Marshall Neighbors: Introduction

I have two neighbors who mean a lot to me right now—Jennifer and Emily. Jennifer lives over by the cemetery and Emily lives on the same road as me, a half-dozen doors down. They both live within walking distance of my house. I see them sporadically and spontaneously; we check in on each other often. These relationships feel different than others in my life. I think what creates it is that we’re neighbors.

Neighbors in a community can create a unique bond, maybe because of proximity. Close quarters lead to nearly familial relationships or friendships that wouldn’t have budded otherwise. Not all relationships are close, like the neighbor two doors down who I nod to every time we pass and I know nothing about him. To be neighbors is a connectedness that’s different than other relationship types. That’s true about my relationships with Jennifer and Emily. Jennifer pushes me when we go for walks. We talk about yoga, healing, energies, and aspects of life and living that mean a lot to me. And, when my exterior camera alerted me that the massive backyard tree had fallen, I called Emily to check it out.

Presumably, these relationships exist in every community. We all have them. I imagine, they run the gamut of how they manifest. I wanted to explore these relationships in Marshall, the city where I live. Marshall is a really complex community, in my opinion, and this is a way to highlight its character in a way that’s not controversial (nor connected to my work).

Interviews are the hallmark of the stories about Marshall neighbors that I’ll tell over the next few days. I met with local friends who volunteered to share stories about their neighbors. I try to share their experience, specifically—from their view, what their neighborly relationships mean to them. That’s to say, presumably other people might tell these stories differently. I’m just sharing what I learned from the folks I chatted with. That’s what makes reality fun. Tilt the perspective a little and it’s likely a completely different story. Meet a new neighbor and another type of relationship can emerge.

In my opinion, Marshall is a starved desert for the nuance of other people’s perspectives. For more than a year, there’s been a bubbling sides-taking about the plant being built, and the thread of sides-taking runs deeper in Marshall—to when the casino was built, when the mascot changed away from an offensive indigenous slur, and when Marshall and Albion schools merged. So, in this climate, with this Neighbors series, I intend to present something simple—the ways we exist in these grey spaces together, regardless.

Stay tuned for three essays over the next three days. Thanks for reading. 💛