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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Youth in Revolt: How the Norfologists Will Inherit the City
Words Hannah Serrano
Photos Illustrations by Walt Taylor
Thursday, December 29th, 2011 at 11:23 am
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 21, 2010. It is being re-posted as part of The Drive AltDaily Drive. Reminder: Youth has nothing to do with age.
It’s an ugly truth (although to some, perhaps heartening): the people in power in today’s Norfolk are eventually going to retire and then die.
Many of those people have had long reigns, and a Norfolk without them is difficult to imagine. But all things come to an end and become something else, something new. The Norfolk that we now know–beautiful and promising, but not without a frustrating history of slowness to change–is of course just another one of those things.
And who will inherit Norfolk when its current power people pass on? Who will be there when the dust settles, armed and ready, after years of quiet preparation? Who will continue Norfolk to its truest and most beautiful potential?
It will be the Norfologists.
The Norfologists are Norfolk’s young, best and brightest. They are the people who are writing this city’s future. They’re well past Brain Drain; they’re staying. And they are not only committed, they are invested. They are right now digging their heels in the sand, putting roots down beneath them, and laying foundations that they’ll be damned to not build castles upon.
They are practitioners of Norfology: the art and science of making Norfolk a more thrilling place in which to live and work. The Norfologists are making a good life and a great living for themselves here. They work hard and play hard. They’re always on the move (usually on bike). They are next up for leadership positions; or they hang back behind the scenes, making things happen; or they have their hands in projects they feel passionately about.
The Norfologists are Norfolk’s next generation of artists, chefs, engineers, restaurateurs, doctors, lawyers, and real estate developers. Their careers are still at the beginning, but they are unjaded, and they don’t see any reason why their work will not help create the Norfolk that they want.
They’re past their cynicism about Norfolk; they see in it a blank canvas, a place where they can actually make a difference. And nothing could be more exciting to them. In fact, a true Norfologist thrives on this challenge.
If the Norfologists have anything to say about it, five years from now, Norfolk will be nothing like it is. It will be the heart of a burgeoning region; its urban core. It will be greener and taller and denser and diverse. Its arts scene will have emerged, a result of grassroots public art projects, a fabulous gallery district and a community of super-talented artists. Its music venues will be diverse and will draw every act worth seeing. Its local bands and musicians will have made names for themselves and will be reping Norfolk like Pharrell never did. Its culinary scene will be a pull for gourmands everywhere, eager to experience our authentic mix of Chesapeake Bay seafood and Southern flavors. It will be a place known for festivals, O’Connors Brewing Co beers, bike-friendliness, and green living. It will be “on the map,” a city that suddenly showed up on the scene as a place young people want to check out for all the above reasons.
Ten years from now, it will be a culture capital. It will be connected to its sister cities by a light rail system that put its early nay-sayers to silent shame. It will be connected to Richmond and DC and Atlanta and beyond through high speed rail. And within the city, it will have water transportation, connecting people to everywhere they need to go on the restored, sparkling Elizabeth River. It will have districts that each offers a cool little “scene.” Granby and Colley will not be the only must-visit main drags—River View, Park Place, Five Points, Church Street, Wards Corner, Lamberts Point and the University will all have strips of shops, bars and restaurants worth bringing your out-of-town guests to.
And it will be a go-to city for up-and-coming professionals in every industry, be it biomiedical, engineering, film, shipping, alternative energy, or technology. A place that a young videographer in Portland wants to go to. A place that a Seattle-based tech firm will build an East Coast office in. A place that rivals any great city in America.
But the only way for us to get there is for Norfologists to continue pushing with their work in those industries to make them great and continue pushing this city’s “scene” to develop. We do that, and we can make a case to draw any young creative professional in the country. We do that and we can build pretty much anything here we want, make it into anything we want. We do that and we will have created the Norfolk of our dreams—the Norfolk that is on its way, if not very close, to achieving its truest and most beautiful potential.
And who are the Norfologists that will take up this task? We are. Me and Jesse and everyone at AltDaily and all of you who care enough to read it are. Our friends and colleagues are. Our rivals and best connections are. We are the young, invested Norfolkians who will inherit this city. And this is our moment. The changing of the guard has begun, and we are already reaching critical mass. It’s on us now to recognize that this moment is ours, that we are coming to power, and that we have an opportunity to make Norfolk new.
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Find out more about the Norfology movement at Norfology.com. Join the community on our Facebook. And connect over a beer at Norfology Nights, a networking happy hour on the last Thursday of every month. It kicks off on July 29 at The Boot.
