美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Economic Troubles, Residents Of Kansas Town Remain Proud

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: 

It is the town where Mickey Mantle¹ played his first season of professional baseball in 1949, the hometown of one of the first monkeys to be sent into space, Miss Able, 1959. It is Independence, Kan., a town with a rich past and an uncertain future.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

And that's where we find our colleague Melissa Block today. She's on a road trip that is taking her around the country. She's going to communities large and small, asking how people's identity is shaped by where they live. We're calling the series Our Land.

SIEGEL: In Independence, Melissa wondered what keeps a small town hopeful when many of its good jobs are gone.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE²: If you're in Kansas on a Saturday night in January, you can bet you'll find some basketball.

UNIDENTIFIED CHEERLEADERS: Offense³, offense.

BLOCK: Tonight we're watching community college ball. It's archrivals the Independence Pirates going up against the Coffeyville Ravens⁴.

UNIDENTIFIED CHEERLEADERS: Defense⁵, defense.

BLOCK: Independence, Kan. - population below 9,000 and dwindling⁶. We're in the southeast corner of the state not far from the Oklahoma border. If you're from Independence, you wear that name with pride. People here are especially proud of their annual Neewollah Festival held every October, the oldest and largest festival in the state. They're proud to be the hometown of playwright⁷ and novelist William Inge, who wrote "Bus Stop" and "Picnic."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PICNIC")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) She's the prettiest girl in town. I bet you they announce tonight she's going to be queen of Neewollah.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Nee-what-ah?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) Neewollah, Neewollah - it's Halloween spelled backwards⁸.

BLOCK: Their hometown author is celebrated⁹ in the annual William Inge Theater Festival. It's attracted marquee names as honorees - Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, big city folks plunked down in rural Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: And then they marvel¹⁰ at cows as you bring them back (laughter) into town.

(LAUGHTER)

BLOCK: At Ane Mae's Coffee Shop, we sit down to chat with a group of women who walk together early every Saturday morning - Sarah Wilson, Kym Kays and Sheri Hesse. In a town like this, they tell me you tread carefully when talking politics.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: I mean we do express our opinions, but then we kind of back away politely like...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: We are Kansas polite.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: We are a Kansas polite community (laughter).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Good old Midwest.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Right, right.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: It's kind of like, yes, I feel this way, but I understand...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: That's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: ...How you feel, you know. It's like - because we're a small town, and we all have to get along.

BLOCK: A couple of blocks away - most things in Independence are just a couple of blocks away - we stop in at the storefront office of the weekly Montgomery County Chronicle. Editor Andy Taylor is going over the sports schedule with reporter Brian Thomas.

ANDY TAYLOR: Then the game time's earlier. Is it 4 and 6?

BRIAN THOMAS: Yeah, they changed it, 4 and 6.

BLOCK: This is a tiny operation. Andy Taylor reports and edits and shoots pictures. At 5 in the morning, he's the guy who picks up the papers from the print shop and delivers them. If you get the Chronicle, chances are Andy has touched your paper.

THOMAS: Okie doke.

ANDY TAYLOR: So lots of sports this week.

BLOCK: Taylor's a fifth generation Kansas newspaper man.

ANDY TAYLOR: There's ink in the blood. That's for sure. That's for sure. And I still love going in the press room at night and just smelling it. It's just - there's something about it.

BLOCK: Well, I was hoping you could walk us around.

ANDY TAYLOR: Yep, we can do that. We can do that.

BLOCK: Great.

ANDY TAYLOR: Can I bring my wife with me?

BLOCK: Sure.

ANDY TAYLOR: Amy...

(SOUNDBITE OF DOGS BARKING)

BLOCK: We head out toward the main business street in Independence, a shadow of what it used to be.

ANDY TAYLOR: We used to have a J.C. Penney department store over here. That's now gone. We had a furniture store - it's gone - a Hallmark store - it's gone. We had a clothing store, department store. It's gone.

BLOCK: But the biggest body blow - that came in October 2015.

ANDY TAYLOR: We're the first town in Kansas in well over 25 years to lose a hospital.

BLOCK: Andy Taylor recalls the meeting where he heard the news that Mercy Hospital would be shutting down.

ANDY TAYLOR: Oh, my gosh.

AMY TAYLOR: It was a complete shock.

ANDY TAYLOR: And there were 18 mouths in that meeting. They all dropped to the floor - like, you're closing down the hospital?

AMY TAYLOR: I don't think people believed it would ever happen.

ANDY TAYLOR: No.

AMY TAYLOR: It's sad. That's where our daughter was born.

ANDY TAYLOR: Yeah.

BLOCK: Really?

ANDY TAYLOR: Yeah.

AMY TAYLOR: Yeah. So when that's gone, you know...

ANDY TAYLOR: It's not just that, but it was a great, great company. And it just - it still kills me.

BLOCK: The hospital and the oil pipeline¹¹ company that shut down here in the '90s - these were pillars supporting the community. Philanthropy flowed through them. They sponsored events, pumped money into schools and churches. And the jobs - they were high-paying, professional positions.

ANDY TAYLOR: We've evolved downwardly I guess, backwards.

BLOCK: And has anything replaced those jobs?

ANDY TAYLOR: No, no. Once all that old money dies off and leaves town, then that's - that really hurts. Again, there's that old theory that when Grandma and Grandpa die, the funeral's at 2 o'clock; the family's at the bank at 3 o'clock, and they're out of town with that money at 4 o'clock. And I've seen that happen many times.

BLOCK: That's a problem facing so many rural towns where opportunities are slim. The best and brightest leave and don't look back. For Independence to thrive, I figure it has to find a way to hang on to kids like sixth grader Gabe Schenk.

What you got?

GABE SCHENK: Probably the best homemade taco soup.

BLOCK: We meet Gabe at the Valley Victors 4-H club's annual soup supper - 32 Crockpots all in a row. The secret to cooking, Gabe tells me - you have to talk to your food.

GABE: I had a very long, philosophical¹² talk to the chili¹³.

BLOCK: Yeah. What'd you say?

GABE: What is the meaning of a chili's life?

BLOCK: (Laughter) And did you get an answer?

GABE: He's the strong, silent type.

BLOCK: I see. I see.

Gabe's dream is to be a storm chaser or meteorologist. When he was younger, a tornado¹⁴ came through and ripped the roof off his house.

GABE: And I thought it was kind of, like, scary but then amazing at the same time. If I'm going to study the big storms, this is the place to be.

BLOCK: Meantime, Gabe is working on getting straight As and memorizing the periodic table.

GABE: Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron...

BLOCK: Melissa Block, NPR News with Gabe Schenk in Independence, Kan.

GABE: ...Gallium, germanium, arsenic¹⁵, selenium...

(SOUNDBITE OF PEARLS SONG, "FLOATING LEAF")

1 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

4 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

7 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

8 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

11 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

12 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

13 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

14 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

15 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。