Sometimes a perspective from afar can give a fresh view on things we ordinarily might take for granted.
Out of curiosity (and because I was invited), I attended a recent community "listening post" sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio. MPR has held such events around the state to quickly learn what matters to the people in a given community.
They broke up the attendees into small groups each with their own facilitator and then after asking some probing questions -- "What news do you feel is not being covered? What are some big issues facing your community? How do you define your community" -- they listened.
I'm not a big fan of this technique especially for news media. Doesn't work for speed dating or speed reading. It sure doesn't work for trying to truly understanding what makes a community tick.
Still I'll give a tip of the hat at least to MPR for coming to Mankato to listen and learn.
And learn they did.
At the conclusion of the sessions, when all participants gathered for a debriefing, someone asked the MPR staff "so what did you learn about Mankato?"
One staffer was a little taken aback because, after all, they are supposed to be neutral. But then offered this observation.
I wasn't taking notes so I will paraphrase ... Unlike other communities visited, "you all seem to feel good about where your community is going. You seem very positive."
Kind of sad that this is what makes us different -- being positive. Still, you could see some pride on the faces of those attending.
Yes, we are a community that reaches out, that helps others, is extremely generous and relatively happy with what we have but always looking to make it better.
We have issues and we're working through them. We meet challenges head on collectively and work to improve our collaborations with others.
We are diverse, tolerant, progressive, upbeat and hard working.
Not a bad image for Mankato to project.
