The solid majority of hillsdale town and county is Protestant not Catholic. Why do you think promoting public Catholicism is the answer for a majority Protestant town? I don’t think Protestants will be very interested in your public performance for the feast of the exaltation or the assumption. Some may even get antagonized, given that a decent amount of Protestants in hillsdale think Catholicism is evil or satanic and is not only not representative of them but opposed to their beliefs. Maybe the goal should be to create community festivals that include everyone and are marketed to everyone and not community events that are sectarian, and minority sectarian at that, and focused on the promotion of Catholicism and catholic belief to a majority Protestant community. Or is it your goal to wipe out the Protestants in hillsdale and create a catholic town?
Luke, great piece. May it encourage folks to support your vision. I'll be lifting it for use here as well. It's well-articulated and accessible and needed by audiences in all sorts of circumstances who, like me, need to take a thoughtful hike down the path of beauty.
Lacking that, no matter how much red tape or government interference you remove, businesses will not come here. Or if they do, they won’t stay in business
I’ve read your column for a while, so I will be blunt. You need to park your trust fund in a mutual fund or something safe and get yourself a job at a venture capital firm for a year or two
You’ll learn to pick winners and losers. About product market fit and customer engagement. What the markets want. Who succeeds and who fails. And the best part is you get to learn on someone else’s dime. If you are successful, then and only then open your own investment fund.
To doing anything less is both a disservice to yourself and Hillsdale.
I recently met one of your new hires, and he is a very nice young man who sounds like he likes the work you are doing, I love the update, and beauty is very important because it's points to the truth that is Christ.
Very thoughtful piece. Reasonable taxes and a streamlined regulatory environment are the expected ante to make a meaningful play for new and desirable investment. Your focus on beauty is well stated and much overlooked. It goes well beyond brick sidewalks and similar trendy projects, and speaks very much to the personality, character and integrity of the community. It is also the most difficult attribute to develop, and cannot be faked. Beauty is broad reaching and includes such things as the education and work ethic of the local citizens; their integrity.
Correcting past blunders like severing town and gown, are also too often ignored, if even noticed. Best wishes on correcting that and re-establishing a seamless connection between the two.
Well, connections can't really be created as long as the college discourages students patronizing restaurants with its meal plan and stay entirely on campus, aggressively seeks to subordinate the council to college interests by putting up college selected candidates to be elected (do you know, as I was told that they specifically held a registration drive so that students at the college registered to vote in Hillsdale, encouraging the transient student population to vote in favor of the college's candidates for its ward?), and when the college treats townspeople as disposable, nuisances, and seeks to undermine any town responses that aren't in line with its goals? The college needs to express that it is on the same footing with the town and clarify that it respects opinions and views of the town that are not in line with the college. Until the college demonstrates humility and that it respects and values the town, I would not connect with it at all.
Sounds like the college is engaging in the normal political activity of self interest. Yes, they have access to a bully pulpit and use it to advantage. The town folk will have to do the same thing if they are dissatisfied. That dynamic will not change without making connections, within the community as well as across the street.
Every college in America has dorms and a meal plan, mine did. I also spent a good bit of time in local establishments. I haven't been to Hillsdale, though I hope to, so can't comment on the attractions but I can't imagine the students aren't interested in a change of scenery by time.
Meet some professors, start a conversation. I wish you well.
Sounds like you never lived there. It really is different and the college is far more aggressive than most about living off the backs of the residents.
Great post. The 2nd order effects of a beautiful town are likely enormous, and the 2nd order effects of an ugly or boring town are in proportion debilitating.
The solid majority of hillsdale town and county is Protestant not Catholic. Why do you think promoting public Catholicism is the answer for a majority Protestant town? I don’t think Protestants will be very interested in your public performance for the feast of the exaltation or the assumption. Some may even get antagonized, given that a decent amount of Protestants in hillsdale think Catholicism is evil or satanic and is not only not representative of them but opposed to their beliefs. Maybe the goal should be to create community festivals that include everyone and are marketed to everyone and not community events that are sectarian, and minority sectarian at that, and focused on the promotion of Catholicism and catholic belief to a majority Protestant community. Or is it your goal to wipe out the Protestants in hillsdale and create a catholic town?
Luke, great piece. May it encourage folks to support your vision. I'll be lifting it for use here as well. It's well-articulated and accessible and needed by audiences in all sorts of circumstances who, like me, need to take a thoughtful hike down the path of beauty.
You missed the biggest item it takes.
Customers.
Lacking that, no matter how much red tape or government interference you remove, businesses will not come here. Or if they do, they won’t stay in business
I’ve read your column for a while, so I will be blunt. You need to park your trust fund in a mutual fund or something safe and get yourself a job at a venture capital firm for a year or two
You’ll learn to pick winners and losers. About product market fit and customer engagement. What the markets want. Who succeeds and who fails. And the best part is you get to learn on someone else’s dime. If you are successful, then and only then open your own investment fund.
To doing anything less is both a disservice to yourself and Hillsdale.
I recently met one of your new hires, and he is a very nice young man who sounds like he likes the work you are doing, I love the update, and beauty is very important because it's points to the truth that is Christ.
Very thoughtful piece. Reasonable taxes and a streamlined regulatory environment are the expected ante to make a meaningful play for new and desirable investment. Your focus on beauty is well stated and much overlooked. It goes well beyond brick sidewalks and similar trendy projects, and speaks very much to the personality, character and integrity of the community. It is also the most difficult attribute to develop, and cannot be faked. Beauty is broad reaching and includes such things as the education and work ethic of the local citizens; their integrity.
Correcting past blunders like severing town and gown, are also too often ignored, if even noticed. Best wishes on correcting that and re-establishing a seamless connection between the two.
The problem is a lot of the town feels like the gown wants to evict them all to create its perfect vision of a bougie gentrified hillsdale.
That is why maintaining the connections is so critical. The first conversation can't be at the presentation of a great new idea.
Well, connections can't really be created as long as the college discourages students patronizing restaurants with its meal plan and stay entirely on campus, aggressively seeks to subordinate the council to college interests by putting up college selected candidates to be elected (do you know, as I was told that they specifically held a registration drive so that students at the college registered to vote in Hillsdale, encouraging the transient student population to vote in favor of the college's candidates for its ward?), and when the college treats townspeople as disposable, nuisances, and seeks to undermine any town responses that aren't in line with its goals? The college needs to express that it is on the same footing with the town and clarify that it respects opinions and views of the town that are not in line with the college. Until the college demonstrates humility and that it respects and values the town, I would not connect with it at all.
Sounds like the college is engaging in the normal political activity of self interest. Yes, they have access to a bully pulpit and use it to advantage. The town folk will have to do the same thing if they are dissatisfied. That dynamic will not change without making connections, within the community as well as across the street.
Every college in America has dorms and a meal plan, mine did. I also spent a good bit of time in local establishments. I haven't been to Hillsdale, though I hope to, so can't comment on the attractions but I can't imagine the students aren't interested in a change of scenery by time.
Meet some professors, start a conversation. I wish you well.
Sounds like you never lived there. It really is different and the college is far more aggressive than most about living off the backs of the residents.
Haven't lived there but I've lived in college towns.
Spot on. Does a broad coalition currently exist to achieve Luke’s vision? If so, how can I join it? In not, why not?
Great post. The 2nd order effects of a beautiful town are likely enormous, and the 2nd order effects of an ugly or boring town are in proportion debilitating.