Where is it?

Citizens Journal-Sun

Atlanta not only observed its 150th birthday, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2022, our town itself was being observed.

Two University of Texas college kids were part of the crowd, walking around taking notes. When asked, they said they were trying to get the feel of small-town life in East Texas.

“We’re working on a project for our ‘Micropolitan Life in America’ class at UT-Austin,” said Carrie Cooper, a graduate student in interior design.

Her classmate is Rainy Payne, a fourth-year student in architecture and architectural engineering.

The purpose of their observational presence was as follows.

“We’ve chosen to study six small towns in East Texas and what the future looks like for them. How industry and infrastructure are interacting with their needs and success,” Cooper said.

“Our point is that small towns run the country. It’s where you get everything,” Payne said. “All your materials and people for manufacturing. Cities are about business and finance, projects and corporations, universities. But things are built, grown and made for the rest of the world in the smaller towns.”

To research this idea, the pair went to the Internet to find where they might discover East Texas towns celebrating or having some kind of recognition and publicity about themselves.

“Maybe see how the towns might be calling attention to their history or industry in their area,” Cooper said.

“So far, we’ve met great people in the small towns. We’ve learned there’s a lot to them. They have a lot to say, but they just don’t know how to advertise it. So, one of our points will be to find ways for the small town to show others,” Payne said.

“That’s how we found out about Atlanta’s Founder’s Day festival. That’s why we’re here this day,” Cooper said.

Both of the two students are themselves from small towns. Cooper grew up in Athens, Georgia in a town of about 2,000. She came to Texas in 2020 to go to college. Payne moved often with her military family.

“We’re already invested in the small towns,” Cooper said. “I find the same things here I grew up with in Georgia. All these towns we been to for this class are really the same.”

The pair had earlier visited the East Texas towns of Jacksonville, Henderson, Gladewater and Jefferson. They were on to New Boston after Atlanta.

Atlanta’s Founder’s Day celebration gave the pair a lot to be learned in a short time.

And this is what the University of Texas students were doing walking around with notepads in the crowd Saturday.

“Micropolitan” life, they call it in their course in college. That’s a new word. Maybe the small towns can pick up on it. Start talking about the advantages of small things.