Dear friends,
We’re grieving with our neighbors this week and holding our loved ones extra close.
I’m writing to let you know that this month, I’ll be taking some time to re-organize American Village and figure out my plans for the upcoming year.
I started this in November without much of a plan, yet your response has been gratifying. It’s clear that despite media fragmentation and today’s many other challenges, we still hunger for shared stories, and we draw meaning from studying what makes our town unique and what joins us with the rest of the world.
To those who have chosen to support AV through a paid subscription, an extra big thanks to you. I was surprised by these gestures of confidence and I deeply appreciate it. I have forwarded a share of last year’s revenue to Ferndale Community Chest and paused billing on all paid subscriptions for the time being.
Your feedback is always welcome. You can contact me anytime at ellie at franciscreekdigital dot com.
I’ll close today with an excerpt I liked from Terry Gross’s 1993 interview with Plains FFA Chapter Secretary Jimmy Carter (audio version recommended).
GROSS: Jimmy Carter, before we go any further, I’m going to ask you for a little lesson in etiquette. Do I call you President Carter, Mr. President, our former President Jimmy Carter - what is the appropriate etiquette when you’re talking to a former president of the United States?
CARTER: You know, one of the nice things about our country is you can call me anything you want to.
GROSS: (Laughter).
CARTER: Jimmy suits me OK. There is a custom in our nation that if you have been a governor or ambassador or a judge or president, then you can still retain the title. So if you want to call me president, you can. If you want to call me Jimmy, that’s fine.
You know, when I go through Georgia small towns and somebody is an old friend of mine, I know it immediately when they say, hi, Governor. They call this - they still - you see, that - whatever the most intimate relationship is. And when - and the little kids around Plains, when I ride a bicycle or jog by, they - if they are very devout or if their families go to church every Sunday, they call me Brother Jimmy. Hello, Brother Jimmy. And a lot of them just call me - hello, Jimmy Carter. But it doesn’t matter to me. I never was much dependent on the pomp and ceremony of the White House, even when I was there. And so Jimmy suits me fine.