Laureate City

I have long been of the opinion that any place worth anything has to its name no less than one hero who tells its story via some artistic medium. To fail at that speaks loudly of an utter lack of any love or passion for the place, and then you are left with just a place and not a community- at least not one worth association or affiliation with. It hardly needs to be a community on top of the world to have this- some pretty hard-up places can boast of a laureate preaching the word in some fashion.

I'm reminded of John Waters and Barry Levinson, both filmmakers of Baltimore. There's John Sayles of Texas, Bruce Springsteen and Kevin Smith of New Jersey, Woody Allen and Spike Lee of New York, Elmore Leonard and Eminem, both of Detroit. There's Drew Carey of Cleveland, Tina Turner and Mark Twain of Missouri, and so many more I don't know, can't recall or don't dedicate space to here. The point is that when a place has qualities which move an artist to practice his craft in devotion to it, you know it's a place worth investing in, body and soul.

When I can't think of a single one for a place, sometimes it's plain enough that it just doesn't inspire creation. In other cases, one has to wonder why the native artists of a place are sitting on their hands. I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and can think of a few artists who came from there and headed on to worldwide notoriety. None that I can think of have offered a tribute in any form, and less-deserving places have gotten them. Phoenix isn't alone, either. I call on the world's artists to take on their civic duty and give their unserved and under-served communities a binding work of love and pride.