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Commentary: How Georgia’s 2024 Presidential Race May Have More to Do with Brian Kemp than Donald Trump
Several political eons ago – by which I mean July – it seemed likely Georgia would skate through the 2024 presidential race without again being the center of the universe. President Joe Biden had suffered multiple senior moments during his debate with former President Donald Trump and was down 4 or 5 points in every poll taken. Few if any sentient observers thought Biden could recover from that and replicate the stunning 11,799 vote Georgia win he pulled off in 2020.
Commentary: What Freedom Means in Rural North Carolina
Watching political TV, it would be easy to think we live in an extremely polarized society. But the North Carolina I live and work in doesn’t feel that way. For years, I have worked with Down Home North Carolina – first as a member, then on staff, and now as the leader. At Down Home, we organize in our state’s small towns and rural communities. Our work shows us that nothing is black and white. This complexity is captured perfectly in our small towns.
The Humanity of the American Rest Stop
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 love a long drive. There’s something about hitting the open...
Rural New England Counts on Foliage Tourism, but the Future of Fall Colors Is Uncertain
Leaves are already turning in northern New England, signaling that the region’s famed foliage season – estimated by the U.S. Forest Service to bring in $8 billion in tourism revenue annually – is underway. This benefits the rural communities that count on booming business in the autumn, but risks a deluge of visitors to newly viral “instagrammable” spots without the infrastructure to support high traffic.
Cherokee Central School Works to Preserve Language and Culture
This story was originally published by EducationNC. In this article, we use the Cherokee language, followed by the phonetic spelling using English letters, then the full English language translation. “You want me to walk you to your class because you are in third grade?”. The question was kind, but met...
Healing Amidst Divisions: How a Small Town Fights for Its Library
After a year of controversy over LGBTQ book displays, county commissioners in a small North Carolina town began proceedings to withdraw their public library from the regional system, a move that threatens vital services and state funding. But some residents are organizing to prevent the change. On June 26th, 2024,...
Don’t Forget About Non-Drivers in Rural America
This story was originally published by Streetsblog USA. In her 80s, my grandma started having heart troubles. More than once, she passed out while driving. When I reflect on it now, I realize she probably drove off the road more than we knew about. Knowing how much she valued her independence, and how tough and determined she was to stay on the farm in Southern Indiana where she’d spent the previous sixty years, she probably didn’t tell anyone about all the times she was able to get herself back on the road.
Commentary: The Human Side of Canvassing in a Small Town
Editor’s Note: This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org. I couldn’t sell cookies when I was a Girl Scout....
Q&A: Myth-Busting Rural Decline, with Ann Eisenberg
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.
What Would a Stronger Democracy Look Like in Rural America?
In the era of Trump, there have been countless attempts to explain the conservative voting habits of small town America. Many rely upon taken-for-granted notions of rural backwardness, overrepresenting the views of the most extreme. In the Daily Yonder’s recent podcast series, “Backroad Ballots: Rural Politics in 2024”, we sought...
Accidental Rancher: The Plagues
There have been some hard seasons of shepherding over the years, but none compare to the last few months. The irony that these difficulties arrived precisely when I decided to re-dedicate myself to flock management and get serious about growing my fiber business is not lost on me; and I’ll be honest, it’s hard not to take it personally when an outpouring of care and devotion (and time and money) are rewarded with one disaster after another.
Where Do Rural Americans Learn About Life After High School?
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. I recently spent...
Commentary: Revealing Our Hidden History Has the Power to Heal and Restore Us
On MLK day in 2011, I was working in a small nursing home in my home county back in Iowa. I was tired and making $8 an hour helping 120 nursing home residents maintain interest in active lives. These were very old people who’d spent a lifetime on farms or running mom-and-pop businesses in the area’s little towns. Some had been born in log cabins or grew up without electricity. So I wondered what on earth would this group say about Martin Luther King, Jr and Civil Rights?
‘Dismayed, but Not Surprised:’ Health Gap Between Urban and Rural America Is on the Rise
When Janice Probst read a report released in March by the federal Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service confirming that the health disparities gap between rural and urban Americans is widening, substantially, she was dismayed but not surprised. According to the report, between 1999 and 2019 the gap in...
Does Campaigning in Rural America Actually Work for Democrats?
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. In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama made a decision that most...
Organizers Hope Federal Program for Flexible Capacity and Workforce Development Could Become a Blueprint for Rural Funding
As the Biden administration ends, a recent pilot funding program focused on creating jobs and supporting workers in an innovative, flexible way could shape Biden’s rural legacy. The Recompete Pilot Program, authorized for up to $1 billion in the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, hopes to support areas where...
Student-Run Market Made from Straw Bales Still Serving Cody Amid Grocery Store Crisis in Rural Nebraska
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. The group of teachers had a straightforward but daunting assignment before them: How could Cody-Kilgore, a small district nestled in the Nebraska Sandhills, buck the trend of rural decline and revitalize the school?. Teachers Stacey Adamson and Tracee Ford latched...
Election 2024: Competing Visions of How USDA Funding Can Help Rural America
As the 2024 presidential election hurdles closer, voters are clamoring for more information about what policy might look like under Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump. For agriculture policy, experts predict it could follow two very different paths depending on the results of the election: more tariffs...
Rural West Virginia Health Departments are Struggling to Stop the Spread of HIV Amidst Restrictions and Underfunding
This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. As West Virginia towns were dealing with the fallout of being flooded with prescription painkillers in the late 2010s, Dr. Anita Stewart recognized that people with opioid addictions were at risk of HIV. Prescription pills became harder to get, leading many...
Ozarks Notebook: Will New OSHA Rules Spell Trouble for Volunteer Fire Departments?
Fire departments across the country are accustomed to dealing with distress, but pending changes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have them facing what feels like flames that no amount of water can extinguish. I was at a small volunteer fire department’s annual meeting in rural Missouri a...
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