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<title>45 Degrees North: Rethinking Where Stuff Goes</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/45-degrees-north-rethinking-where-stuff-goes/2025/07/18/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/45-degrees-north-rethinking-where-stuff-goes/2025/07/18/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Donna Kallner]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
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<p>A neighbor recently asked me a question that’s been weighing on his mind since a friend’s house burned a couple of years back: Is the way I store ammunition safe if I have a fire? He was particularly concerned about the potential danger to people in the fire department.  It’s a good question to ask, […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/45-degrees-north-rethinking-where-stuff-goes/2025/07/18/">45 Degrees North: Rethinking Where Stuff Goes</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="682" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C506&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1023&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C470&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_20250623_150957702_HDR3-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>A neighbor recently asked me a question that’s been weighing on his mind since a friend’s house burned a couple of years back: <em>Is the way I store ammunition safe if I have a fire?</em> He was particularly concerned about the potential danger to people in the fire department. </p>
<p>It’s a good question to ask, and not just about ammo and risks to firefighters.</p>
<p>In many rural areas, there are fewer passersby who might notice smoke and call 911. And it can feel like it takes a <em>long</em> time for firefighters to arrive at a fire call. Our communities are often served by unpaid volunteers who cover large geographic areas, responding from work or home rather than from a station staffed 24/7/365. </p>
<p>There’s time for a problem to grow before firefighters can attack it. In the meantime, it’s tempting for an occupant, a neighbor, or a passerby to want to <em>do something right now</em>. And that can be deadly.</p>
<p>The potential hazards of contents in a structure fire are not unique to rural areas, and ammo certainly isn’t the only concern. A building doesn’t even have to be fully engulfed: A fire smouldering in proximity to household furnishings can produce deadly smoke and gases even if you never spot flames. </p>
<p>So let’s take a hard look at our stuff, whether we should rethink where and how we store things, and what to do and not do in a fire.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Ammunition and Firearms</strong></h3>
<p>I’ve been on several fires where the first units on the scene heard ammo explode. It’s disconcerting, but somewhat less so than the barrage of handgun fire I heard one New Year’s Eve when visiting relatives in an urban area. I guess that was pretty common there. </p>
<p>What’s common here, on the other hand, is for a household to have leftover boxes of shells and bullets stored from past hunting seasons and shooting sports. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute <a href="https://saami.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SAAMI_AmmoStorage.pdf">recommends</a> that ammunition be stored in its original packaging or other packaging designed for the purpose (such as metal or plastic <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammunition_box">ammo cans</a>) and separate from heat sources, open flames, and firearms. Because outside the confined space of a firearm chamber, the smokeless powder used in modern sporting ammunition has limited potential to launch a projectile with deadly force beyond, say, the span of a room or through a sheet of drywall. <a href="https://saami.org/publications-advisories/sporting-ammunition-and-the-firefighter/">This video</a> shows a number of fire scenarios in which sporting ammunition might be present. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.polk1.org/fire-safety-in-your-home">Loaded weapons are another matter in a fire</a>. I once heard a 911 dispatcher relay information to a fire incident commander from the homeowner about the location of loaded weapons in a structure. Because those <em>could</em> discharge with deadly force. </p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Furnishings</strong></h3>
<p>It’s hard to imagine the 911 caller who warns that the smoke-filled living room contains polyolefin carpet and polyurethane padding, polyester curtains, an engineered wood coffee table, and recliners, a loveseat, and a sofa stuffed with polyurethane foam and upholstered with polyester fabrics. Those synthetic materials are so common in today’s homes, we hardly think about them. </p>
<p>But we definitely should consider what happens when they burn.</p>
<p>As a fire gets going inside a structure, it can consume most of the available oxygen, which can slow the burning process. While that sounds like a good thing, incomplete combustion can result in toxic gases and smoke, which can incapacitate occupants so quickly they can’t make it to an otherwise accessible exit. </p>
<p>A “room and contents” fire can reach <a href="https://technicalpanels.fsri.org/research-projects/comparison-of-synthetic-and-natural-home-furnishings.html">flashover</a> within three to four minutes from the time of ignition. And even if it isn’t engulfed in flames, a room may be shrouded in heat and fuel-rich smoke and gases ready to ignite once outside air is introduced into the structure. Such as when an occupant, a neighbor, or a passerby who wants to <em>do something right now </em>opens a door.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is to <a href="https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/fire.html">get out and stay out</a>, closing doors behind you to reduce oxygen available to feed the fire.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Lithium-ion Batteries</strong></h3>
<p>Lithium-ion batteries power everything from cell phones and laptops to e-bikes, power tools, and robotic vacuum cleaners. They also can reach temperatures hotter than a conventional gasoline fire, release gases that can be lethal in enclosed spaces, and reignite hours to days after appearing to be extinguished. Your rural volunteer fire department would <em>definitely </em>want a heads-up if they might be walking into a structure fire involving lithium-ion batteries.</p>
<p>You can help <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/home-fire-safety/lithium-Ion-batteries">prevent those fires</a>. For example, use only batteries and charging units specifically made for the device. Know and follow the manufacturer’s instructions and safety information for use, storage, charging, and maintenance. Don’t leave items unattended while charging or in the charger overnight. Don’t charge devices on or near surfaces that can ignite. Don’t overload electrical outlets while charging. Stop charging a battery once it is full. And stop using any device that shows signs of damage, including an unusual odor or sounds, is hot to the touch, or is not holding a charge.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Flammable and Combustible Liquids</strong></h3>
<p>Technically, what distinguishes flammable from combustible liquids is the temperature at which they give off enough vapor to ignite in the presence of an ignition source. It’s kind of a <em>po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe</em> distinction, though, when you think about what can set your property on fire. </p>
<p>But it can help you decide where and how to store certain things.</p>
<p>For example, flammable liquids like gasoline, ethanol, and propane have a flashpoint below 100°F. Combustible liquids like diesel fuel, motor oil, and kerosene have a flash point between 100°F and 200°F. When the tree that shades the detached garage or shed where you store fuel for the lawnmower is lost, you may need to rethink what you store in that structure. An area that gets so hot you wouldn’t leave an infant or pet there is not suitable for flammable or combustible liquids.</p>
<p>Flammable liquid vapors are <a href="https://www.rockfordmutual.com/blog/combustibles-101-how-store-handle-and-use-gasoline-and-diesel-fuel-safely">heavier than air</a> and can accumulate at the floor or ground level. So, flammable and combustible liquids should be stored <em>at least</em> 10 feet away from any potential ignition source. That includes a furnace or other heat source, the water heater, and the clothes dryer. It includes grills, smokers, and the old stove you use for canning. And it includes one often overlooked potential ignition source – electrical outlets. </p>
<p>Ideally, we could all store our flammables and combustibles in a shed or garage constructed of metal, concrete, or other fire-resistant materials. Make that a well-ventilated shed or detached garage situated well away from other structures. </p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Multi-Purpose Spaces</strong></h3>
<p>The growing popularity of <a href="https://ilovepolebuildings.com/shouse-vs-barndominiums-guide/">barndominiums and shouses</a> adds a wrinkle to storage considerations. Space management considerations can be more flexible in these modern constructions than, say, in a traditional house plus attached garage. When combining living space with storage and/or shop space, it’s <a href="https://yourbarndom.ca/fire-safety-barndominium-2/">crucial to plan</a> for storage that can disperse fumes and decrease opportunities for exposing flammables to potential ignition sources. That might mean investing in <a href="https://www.nationwideindustrialsupply.com/Flammable-Cabinets/">flammables storage cabinets</a>, for example.</p>
<p>It’s also vital to keep shop areas clean and orderly. <a href="https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/home-fires/prevent-fires/basement-and-garage/">Garage fires</a> tend to spread farther and cause more injuries and dollar loss than fires that start in all other areas of the home. A snowmobile that backfires a spark that igniting a fuel spill can quickly spread. Our volunteer fire department once responded to a detached garage fire that destroyed multiple vehicles, including snowmobiles and ATVs, plus a motorhome parked outside. The consequences could have been even more serious in a space that incorporated living quarters.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="What Happens When Ammo Burns? Sporting Ammunition and the Fire Fighter | SAAMI.org" width="780" height="439" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3SlOXowwC4c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>An Ounce of Prevention</strong></h3>
<p>Let’s be real: We’re not giving up our lithium-ion-powered devices or our comfy recliners. Sadly, those are probably of greater concern in a fire situation than the shotgun shells my husband has accumulated in gauges and loads suitable for everything from sporting clays to wild turkeys. But here’s what we can do:</p>
<p>We can make sure that <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/project/storefront/catalog/files/safety-tip-sheets/smokealarmssafetytips.pdf?rev=d1233cde228347ca89a02d65085bf689">smoke and carbon monoxide detectors</a> are properly installed in <em>all </em>the recommended areas, tested monthly, and replaced at least every 10 years. We can update our <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/home-fire-safety/escape-planning">home fire escape plan</a> and <em>practice </em>until shutting doors behind us is automatic. We can plug only one charging device into an outlet at a time (which means moving my fire department pager to a less convenient location – and there goes my dream of ever docking a robotic vacuum cleaner). We can shop for one of those flammable storage cabinets for the fuels for the lawnmower, string trimmer, and chainsaw. We can be better about getting rid of boxes that accumulate in the basement (not near any potential ignition source, but seriously – some have been there a looooong time). </p>
<p>And we can practice the inventory of hazards we might report to the 911 operator if we were to have a fire. It probably would include shotgun shells. </p>
<p>But I’ve given up on the Roomba.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/>
<p><em>Donna Kallner writes from Langlade County in rural northern Wisconsin.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/45-degrees-north-rethinking-where-stuff-goes/2025/07/18/">45 Degrees North: Rethinking Where Stuff Goes</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231160</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Q&A: Appalachian Identity and the Tennessee Valley Authority</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-identity-and-the-tennessee-valley-authority/2025/07/18/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-identity-and-the-tennessee-valley-authority/2025/07/18/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Roysdon]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media & Information]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Path Finders]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231520</guid>
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<p>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. […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-identity-and-the-tennessee-valley-authority/2025/07/18/">Q&A: Appalachian Identity and the Tennessee Valley Authority</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="734" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?fit=1024%2C734&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?w=2208&ssl=1 2208w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=760%2C545&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=1296%2C929&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=768%2C551&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=1536%2C1101&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=2048%2C1468&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=1200%2C860&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=1024%2C734&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=2000%2C1434&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=780%2C559&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=400%2C287&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?resize=706%2C506&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/1935_Midsouth_Fair_Exhibit_9136787402.jpg?fit=1024%2C734&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/path-finders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Path Finders</a>, 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 <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-potter-josh-copus-has-mud-in-the-blood/2025/06/20/#signup">join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</a> and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.</em></p>
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<p>Even though he has amusingly skeptical things to say about historians, Mark T. Banker is a historian as well as a teacher and author. His book “<a href="https://utpress.org/title/appalachians-all-3/">Appalachians All</a>,” published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2010, is an overview of and response to the ways people classify others as Appalachians or, conversely, decline to consider themselves Appalachians. Banker has taught history in Tennessee and New Mexico, and in addition to his books, his writing about Appalachians and their communities have been widely published.</p>
