are good that you can get it from someone, either a neighbor or a church or a community organization. People are generous with their time and their money.  It's nice to see someone from "Away" recognize that, even if she might be dismayed to know where all the philanthropy originates: in the pew on Sunday. 

tags: grand rapids  michigan  midwest