From 642 Tiny Things to Write About**:
Write an alternate ending for It’s a Wonderful Life.
I would like to think that George Bailey takes the excess donations from his friends and funds a formal economic development organization for Bedford Falls. A few years ago at an IEDC Annual Conference in an Ignite presentation I made on how I use It’s a Wonderful Life to explain economic and community development, I even fantasized that Mr. Gower eventually sold his drugstore to Walgreen’s and used some of the proceeds to create a foundation to support economic development in Bedford Falls.
Almost every Christmas season, we watch the holiday movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, many times on the big screen at our renovated Belcourt Theatre. I am always reminded (and I’m sure that my wife is tired of my talking about it) that this movie is a story of economic and community development. George Bailey and the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Association were integrally engaged in economic and community development. From recruiting Sam Wainwright’s plastic manufacturing facility, to helping Martini create and sustain his small business, to developing affordable housing to retain Bedford Falls’ labor force, to designing and developing neighborhoods that sustain a thriving community — George Bailey and the economic development efforts of the old Building & Loan made a more wonderful life for the citizens of Bedford Falls.
**As a crutch to help write a blog post that meets my low standards ([1] I enjoy writing the blog post and [2] there is a reasonable chance someone will find it helpful and/or entertaining), I am occasionally using 642 Tiny Things to Write About, a writing prompt book (it gives 642 topics/scenarios and you write a little about it.) On first thought, what could these 642 topics/scenarios have to do with economic and community development? But on looking at it a little closer, like everything else, it doesn’t fall far from the the tree we call economic and community development. On the dedication page, the book promised “(t)his tiny book contains all the ingredients to expand your mind, make time disappear, and supercharge your creativity.” If it does this for me in writing for this economic development blog, well, then, it was well worth the purchase price.
