Place, Connectedness, and Home: A Community Journal and a Personal Reflection

Authors:

Geena Flener, Undergraduate Student

Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor

Department of Recreation and Park
Administration

Eastern Kentucky University

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their sincere appreciation to everyone at Purdy’s Coffee in downtown Richmond, Kentucky for their hospitality and enthusiasm for this project. Also, an incredible and heartfelt thank you to the anonymous respondents in the community journal. The notes, memos, and stories were heartwarming, personal, and genuine.

Place, Connectedness, and Home: A Community Journal and a Personal Reflection

Storytelling is a unique research
method that allows a diverse range of applications from data collection to
dissemination. When done well, storytelling can fully engage the reader,
communicating the dynamic perspectives of the study and the complex contexts,
and the many levels of thought and emotion (Liu, Xing, & Starik, 2012). While
the application and dissemination of storytelling is quite diverse, there is a
method of use more common to obtain a depth of meaning between the information
and the reader. Typically, a researcher(s) conducts interviews in some manner.
These interviews can be facilitated and recorded in variety of ways, but the
essence of the question remains the same throughout the project. Then the
researcher(s) takes the information and codes it to develop themes and strings
of information (Saldaña, 2015).
From here, the researcher(s) craft a common narrative, the story of the
project. Weaving the interviews together to create a common narrative takes a
creative thought process, comfort with the many interviews, and a careful
thought process to capture the essence of the interviews and the project.  One aspect of storytelling that allows for
creativity is the perspective of the narrative developed by the researcher. The
story can be written and communities from a personal perspective to the
objective third person point of view. Storytelling is becoming more
popular in leisure studies, but the qualitative method still has room to
develop in the field and scholarship outlets (Ding, 2018; Flores & Kuhn, 2018)

            To be more specific, place and what
place means in a person’s life can be a topic where storytelling flourishes.
There is much scholarship on the sense of place and place attachment in the
recreation field, as place has become known as the indicator of how people make
sense of their existence, through the bond with place (Jepson & Sharpley,
2015; Stefaniak, Bilewicz, &
Lewicka, 2017). Specifically, place is the reason where people gather to
discuss and help develop and foster society, culture, and community. Much of
the essence of leisure, a time away from life obligations, provides the
opportunity to focus on common bonds, culture, and much more. Leisure can
further be discussed relative to time, activity, quality of leisure, and
personal perspective (Bull, Hoose, & Weed, 2003). To have the time to truly
engage in the pursuit to understand place, and bond with place, perhaps helps
one understand their bond to place and others. It is through place that people
make sense of their being, reflect on what has happened, what is happening, and
what is to come. What is interesting, however, is the lack of investigation
into the meaning of shared places where these things develop and are
cultivated, so to speak. The purpose of this research project was to understand
what place means to someone living in a small rural town.

Methodology

During the spring of 2016,
researchers placed a notebook at Purdy’s Coffee, a locally owned coffee shop in
downtown Richmond, Kentucky. On the front of the notebook, a sheet noted
“Richmond Community Journal.”  Inside the
notebook were preprinted pages that had a simple question atop each page, “What
does Richmond mean to you?” The entire rest of the page was blank.
Additionally, a pouch with a variety of colored pencils was included for
participant use. There were no additional instructions, no additional rules, no
additional restrictions. The journal was left on a coffee table nested between
four recliners, all of which was close to the counter for ordering drinks and
food. The researchers left the journal in place for approximately four months,
checking on the journal every few weeks to monitor progress.

            Approximately 85 pages in the
notebook had some type of response to the question. Responses ranged from
entire pages of stories, short paragraphs, notes, bullet points, poems, and
artwork. Additional pages included kids’ drawings and doodles by various
individuals. The filled pages were inspirational, emotional, and warming.

When the time came to code and
analyze the notebook, the researchers decided to approach this project as a
story, using qualitative storytelling as the best way to harness the power of
what was included in the community journal. After several rounds of analysis
and dissection of information, a story developed, a story that was quite
personal and relevant. The researchers believe this makes sense, as each person
has their story of where they came from, where they are, and how their current
place is so integrated into their story. What follows is a careful weaving of
narratives from the perspective of the researchers and journal entries. The
story communicates something very personal and something quite common between
us all. 

