My latest Sunday’s Snapshots article came out online with The Sanders County Ledger today and I’m anxious about the reaction. I know I’m not supposed to care, but I do. I don’t like being a person who says “there’s a problem! Someone should fix it!” I am very aware that I am someone and that pointing fingers without presenting solutions is unhelpful at best. Still…I did it. I said, here’s this thing that’s happening that makes me anxious, that I see as a problem, and I don’t have any answers. It’s all very doom and gloom. I even asked my editor if maybe we shouldn’t run it, if maybe I should whip up something else. Obviously it went to print, and here we are.
The majority of my community won’t read this until tomorrow, when the paper editions are delivered, and I am therefore living in a limboed anxiety of my own creating. Interesting.
Anyhow, what are your thoughts? Too doom and gloom? Read the article here.
Sunday Dutro, Author - Official Site 
My first thought when I read the title was that you were writing about the group of non-T Falls folks (outside town limits) who are showing up at town/city council meetings & challenging the status quo. So I wasn’t prepared for the actual content of your column.
You are expressing concerns & your observations about changes that many are noticing with discomfort. I don’t see why you should be concerned. Except… you start out revealing you are from S CA – which as everyone in MT knows is a breeding ground for the very problems you are seeing. Rednecks therefore will conclude that you (and others) brought the problems with you when y’all moved here. Everyone knows that the disease of growth is transmitted by the mere presence of the dreaded Out-Of-Staters.
When I moved to NW Montana (from out of state) I was a less common species. It was hard for me to find other recent transplants. Now after 17 years in MT & 9 in T Falls I am an older transplant – which amazes me at times.
So yes… you may find a couple snarky comments, and maybe even a letter to the editor pointing out that “you haven’t lived here long enough to have the right to complain.”
I write this bluntly & with love. You have nothing to defend. And if you become the catalyst for dialogue on growth, it’s a good thing.
Pen on!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately, I had to reveal I’m from CA. Not only is it a huge part of why I’m writing it, it would be lying to omit the info. I hear you though. I def hear you…not looking forward to tomorrow when all the paper copies get read 😓
LikeLike
We only visit your “small town” during the week and are surely home before traffic time starts down the hill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. Suddenly your moves are dictated by the thing you thought you were avoiding by living in a small town. Sigh.
LikeLike