[nest] Mr. Midwest Goes Green, Pt. 1
The man you see pictured is quite the up and comer about Wichita. He graduated college a little over a year ago and has since worked his way up the social food chain to become a recognizable face in College Hill. Have you been to the cozy little Il Vicino that faces Douglas? Have you sat at the stretch bar on a cold night or taken your salad and wine to the patio on a warm spring day? A lot of Wichitans have, and many of them know this man by name. This is Joel Spedding, and he’s the neighborhood’s fusion of pizza-guy and savvy entrepreneur. He lives nine stories up in an apartment that overlooks the heart of the city, with a wine cabinet, a flat screen, and a shiny new SUV parked behind a security gate. So why am I sitting across from him at a café, lecturing him on the wonders of compost? Because Joel, the high-rise urbanite with new suede kicks and a Bumble and Bumble-worthy ’do, is about to go green.
When I first asked him about participating in this little experiment, he was enthusiastic. He wanted to tell me all about efforts made at Il Vicino to recycle and waste less food, and his ideas for the business’s future. I was overjoyed. I had been expecting him to resist, to fuss a little, to put it off. Yet there I was, notebook in hand, smiling like an idiot because I had the easiest assignment ever. He seemed like a regular eco-cheerleader.
Then came the second meeting. I wore an enthusiastic smile, but it was met with a wrinkled nose and a few epic eye-rolls. I tried to think of what might have changed since last week, and it hit me mid-interview. The best justification for his depleted zeal had to be the fear of social stigma. Talking with him, it becomes obvious that he’s taken a bit of heat for this volunteer project. He’s probably told a couple of acquaintances, and they’ve laughed or painted pictures of unwashed hippies chained to trees, subsisting on soybeans, bicycles and patchouli. Joel was looking at me like I was holding a Frisbee in one hand and a woven hemp sleeping mat in the other. I was, in fact, wearing Steve Madden sandals and handing him a business card. At first, the whole second meeting was rather insulting, but by the time I was home and typing up notes, I realized that it was exactly the task I had wanted to undertake.
Here is a classic Midwesterner. He’s Kansan-born and bred, with a religious upbringing and a KSU degree. His family gets together to watch football on TV and whittle away at coolers full of beer. He’s always talking about someone he knows (through church, school, or his cousin’s husband’s fraternity) that you might know, and he’s almost always a little overworked, putting off airs of a war veteran in the way he’ll sit, look past you, and nod his head in fatigue-beyond-his-years. He is the ideal representative for young Kansas, and I couldn’t ask for a better volunteer. In my mind, if I can get this Midwest golden boy to recycle cans and learn to cook with organic produce, then Kansas is not as bad off as some might have thought. Joel Spedding, in short, may be the key to improving our cultural identity.
With his continued (albeit skeptical) cooperation, I will help Joel separate out recyclables, use less water, learn about reusable energy and diminish his carbon footprint. I’ll provide him with resources, connections, and a few tools that will allow him to make the transition from “I’m glad my parents have started to recycle and everything, but it’s just too expensive.” to “ Don’t throw that away, put it in the compost box under the sink.”
Will I succeed? I definitely think so. Over a single cup of coffee, he came up with four ways to live green that I had never even considered. Despite the hesitation and the fear of being stereotyped, Joel is, I believe, determined to prove that being Kansan doesn’t mean you can’t be progressive and cosmopolitan. And as a Kansan myself, I would have to agree.
Over the next few months, Joel will be taking baby steps toward greening his ninth-floor apartment. If you see him at Il Vicino giving a wine recommendation or shouting instructions into the open kitchen, know that he’s walking more, wasting less, and living better. Pat him on the back and give him your soda can to recycle.
Any words of wisdom, encouragement or ideas for Joel?
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