What exactly is “advancement?”  Most dictionaries will admit that the word suggests some level of improvement, progress, promotion, evolution, even innovation.  When I was in school, smart kids took “advanced” classes, which I still think might be the case, though I’m sure the dazed designation wobbles within today’s incessant clamor to neutralize any variance among children in an academic setting – whether the students care about education or not – a process that is ironically dubbed advancement to it supporters.  But what defines progress?  What type of growth within a community will ultimately be looked back upon and noted for its benefit?  And I guess it’s safe to make the connection here between community and country, country and world.   The term global village gets thrown around to associate common themes of advancement that filter down through the various levels of international society and end up not only on the sidewalks of New York and L.A., but within the suburbs of Chicago, Vegas, and Portland, and eventually on the front porches of small town America.  And this is where the debate begins.  Perhaps I’m just thinking out loud here but how much progress, how much innovation can a small town ingest before it starts to either explode in every direction - thus obliterating its traditional infrastructure for a more modern, elastic template - or it simply spills over on itself and begins to choke upon the runoff of eras colliding?  I present to you exhibit A:  McMartinsburg, West Virginia.