<p>Recently, Banker and I talked about his scholarship, his life’s work, and his corner of the world. Banker was speaking to me from his home a little more than a mile from the confluence of the Tennessee and Clinch rivers. It’s an area rich in history and Banker has a lot to say about the people and corporations that settled it and live in it. “Appalachians All” examines the southern Appalachians and their people by looking at three subsets: the area around Cade’s Cove, the Clear Fork Valley (the Cumberland Plateau in northern Tennessee and southern Kentucky), and cosmopolitan Knoxville itself. </p>
<p>Enjoy our conversation about the impact of the huge utility company Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), coal mining operations, and the struggle of southern Appalachians looking for an identity. And where these things all coalesce in the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill from the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default"/>
<p class="has-text-align-center"><em>This interview has been edited for clarity. </em></p>
<p><strong>Mark Banker: </strong>Where the coal ash spill occurred, it didn’t come my way and I wasn’t affected. I was, however, indirectly affected by the George W. Bush recession. I had completed that book (“Appalachians All”) and submitted it to the University of Tennessee Press in 2007. Then came the financial exigency, the Press was told to stop spending money and they called and mothballed the book. The coal ash spill validated my unusual take on Appalachia, that we’re all impacted here. [Eventually Banker’s book was published in 2010.]</p>
<p><strong>Daily Yonder: </strong>Have you seen “Wild River?” [Editor’s note: “Wild River” is a 1960 film about efforts by TVA in the 1930s to clear settled land in Tennessee in order to flood various valleys by constructing dams that would generate electricity. Banker’s father, Luke Eugene Banker, worked for TVA and, later, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a worksite for the country’s atomic program.] </p>
<p><strong>MB:</strong> I went to see that movie as a child with my father who owed everything to TVA. I teach classes and my class this fall will deal with representation of Appalachia in films. “Wild River” is a valuable cultural barometer of early 1960s America. I wouldn’t be here without TVA. TVA convinced my father to work for them in Norris. He met my mother. Without FDR and the New Deal, I wouldn’t be here. We who benefited from TVA in many ways should understand that for coal-bearing Appalachia, TVA was a disaster. I benefited from that disaster. I never thought as a child my long showers would have an impact on people elsewhere in the region. The granny character in “Wild River” would fight an agency that said, “You people are expendable.” My dad knew both sides of the TVA story – they hired him as an administrator out of college, then the Manhattan Project led him to move to Oak Ridge. My parents would never have met if TVA didn’t allow my dad to co-op between Norris and the University of Tennessee. Dad’s favorite expression is that it’s better to get forgiveness than ask permission. I always worry about my writing being too egotistical, almost everything I know I learned. But I rationalize when someone is writing and they cite their personal connection, their writing is better. </p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> I think some people think of Appalachia as poor, rural, and synonymous with the South. Obviously, geographically, the Appalachian Mountains are not just in the South. What’s created that impression of Appalachia over the decades?</p>
<p><strong>MB:</strong> For any group that is the subject of stereotypes, once you begin to look seriously, you find what is a simple black and white story is a complicated story with shades of gray. You hear Appalachian stereotypes, and yes there’s a seed of truth there, but there’s so much more to the story. We who live in the region, who don’t fit those stereotypes, should be given much of the responsibility for those stereotypes. There isn’t any subject a historian can’t make more complicated. We’re our own worst enemy. I would argue that our goal should never be objectivity because we should be aware of our biases. I’m first and foremost an American historian. We’ve never come face to face with our biases.</p>
<p><strong>DY</strong>: How about the idea that some equate Appalachia to being poor? </p>
<p><strong>MB:</strong> When you try to undo a stereotype, you sometimes accidentally perpetuate it. I’m fascinated by what happens when marginal people interact with people we call the “mainstream.” What we’re seeing today is backlash that wouldn’t have happened if we had not had Barack Obama or BLM. There is a backlash. A lot of people who were closet racists, it brought out the worst in them. It helped elect the next president.</p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> How did you arrive at the idea of defining the East Tennessee region as the three regions in your book?</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="295" height="445" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Appalachians-All.jpg?resize=295%2C445&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231444" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Appalachians-All.jpg?w=295&ssl=1 295w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Appalachians-All.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Appalachians-All.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cover art provided by University of Tennessee Press</figcaption></figure></div>
<p><strong>MB:</strong> That’s very representative of Appalachia as a whole. I took this course up at Berea College [in Kentucky] in 1988. There was coal Appalachia, timber tourism Appalachia, there was also an urban Appalachia left out of the picture. Most Knoxvillians are not aware of it, but go back three generations and there’s a farmer, a lumberjack [in their family]. I knew of a book about Clear Fork Valley, “Power and Powerlessness,” and that was my pillar for coal Appalachia. There was a different dissertation and book about Cade’s Cove. I struggled with what to do with Knoxville. But if you look at a map, Knoxville is obviously in the Appalachian region. </p>
<p>William Cronon’s book “Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West” says there’s no such thing as urban and rural, it’s all part of the continuum, and I felt that represented Knoxville’s relationship with coal Appalachia and timber Appalachia. Nobody likes redneck jokes more than white Knoxvillians whose grandparents worked in those industries. The nostalgia crowd – I call them the quilt and dulcimer crowd – they don’t like my book. They’re the history people. None of us ever see the truth perfectly. I wanted to create an Appalachia where my students in Knoxville could say, yes, I’m Appalachian too. I believe that for Appalachia’s future, all of us need to realize we have a stake in its identity. </p>
<p><strong>DY: </strong>What kind of changes do you see happening to Appalachians and East Tennessee since the publication of your book in 2010?</p>
<p><strong>MB</strong>: It’s very sad up in the Clear Fork Valley. When I wrote the book, it was already having meth problems. In timber tourism Appalachia, it’s a mixed bag. Tourism continues to ravage Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. Knoxville the city is a much more progressive place. Still, a lot of my students don’t live in Appalachia anymore. They’re doctors in California. We all hope to create a society that’s more diverse and suspicious of attacks on diversity. It’s not the life I envisioned. When I left here at 18, I had no sense of Appalachia, no idea I would ever come back here or be a scholar of Appalachia. It was the 18 years I spent away that made me a credible observer of this region.</p>
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<p>This interview first appeared in <strong>Path Finders</strong>, a weekly email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each Monday, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Join the mailing list today, to have these illuminating conversations delivered straight to your inbox. </p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-identity-and-the-tennessee-valley-authority/2025/07/18/">Q&A: Appalachian Identity and the Tennessee Valley Authority</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231520</post-id> </item>
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<title>College Goes Beyond Just Advising Rural College Students</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/college-goes-beyond-just-advising-rural-college-students/2025/07/17/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/college-goes-beyond-just-advising-rural-college-students/2025/07/17/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Fouriezos / Open Campus]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 13:46:06 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mile Markers]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[repub]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231543</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="685" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=760%2C509&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1296%2C868&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=768%2C514&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1536%2C1028&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1200%2C803&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1024%2C685&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=780%2C522&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=400%2C268&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=706%2C473&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>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. When a rural Oregon Tech student was struggling to get through their […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/college-goes-beyond-just-advising-rural-college-students/2025/07/17/">College Goes Beyond Just Advising Rural College Students</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="685" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=760%2C509&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1296%2C868&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=768%2C514&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1536%2C1028&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1200%2C803&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=1024%2C685&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=780%2C522&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=400%2C268&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?resize=706%2C473&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon_Institute_of_Technology_2014.jpg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p style="font-size:14px"><em>Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in <strong>Mile Markers</strong>, a twice monthly newsletter from Open Campus about the role of colleges in rural America. You can </em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-universities-experiment-with-innovation-hubs/2024/06/06/#signup"><em>join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</em></a><em> to receive future editions in your inbox.</em></p>
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<p>When a rural Oregon Tech student was struggling to get through their curriculum, they didn’t turn to a fellow classmate or to an academic advisor for help.</p>
<p>Instead, they turned to a coach, provided to them by the college through a partnership with the Oregon nonprofit InsideTrack.</p>
<p>“I am wanting to have my textbooks on audio file or audiobooks and be able to listen to it in my vehicle or when I’m at the gym. I have an hour commute each way to work and it’s the perfect time to be able to listen to my textbooks,” they wrote, in an exchange Oregon Tech shared with Open Campus while withholding the student’s name to protect their privacy.</p>
<p>The college’s ‘Read&Write” program felt “a bit archaic, and a lot of the features don’t work.” The student was having to download textbooks chapter-by-chapter, but the files were so big that they couldn’t fit on their phones.</p>
<p>“Actually making the files is adding a minimum 20+ hours to my school work and I feel like that makes my disability accommodations unequitable.”</p>
<p>They are just one of Oregon Tech’s nearly 800 students studying fully online while also balancing jobs, family lives, and, sometimes, disabilities that make taking traditional classroom courses challenging.</p>
<p>Without the coaching program, their struggles might have remained invisible to university administrators until poor grades revealed the problem. Instead, the coach was able to alert staff and advocate for better accommodations.</p>
<p>For Ruth Claire Black, dean of online learning and global engagement at Oregon Tech, that exchange clearly demonstrated the value of the coaching program.</p>
<p>“The students are talking to our coaches about issues that clearly are not on our radar, but should have been,” Black said. “For us, that’s a huge win.”</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Beyond Academic Advising</h2>
<p>While located in the Portland exurbs, Oregon Tech serves a unique population, with many of its students first-generation college students, working adults, or transfer students.</p>
<p>Nearly one-third of the university’s 5,300 students take at least one class online, while 15% are full-time online students — and for those students in particular, coaching has served as a way to let them know what resources are available even when it isn’t so easy to find them.</p>
<p>“Online students don’t get the same type of orientation, they just don’t,” Black says. “They rarely will walk by, say, the office for disability services, and think, “oh, maybe I need an accommodation.’”</p>
<p>In the wake of the pandemic, college administrators across the country have thought deeply about how to better serve rural and online students more effectively.</p>
<p>Oregon Tech was no different. And as Black and others considered how to best serve the students who were struggling most, they realized that advisers weren’t the answer.</p>
<p>“We thought about hiring more academic advisors, but academic advisors are really much more likely to help determine what classes you need to take, and why. They’re not really equipped to do this type of work,” Black said.</p>
<p>The data is “pretty grim” for students who see their college experience interrupted, Black said, noting that “your likelihood of persistence to graduation is pretty low, less than 20%.”</p>
<p>That’s especially true for the types of students that Black sees most in their online learning programs: Most are in their late thirties or even early forties, creating not just challenges with juggling work and school, but also family.</p>
<p>“Many had parents that needed attention and help. They are often caring for both an above and a below generation, while working full time.”</p>
<p>The coaching model differs significantly from traditional academic advising, according to Ruth Bauer from InsideTrack. While advisors focus on course registration and degree requirements, coaches take a broader view.</p>
<p>“Our coaching methodology is really all centered on building a relationship with a student and building trust with the student, and then really helping them to break down challenges and obstacles they face into an action plan,” Bauer explained. “A coach is there to support them through that process and to be their accountability partner as well.”</p>
<p>The approach resembles “a life coach or an executive coach, but applied to a student experience,” she said.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">‘At their limits’</h2>
