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The Daily Yonder
“A Beautiful and Unusual Thing:” When Region-Specific Is Truly the Best
I am writing this from a hand-hewn table built into the wall of a tinned cabin in the woods. Outside the large picture window, there’s a small meadow of wildflowers below the green canopy of trees, and beyond that a gravel road. I haven’t heard a car all morning, but I have heard the clip-clop of hooves on dirt as a buggy belonging to one of the neighboring Amish farmers passes.
Q&A: What’s Special about Rural Educators?
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
As Factory Farms Expand in Ozarks, Grassroots Groups Organize for Water Quality and Property Rights
The beauty of the Ozarks has become a little more in question due to a lack of protection around property rights. That’s the perspective of Dan Chiles, Dave Coonrod and Kathy Christy, and it’s based in part due to the 2019 removal of local control of confined animal feeding operations, otherwise known as CAFOs.
Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon:’ The Culmination of a Career Defined by Rural Roles and Small-Town Sagas
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.
Backroad Ballots: New Podcast Separates Myths and Realities Surrounding Rural Voters
The national conversation about the motivations of rural voters oversimplifies a complicated electorate that faces a common set of difficult economic issues, according to a new podcast whose producers include the Daily Yonder. The new podcast series “Backroad Ballots” aims to help clarify what’s at stake in the countryside this...
Latest Fed Survey Shows Nonmetro Residents Have Dimmer Views on Economy
Nonmetro areas are worse off financially than metropolitan areas, and the gap is consistent and widening, according to a new report recently released by the Federal Reserve Board. Based on the Fed’s latest consumer survey, the study found that in 2023, 68% of nonmetro and 73% of metro respondents answered...
What Would a Harris Presidency Mean for Rural America?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see? Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. Imagine, for a moment, a world in which a former U.S....
Commentary: In His Tales of Appalachian Life, JD Vance Ignores People Like Me
This story was originally published by the Lexington Herald-Leader. I was born in 1946 and raised in a Black coal mining family at the foot of Black Mountain, Kentucky’s highest peak, in Harlan County. From its summit, during my frequent hikes as a teenager, I could see — looking to the northwest — the ridges of Breathitt County, the ancestral homeland of JD Vance. Vance came to my attention with his 2016-published best seller, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” the most derogatory and uncomplimentary stereotype of people from the Appalachian region that I ever read.
Rural, Recreation-Related Businesses Support Each Other Through ‘Rural is Rad’
In Colorado, a new online database hopes to bring attention and collaboration to rural businesses, primarily those in the outdoor industry. Rural is Rad was started by Kelly Mazanti, TJ Smith, and Robin Hall, who all own small businesses based in rural Colorado. They discovered a shared interest and mutual frustration over growing businesses in rural communities.
Rural Officials Tell NV Lawmakers They Can’t Keep Up With Flood of Proposed Energy Projects
This story was originally published by the Nevada Current. The federal push to build large-scale renewable energy projects on public lands is in full force, and Nevada’s rural counties fear they may be on the chopping block. As of June, there are over 130 pending applications to build renewable...
Democracy, Arts, and Storytelling Skills Are Featured in August 1 Rural Assembly Everywhere
What are the best ways to nurture rural communities? How do perceptions of rural places affect the people who live there? What are the best ways to tell rural stories?. The Rural Assembly will explore these questions and more at Rural Assembly Everywhere on Thursday, August 1, from 1-3 p.m. EST. The virtual gathering will bring together a diverse range of panelists and participants from across the country — all focused on uplifting and understanding rural America.
‘We Are Here With That Insecurity’: Mixed-Status Families Weigh Leaving Iowa
This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. Having spent more than half her life in Waterloo, Iowa, she has built a life here. It’s where she met her husband and where her only daughter, who wants to become a sonographer, was born. That’s why, after a day’s work...
Q&A: Does Urban Planning Work in Small Towns?
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
45 Degrees North: Voting, A Love Story
You may not expect rural convenience stores to stock fresh flowers but some do – at least during the second week of February. Think of it as a community service: Valentine’s Day can come with steep expectations and deep disappointment when those expectations are not met. This is all fed by the marketing geniuses who turned prom proposals into performative events that seem scripted for the Hallmark Channel. For anyone unable to conceive and execute the perfect Grand Romantic Gesture by 5 p.m. on February 14, thank goodness for truck stop flowers.
Gorgeous Summer Road Trips to Take in Rural America
Vermont leads the nation in maple syrup production and is widely known as a dairy state, but the marriage of the two isn’t often talked about. The “maple creemee,” a uniquely Vermont version of ice cream made with both of the state’s specialties, is stiffer than a soft serve but served in the familiar swirl. Both locals and visitors can sample 14 of the best maple creemees on Vermont Fresh Network’s Maple Creemee Trail.
Rural Student Qualifications Don’t Align with Local Job Markets
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in Mile Markers, a twice monthly newsletter from Open Campus about the role of colleges in rural America. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox. A few years...
Closing of Rural Hospitals Leaves Towns With Unhealthy Real Estate
This story was originally published by KFF Health News. In March 2021, this town of about 2,000 residents in the hills of east Tennessee lost its hospital, a 54-bed acute care facility. Campbell County, where Jellico, Tennessee, is located, ranks 90th of Tennessee’s 95 counties in health outcomes and has a poverty rate almost double the national average, so losing its health care cornerstone sent ripple effects through the region.
Small Towns Are Paying Remote Workers to Move In
When Penelope Gomez arrived at her new home in Lincoln Center, Kansas, a crew of a dozen townspeople was there to meet her. “There were men and women and children all there to help me unload the moving truck,” Gomez recalls. “It was unbelievable!”. The pleasant surprise was...
2024 Best in Rural Writing Contest Opens for Submissions
The Best in Rural Writing Contest is looking for original fiction and nonfiction for its second annual competition, organized by the rural literary journal Milk House and co-sponsored by the Daily Yonder. Writers have until September 30, 2024, to submit their original, unpublished work for the contest, which will award...
The Assassination Attempt, A Hillbilly’s Elegy, and a World on Fire
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see? Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. I was driving from Seattle to Morton, Washington, when I learned...
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