Otterblog

Community takes a thousands forms in this day and age. We orient ourselves around where we live, around the schools we attend, the teams we root for, the politicians we like (or dislike), even the barbecue we eat.

In some ways, all communities are equal. It doesn’t matter who we commune with as long as we commune.  In other ways, they’re not. I think that geographic community is most important, because face-to-face conversations with our neighbors builds a better world (No, this is not going to be a sermon ...).

That’s my interest in the

, and a reason it’s on our front page today. Community centers seem a bit archaic today. I mean, does anybody really go these sorts of places? Well, as the folks in southeast Wilkes told our reporter, yes, they do. And these centers house memories.

It’s true that a fire doesn’t kill a memory any more than a fire destroys a sense of community. But the absence of a physical structure makes it harder to contain those memories and community. They spread and scatter. It may be the same amount of community, but it’s harder to know it’s there.