<p>Online students surveyed by the university consistently reported feeling disconnected from campus life—understandable for those who “never intend to come to campus even for one class” and miss out on the sports events, clubs, and study groups that build community for traditional students.</p>
<p>“A lot of people just felt like they were sort of at their limits,” she said. “They were doing their best, but they weren’t making the kind of progress that was making them happy or achieving the kind of academic excellence that they wanted.”</p>
<p>Since the college began piloting InsideTrack in 2023, it has shown enough positive results for Oregon Tech to expand the coaching program.</p>
<p>In a pre-enrollment campaign targeting students who had stopped out, “well over 100 students returned,” Black said, “way above our wildest dreams and expectations.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the college announced it is now expanding InsideTrack’s coaching across Oregon Tech’s four campuses, including working with freshmen through the Strong Start program and continued support for online students.</p>
<p>For Bauer, the success reflects something larger than just academic support.</p>
<p>Coaching helps students develop a clear understanding of “economic social mobility as the outcome of the educational journey,” particularly important for rural and first-generation students who may lack guidance on how college can help improve outcomes for them and their families.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Looking Ahead</h2>
<p>As Oregon Tech refines its approach, administrators are learning to better identify which students benefit most from coaching. The highest-performing students enthusiastically opted in during early pilots, while struggling students—who might benefit most—were harder to reach.</p>
<p>The goal is to transition from offering coaches to anyone who wants them to really connecting coaches with the students who both most need the support and show the most willingness to engage with it.</p>
<p>“Success in coaching is really a lot about matchmaking the right students with coaching at the right time,” Black said.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">More Rural Higher Ed News</h2>
<p style="font-size:14px"><strong>Rural colleges ‘are in trouble.’ </strong>So writes Dana Stephenson, co-founder of the work-based learning firm Riipen, in a piece for <a href="https://universitybusiness.com/rural-colleges-and-their-communities-are-in-trouble-heres-what-we-can-do/?utm_source=mile-markers.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=beyond-just-advising-in-rural-colleges" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University Business</a>. Noting that colleges closed last year at a rate of nearly one per week, double the pace of 2023, he advocates for creating stronger workforce-education pipeline and leveraging town-gown relationships.</p>
<p style="font-size:14px"><strong>Religious colleges are among the most at-risk.</strong> That was the takeaway from <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/05/18/nx-s1-5381012/rural-religious-colleges-facing-threats?utm_source=mile-markers.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=beyond-just-advising-in-rural-colleges" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NPR</a>, which highlighted the struggles of St. Ambros and Mount Mercy colleges, as they fight to remain open and serve the rural populations surrounding Cedar Rapids, Iowa.</p>
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<p>This article first appeared in <strong>Mile Markers</strong>, a twice monthly newsletter from <a href="https://www.opencampusmedia.org/">Open Campus</a> about the role of colleges in rural America. <a href="https://www.opencampusmedia.org/category/newsletters/mile-markers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join the mailing list today</a> to have future editions delivered to your inbox.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/college-goes-beyond-just-advising-rural-college-students/2025/07/17/">College Goes Beyond Just Advising Rural College Students</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>Inside The Last Linotype Machine Newspaper in America</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/inside-the-last-linotype-machine-newspaper-in-america/2025/07/17/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/inside-the-last-linotype-machine-newspaper-in-america/2025/07/17/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jared Ewy]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Media & Information]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231135</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="574" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?fit=1024%2C574&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?w=2042&ssl=1 2042w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=760%2C426&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1296%2C726&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=768%2C430&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1536%2C861&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1200%2C672&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1024%2C574&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=2000%2C1120&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=780%2C437&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=400%2C224&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=706%2C396&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?fit=1024%2C574&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>News outlets from around the world have visited the Saguache Crescent to pay tribute to its centry-old linotype machine. </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/inside-the-last-linotype-machine-newspaper-in-america/2025/07/17/">Inside The Last Linotype Machine Newspaper in America</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="574" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?fit=1024%2C574&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?w=2042&ssl=1 2042w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=760%2C426&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1296%2C726&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=768%2C430&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1536%2C861&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1200%2C672&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=1024%2C574&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=2000%2C1120&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=780%2C437&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=400%2C224&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?resize=706%2C396&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screen-Shot-2025-06-27-at-10.09.33-AM.png?fit=1024%2C574&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
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<p>The last linotype machine newspaper in America is the Saguache Crescent in Saguache, Colorado. It’s a story worth printing, although publisher Dean Combs doesn’t need to. News outlets from around the world have come to visit and pay tribute to the century-old linotype machine. He can focus on tip-tapping area events into the hot metal typesetter. </p>
<p>Looking like a church employee at a massive pipe organ, Coomb’s keystrokes set off a chain reaction that, to be honest, I still don’t entirely understand. </p>
<p>Anything with molten lead, however, should get your attention. The tiny smelter behind his keyboard maintains 500 degrees while his keystrokes burn for a metaphor of changing times. Today, on a modern keyboard, each touch is translated into a signal that a computer’s processor interprets. At the Crescent, a keystroke sends us through time and into an America dominated by heavy, hot industry. When even the words were made of molten labor. Letters and characters are hammered with Steampunk gusto on different size mattes and assembled into information. </p>
<p>It has been said that Dean hasn’t taken a vacation since 1990. It could be that, like many of us, he’s part of a machine. He’s a very necessary cog in a Rube Goldberg ballet of levers and gears that work together to tell our stories. </p>
<p>He fully admits he’s not a journalist. He relies on members of the community to submit letters and articles. His editorial guidelines are as such: </p>
<p>“You bring it. I print it,” implores Coombs, which is pronounced like combs and is the kind of thing he’d double check during the proofing process. </p>
<p>He admits there are more guidelines. No swearing. No libel. Put it in the form of a letter to the editor because you get more protections that way. </p>
<p>He does have a core of competent professionals. In one issue of the Crescent there are bylines for a Cecil Hall and a Bill Hazard. Wait. Mr. Hall died in 2006 but Coombs is re-running one of his columns called “Remember When.”</p>
<p>In short, Coombs is open to contributions. If you have a release that needs to get out you can just drop it off at the 4th street location. More specifically, put it on the threadbare chair in front of the Linotype with the sticker that reads HERS on it. HIS was not up and running at the time of publication, but the pronouns hint at a history of family collaboration. His grandparents bought the paper in 1917. His parents would eventually take over until his dad died of a heart attack. On that day, he and his mom would still get the paper out. That was the beginning of Dean’s reign, which continues today and for as long as he can Linotype the local news. </p>
<p>I’ve made the trip to the central Colorado town to witness this turn of the (20th) century marvel and see if I can get my name in lead. Coomb’s has stated that there isn’t anyone he dislikes enough to give the Crescent to. With that cold quip presenting an end to the linotype lineage, we need to put forth our best effort to make news while gathering it. </p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/inside-the-last-linotype-machine-newspaper-in-america/2025/07/17/">Inside The Last Linotype Machine Newspaper in America</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>Proposed Public Media Cuts Will Hurt Rural Americans</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/rescissions-act-will-hurt-rural-americans/2025/07/16/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/rescissions-act-will-hurt-rural-americans/2025/07/16/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ilana Newman]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:42:05 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Media & Information]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231515</guid>
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<p>Trump administration funding cuts to public media through a rescissions bill currently moving through Congress would affect rural and tribal areas most, leaving some regions without local reporting and vital community connection.  Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a region about the size of the state of Oregon. It’s inaccessible by road. Bush planes, boats, and in […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rescissions-act-will-hurt-rural-americans/2025/07/16/">Proposed Public Media Cuts Will Hurt Rural Americans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_6877-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>Trump administration funding cuts to public media through a rescissions bill currently moving through Congress would affect rural and tribal areas most, leaving some regions without local reporting and vital community connection. </p>
<p>Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a region about the size of the state of Oregon. It’s inaccessible by road. Bush planes, boats, and in the winter, snowmobiles, are the only form of transportation. Here, where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers meet the ocean, 58 communities and more than 23,000 residents, most of whom are native, call the tundra home.</p>
<p>KYUK public broadcasting serves the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta through public radio and television programs and broadcasts bilingually in English and Yup’ik, which many elder residents speak as a first, or only, language. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4/text">Rescissions Act</a> is a Trump Administration agenda bill that would authorize Trump’s funding cuts to public media, if Congress approves it. The bill, which has passed in the House of Representative and is currently in the Senate, would cancel $1.1 billion in already appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). </p>
<p><a href="https://cpb.org/aboutpb/rural">245 of the 544 stations </a>that receive CPB funding are rural, and rural stations depend more on this funding than their urban counterparts. <a href="https://cpb.org/aboutpb/rural">On average, rural stations rely on CBP for 17% of funding</a> and some tribal stations receive more than 50% of their funding through CPB. </p>
<p>“The communities that will be most affected are the ones that are the smallest and have the most to lose. Rural America deserves to be able to be seen and heard through public media,” said Sage Smiley, news director for KYUK. </p>
<p>The Senate has a July 18th deadline to vote on this bill.<a href="https://kobi5.com/news/local-news/sen-wyden-speaks-out-against-proposed-public-media-cuts-278954/"> Democratic Senators are loudly opposed</a>, but <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-rural-public-broadcasters-white-house-funding/">even Republican Senators</a> who represent rural communities have expressed apprehension about the proposed cuts. <br><br>Susan Collins, Republican Senator from Maine, said <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/senator-collins-opening-statement-at-hearing-on-presidents-rescissions-package-request">in a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing</a> in June that “in Maine, this funding supports everything from emergency communications in rural areas, to coverage of high school basketball championships and a locally produced high school quiz show.” There are other ways to address the “bias at NPR,” she said, “than rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="585" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231517" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=760%2C570&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?resize=706%2C530&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_0002.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">KYUK news director Sage Smiley interviews Morris Alexie, relocation manager for the village of Nunapitchuk (pop. 600) in western Alaska, July 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sage Smiley)</figcaption></figure>
<p>It’s a similar story in Alaska. Federal funding through CPB makes up 70% of KYUK’s budget. If funding is cut to CPB, KYUK would need to make some major changes, according to Smiley.</p>
<p>“The goal is to keep KYUK on the air and maintain its licensure, which [if the Rescissions Act is passed] would require some incredibly drastic cuts to staff from what I understand,” said Smiley. </p>
<p>Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) said in a statement that there’s economic value to funding public media. “Federal funding is essential to public media. Every dollar from CPB brings nearly seven more from state, local, and private donors – the kind of return any taxpayer would insist upon.”</p>
<p>“Public broadcasting exists for everyone. It’s not pay to play. It’s not behind the pay wall,” said Smiley. She added that in her region, many people cannot afford to pay for their news, local or otherwise. </p>
