[Note: a "Boomeranger" is a Gen X/young professional who grew up in Your Town, left, and "boomerangs" back, bringing their life experience, creativity, energy and – yes - taxes. Boomerangers may be Your Town's best bets for talent attraction and retention.]
On with the e'zine...Ani* DiFranco was born in Buffalo in 1970. Today, Ani is established as the "Little Folksinger," committed to socially conscious singin' and songwritin' with a loyal beast of a following. When Ani started her label - Righteous Babe Records – she boomeranged back home to Buffalo. Today Ani's label has a ten-pack of artists and a 2004 Grammy.
Now, you may be thinkin', "Buffalo ain't no hotbed of alternative culture." Indeed, dreadlocked folks like DiFranco typically cluster elsewhere. But Cool Communities have a lot to learn from Ani's choice to locate her life and work in her home town. In her own words, "I've never really fallen for the logic that you have to go to New York to make it big. Making music and establishing ourselves in Buffalo seemed politically significant. We could really make a difference. Even a handful of jobs downtown and an office with a light on is a significant thing in a very economically depressed city. So it's a really great feeling that we could not only create jobs, but interesting jobs."**
Lesson: Nearly all businesses today can be transacted from anywhere. Why not Buffalo? Why not Okoboji? Why not Your Town?
More Righteous Babe lessons for Cool Communities trying to attract Boomerangers:
New Ideas Require Old Spaces***
Righteous Babe Records (RBR) occupies space in an old church, which it saved from demolition. "So much of the fabric of our history is being demolished in Buffalo. So here was this church..." Churches have great acoustics for recording artists, plus fellowship halls for, well, fellowship...or office space. Which historic buildings in your community are ripe for Gen X rehab?
The E-Quotient
Gen X'ers, women and minorities start most small businesses in the US. Why? Because they feel cut off from traditional institutional power structures. Ani's label – telephone number 800-ON-HER-OWN – is as much a statement of independence as a job and wealth creating enterprise. Cool Communities will do well to align resources to feed and nurture the folks who are most predisposed to starting their own businesses.
Intentional Congruence
Many Gen X entrepreneurs align WHAT they do with HOW they do it. At RBR's website, you can buy an album AND connect with likeminded folks committed to alternative forms of media, social justice and choice.
To cop a listen to one of my favorite new songs go to http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/educated_guess/index.asp "Animal" is track 9. Do you think we're surrounded by "willful ignorance?"
* to save yourself embarrassment from mispronouncing Ani's name with your hipper peers, we offer the following suggestion: say "AH-knee" with emphasis on the first syllable.
** Ani's quotes are lifted right off the "Render" DVD available at http://www.righteousbabe.com/store/index.asp?id=8
*** Jane Jacobs said this. Isn't that cool?
Do you have a story of a Boomeranger you'd like to share with the Next Generation Community?
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