why[here]matters: South Bend

february & march 2019

the moment

South Bend was on the verge of transition. Pete Buttigieg was concluding his second term as mayor - he had already launched his exploratory committee for a presidential run - and on my first full day in town, I got to stand a few feet away from him in a small, crowded used auto dealership-turned-campaign headquarters, as he officially endorsed his Chief of Staff to succeed him as mayor. The moment simultaneously felt important, yet insignificant, as elected leadership is destined to change.

My attention was instead drawn to the people off-camera in that room, and not even in that building, for that matter, as they were the ones that would ultimately be responsible for carrying forward and proving the narrative of a revitalizing Rust Belt city beyond Pete. In the weeks that followed, I began to understand why people came, why they stayed, and why they believed in the vision for a better community, thanks to and even regardless of what happened in City Hall over the previous eight years.

the process

I didn’t really show up in South Bend with a plan. Whoops. After a chance eve of Christmas Eve coffee with Jacob in South Bend, I had incubated the project for well over a month, even spending a week at a retreat center in Belize with other social entrepreneurs and creatives, explicitly focusing on it’s conception, but I didn’t have a plan.

After one, two, three, four, and five days of meandering about and making sense of South Bend, I started to piece together outreach and introductions and interviews. I learned difficult lessons about audio and video quality; I realized that I had to be an active participant in these conversations; I began to dig deeper and deeper into what made South Bend unique and home for so many thoughtful and committed people.

Four weeks later, I had interviewed 29 residents of South Bend (and St Joseph’s County). Each interview consisted of a 30-45 minute conversation and ended with a 60 second video recording. In later iterations, I would take a more straightforward, but for the first go-around, I had participants scheme of a question in response to “why does South Bend matter to you?” and then respond to that question in real time.

Yeah, over-complicated, I know, but you can find all of those videos by clicking each participant’s image below.

You can also find a YouTube playlist containing all of the videos here.

the people

Jacob spoke to why he believes that people should create where they come from. Cass shared the magic of owning a printshop in a small city. Donte presented his vision for pioneering in an ever-improving food scene. Christin became a life-long friend. Charlotte, Kareemah, and Alkeyna offered insights into their perpetual cycle of mentorship with one another, their respective ancestry, and pioneering as Black female peers holding positions of civic and public leadership. Dave and Regina shared why they invest locally. Leslie shared why she cheered for the city. Dustin and Maria demonstrated how to integrate into a community, where they are trying to innovate. Oh, and Willow told me not to f*** this up.

The list goes on. Each conversation was memorable and life-changing, as were each and every experience I had during my month there. Sometimes I close my eyes and teleport back to them, remembering the thoughts, feelings and lessons they offered me. One of the leaders I interviewed, Gregorio, recently passed away, and I can only think about how the conversation I recorded between him and his granddaughter will forever speak to his legacy as a political and community organizer in the local Hispanic community for nearly half a century.

That’s why [here] matters.

the interviews

As previously shared, all of my why [here] matters interviews have spent the past three years gathering digital dust in a Google Drive. I haven’t published them, I haven’t promoted them; I disappointedly haven’t done anything meaningful with them.

The five interviews featured here were some of the most impactful on me in South Bend. With the audio production support of my fellow creative and co-conspirator, Amy Kaherl, we were able to get them to a serviceable point for sharing and listening. I hope they leave any listener curious and wanting to learn more.

South Bend Zine Club

On my first Sunday afternoon in South Bend, I had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural convening of the South Bend Zine Club, which was funded by an Awesome Foundation grant.

The image to the right was the first page of my creation. If there was any lesson to learn from the first phase of my pilot, this encapsulated it.