<p>In rural areas like the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, local news is not a given. <a href="https://www.medill.northwestern.edu/news/2024/medill-report-shows-local-news-deserts-expanding.html">In 2024, the number of news deserts</a>, or counties without any local news, rose to 208. But it’s not just the existence of a news source, its quality also matters. Many small papers have been gutted due to funding cuts, leaving a reporting staff barely able to cover local issues. </p>
<p>Smiley said that in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the other main source of news for the region is a newspaper that mostly prints press releases and photos. “It does not do the kind of news that KYUK does,” she said.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that without local reporting, <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/local-newspapers-corruption.php">government corruption grows</a>. Having local reporters present at county meetings is sometimes the only way residents get updates on local issues. And in many rural areas, federal funding is the only way to support these on-the-ground reporters. </p>
<p>Smiley also said she sees that statewide or national news coverage of her region sometimes lacks nuance and context. “When you’re disconnected from community, when you’re reporting from elsewhere, you end up missing the mark,” she said. </p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="654" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=780%2C654&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231519" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?w=1175&ssl=1 1175w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=760%2C637&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=768%2C644&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C858&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=780%2C654&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=400%2C335&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?resize=706%2C592&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Untitled-design-1.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">KSJD is the community radio station in Cortez, Colorado, in Southwest Colorado. KSJD receives around a third of its funding from CPB. (Photo courtesy of KSJD)</figcaption></figure>
<p>In Southwest Colorado, KSUT was created in 1976 as a tribal radio station and communication resource for the Southern Ute reservation. The station aired programming mostly in the Ute language with community news and tribal music.</p>
<p>Today, KSUT serves the entire Four Corners area, from the Southern Ute reservation outside of Durango, to Navajo Nation and Jicarilla Apache in New Mexico. </p>
<p>In May, KSUT joined forces with NPR and other Colorado radio stations to <a href="https://www.ksut.org/news/2025-05-28/ksut-aspen-public-radio-colorado-public-radio-and-npr-sue-trump-over-funding-cuts-order">sue</a> the Trump Administration over an <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14290-ending-taxpayer-subsidization-biased-media">executive order to end federal funding of public media.</a> This lawsuit argued that because Congress controls funding, an executive order changing the flow of funds without congressional buy-in is unconstitutional. If the Rescissions Act passes, those opposed to public media funding cuts will no longer be able to make this argument. </p>
<p>On reservations many residents don’t have reliable internet access, which makes radio an essential source of connection to their community. “Tribal-serving stations help reach some of the most underserved, under-heard people in the country,” said Tami Graham, KSUT’s executive director.</p>
<p>Radio is one of the best forms of emergency communication for these regions as well. “When you’re out on the rez and you have no internet and you’re trying to figure out ‘this flash flood, can I cross safely?’ The only way you can get that information is through your local community tribal-serving station,” said Graham. </p>
<p>KSUT receives 20% of their budget or around $330,000 annually from CPB, said Graham. If the Rescissions Act passes, Graham said they will go straight into fundraising mode. KSUT, and many public radio stations, already have a plea for donations on the front page of their websites. </p>
<p>“It’ll be terrible but we are going to get through this. I have faith in our communities that we’re going to find a path forward,” said Graham.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rescissions-act-will-hurt-rural-americans/2025/07/16/">Proposed Public Media Cuts Will Hurt Rural Americans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231515</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>A Vantage Point for a Fraying Social Safety Net</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/a-vantage-point-for-a-fraying-social-safety-net/2025/07/16/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/a-vantage-point-for-a-fraying-social-safety-net/2025/07/16/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Claire Carlson]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2025 09:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Keep It Rural]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231505</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?w=640&ssl=1 640w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. Subscribe to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox. Late one spring evening in 1796, a deep rumble reverberated through the countryside of Sweden’s Jämtland province. It came from Ragundasjön, a […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/a-vantage-point-for-a-fraying-social-safety-net/2025/07/16/">A Vantage Point for a Fraying Social Safety Net</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?w=640&ssl=1 640w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Doda_fallet_2018-07-05_image05.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. </em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/"><em>Subscribe</em></a><em> to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox.</em></p>
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<p><br>Late one spring evening in 1796, a deep rumble reverberated through the countryside of Sweden’s Jämtland province. </p>
<p>It came from Ragundasjön, a 16 mile-long lake whose outlet formed a waterfall so steep and strong it prevented the local logging industry, which transported timber on boats along the nearby river Indalsälven, from passing. </p>
<p>For years they portaged the wood around the falls, hiring workers from the villages that dotted the river’s edge to haul the timber on and off the boats. But in the later half of the 1700s, construction began on a bypass canal that would rid them of the need to portage the timber. </p>
<p>Construction was slowgoing. The land the canal was built on consisted of silt, sand, and gravel that would fall back into the trench as they dug. After many stops and starts, in 1795 the canal finally reached the lake, connecting Indalsälven to Ragundasjön.</p>
<p>Its success was short-lived. The spring of 1796 was unusually wet, and one June night, Ragundasjön began to flood. The canal filled with more water than its ground could absorb, and soon it started to erode, creating a giant outlet for the lake water to flow through. In just four hours, Ragundasjön was empty, the land below it flooded, and the waterfall – the reason for all this canal trouble – completely gone. </p>
<p>More than 200 years later, this event is still considered one of Sweden’s most catastrophic natural disasters. Countless salmon died, buildings were destroyed, and the entire geography of this place was reshaped in just one night. </p>
<p>Yet not a single person died, which historians say is because people were sleeping in their homes built high above the floodplain. </p>
<p>I learned all this while wandering Döda fallet (dead fall), the site of this infamous disaster. Where there was once a roaring whitewater rapid now lie small pools of water between giant boulders. A boardwalk has been built above the ravine to allow visitors to peer down into it, getting a firsthand look at the way this region was transformed by a single flood. </p>
<p>Just a few days before I visited Döda fallet, a different flooding event occurred thousands of miles across the Atlantic in Kerr County, Texas. In the early hours of July 4, 2025, the Guadalupe River rose more than 39 feet, completely flooding small communities and recreation areas. Most tragically, a summer camp was flooded, the cabins closest to the river swept away by the raging waters. </p>
<p>This is an ongoing disaster: as of July 14, 130 people are confirmed dead and more than 160 are still missing. At least three dozen are children, many of them from the summer camp. It’s likely that the final death toll will reach more than 300 people, an astonishingly high number for a single flood. </p>
<p>I scrolled through interviews with survivors from a quiet corner of Sweden. I’d come here for a couple of reasons: the first (and main reason) was because I have many distant relatives who still live in Sweden and Finland, the countries my great-grandparents immigrated from. I wanted to visit both places and see what, if any, of this flat, lake-covered landscape lived in me. </p>
<p>I also, as I told some friends a few months prior to my departure to the homeland, wanted to look at America from the outside, my view unobscured by my daily American life. What would a few weeks outside of America tell me about America?</p>
<p>There is a tendency, at least among liberals, to idealize Scandinavia, with their free education and health care and robust public transportation system. I’ve always been wary of this tendency, especially given Sweden’s recent immigration crackdown and their use of forced sterilization under a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/mar/06/stephenbates">racial purity program</a>” that was in use until 1976 – less than 50 years ago. This peddling of Scandinavia’s virtues always felt too good to be true. </p>
<p>But as I traveled throughout Sweden, Norway, and Finland (which is not technically a Scandinavian but Nordic country, if we’re being exact), things did, in fact, feel pretty good. </p>
<p>One cousin told me that after spending three years on a four-year psychology degree, she decided to drop out, work abroad, and then come back to school for a five-year civil engineering degree. This was possible because she had no student loans; both schools she attended were free, allowing her the time to find the career path that best suited her. </p>
<p>My other cousin told me about his brother who’d recently had a heart transplant, spending roughly 200 days of 2024 in the hospital. He was flown back and forth by helicopter between the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Lund during his hospitalization. Staying at the hospital cost roughly $20 per night; everything else was free, including the heli ambulance. </p>
<p>When I was in Finland, my relatives were just clocking off work and into four and five-week summer vacations, which is the norm and actually required for all salaried employees. Time off of work is considered just as important as time on. </p>
<p>All this lies in stark contrast to the way things are in America, where people can sign onto hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans when they are 18 years old and get a measly 10 days of vacation every year. Good luck getting any affordable health care without insurance; even with it, deductibles can range in the high thousands before insurance covers your services. Debt and workaholism is normal, common, and even encouraged in the United States.</p>
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<p>When it comes to the weather, Scandinavia is a pretty uneventful place. There aren’t many thunderstorms, ice storms, or tornadoes; there are hardly any earthquakes and no volcanoes to speak of. Certainly it’s getting hotter with climate change and wildfire risk has been growing, but natural disaster-wise, Scandinavia is rather boring. They don’t have to clean up the mess of a disaster every week or month or year, not like in America.</p>
<p>In 2024, there were 27 natural disasters that each cost the U.S. government over $1 billion to respond to. Since 1980, there have been 405 disasters that in total cost more than $2.9 trillion. Thousands of people have died in these events, and that number is growing, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/">data</a>. </p>
<p>These disasters range from drought to tropical cyclones to wildfires. Towns and cities that used to be called “climate havens” – places that were expected to shield residents from the worst effects of climate change – are seeing horrific storms, like Asheville, North Carolina, during Hurricane Helene last fall, a storm that killed more than 200 people. In Sweden, one of its most fatal natural disasters was a landslide in Gothenburg in 1977. Nine people died. </p>
<p>The question that kept arising during my conversations abroad was why, if America is so wealthy, it won’t provide free health care or schooling to its citizens. We floated many different theories – a reluctance to implement higher taxes, a culture of individualism, capitalism – but one I kept returning to, a connection I haven’t seen people make often, is the weather. How is a country supposed to spend on its citizens when it has to pay for the cleanup of all these natural disasters? Then again, wouldn’t people be better off during a disaster if they knew their health care would be taken care of or that they wouldn’t go bankrupt from being saddled with so much debt? </p>
<p>But even the cost of cleaning up a disaster isn’t an excuse anymore. The Trump administration has stripped the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that responds to disasters down to its bones, making it nearly impossible for victims to get any sort of federal support. Two days after the Texas floods, nearly two-thirds of victims’ calls to FEMA went unanswered, according to New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html">reporting</a>. The agency had fired hundreds of call center employees who would normally answer the phone, thanks to a directive from homeland security secretary Kristi Noem. </p>
<p>There’s a “correlation is not causation” problem with my hypothesis about extreme weather and a difficulty implementing progressive policy. But still it’s worth noting, with all these cost-cutting measures by the federal government, whether the U.S. could take a page from Scandinavia for once. Sure, there may be four months of almost complete darkness in parts of Sweden when the sun is at its lowest on the horizon, but at least their antidepressants are free. </p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/a-vantage-point-for-a-fraying-social-safety-net/2025/07/16/">A Vantage Point for a Fraying Social Safety Net</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231505</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Commentary: Food Near Me – The Ironic Tragedy of Rural Food Deserts</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-food-near-me-the-ironic-tragedy-of-rural-food-deserts/2025/07/15/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-food-near-me-the-ironic-tragedy-of-rural-food-deserts/2025/07/15/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brian Reisinger]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Agriculture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=230932</guid>
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<p>The idea of a food desert would have seemed impossible to us, growing up so close to all the earth can provide. As kids, we’d walk with our dad to bring the cows in from the pasture, and watch as they gave milk that became dairy products for other families. Each spring, he’d plant crops […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-food-near-me-the-ironic-tragedy-of-rural-food-deserts/2025/07/15/">Commentary: Food Near Me – The Ironic Tragedy of Rural Food Deserts</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<p>The idea of a food desert would have seemed impossible to us, growing up so close to all the earth can provide.</p>
