New Charleston

Defensive ornamentation, East Bay Street, Charleston (Dan Conover photo)

Because Charleston was founded in the 17th century at the southern tip of a north-south peninsula, power and class here have always run on something of a north-south axis. So in the 1970s, when the area around the navy base incorporated as North Charleston, the name spoke as much about the new city's blue-collar identity as it did about its relative location.

Well, I think it's time we imposed a new axis on Charleston. Not North and South, but Old and New. 

Charleston, for all its considerable charms, remains a backward-looking city. Not "backwards," as in unsophisticated or unintelligent, but more enamored of its past than its present. So while the city officially recognizes the value of its "creative cluster," its "tech sector" and its "knowledge-based industries," Charleston's institutions, typically dominated by the same old families and traditions, remain wary -- if not openly hostile -- toward new ideas and new people.

Since that anti-outsider bias tends to limit opportunity, Charleston has developed a reputation as a place where who you know is more important than what you know. It's why so many talented people here seem to direct their energies toward celebrity instead of substance.

Once upon a time I wanted to change that. Now I believe we should let eccentric, odd Old Charleston be whatever it wants to be. I thank Old Charleston for preserving this beautiful city, and aren't we stronger when we value and preserve indigenous cultures?

Instead, I want to encourage Charleston's outsiders to start appreciating their own significance. The prosperity of the Lowcountry depends on the energy, creativity and spirit of people who moved here "from off," and once we start acting on that knowledge it simply won't matter whether Old Charleston recognizes this truth.

New Charleston doesn't have to beat Old Charleston. It simply has to stop looking to Old Charleston for permission.

What are we waiting for?

Go to a New Charleston event -- Kulture Klash, Pecha Kucha, BarCampCHS, a TweetUp or an SMCCHS happy hour -- and look around. Hundreds, thousands of musicians, writers, artists, designers, art directors, photographers, programmers, Web-heads, researchers, engineers, architects, entrepreneurs, chefs, dancers, filmmakers, actors and big-thinkers live here. How many are "from off?" Most.

Yet I still meet people who tell me different versions of the same story. Instead of being encouraged in their new ventures, they are visited by members of the local establishment who always deliver the same message. Get back in line. There's some kind of old-boy system here, and it wants to pick the winners of every contest in advance. I don't understand it, but there it is.

My question is, so what? Yes, these people have some money. Yes the city has various programs and perks it can dole out to the favored few. Yes, the local paper acts an unofficial enforcer of Old Charleston orthodoxy. Again: So what?

We don't need mass media to spread the word. We don't need membership in exclusive social clubs to meet interesting people. And the sophisticated tool users here can do more with less money in less time and with less formal organization than Old Charleston can even imagine.

It isn't as if they're offering us an alternative. You're never going to be accepted into the Old Charleston clubs, so why bother conforming to their rules? What have you got to lose by ignoring them?

When we stop fighting and cajoling Old Charleston, we can invest all that energy into building a healthy New Charleston. A separate culture that reflects the values of the people who came here by choice. A culture that's more egalitarian, educated, productive and open.

This change doesn't require government loans or angel investors. Just start small. Cooperate. Do business with each other -- and with the thousands of like-minded Lowcountry natives who are our good friends and collaborators. Support each other. Work together.

Opposing an existing power structure gets us nowhere. Building our own power structure, with our own open networks and values, is progress.

In conclusion...

You don't undo an old habit. You have to create new habits, and to make them stick you have to reinforce those new patterns until the old ones silt over.

That's how we're going to make progress. And the funny thing is, Old Charleston won't even notice it.

It will simply benefit from it, along with the rest of us. Now go forth, join ranks, and start inventing a new city.

(BarCampCHS photo via Ken Hawkins on Flickr)

Comments

[CharlestonInsideOut]

Awesome awesome awesome - you called it outloud and it's happening everywhere in Charleston. People are starting to realize their power to create, invent, get the word out, collaborate, and push forward hard and happily - without the 'old' structure set in place. I love the Old Charleston - it's one of the things that lured me here in the first place. But there's no reason to let its rules, regulations and recipes stop us in our tracks. The more we forge out on our own, together, the better we can create OUR Charleston - old, new, eccentric, geeky, snobby, beautiful, lush, chic. It's up to all of us. What do we want her to be??

[Caroline Nuttall]

This is exactly what I am trying to celebrate and bring attention to through CHARLIE (www.readcharlie.com). The history and beauty of the city is great, but it's not what keeps us relevant. It's those people you mentioned in your post - the artists, chefs, new business owners, young folks banding together for a cause - that moves the city forward. These people need to be supported so they thrive and encourage others once they see that there is acceptence of the new. Please know this is my absolute intention with CHARLIE. Let us know how we can help support growth of "new" Charleston!

[Dan]

You've got it.

I heard a story once about a herd of sheep that used to get on their bellies to wiggle under a fence to get to a stream. Farmer took down the fence, but the herd would still get to that spot, drop to their bellies and shimmy, then walk the rest of the way to the water.

Punch line is, the herd kept doing it for generations of sheep.

I hear people talking about the "powers that be," and I understand that being on the wrong side of the local aristocracy can make some things difficult. But I just want to tell people "THERE IS NO FENCE."

The other thing I've noticed? Even natives from old families are suffering under this Old Charleston culture. It's not even serving the people who, by seniority and contributions, should get some special consideration.

[Kathleen Donnelly]

Good stuff Dan. I can definitely see the revolution starting to take hold. It's got momentum and enthusiasm and promises to make Charleston an even better place to live.

[Val]

I almost cried when I read this! I am glad to see such positive reinforcement of deserving people who are tired of being told the same old same old "Charleston is just Charleston." Thankfully there are enough smart, creative, and passionate people that there really is an innovative community springing up and thriving out of these old southern cobblestone streets. There are just too many of us doing too many great things around here to be ignored or held back by "the fence" any longer. This is a very realistic goal for Charleston, (Or shall I say, "New" Charleston?) that must succeed!

[Geofftech]

You know I'm leaving because I can't stand "Old Charleston", don't you?

I'm kidding ...

... mostly.

[Peter Lucash]

I' ve been wrestling with the idea of leaving, but am coming to terms with finding a way to live here but build something for a life and a business. Dan, you put it very well - the old boys don't matter. I'm fortunate in that my work is everywhere but here, and would like to do more here.

Great piece!
Peter