The Burden and the
Lightness of Home

Black, red, and white tiled
backsplash surrounds the kitchen walls. Dad lifted me up onto the counters to
pick the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms cereal box while mom puts my
younger sister to sleep. Later, mom comes downstairs to find us sitting on the
counters, she chuckles. She reads us two books and tucks the two of us in bed.

            Maynard, Massachusetts was the first
place I lived. Six years to be exact. I loved our red house with blue shutters,
my neighborhood friends, and my new Kindergarten class at the big school.

                        There’s something about hometowns
that never leaves you…

            …But we left.  We left the cold of Massachusetts for the
humidity, the mosquitoes, the blazing summer sun and cow-lined pastures of
Bowling Green, Kentucky.  I left my old
friends and hoped to find new ones.  It’s
amazing how children are pretty much the same, wherever you go.  It is the world that beats them down and
changes them over time.  The place does
not matter all that much, children just want their Legos and Barbies and
bicycles and video games.

            The house in Bowling Green took
forever to find once you pulled into the neighborhood.  I felt the car bob and weave and lurch up the
hills and around the turns, my body shoveled from one side of the ’92 burgundy
Volvo to the other.  Even if my head hit
the window of the car, it would have just bounced right off, the thing was a
tank.  The car weaved around those turns
until we finally got to the street, “Morningstar” it was called.

The experience of place is unique
to each individual and is directly related to his or her lived experiences
(Waxman, 20016). My time was limited in Massachusetts, but I remember snapshots
of ice cream parlor play dates and the construction of the swing set in the
backyard. These memories are an important part of my childhood. I quickly made
friends on Morningstar.

“Where
are the flashlights?”

“This
one needs batteries, HURRY UP!”

“On
your mark, get set, GO!”

Growing up on Morningstar, we
doused ourselves in bug spray and played flashlight tag under the moonlight. We
rode bicycles, scooters, and golf carts along the windy roads. We came inside
for dinner with scraped knees and muddy clothes. Our imaginations soared and
our backyards seemed endless.

I do not remember how they told my
sister and I. I do not remember if they sat us down at the table and explained
what a divorce was. I do not even remember my dad moving his stuff out. I
simply remember a lot of people feeling sorry for my family and a for sale sign
in the front yard.

This
place is an opportunity for a fresh start

            From Morningstar to the townhouse
next to the golf course. My sister and I spent our summers sitting on the other
side of the fence selling lemonade and golf balls back to the golfers passing
by. Mom was gone a lot. During those years we spent a lot of time with
babysitters, none of whom I remember. I cooked most of our dinners. Pancakes
were my specialty. I quickly learned that tinfoil does not go in the microwave
and it is important to remember to take the fork out of the bowl before hitting
start. I blew up the microwave a few days before my tenth birthday.

Place attachment is broken down
into two components: the interactional past and interactional potential of a
site. Interactional past is “defined as the past experiences associated with a
site, or, in a word, memories.” The degree of meaningfulness of these
experiences translates into the degree of attachment to the site itself.” Interactional
potential of a site describes “the future experiences imagined or anticipated
to be possible in a site.” (Milligan, 1998)

            It’s
the place that will be a pause in my mind

            The townhouse was cozy but we had
to move because our family grew. My mom married Krisz, he was from Hungary. We
liked him a lot. He helped me with my math homework and built a tire swing in
the front yard of our new house, the wooden house. The old house, built in the
50’s, did not quite fit in with the rest of the modern houses. Its charming
appeal seemed fitting for our new family. With a Master’s degree in applied
physics, Krisz needed a job that challenged him.  He joined the Navy. He excelled immediately
and he was gone all the time. The wooden house seemed empty; it did not fit our
family of three anymore. Just as I started middle school, I got the news. It
was time to pack our things, our mom got a job at the University of Kentucky
Hospital and we moved to Lexington.  