<p>As kids, we’d walk with our dad to bring the cows in from the pasture, and watch as they gave milk that became dairy products for other families. Each spring, he’d plant crops that by fall seemed plentiful enough to feed and fuel all the world.</p>
<p>Imagine my surprise years later to learn food deserts were right down the road. Somehow, we’ve allowed food deserts—places with poor access to affordable, healthy food—to spread even to regions with plenty of fertile land to solve the very crisis.</p>
<p>In fact, food deserts are most common in rural states, representing a problem I’d come to learn can unite rural and urban America. Nearly <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation#:~:text=Three%20measures%20of%20food%20access%20based%20on%20distance%20to%20a%20supermarket%20are%20provided%20in%20the%20Atlas%3A">54 million Americans</a>—about one in six—live in food deserts, where poor access to grocery stores and low income drive a growing crisis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).</p>
<p>In Midwestern states like Wisconsin, <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas">that includes parts of Sauk County</a> near where I grew up, and neighboring farm counties. The Annie E. Casey Foundation found the ag-heavy South is the most <a href="https://www.aecf.org/blog/food-deserts-in-america">common home to food deserts</a>. And yet, early food deserts were urban areas where the wealthy fled to the suburbs, drawing grocery stores out of inner cities, according to the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2516593/">National Library of Medicine</a>. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. </p>
<p>The central issue is how we’ve wiped out our family farms, at the rate of <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus/">45,000 per year on average for the past century</a>. This is due to a combination of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1510779981/?bestFormat=true&k=land%20rich%20cash%20poor%20book&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_de_k1_1_16&crid=10GBS7CHS03GA&sprefix=Land%20Rich%2C%20Cash%20">economic crises impacting farms</a> from the Depression to today, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/09/12/american-farms-need-help-democrats-republicans/75102299007/">government policy under both parties</a>, and technology <a href="https://madison.com/opinion/column/brian-reisinger-technology-drove-farm-consolidation-could-help-save-small-survivors/article_b71e4995-88a0-571c-babe-7d4dd77c6fbd.html">needlessly leaving many family farms behind</a>. </p>
<p>In rural areas, vanishing farms drove population loss and economic decline. In both rural and urban areas, the loss contributed to a vulnerable supply chain. As industries taking food from the farm gate to the dinner table consolidate, we face spiking food prices when a large distribution center or other link in the chain goes down amid disaster (i.e. Covid-19, or bird flu). </p>
<p>Losing farms also drives our <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/demographic-profiles-of-republican-and-democratic-voters/">growing rural-urban divide</a>, with declining rural areas resenting urban areas, and many urban residents not understanding the nuances of rural life (from diversity of thought to the <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/racial-and-ethnic-diversity-of-rural-population-grows-by-nearly-20/2022/06/15/">diversity of its people</a>). </p>
<p>This means policymakers, divided along similar lines, can’t see solutions, even though they’re amazingly close at hand.</p>
<p>In the town nearest our farm, we lost our grocery store, and a farm supply store carries foodstuffs to fill the gap while a fierce debate has unfolded over a dollar store coming in. This makes rural food deserts insulting: people producing America’s milk, or growing other crops, don’t like feeling they can’t provide for themselves.</p>
<p>And yet, so many farmers grow something other than food because of the complex economic, political, and technological issues wiping out farms. Many are left with markets only for certain crops, often heavily subsidized for animal feed, offering a certain level of stability but little economic growth to advance. </p>
<p>These farmers have places to sell commodity grain, not fresh vegetables. Meanwhile, those farmers with access to food markets usually must sell into our national supply chain, where so much food is highly processed, and large companies reducing costs through economic scale are favored (even though supply chain disruptions increasingly jolt consumers’ prices back up).</p>
<p>I saw half of the solution growing up on our family farm, and half splitting time between there and northern California, near my wife’s family. There, the local food movement is strong with plenty of affluent, food-conscious people, but family farms are <a href="https://farmland.org/blog/2022-census-of-agriculture-california#:~:text=AFT's%20Farms%20Under%20Threat:%20Choosing,land%20is%20being%20lost%20annually.">facing some of their biggest challenges</a>.</p>
<p>The solution could be shifting our food supply to combine the best of both places, creating farmland opportunity and consumer choice. A three-pronged approach would include focusing government and private R&D around technology to help farms of all sizes innovate; ensuring government policy guards fair markets, and diversifying subsidies to stabilize a well-rounded food supply, instead of playing favorites; and calling on consumers to shift how they shop. </p>
<p>We can’t all find everything locally, but everyone can take small steps, patronizing the <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/agriculture-and-rural-development/farmers-market-legislation">growing number of farmers markets</a>, grocery stores carrying local goods, local butcher shops, community-supported agriculture, or online marketplaces.</p>
<p>These changes go beyond one-off programs toward real, local market infrastructure. It’s a lot of change, but I know we can do it. After all, for so many suffering in food deserts, a farm that can help is just down the road.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/>
<p><em>Brian Reisinger is an award-winning author and rural policy expert who grew up on a family farm in Sauk County, Wisconsin. His book “Land Rich, Cash Poor,” was named Book of the Year by the nonpartisan Farm Foundation. He serves as senior writer for Midwestern-based Platform Communications. You can learn more or contact him at </em><a href="http://www.brian-reisinger.com"><em>www.brian-reisinger.com</em></a><em> </em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-food-near-me-the-ironic-tragedy-of-rural-food-deserts/2025/07/15/">Commentary: Food Near Me – The Ironic Tragedy of Rural Food Deserts</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>Energy Cuts in ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Raise Costs, Threaten Jobs, Investment in Rural Communities Across U.S.</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/energy-cuts-in-one-big-beautiful-bill-raise-costs-threaten-jobs-investment-in-rural-communities-across-u-s/2025/07/14/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/energy-cuts-in-one-big-beautiful-bill-raise-costs-threaten-jobs-investment-in-rural-communities-across-u-s/2025/07/14/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Julia Tilton]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Trump's Second Term]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Yonder Report]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231409</guid>
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<p> In the mountains of western North Carolina, local renewable energy company Sugar Hollow Solar is already working through contingency plans to avoid laying off staff. Despite five new hires coming on board in June to install panels in rural communities throughout the region, circumstances have changed for the Asheville, North Carolina, business after the July […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/energy-cuts-in-one-big-beautiful-bill-raise-costs-threaten-jobs-investment-in-rural-communities-across-u-s/2025/07/14/">Energy Cuts in ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Raise Costs, Threaten Jobs, Investment in Rural Communities Across U.S.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25185846935928-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p><em> </em>In the mountains of western North Carolina, local renewable energy company Sugar Hollow Solar is already working through contingency plans to avoid laying off staff. </p>
<p>Despite five new hires coming on board in June to install panels in rural communities throughout the region, circumstances have changed for the Asheville, North Carolina, business after the July 4 signing of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text">One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act</a> (OBBB), the signature piece of legislation of President Donald Trump’s second term. </p>
<p>The law includes sweeping cuts to a renewable energy incentive structure established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) under President Joe Biden in 2022. Tax credits for commercial wind and solar projects will phase out five years ahead of schedule, with the 30% rebate accessible only to projects that either break ground by next summer or come online by the end of 2027. </p>
<p>Such changes are expected to increase the cost of electricity by 9.2% across residential, commercial, and industrial sectors in the contiguous United States, per an <a href="https://cebuyers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IncreasesByState_NERA030525.pdf">analysis</a> from the National Economic Research Associates commissioned by the Clean Energy Buyers Association. For residential ratepayers in states like Wyoming, Illinois, New Mexico, and Tennessee, the analysis found that electricity costs will rise by more than 15%. </p>
<p>Other parts of the new legislation target IRA-era tax credits available to consumers, such as discounts for home energy improvement projects and electric vehicle purchases. Those incentives are set to expire on the shortest timeline of all of the renewable energy credits mentioned in the new law. Customers wanting to install rooftop solar, electric heat pumps, or home efficiency upgrades have until December 31, 2025, to take advantage of the tax credit, while prospective new and used EV buyers have until September 30, 2025, to claim rebates. </p>
<p>Beyond tax policy, the OBBB Act also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/30/upshot/senate-republican-megabill.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share">rescinds billions of dollars</a> of funding for community-level grants and implementation of a host of climate and emissions-reduction programs with money earmarked for rural communities. </p>
<p>For Sugar Hollow Solar, the cuts will almost surely mean loss of business. Sugar Hollow’s Chief Operating Officer, Clary Franko, said one priority right now is to avoid layoffs among the more than 50 employees who live in the city of Asheville and surrounding rural communities. </p>
<p>“We’ll do our absolute best to maintain stability as a company and keep everybody employed,” said Franko. “It’ll be hard.”</p>
<p>Sugar Hollow is not alone in the challenges it’s facing. Lloyd Ritter is a veteran of federal energy and rural development policy, having worked on Capitol Hill before founding Green Capitol, LLC, a renewable energy consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He told the Daily Yonder that the legislation will negatively affect rural America.</p>
<p>“It’s going to hit rural mom-and-pop energy businesses the hardest,” said Ritter.</p>
<p>Beyond the loss of revenue for small-scale businesses, larger projects planned for development in rural communities are also at risk, a Daily Yonder analysis of Atlas Public Policy data found.</p>
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<p>At least 271 wind and solar projects slated for development in rural areas in 40 states are affected by the new legislation’s federal tax policy changes. “New wind and solar projects would have brought investment and job opportunities to rural communities across the country,” wrote Rachel Reolfi, senior policy analyst at Atlas Public Policy, in a statement to the Daily Yonder. “With the new law, many of these projects and their economic benefits are now at risk.”</p>
<p>In order to claim the 30% commercial tax credits for clean electricity production and investment, these planned wind and solar projects must break ground on construction by mid-2026 or come online by December 31, 2027. But for developers of distributed and utility-scale projects with timelines that often span multiple years, this phase-out period is still not much time, despite extending beyond the expiration of the residential credits. </p>
<p>“There will be companies that can’t make it because of project logistics or just lack of support from their investors, or maybe just lack of confidence in the market now,” said Raina Hornaday, general manager and co-founder of Caprock Renewables, a utility-scale developer working across Texas and New Mexico. Texas has many more projects on the line than any other state, with 63 planned solar and wind developments totaling more than 16.6 megawatts of added generating capacity between now and 2031, per the Daily Yonder’s analysis.</p>
<p>Together, the planned wind and solar projects analyzed by the Daily Yonder represent 54.2 gigawatts of renewable generating capacity that, before the passage of the federal budget, were slated to come online in rural communities through the early 2030s. These projects represent enough new generating capacity to power roughly 14 million homes and spur tens of billions in capital investment in their host communities, per estimates made by Atlas Public Policy using parameters from the <a href="https://atb.nrel.gov/electricity/2024/technologies">National Renewable Energy Laboratory</a>.</p>
<p>Amidst the growing need for power supply in the U.S., driven in part by artificial intelligence and <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/this-rural-community-fought-the-countrys-second-biggest-gas-powered-data-center-and-won/2025/06/17/">energy-intensive data centers</a> coming online, industry experts, including Hornaday and Ritter, told the Daily Yonder they’re concerned about the country’s ability to meet demand under the rollback of renewable energy policy. </p>
