Subbing
Time for some midsummer etymology—one of my favorite ways to beat the heat. And, not coincidentally, a way to talk about something that’s very important to our work here at the Hylton Center.
So, take a trip with me below the surface of a word or two. This first one’s just a warm-up.
When we say something is substantial, has substance, we know what we mean—it has a quality of muchness, it’s more than sufficient, or just plain big. Something to be reckoned with.
But we might not think about the root, the foundation, (the subflooring?) of the word, which includes the Latin prefix sub (under) and a form of the verb stare (to stand—as in the legal concept of stare decisis).
So: something is substantial when it stands under. It is strong enough to support something. It’s a solid base.
Now for the main event. Elsewhere in this newsletter you will be offered a variety of enticements to begin (or renew) a subscription to the marvelous artistic offerings of the Hylton Center. I love our subscribers because they form a key part—one might say a substantial part—of our audience each season.
And they do so with etymological flair. When you subscribe, you quite literally under-write our work: not in the public radio sense of sponsorship (subscribers, after all, get their tickets for a discount), but in the older sense of “agree to, approve of, assent.” There’s another nice resonance from the insurance world: an acceptance of risk, and endorsement of shared value.
By signing your name under your choice of several performances, you are expressing your commitment to our mutual goal of creating a vibrant artistic community. You are saying, in effect, “I trust the Hylton Center to make good judgments, and I’ll sign up to try a couple of new experiences along with the ones I’m sure I’ll enjoy.”
That kind of underwriting, that aspect of subscription, is the one I cherish the most, both etymologically and artistically. It speaks to continuity and community, to a deeper relationship between subscriber and venue than a one-time retail transaction. It keeps us connected and sustains our work. O, the etymologies that await us in those last sentences!
For now, though, please know that I am grateful for your willingness to entertain the idea of subscribing. You add such wonderful substance to our work. And we’ll unpack one of my other favorite words, entertain, in a future edition of this space.
All the best,
Rick Davis
Dean and Executive Director