Editorial: No snobs, just culture

It occurred to me last year, sometime between barhopping, going to concerts, attending First Fridays, listening to KBGA religiously and fumbling my way through the local section of bookstores, that everyone and their mother has a band in Missoula. Everyone seems to be an amateur photographer who shoots crooked photos in black and white. You can't spit in Missoula without hitting a beat-up moleskin notebook that is bleeding with conceptual poetry.

If you're reading this and think it's beginning to sound a lot like the rants from my column last year, worry not dear reader. This time around I am praising Missoula. Although I may not identify with every element of Missoula culture, and you and I have had our differences, the truth is Missoula has a treasure trove of mind-bending art and even hardier culture.

The point is, it's all valuable whether I like it or not. But, the truth is I do like it. I like it a lot.  All of it: the crappy finger-paints the summer drifters try to sell you on the street corner; the low-fi punk bands with an androgynous female (?) singer; the adrenaline junkies who go kayaking down Kootenai creek in mid-December.

The success of this section is dependent upon the Kaimin's strong belief that Missoula has a unique voice and it must be heard here. So, this year the section was renamed Arts and Culture from Arts and Outdoors. The new title is meant to encompass all of Missoula's dimensions, and the outdoors are as much a part of its culture as anything else.

After some major convincing on my part, The Kaimin staff has allowed me to be the arts and culture editor so that I can attempt to bundle it all up in a hip-looking and easy-reading package. It's a daunting task, but one I do not take lightly. Someone needs to bring all this to you, and I will do that, armed with some of the most passionate and talented reporters the School of Journalism has to offer.

With so many big things happening in this small town of ours, it is a travesty not to have a proper place for arts and culture news to reside. It is a sinking feeling to watch all that is Missoula culture go unreported when there is so much to enjoy. And trust me: no one enjoys it more than me.

joshua.potter@umontana.edu