<p>“We need more energy, not less, and we shouldn’t be picking winners and losers in that regard,” Ritter said. “Wind and solar have been proven to be rapidly deployable and are making a real dent in the nation’s energy infrastructure.”</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/energy-cuts-in-one-big-beautiful-bill-raise-costs-threaten-jobs-investment-in-rural-communities-across-u-s/2025/07/14/">Energy Cuts in ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Raise Costs, Threaten Jobs, Investment in Rural Communities Across U.S.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231409</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Mobile Medical Units Help Deliver Women’s Healthcare in Rural Southeast Texas</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/mobile-medical-units-help-deliver-womens-healthcare-in-rural-southeast-texas/2025/07/14/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/mobile-medical-units-help-deliver-womens-healthcare-in-rural-southeast-texas/2025/07/14/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma Brocato]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231068</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>In order to address gaps in women’s healthcare in rural parts of Southeast Texas, the Hope Women’s Resource Clinic uses a “mobile medical unit” – an RV converted into a clinic that provides various prenatal care – free of charge. The mobile medical unit provides pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and STI testing, and treatment. It parks […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/mobile-medical-units-help-deliver-womens-healthcare-in-rural-southeast-texas/2025/07/14/">Mobile Medical Units Help Deliver Women’s Healthcare in Rural Southeast Texas</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HWRC-64-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>In order to address gaps in women’s healthcare in rural parts of Southeast Texas, the <a href="https://www.hope-clinic.com/">Hope Women’s Resource Clinic</a> uses a “mobile medical unit” – an RV converted into a clinic that provides various prenatal care – free of charge.</p>
<p>The mobile medical unit provides pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and STI testing, and treatment. It parks in Port Arthur, Silsbee, Orange, and Crystal Beach, Texas. The company has been operating for 27 years and also has a brick-and-mortar clinic building in Beaumont, Texas. They are planning to open another clinic building in Port Arthur.</p>
<p>“We saw the need to reach out to the community for those who can’t get here,” said Jeanette Harvey, Executive Director of Hope Clinic.</p>
<p>The mobile medical unit was created because while patients in Beaumont could use public transportation to access the clinic building, patients in surrounding rural areas had trouble getting to it. Harvey and her team conducted research by visiting a handful of other small towns in the area with their smaller mobile medical unit at the time to gauge community need and location convenience, and narrow it down.</p>
<p>Out of the four current parking locations, Crystal Beach is by far the most isolated. It’s located on the Bolivar Peninsula, a majority vacation town with a population of 2,769. The landscape is dominated by beach houses and RV parks, with a number of businesses including restaurants, bait shops, liquor stores, and real estate offices. </p>
<p>But as of 2025, there are no permanent medical facilities located on the Bolivar Peninsula.</p>
<p>Although the neighboring towns of Anahuac and Winnie each have a hospital, the nearest Level 1 Trauma Center is the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston – a ferry boat ride away.</p>
<p>Harvey said they received requests from the community to provide services in Bolivar. The clinic was awarded a grant from the Moody Foundation to fund their transportation, ninety minutes one way, to the peninsula.</p>
<p>“And our first few appointments, we saw how great the need was,” Harvey said. “We may not see the volume that we see in the other locations, but the need is great.”</p>
<p>Hope Women’s Resource Clinic’s website states that they “do not perform or refer for abortions,” however.</p>
<p>“We’ve always been a pro-life organization, and we are there to provide medical services as well as material resources and educational resources once the baby is born,” Harvey said, noting that they provide post-abortive care for patients who’ve made that choice.</p>
<p>Harvey acknowledged that the overturning of Roe v. Wade may have changed the situation for other people and organizations, but said it hasn’t changed the way her clinic provides services. The 2022 Supreme Court decision also didn’t change much for Southeast Texas as a whole, as the region had already been lacking abortion clinics for several years prior.</p>
<p>According to an <a href="https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Politics-keeps-shuttered-abortion-clinic-from-9224652.php">article by the Beaumont Enterprise</a>, the only abortion clinic in Beaumont at the time – and the last of its kind east of Houston – closed its doors in 2014.</p>
<p>UTMB is a public hospital that receives federal research funding and where low-income patients can receive affordable care. People living in rural areas with gaps in healthcare often depend on UTMB’s Galveston location. Jerome Yaklic, MD, said UTMB provides smaller clinics in rural areas, but some of those patients still have to travel for care.</p>
<p>“Most of those women that are seen in those clinics, if they need a more advanced service, higher level of care, or inpatient care, will have to travel to Galveston,” said Dr. Yaklic, who is the chair of UTMB’s OBGYN department.</p>
<p>The state of Texas provides Medicaid coverage to low-income pregnant women. Last year, they expanded that coverage to last 12 months postpartum. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tha.org/issues/rural-health-care/">Texas Hospital Association’s (THA) website</a> states, “About 15% of Texas’ population is rural, including 586,000 rural Texans without health insurance.” THA also states that approximately 40% of rural hospitals in Texas offer labor and delivery services, and cites a <a href="https://www.tha.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Texas-Hospital-Association-Financial-Impact-Report-11.1.22.pdf">2022 report</a> showing that over a quarter of the state’s rural hospitals were at risk of closing.</p>
<p>Harvey says many of their patients are uninsured or underinsured, and they strive to fill in the gaps of pregnancy Medicaid coverage. For example, Dr. Yaklic said, patients must provide proof of pregnancy in order to qualify. The proof of pregnancy would be a form that is filled out and provided by a clinic or a physician’s office.</p>
<p>By providing free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, helping the patients enroll in pregnancy Medicaid, and referring them to local doctors, Hope Clinic gets them an earlier start on their prenatal care.</p>
<p>“What we’re finding with most of the healthcare for women and their babies is that the sooner they get in prenatal care, the better,” Harvey says.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/proposed-medicaid-cuts-lead-thousands-deaths-study-finds-rcna213265">proposed Medicaid cuts</a>, which has healthcare experts worried. A <a href="https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2025-06-13-rural-hospitals-risk-cuts-medicaid-would-further-threaten-access">fact sheet</a> by the American Hospital Association states that “47% of rural births in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid.”</p>
<p>If the federal government goes through with those cuts, Harvey said, the primary impact would be loss of coverage for their patients. Her clinic would still be able to provide their services, but the need for them would be greater, meaning larger gaps to fill. They already have a vision of expanding their services to include full prenatal care, which would become more urgent in the event of cuts.</p>
<p>“If they were to cut Medicaid to pregnant women, then that would be a very real need that we’d have to fill,” Harvey said.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/>
<p>The mobile medical unit’s schedule and more information can be found at their website <a href="https://www.hope-clinic.com/mobile-medical-unit">https://www.hope-clinic.com/mobile-medical-unit</a>.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/>
<p><em>Emma Brocato is a freelance journalist based in Galveston, Texas. Her reporting covers topics such as natural resources and healthcare disparities in rural areas.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/mobile-medical-units-help-deliver-womens-healthcare-in-rural-southeast-texas/2025/07/14/">Mobile Medical Units Help Deliver Women’s Healthcare in Rural Southeast Texas</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231068</post-id> </item>
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<title>Ozarks Notebook: An 1840s Hymnal Finds a New Voice in Northwest Arkansas</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/ozarks-notebook-an-1840s-hymnal-finds-a-new-voice-in-northwest-arkansas/2025/07/11/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/ozarks-notebook-an-1840s-hymnal-finds-a-new-voice-in-northwest-arkansas/2025/07/11/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kaitlyn McConnell]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Religion & Faith]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231191</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>An old tradition has a voice in the Arkansas Ozarks, where Sacred Harp, a hymnal for shape-note singing that has become known as a style all its own, has found followers two centuries after it was first printed in the 1840s.  It’s not the only place where Sacred Harp is at home. In fact, there […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/ozarks-notebook-an-1840s-hymnal-finds-a-new-voice-in-northwest-arkansas/2025/07/11/">Ozarks Notebook: An 1840s Hymnal Finds a New Voice in Northwest Arkansas</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>An old tradition has a voice in the Arkansas Ozarks, where <em>Sacred Harp</em>, a hymnal for shape-note singing that has become known as a style all its own, has found followers two centuries after it was first printed in the 1840s. </p>
<p>It’s not the only place where Sacred Harp is at home. In fact, there are many communities in the United States and abroad where the style is popular. But I’m writing about it today because it reminds us that traditions can begin anew, or for the very first time, and have a meaningful impact on lives today.</p>
<p>In this case, Sacred Harp wasn’t a thing in the Ozarks years ago. One expert I spoke with said that he hasn’t found evidence that Sacred Harp was regularly historically practiced in the Ozarks at all. Even today, other forms of shape-note tradition are far more common across the region. An example is in Brockwell, Arkansas, where a singing school has been teaching the seven-note tradition since the 1940s.</p>
<p>But in spaces in northwest Arkansas, young and old are coming together twice a month to learn and share the Sacred Harp tradition – and build community. </p>
<p>“It’s people just getting together to sing for fun – it’s not a performance,” said Cory Winters who participates with the Arkansas Sacred Harp Singers. “When you go to school for music it’s about performing, and this is just for fun and for community. I enjoy the historical side of it, but I also enjoy the musical side of it.” </p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>What Is Sacred Harp?</strong></h3>
<p>A group of about 10 people were singing the day I stopped by the Folk School of Fayetteville, a city tucked in the state’s northwest corner that’s home to the University of Arkansas. They faced each other from opposite sides of a small room, separated by vocal parts on songs that everyone took turns suggesting. </p>
<p>Participants got the chance to lead the largely Christian-themed songs, a role that took them to the middle of the space, a place called the “hollow square,” where they moved their arms up and down with the music, which was intense. </p>
<p>“It is a sound that the first time you hear it, you either love it or hate it because it’s a big sound,” said <a href="https://www.ozarksalive.com/stories/charley-sandage-lives-shares-and-celebrates-arkansas-folk-culture">Charley Sandage</a>, a musician in Mountain View, Arkansas, who grew up in the Sacred Harp tradition and has led singing schools. “When I had an active group here, I said, ‘The one thing that Sacred Harp singers do not practice is subtly.’ You just rear back and sing.”</p>
<p>Hands grasped copies of <em>The Sacred Harp</em>, the hymnal that was originally published in the 1840s and has survived through various editions. The book, however, lives: I’m told a <a href="https://originalsacredharp.com/">2025 version set to release in September</a> received 1,200 new songs for consideration.</p>
<p>It’s not the only book that focuses on four-note tradition; another hymnal called <em>The Missouri Harmony</em> predates it by a couple of decades. But <em>Sacred Harp</em> was one of most popular books, according to <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/shape-note-singing/">the Library of Congress</a>, and “as a result of this popularity, the style of singing is also sometimes called ‘sacred harp.’”</p>
<p>Despite its name, no harps or instruments of any kind are involved in singing Sacred Harp songs. Instead of a traditional musical staff, four shapes, a triangle, circle, square and diamond, represent different syllables. The style was easier for folks to sing without accompaniment or having significant musical knowledge. </p>
<p>“Shape notes were developed in order to provide an accessible way for singers with little or no literacy skills to read musical notation,” <a href="https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/shape-note-singing-6428/">noted the Encyclopedia of Arkansas</a>. “Settlers carried the tradition with them as they migrated from colonial America into other parts of the country, including the Southeast and eventually the Ozark Mountains. Itinerant ‘singing masters’ typically led classes at a local church or schoolhouse during months with less agricultural work, after which students possessed the skills necessary to sight-read vocal music.”</p>
<p>What I’ve learned in researching this column is that the sun had largely set on Sacred Harp’s first heyday by the early 1900s. For example, a community in southern Arkansas set aside a Sunday in 1910 for the “old folks” to come and sing “the old Sacred Harp.” </p>
<p>“The day is set apart exclusively for the old people to come together one more time and enjoy themselves,” noted the Huttig News. The newspaper was from a town south of the Ozarks, but still represents how folks saw the style of music by that time. </p>
<p>That’s not to say it completely disappeared, particularly in Southern states. “While the use of this system of learning and singing hymns declined in the early to mid-20th century,” that Library of Congress article notes, “there were some communities where it remained strong, and it has enjoyed a revival today, especially in the South.”</p>
<p>That revival came in the mid-20th century, and is thanks to folks like Hugh McGraw, who felt a calling to help spread the gospel about this style of music. A native of Georgia, McGraw learned of the tradition as a child, but an epiphany in his 20s changed his life and the music world. </p>
<p>“I walked into a singing — after I was done married and had a family,” he is quoted as saying by the National Endowment for the Arts, which selected him as a <a href="https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/hugh-mcgraw">NEA National Heritage Fellow</a> in 1982. “And I heard this music, and something just petrified me. Says you got to do your thing. So I began studying and teaching, composing, and singing this music all over the country.”</p>
<p>That drive turned into a mission that helped re-establish Sacred Harp in the national consciousness for new generations and in expanded spaces, an effort that was aided by the folk movement. </p>
<p>“Hugh McGraw became the Johnny Appleseed of this tradition, and it resulted in a kind of metamorphosis (and) broadened the audience,” Sandage said. “It really, really tended to take root in university towns because people who taught music would be intrigued with this alternate way of reading.” </p>
