After a weekend of uncharacteristically warm weather and an annual ice festival that drew thousands to downtown Niles, I think most people could expect that the City of Four Flags would make headlines in several news outlets this weekend.
But even I was a little bit shocked to see our small town in the New York Times.
If you have not read the article yet, the story, titled “In a rust belt town, the women’s march draws shrugs and cheers from afar,” reports several Niles residents’ take on the rallies to support women’s rights across the country.
Julie Bosnan, the reporter who wrote the piece, interviewed a handful of Niles residents who gave a mixed response to the protests. Some seemed apathetic, some showed support for the protestors and others did not seem to know there were rallies at all.
Several people have reached out to me about this article in the last few days. Some are angry with the way they feel the town was represented. Others are pleased with what they feel was a balanced article. Most just want to know why in the world a Times reporter picked Niles, of all places.
Overall, I think the reporter did a fine job of finding people on all ends of the spectrum and illustrating the charm of our area.
Many have inquired, “why Niles?” and some have expressed frustration, assuming Bosnan chose our city because it was stereotypically “Podunk” (not my words) or conservative.
One anonymous reader left a message on my phone asking if “those big wigs at the New York Times are trying to make a mockery of a blue collar town.”
I cannot say for certain why the Midwest correspondent chose our corner of southwest Michigan, but my hunch is that she saw an opportunity in the popular festival that was going on this weekend and knew there would be plenty of brains to pick about a national issue.
If you ask me, Bosnan and the Times were not intending to make an example of Niles or looking for the stereotypical small town to show it as generally apathetic or uneducated on issues. I think they thought it would provide a good sample of how so many other similar-sized communities respond to issues.
These people were out and about enjoying a festival together, frequenting local businesses, taking selfies with ice sculptures and ultimately putting differing political views behind them to enjoy a warm day with friends and neighbors.
Throughout this election cycle, and especially since beginning to publish daily opinion pages, I’ve heard time and time again that our communities — and apparently by extension, our newspapers — lean one way or another. The funny thing is the inferred direction we lean varies depending on who you are talking to. Some believe their community leans left, others think they are slanted more to the right.
Truthfully, between all that wobbling from side to side, things tend to rest in the middle.
I think that’s exactly what an outsider from the New York Times pointed out to our community this weekend.

Ambrosia Neldon is the general manager at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.