“Places root us, to the earth, to our own
history and memories, to our families and larger community” (Cooper-Marcus
& Frances, 1998, p. 11). Moving from Bowling Green was difficult, we still
find ourselves returning several times a year to visit our friends. I pass by
our old houses and it seems like a dream. I would never move back.

            The older I get, the more I find myself
appreciating this town

            We traded cow pastures for horse farms and the blue of the
University of Kentucky was added to the color wheel. Our new house, the Weber
Way house, was nice; large bay windows lined the living room and a front porch
swing swayed in the wind. I was proud to have friends come over. We had
Christmas parties and backyard barbeques, sleepovers and pillow fights. Krisz
came home every once in a while, he taught me how to drive and change the oil in
my old rusty Jeep. This house was home.

As I began applying for college, we got
the news. This time, they did sit us down at the table. They did explain what a
divorce was. The distance and time apart was too difficult for them. It broke
my heart. I could not wait to start college. I could not wait to move to
Richmond.

Richmond is a discovery

Richmond is where my
heart is

Richmond is where I
came to college

Richmond is where I
failed tests

Richmond is where I
learned what love is

Richmond is Purdy’s
Coffee Shop

Richmond is a place
that I will never forget

Richmond is home.

            Richmond changed my life. It made me
realize that I did not need a house to feel at home. It was the community, the
friends, and the memories that made a place feel like home. I am often asked,
“where is home for you?” I always answer with, “everywhere.” It seems fitting.

Conclusion

Place is formed by the memories
that are made in a place and it is an important part of “who we are.” It allows
someone to look back on places and times in thier lives and feel connected with
others.  Sifting through entries in the
Purdy’s Community Journal, it was easy to see just how different Richmond w\is
for everyone. Some people were born here, some were transplants because of a
job or the university, others were simply passing through. Either way, this
community is love. It is a place where innocent college freshman graduate as
mature adults, a place where people fall in love and start a family, and where
they will spend the rest of their lives. This small Kentucky community is…

                        Home

                        A place of friends, of love

                        Downtown,
laughter, coffee

                        Meeting
with family

                        I
belong

References

Bull,
C., Hoose, J., & Weed, M. (2003). An introduction to leisure
studies. Pearson Education.

Ding,
M. (2018). Exploring personal narrative and storytelling through the recreation
of a historical children's fairy tale.

Flores,
D., & Kuhn, K. (2018). Latino Outdoors: Using Storytelling and Social Media
to Increase Diversity on Public Lands. Journal of Park & Recreation
Administration, 36(3).

Jepson,
D., & Sharpley, R. (2015). More than sense of place? Exploring the
emotional dimension of rural tourism experiences. Journal of
Sustainable Tourism, 23(8-9), 1157-1178.

Liu,
Y., Xing, Y., & Starik, M. (2012). Storytelling as research method: A
West-meets-East perspective. In West meets east: building theoretical
bridges (pp. 143-171). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Saldaña,
J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.

Stefaniak,
A., Bilewicz, M., & Lewicka, M. (2017). The merits of teaching local
history: Increased place attachment enhances civic engagement and social
trust. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 51,
217-225.

Steiner,
A., & Williams, D. R. (2017). Fostering personal relationships with the
wild: Oral history's role in recreation management. New York: Oxford
University Press. p. 48-64., 48-64

Keywords

#placeattachment #senseofplace #communityattachment #storytelling #community #connectedness #RichmondKY #myrichmond #PurdysCoffee #coffeeshop #Kentucky #KentuckyKicksAss #home #cominghome #family #recreation #leisure #parks #EKU #EasternKentuckyUniversity #RPA

Abstract

A sense of place is different for everyone, as each person has a history and future in every place, from calling it home to a brief visit. The researchers sought to understand what community means to residents in a community in central Kentucky. To do so, researchers set up an easy access community journal at a frequently visited coffee shop in downtown Richmond, Kentucky. Using qualitative storytelling, the researchers developed a narrative to develop a deep understanding of what a sense of community means to those involved in the project and the researchers as they moved through the project.  The meaning of community is dynamic and diverse. The meaning of home is varied and personal.