<p>However, this new iteration shied away from the songs’ religious significance. As academic spaces began adopting the tradition, it evolved into a more secular tradition. (In a way, the runway for that reality began years before, when the tradition was favored by the Primitive Baptist denomination, which has a flavor of predestination. In layman’s terms, that means they don’t need to witness or preach to you because whether you’re going to heaven has already been decided by God, and neither they nor you can do anything about it.) </p>
<p>“What happened back in the ‘50s and ‘60s when Sacred Harp was first ‘discovered’ and started to become part of the folk music scene, people – whether they were Jewish or Catholic or atheist or whatever – could go to these Sacred Harp singings in really rustic places in Alabama and Mississippi and places like that and sort of fit into that atmosphere,” said <a href="https://www.ozarksalive.com/stories/ecejjg1khmf0730tto8o8a15g86hjx">Dr. Brooks Blevins</a>, the foremost academic voice about Ozarks history.</p>
<p>Today, it’s true in northwest Arkansas, too. </p>
<p>“The songs are from church music, but this isn’t a church,” says Allison Langston, a member of the group. “For some people, this is a religious practice, but … it’s private. We don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about politics, we don’t talk about religion. It’s social.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="438" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4.jpg?resize=780%2C438&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231193" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C728&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C427&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C431&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C863&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1151&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C674&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C575&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1124&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C438&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C397&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Sacred-Harp-4-1296x728.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://www.timeriksenmusic.com/home">Tim Eriksen</a>, a Sacred Harp authority and folk musician, regularly visits northwest Arkansas to teach about the legacy tradition. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell)</figcaption></figure>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Sacred Harp Singers Today </strong></h3>
<p>All of that takes us to the Fayetteville folk center, where the group of Sacred Harp singers gathered back in May. Fayetteville is a college town, but the singing is open to anyone in the nearby rural area and beyond. </p>
<p>The day I was there was a special deal. It was a training and singing that was in addition to the twice-monthly gatherings they typically host, complete with the remains of a potluck lunch in back. </p>
<p>During a break, I spoke with <a href="https://www.timeriksenmusic.com/home">Dr. Tim Eriksen</a>, a Sacred Harp authority and folk musician who has a PhD in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0l4gxt1">was interviewed by the BBC in April</a> about Sacred Harp. He periodically travels to Arkansas from Massachusetts to give the Sacred Harp trainings. </p>
<p>“I just started doing it because I liked it,” says Eriksen, who found the style through record albums many years ago. “A friend of mine and I got <em>Sacred Harp</em> out of the library and started singing out of it, and we thought it was cool. Got some other friends involved, and eventually realized it was a thing, not just some historical book; it was something that people did.”</p>
<p>He sees evidence that the tradition has a future, citing the pending publication of the new version of the <em>Sacred Harp</em> hymnal. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s secure, especially in more rural areas where smaller groups can lose numbers quickly. </p>
<p>That’s true with the Arkansas group, which lost singers through the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of its members were older, says Langston. It also lost a key leader in 2023 through the death of Dan Brittain, a significant Sacred Harp leader from Arkansas who brought the tradition to musicians around the world. </p>
<p>And it’s a reminder that, for traditions to continue, there have to be new people ready to step in and serve. Today, while music is part of the magic, it seems people’s search for community is another driving factor. It’s a reason Langston decided to join a few years ago. </p>
<p>“During the pandemic, I just was so desperately lonely and needing connection,” she said. “And Sacred Harp – the community is really about connection and relationships. It just fit.”</p>
<p>It’s also true for McKenna Mullis, who began attending about two and a half years ago after moving back to Arkansas post-college and hasn’t stopped since. </p>
<p>“I love singing, always,” she told me. “I did choir growing up for a decade and I enjoyed singing in a group, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy the disorganization of a jam. There’s not a lot of places for acapella music…As someone who doesn’t play instruments to accompany myself, there’s something really intriguing about just voices and the lack of perfection, which I think really off-puts some people. For the rest of us that’s the best part of it. That it’s this kind of raw, imperfect, not very pretty sounding practice.”</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/ozarks-notebook-an-1840s-hymnal-finds-a-new-voice-in-northwest-arkansas/2025/07/11/">Ozarks Notebook: An 1840s Hymnal Finds a New Voice in Northwest Arkansas</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>Q&A: Lakota Stories, Told By Lakota People</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-lakota-stories-told-by-lakota-people/2025/07/11/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-lakota-stories-told-by-lakota-people/2025/07/11/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kim Kobersmith]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Affairs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Path Finders]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231419</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025KamkeSummit0218-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>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. […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-lakota-stories-told-by-lakota-people/2025/07/11/">Q&A: Lakota Stories, Told By Lakota People</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p><em>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/path-finders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Path Finders</a>, 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 <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-appalachian-potter-josh-copus-has-mud-in-the-blood/2025/06/20/#signup">join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</a> and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.</em></p>
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<p>Lynne Colombe grew up at the intersection of agriculture and Lakota culture on the Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux) Reservation. A creative change-maker, she has worked as a journalist, editor, photographer, educator, and administrator. Documentary filmmaking is emerging as her focus, work that she is exploring as a member of the 2024-26 <a href="https://springboardforthearts.org/rural-regenerator-fellows-2024-26/">Rural Regeneration Fellowship</a> with Springboard for the Arts. This fellowship cohort specifically supports artists from across the Upper Midwest whose work is connected to land, environment, and food systems. Below, Colombe shares about the importance of telling Lakota stories from the inside and the challenges of being a female artist.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center"><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity. </em></p>
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<p><strong>DY:</strong> When and how did you become a documentary filmmaker? </p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> A major catalyst coming out of the pandemic was to utilize social media to give a better visual of rural communities for other people. I became a filmmaker in the summer of 2021. I was held back by thinking that I didn’t have access to state-of-the-art film equipment. But I finally just convinced myself to get out there with the camera that I have and one really good iPhone and start shooting.</p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> Much of your work focuses on Native culture and history. Why is it important that Lakota people tell Lakota stories?</p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> Outside documentarians mostly show the poverty of the reservation, and these Non-Native filmmakers are often allowed to be the “spokespeople” of Indigenous people. We are articulate enough to tell our own story, and intelligent enough to talk about solutions. There are major problems on the reservation – murdered Indigenous women, missing children, alcohol and drug abuse – but I want to tell contemporary stories in a sensitive way that shows the humanity of people and doesn’t exploit them. As a Lakota woman, I claim the freedom to create my own dialogue, script, and storyboard.</p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> Your completed short film, “<a href="https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/native-lens/carlisle-indian-school">My Relatives Called Me Home</a>,” tells the story of the 2021 repatriation of the remains of nine children from the graveyard at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania to their ancestral lands in South Dakota. How did your own family history weave into this broader community narrative?</p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> As I began my research into the Carlisle children, I learned that my own great-grandfather, William Colombe, was a student at Carlisle along with his twin sister, Minnie. I never knew my maternal grandmother, Arlene Bordeaux, but in many ways, she was a person who did not survive boarding school. The actual loss of having that woman in your life to talk to, to confide in, to help you, to show you things, to teach you Lakota, to help you when your mother needs help – she was never there. Sometimes in “Indian Country,” the word “trauma” is so heavily embedded with other things, that I didn’t want this concept of “sadness,” or “carrying forward of pain,” to be a part of my identity. But as I journeyed into the documentary work, the connection to my own relatives became impossible to deny.</p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> You are in the process of filming a full-length documentary film entitled, “Descendants of the Star People: Lakota Voices, Virtues and Values,” with the hopes of completing interviews with elders this summer. How are you, personally, thinking about dignity and respect in your process? </p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> As a Native American community insider, I am having some grace in telling the story. I am interviewing the elders before a nice backdrop rather than in their homes. In this way, I can focus on the story and not the person’s social conditions. Following up with the film’s subjects is important so they can participate in the story. I plan to cut a rough edit of their contributions, then video the elders watching themselves as part of the film and use their comments to edit what I want the storyline to be. The film will cover some complex and serious social issues that affect everybody, and they should have a say in the final dialogue. </p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> You established “A Room Without a View Productions” to create your films. Can you explain the name and how it references “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf? </p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> You can’t do creative work as a woman without financial support from somewhere. I had the privilege of a rent-free home at the time, but I couldn’t look outside because it had boarded up windows. It felt symbolic about how Native people are adaptive, that regardless of the challenges of being a rural woman living on the reservation, I am trying to create a view that is authentic.</p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> The fellowship comes with a $10,000 unrestricted grant. How does receiving that kind of support affirm and empower you as a rural change-maker?</p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> The investment in our cohort really validated us as artists. My first fellowship was with the Department of Public Transformation, also based in Minnesota, and it came with a stipend, too. They are a real blessing and brought creative freedom to my life. </p>
<p><strong>DY:</strong> What other creative projects are percolating for you right now? </p>
<p><strong>LC:</strong> My father is 80 years old and is a big part of rodeo and horse culture. As an enrolled tribal member, he has his own ranching operation with 75 wild horses. This summer, he plans to pare down to a small herd of horses and go back to raising cattle. For him, it is moving from what he loves to something that makes money. I will be able to be on the ranch this summer and film a short documentary about this transition. I am also developing an historical novel, set in the 1840s-1900s, that I will begin writing soon.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-lakota-stories-told-by-lakota-people/2025/07/11/">Q&A: Lakota Stories, Told By Lakota People</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>The Winning Formula of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Goes Beyond the Playing Field</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/welcome-to-wrexham-afc-winning-formula-goes-beyond-the-playing-field-in-fx-hulu-series/2025/07/10/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/welcome-to-wrexham-afc-winning-formula-goes-beyond-the-playing-field-in-fx-hulu-series/2025/07/10/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Adam B. Giorgi]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDVlYzRkNjMtNjViNC00NTgyLWJkNDctMzM2YTAzMzNhYzhmXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<p>A strong sense of place and stories of community development help this underdog sports story stand out from the pack.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/welcome-to-wrexham-afc-winning-formula-goes-beyond-the-playing-field-in-fx-hulu-series/2025/07/10/">The Winning Formula of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Goes Beyond the Playing Field</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<p style="font-size:14px"><em>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 </em><a href="#signup"><em>join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</em></a><em> to receive future editions in your inbox</em>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://youtu.be/0U5g_BXD7TI?si=XdZUpzH4pBWUqbYr">opening title sequence</a> for the documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham” starts with archival video of happy coal miners at work followed by stark footage of factories closing and collapsing in on themselves. Behind the images, the lyrics of <a href="https://youtu.be/ErV4jyLZDew?si=lKVZJVijOOC-IUxl">the theme song</a> croon:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Don’t forget where you came from.<br>Don’t forget what you’re made of.<br>The ones who were there, when no one else would care.<br>Don’t be afraid to cry now, even when the world comes crashing in.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/welcome-to-wrexham">“Welcome to Wrexham”</a> is a show about a soccer team, and that title sequence and theme song can be easily understood as a psalm to the successes and many struggles of the team. But it’s no mistake that the imagery and the music there are invoking wins and losses much deeper than those that occur on any athletic field, because “Welcome to Wrexham” is also a show about a place and a community of people, who just so happen to be brought together by sport. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://youtu.be/RPMw9J4V3Jk?si=qMMNHkURFOHJooXq">its fourth season</a> recently concluded, there’s ample evidence to conclude that while “Welcome to Wrexham” gets plenty of dramatic mileage out of the soccer action and feats of athletic prowess, it stands out from the pack because of the other details: an essential sense of place and its documenting of everyday triumphs that occur across a community.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="Welcome to Wrexham | Season 4 Official Trailer" width="780" height="439" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TOChVK3-Q5A?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An official trailer for the fourth season of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ (Credit: Ryan Reynolds via YouTube).</figcaption></figure>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left">Loserville</h2>
