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“Finding America” in the stories of Fort Drum

by on November 2nd, 2015
Independent producer Meredith Turk.

Independent producer Meredith Turk.

I traveled across the country from St. Louis, MO to Watertown, NY with snowshoes and cross-country skis in my car. I think I’m prepared to enjoy the famous North Country winter I’ve heard so much about. I stopped along the East Coast in Boston, then Vermont, and headed through the heart of the Adirondacks. Only a fraction of the leaves were still hanging on. I arrived in Watertown with 60 miles per hour wind pushing me down the road. I can feel that winter coming, as more frequent storms shake the trees clean.

The closer I came to Watertown and Fort Drum, the more people I met along the way who knew where I was headed. More and more people I met had personal stories about this seemingly remote place. It does feel remote to an outsider — farm land, vast forested areas — but tens of thousands of people from all over the country make this their home.

What does “finding America” mean? It assumes that something is lost or hidden. When it comes to life in a military community, there is a growing gap between the families of those who serve and those who do not. It’s not that we don’t know they are there, but we don’t have the opportunity to sit with the people who live that life every day.

That’s my job.

Localore was developed as a combination of local and folklore. That’s really at the heart of this project that we’re calling Homefront: Fort Drum. I get to explore how people build their lives in a place that many will never visit. Thousands of people who have served in our country’s wars live here with their families. For the next nine months I will discover how that singular fact shapes a community. I will seek to capture their triumphs, love stories, and struggles. I will follow my curiosity and see what connects those who serve with those who do not. With this project we aim to paint a cultural portrait of one community and share those stories far and wide. We also want it to be fun. This is a unique opportunity to bring understanding through storytelling, a core mission of public media.

I’m thrilled to working with NCPR on this project. I’m also excited to get to know the dynamic NCPR audience over air, online and in person.

Do you have a connection to Fort Drum? If so, we want to hear from you. Email [email protected], or get in touch via NCPR on Twitter or Facebook.

Independent producer Meredith Turk will spend the next nine months living in Watertown, NY, and reporting the stories of military service members and their families at Fort Drum, home to the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. She will work in collaboration with North Country Public Radio on a national project from the Association of Independents in Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The national project is called Localore: Finding America. NCPR is one of 15 sites across the country to experiment with new ways of storytelling in public media. This collaborative project is called Homefront: Fort Drum.

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1 Comment on ““Finding America” in the stories of Fort Drum”

  1. Pete Klein says:
    November 3, 2015 at 10:07 am

    There has always been a gap between civilians and the military in military towns.
    Don’t know if this is true because I was never in Norfolk, VA, when I was in the Navy but I do remember being told that some homes in Norfolk had signs on the lawns that read: “Dog and sailors keep off.”
    I don’t believe sailors ever much cared for Norfolk because there was also this little ditty of a cheerleaders song that sailors would sing and went something like this: “We’re the girls of Norfolk. We don’t drink. We don’t smoke. Norfolk! Norfolk!”

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