Editor’s Note: The Norfology campaign–a City-sponsored project to attract and retain young professionals in Norfolk–was produced, in part, by AltMarketing, a division of AltDaily’s parent company, Paper Pixel LLC.
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"Even though Serranos can be a good deal hotter than the average, their flesh is much thinner so you get a friendly fire rather than a mouthful of afterburn." — Alton Brown
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beautiful.
Well said!
Let me add that by 2020, Norfolk should also be a highly sought-after region for filmmakers to set their film and TV projects. In addition, the city should be home to a major-league sports franchise, most likely in the NBA.
Great sentiments and great enthusiasm, but did anybody else notice that “Norfology” is an advertising campaign for the City of Norfolk, put together by AltMarketing?
yep – they disclosed that at the bottom in the Editor’s note.
Yeah, but after it was pointed out in the comments.
John Ratzenberger!
Also – why wait to ‘inherit’ Norfolk? Why not start pulling it your way now? Why not work with the people already in power and get started?
As I’m heading back to Hampton Roads I am excited about the Norfologist movement/cause/community/whatever it’s called. The idea that there is a group passionate about what is best in the main city of the region thrills me! But, my older cynical side (I’m a lil north of 30) wants to know what is being done on the big picture to make Norfolk a draw for commerce/industry/entrepenureship.
Yes, the social and cultural side is definitely needed but what about the concerted efforts to create a workforce base or a research base in the area?
You say Norfologigsts want Norfolk to “be a go-to city for up-and-coming professionals in every industry, be it biomiedical, engineering, film, shipping, alternative energy, or technology”
Wow, that’s bold thinking. Every industry? Honestly, what city in the country is the go-to city for up-and-coming professionals in more than one (possibly two) areas? Let alone one the size of Norfolk?
Would it be more constructive to focus leadership efforts on developing a couple areas that already have a strong presence like shipping or technology or engineering (and possibly biomedical)? With the right private investment, public leadership, and university support the area could easily become a leader in at least one of these because we already have leaders at the top in these fields that would have the clout and knowledge and sufficient workers/entrepenuers with the drive and know-how.
Err. So the film industry selects locations based on weather, and light, and available days to film or tape their productions. Of course, the background setting is useful as well. I would imagine this is the main driver of where productions are shot. Regionalism might not work quite as well here.
As far as changing Norfolk, when the people in power leave they will leave the power to their children.
Also, money rules. And really the best way to get money around here probably isn’t the better ways. A .com ain’t going to work so well, but a check cashing venue would. You have to take advantage of the lower income people to really get ahead. Recently there was some fuss over on the Pilot how some entrepreneur that owned a bunch of businesses was also involved in the illicit drug trade. Well duh, it takes money to make money.
I’m all for positivity, and I wish them luck. But you have to be realistic and analyze how things work.
Should the young people totally rise up and throw everyone out, then work real hard to remove all those with power? Boycott businesses, run internet smear campaigns?
Cynicism never built anything worthwhile.
A big reason Hampton Roads has lost out on so many film opportunities is the lack of tax incentives offered in the state. Although a few movies were shot here, and even though the HR area actually has a dedicated filmmaking base, the incentives caused the area to miss out on quite a few projects that were supposed to be set here but were shot elsewhere.
The governor has changed that in the last few weeks, so time will tell. The area does have nice enough locations for filming.
So the citizens have to pay the film makers to come, so they can produce their blockbuster movie? And the film makers look for the city willing to pay the most?
No, the city cuts filmmakers a break on the upfront taxes they pay to film there in order to obtain the larger amount of money they will spend while shooting in the area. Area businesses benefit from the money spent on goods and services by the production as does the city through other forms of tax, such as sales tax. This is thing that tax break nay-sayers never seem to understand. It’s just another iteration of the old saying, “you have to spend money to make money.”
But idealism never built anything that works.
I think the first plan of action should be to clean up the crime. Look at any news website here and the first 5 headlines are shooting/robbing stories. Who wants to come here and build a business when everyone is getting shot outside of it!
But I’m positive, and I love the idea and will support the businesses when they come!!!
The crime can be linked to poverty. It’s not politically correct to say, “Let’s tear down the section 8 housing and push those people to Chesapeake.”
So we’re burdened with that, and the culture of violence around it.
great article, Hannah!
I’d like to add some food for thought for AltDaily, Norfologists everywhere and address some of the commenters (in no particular order):
(1) put your name and face on comments, please; anonymous just doesn’t cut it anymore. I wouldn’t take your unsigned check, either.
