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The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 8DAVID E. GREIN LOGGING Buyer of Standing & Felled Hardwood Timber & Bush Lots • Competitive Pricing • Quality Workmanship • Over 20 Years Experience R.R.#1 Neustadt (519) 799-5997 READY TO LAY PULLETS WHITE & BROWN EGG LAYERS FISHER POULTRY FARM INC. AYTON, ONT NOG 1 CO 519-665-7711 Diamond Hay Feeders • ' 1 /4 x 14 ga. sq. tubing Colt• 8 ft. diameter • 54" high • 20" plastic skirt • powder coated green — ,—j --f—lir ..1' f1 Diamond Bar Gates 1. o. l)r Port Welding R.R. #3 Flesherton 519-924-0578 4 THE RURAL VOICE Keith Roulston Who do you think you are? Imagine there was only one corn hybrid available for all farmers in North America. It wouldn't work very well would it — if farmers in Grey were supposed to try to grow the same crops farmers in Oklahoma were growing? We've come to realize the importance of growing plants and animals that are best suited to the local climate. We now know, for instance, that native tree species have an advantage over fancier imported varieties. We can talk all we want about globalization, the reality is we still have to live with local conditions. But the place we do have to live with globalization is in culture — not the high-falutin kind of culture, of opera and symphonies and art galleries, but the kind of popular culture that affects our everyday life. Simply put, we don't have much of a a local culture anymore. We import it from Hollywood and Nashville and make it our own, even if it doesn't grow from our own roots. Culture in pioneer times was incredibly local. In the days before radio, television and recordings, people made their own music. There were several local piano factories because the piano was in demand as families created their own music. At community get-togethers, local musicians and singers were minor celebrities because of the skills they brought. They were the best the com- munity had so people enjoyed them. Communities were truly isolated back then. A singer well known in one comunity might be unknown 10 miles away. Harry J. Boyle in one of his "Clover" books, describes the first time a radio was demonstrated in a general store in his neighbourhood. Suddenly orchestras and singers from Chicago and Philadelphia were heard in his isolated Huron County hamlet. The world of these farm families would never be the same. ' But that very power of radio to cover large distances also helped create a regional culture through the visionary ideas of Doc Cruikshank at CKNX radio. This mass broadcasting tool was given a very local voice as he brought people togetHer over a whole area to listen to local entertainers. Through his travelling barn dance he created stars like Slim Boucher and Don Robinson. These weren't second rate entertainers. When Al Chemey went to CBC he became a national star. When TV came along, Cruik- shank allowed these stars to be seen, not just heard, and created even more stars through local programing that dealt with local issues. Sometimes, when I see Xena Warrier Princess or Lost World on Cruickshank's former station these days, I wonder if he's spinning in his grave. There's little of local significance on his old station now except for the news. It's now owned by a "hip" Toronto group who think that what's good for downtown Toronto is good for farm country. No longer is there a way for local people to talk to local people and exchange solutions to local problems or tell local stories. It's not like anybody's offering much competition. There's not much relevant to rural people in most of the programming on most of the stations. Hours of watching shows about people in California leaves our young people hardly adapted to local conditions, with young women sporting bare midriffs in the howling January winds. But the dangers of an imported culture go much farther than frostbitten navels. Culture affects our way of thinking. If we don't think locally, if we're trying to imitate the values of California on our TV screens, we won't be thinking about our own neighbourhood and how we can deal with its special problems. We still live locally, not globally.0 Keith Roulston is editor and publisher of The Rural Voice. He lives near Blyth, ON.