I’ve been a resident of Maine for over five years. I have no expectations of ever being seen as anything but “from away” – at least and until someone in a leadership role works to help remove that term from our state’s lexicon.
Native Mainers are reading this and thinking: “Who is this outsider trying to change our language?”
Well, I’m the guy who chose to be here. I didn’t have the good fortune to be born in Maine, but I got here as soon as I could.
In a state where the death rate surpasses the birth rate, it’s frustrating to see conversations that begin with language that alienates potential citizens. But the only way this kind of lexical shift will occur is if someone well-respected, someone in a position of authority, works hard to change our collective vocabulary; works to educate Mainers that the term “from away” is the quickest way to “other” potential and new Mainers.
Moving to Maine was exciting. Like many people, I want to engage in my community and help address challenges. Turns out, getting engaged was the easy part. The disheartening part is repeatedly having ideas and potential solutions dismissed because I am “from away” and thus (seemingly) don’t understand local issues.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work in both rural Maine and in some of our more populated, urban areas. This sentiment and with it the local slang of “from away” isn’t restricted to any particular population base, though I’ve heard it far less in our more urban areas.
Admittedly, Maine communities have unique challenges. But despite the local perception, that doesn’t make our towns any more special than say towns in Montana or Missouri. What makes us different is the self-imposed, unnecessary “shooting ourselves in the foot” with linguistic NIMBYism. We make progress so much harder when we discount ideas from anyone lacking an Ancestry.com profile tracking your roots back seven generations to a single geography. “Othering” interested residents by dismissing their ideas because they’re “from away” is little more than linguistic NIMBYism.
Related, I love the term “New Mainer.” It’s a welcoming phrase. It’s a term that feels intentional, a term that feels purposeful, welcoming and developed in response to the dismissive “from away.” I just wish we could carry that collective spirit over and erase the derisive turn of phrase unique to our state.
So, I’m calling on our candidates for office to add this to their platforms. Imagine gubernatorial or state house candidates talking about the importance of the language we use. If it even gets 10 percent of Mainers to stop “othering” New Mainers, then it’s a 10 percent more positive impact on our citizenry.
It’s important for our state’s future that we do everything we can to welcome potential Mainers. This is economic development work that everyone can take on. Who knows, you might even win over the votes of those of us “from away.”
I’m originally from the South – Little Rock, Arkansas, in fact. My wife (a native Mainer and a boomerang, having returned after 20 years away) always says the South is anything south of Connecticut. Our (arguably) most famous author, Charles Portis, said of my home state: “A lot of people leave Arkansas and most of them come back sooner or later. They can’t quite achieve escape velocity.” Well, I’ve achieved escape velocity and I love it here. But it sure would be nice if our leadership took on the task of helping to bust up the barriers, that soft geographic bigotry, that can reduce the friction and help us “New Mainers” maintain our escape velocity.
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