(2) you read cynicism in the article; I read clever “tongue-in-cheek” (kudos)
(3) you see advertising campaign; I see “awareness” campaign
(4) awareness (or lack thereof) was one of the most pervasive issues identified with the first region-wide comprehensive economic development strategy, http://VisionHamptonRoads.com
(6) Vision, just completed this spring, offers anyone in Hampton Roads, Norfologists included, a chance to get involved and make a difference today for a better tomorrow; it’s a plan of action, and passionate people are needed!
(7) as for crime: the nation (and the region) have experienced annual declines over the last 3 years; crime in the U.S. dropped dramatically in 2009, bucking a historical trend that links rising crime rates to economic woes. the crime reporting you see in traditional media just perpetuates the old profit-making business model of “if it bleeds, it leads” … best way to negate the negativity is through positive action, via advertisers and awareness campaigns like Norfology
(8) only thing I take issue with is “Norfologists are Norfolk’s young, best and brightest.” I don’t consider myself young, but I do consider myself best and bright. I’d use the label “Young-minded” or “young-thinking” for me and others like me. your “cheese” guy gives us chronologically-challenged youngsters a bad rep, lol
(9) I perception is that Norfology addresses the urban core “creative class” of Hampton Roads; I also submit that it really addresses the entire region’s self-image (disclaimer: I do live and work downtown)
(10) looking for an image to build upon (for a real advertising campaign)? well, Austin wants to “stay weird” maybe Hampton Roads (or just Norfolk proper) could build on the “my blank canvas” theme to promote all the things you talked about in your article
my 10 cents!
Thank you for suggesting “young-minded” and “young-thinking.”
I found myself both heartened and saddened by this article. The vision is beautiful. The enthusiasm, thrilling. But the thought that untold numbers of fabulous, interesting people, whom I would love to get to know and support in their endeavors, think of me as “cynical” and a foot-dragger to progress is hardly unjaded.
Too sensitive? Maybe I am. But aren’t most creative types?
I just want to throw this out there, because while I am interested in the Norfologist movement, certain sentiments expressed in this essay have left me feeling unwelcome. Please, please, please be careful of perpetuating an “us/them” mentality (alt-daily, not Missy). Enthusiasm for change does not come with an expiration date.
http://thetreehousemagazine.com/columns/view-from-the-treehouse/362-the-best-and-brightest.html
I enjoyed Tom R.’s companion article in The TreeHouse Magazine (I say “companion, not “rebuttal”) but I gotta tell all y’all whipper-snappers, I’ve had to zoom in on my computer just to read all this fine print, LOL
I love a good “debate”!!!
I lived in Portland, OR for 17 years beginning in 1987, so was there through the “renaissance” of that city. We had alot of fun, and never thought to label ourselves any sort of “-ologists”, which was counter to the freedom we were experiencing and responding to, and would have been deemed a co-option of what was going on. We lived in the rundown neighborhoods and squatted vacant buildings and warehouses – people weren’t out to make things attractive to us, we were out to make things attractive to ourselves.
We got ourselves priced out of the neighborhoods we “made” cool, and the warehouse district that saw lots of parties, art, and squatting got converted into condos we couldn’t afford, of coure with shops and restaurants downstairs that we also couldn’t afford. Go figure.
Importantly – there was never really ageism in the people I ran with, so this whole “young-v-old” bullshit wasn’t really a factor. In fact we kind of revered the older artists, musicians, and community organizers.
Cool doesn’t need to be contrived. Norfolk’s always been pretty cool – it probably always will be, regardless of what the “creative class” thinks.
Nicely done, Hannah.
Yeah, when young people take the reigns they will no longer be considered young. They’ll be in their 30s and 40s and, like their predecessors, won’t let go for the next generation either. And then the people currently complaining will be the ones at whom complaints about “power people” will be directed. The only way you’re going to overcome that is to 1. be conscious that you’re bifurcating the world in to Them, over there, the ones who have power and Us, over here, the ones without it. What kind of victimization rhetoric is that? 2. Take steps to fight again that by working _with_ the “power” people; 3. stop thinking you are powerless victims and portraying yourself as such. We DO change the world already, focus on that instead of everything you ostensibly can’t do.
As a new person in town, someone in my 30s approaching 40, I’m sick to death of feeling as if I have nothing to contribute to the town’s rebirth because, somehow, I’m in the wrong demographic. And yet here I am, with energy and time and a willing mind and body. But I’ll be damned if I attend one of these Norfology events if all you are going to do is demonize people who aren’t “young” and then offer up ridiculously shifting definitions of “young” when you’re called on it, as happened last time. Hex on Richard Florida for encouraging such a mindless approach to urban economic policy.