<p>For the unfamiliar, “Welcome to Wrexham” follows Wrexham AFC, a Welsh soccer team that was purchased by American actors Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool,” “Free Guy”) and Rob McElhenney (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) in 2021. Their vision from the start involved not only turning around a long struggling sports franchise but also documenting the process and turning the team into a platform for storytelling and community development.</p>
<p>Coming into the endeavor, it’s safe to say that the psychology of the team and the psychology of the town were deeply intertwined, and the show often leans into that premise. On the one hand, you have a soccer team with a once proud legacy that had been relegated to less competitive and prestigious leagues and found itself incapable of climbing its way back. On the other, you have a region in northeast Wales that once produced millions of tons of coal and employed tens of thousands of people in industry before enduring mining disasters, a downturn, and deep cycles of disinvestment in the back half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.</p>
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<p>It’s not hard to see how the team’s woes could start to stand in for the region’s challenges, and vice versa. It’s also not hard to see why a couple of Hollywood types would sense potential there. Few storytelling templates are as dependably rousing as the underdog story, or, similarly, the improbable comeback.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="438" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=780%2C438&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231309" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?w=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=760%2C427&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=768%2C431&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=1200%2C674&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=1024%2C575&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=780%2C438&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=706%2C397&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BYWUxNTIxZGUtN2M2MC00ZWE2LTkwZWItNDcwOTE0ZmM5ODYxXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ (Credit: FX via IMDb).</figcaption></figure>
</div>
</div>
<p>“Welcome to Wrexham” is a documentary series, so Reynolds, McElhenney, and their associates only have so much control over the script. Save for some early speed bumps though, they couldn’t have drawn things up much better if they tried.</p>
<p>As with any documentary work, extra scrutiny and skepticism are due when the subject of the story is also shaping the narrative, but there’s no denying the effectiveness of the storytelling on display in “Welcome to Wrexham’s” best moments. It is consistently thrilling to see the team overcome long odds and rise to the next challenge, and the producers know exactly how to tee up a satisfying climax.</p>
<p>Fittingly, the lyrics of that opening theme song close with a pivot to the hopeful and triumphant, exclaiming, “Don’t forget to sing when you win.” </p>
<p>By the end of the most recent season, there has been no shortage of singing, and if you have any experience cheering on a hard luck sports franchise – take the Buffalo Bills or my Minnesota Vikings as just a couple of cherry-picked examples – you will likely find these to be inspiring and overdue moments of catharsis for a deserving fanbase.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left">Up the Town</h2>
<p>Some soccer fans who follow the sport more closely have conversely chafed at the Wrexham story, seeing a case of buying your way to the top, a false underdog if ever there was one.</p>
<p>There may be some truth in that telling, but the unique landscape of European soccer, with its ladder of interconnected leagues and the constant churn of club promotion and relegation, keeps the competition and the stakes ever rising. Likewise, however much or little you are charmed by the role Reynolds and McElhenney play (along with a number of their famous friends), the main story of the soccer club and its glitzy owners is supplemented by a bevy of touching portraits from around the community, spotlighting smaller-scale stories of fans and regular folks rising to meet their own challenges.</p>
<p>There are lots of sports documentary series out there, from retrospective works like ESPN’s “The Last Dance” to contemporary offerings like HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.” “Welcome to Wrexham” carves out its own unique space with how it goes beyond sports. Learning about the history of the region and the efforts to revitalize the town make for a compelling sub-plot throughout the series. There’s no doubt that success on that score will be harder to measure than success on the field, but it adds to the small and scrappy, against-the-odds spirit of the show.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="439" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg?resize=780%2C439&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-231306" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C729&ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C428&ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C439&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C397&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MV5BMDQwNzEyOGMtNzIxOC00NTdmLTg4NzYtODU4M2JjYjgyOTNhXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_-1296x729.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rob McElhenney and Wrexham AFC fans watch a match in ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ (Credit: FX via IMDb).</figcaption></figure>
<p>The stakes remain human through it all, with the fourth season’s vignettes focused on Ukrainian refugees starting a bakery and an area youth fighting cancer, among others. And local characters like the owner of the historic pub next to the stadium, the manager of the independent video store, and a social circle of older women who convene at a local cafe appear periodically across all four seasons. In that way, “Welcome to Wrexham” resonates because it documents better than almost anything else the experience of being a sports fan; it’s not just about the people who play the game and manage the teams. I regularly saw my own experience as a fan reflected in these people, and it’s a moving reminder of the role sports can play in our relationships with our friends, family, and home. </p>
<p>It’s a winning formula, and I can imagine many, many sports organizations would love to have a “Welcome to Wrexham” of their own. Ultimately though, there’s a specificity here that can’t be mapped onto any old place. There’s power in this small town that’s been through hard times and questioned its sense of self. There’s power in a place that needs a reminder that there are future victories in store. And there’s power in a community that gets to stand tall and sing again.</p>
<p><em> Welcome to Wrexham airs on the cable network FX and all four seasons are streaming on Hulu.</em></p>
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<p>This article first appeared in <strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy</strong>, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/#good-bad-elegy">Join the mailing list</a> today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/welcome-to-wrexham-afc-winning-formula-goes-beyond-the-playing-field-in-fx-hulu-series/2025/07/10/">The Winning Formula of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Goes Beyond the Playing Field</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">231303</post-id> </item>
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<title>How Communities Are Reframing Trauma and Rebuilding Pathways to Healing</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/how-communities-are-reframing-trauma-and-rebuilding-pathways-to-healing/2025/07/09/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/how-communities-are-reframing-trauma-and-rebuilding-pathways-to-healing/2025/07/09/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Caroline Tremblay]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
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<p>Rural communities face unique challenges when it comes to trauma and healing. Whether it’s a school district, healthcare provider, or small-town library trying to support community well-being, trauma-informed care needs to be tailored to local realities, like geographic isolation and limited access to services. “It’s about understanding the impact of trauma on those we serve, […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/how-communities-are-reframing-trauma-and-rebuilding-pathways-to-healing/2025/07/09/">How Communities Are Reframing Trauma and Rebuilding Pathways to Healing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<p>Rural communities face unique challenges when it comes to trauma and healing. Whether it’s a school district, healthcare provider, or small-town library trying to support community well-being, trauma-informed care needs to be tailored to local realities, like geographic isolation and limited access to services.</p>
<p>“It’s about understanding the impact of trauma on those we serve, our workforce, and each other, and using that information to do things differently or better,” said Mandy Davis, LCSW, PhD, director of <a href="https://traumainformedoregon.org/">Trauma Informed Oregon</a> (TIO).</p>
<p>TIO was born from a unique, statewide partnership that began in 2014, when the Oregon Health Authority teamed up with Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, and the Oregon Pediatric Society. Originally focused on child and family-serving systems, the initiative expanded in 2015 to include adult behavioral health.</p>
<p>Part of the challenge TIO has faced is that most policies shaping trauma-informed care are designed for urban systems. “Translating those can cause a lot of tension in the rural areas,” Davis said. That’s why tailoring policies to the realities of rural life—whether it’s population, geography, or funding—is essential.</p>
<p>Beyond Oregon, rural communities across the country are deepening their understanding of how trauma shapes addiction, violence, school struggles, and chronic illness, building on decades of work by advocates, clinicians, and organizers.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Tailored Approaches to Trauma</strong></h3>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7226a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, 63.9% of U.S. adults report at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and 17.3% report four or more.</p>
<p>These preventable, potentially traumatic events, ranging from abuse and neglect to financial hardship or growing up with a caregiver who has mental health challenges, are linked to a host of long-term negative social, economic, and health outcomes.</p>
<p>“All of these things are so trauma-driven, so leaving trauma out of the conversation is missing the point,” said Anena Hansen, project manager for <a href="https://www.traumaresponsivemonadnock.org/">Trauma Responsive Monadnock</a>.</p>
<p>Her organization comprises community members committed to bringing a trauma-informed lens to southwest New Hampshire, the first initiative of its kind in the state. But the national conversation around trauma-informed communities is not new; it’s been gaining momentum over the last several decades. Hansen pointed to Oregon, which she said “has really been a trailblazer in this.”</p>
<p>From the beginning of TIO’s work, advocacy has been the common thread, Davis said.</p>
<p>“We give everyone the same information and resources, but then that entity, community, or organization will make it look like theirs. So it’s going to look different in a library than at a preschool or a child welfare center,” Davis said.</p>
<p>Based on lessons from early adopters, TIO’s mission has evolved over time. The greatest challenge is designing systems people actually engage with. Whether a solution is being offered for housing, healthcare, or food access, “community members need it to be done in a trauma-informed way so they can actually engage in those services effectively and efficiently,” Davis said.</p>
<p>A significant part of the work revolves around healing from difficult times—perhaps a violent incident, natural disaster, or long-standing social issue, such as substance abuse. Davis said the framework for healing “resonates with people from all different sectors who see themselves impacted.”</p>
<p>TIO spends a great deal of time working face to face with community members, offering training, support, and follow-up to drive these efforts forward.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>From Poverty to Access to Green Spaces, Trauma-Informed Care Takes a Holistic Perspective </strong></h3>
<p>“People come together to see what’s working, with a real reminder that trauma-informed care also includes elements like access to healthy food and green spaces—all those things that prevent and also heal adversity,” Davis said.</p>
<p>These interactions are what mental health professionals call Protective and Compensatory Experiences (PACEs), or positive experiences that promote healthy development and well-being. They are critical in rural communities where, “there is a statistically higher likelihood of unmet needs escalating into trauma-causing situations,” Hansen said.</p>
<p>For instance, poverty can both cause and exacerbate trauma, as well as inadequate healthcare access for physical or mental needs. The nonmetropolitan, or rural, poverty rate was 15% in 2019, compared to 12% in metropolitan counties, according to the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-poverty-well-being">USDA’s Economic Research Service</a>.And <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/rural-hunger-facts">Feeding America</a> reports that while rural areas comprise less than two-thirds of all US counties, nine out of 10 counties with the highest food insecurity rates are rural.</p>
<p>While these challenges are significant, Davis noted that rural communities often show remarkable resilience, and it can be profound to watch people come together. Shared services, creative partnerships, and a willingness to act quickly can accelerate progress when there’s community buy-in.</p>
<p>From education and healthcare to the legal system and disaster response, “there are multiple pathways to trauma-informed work, so we’re keeping up with a lot of different sectors,” Davis said.</p>
<p>It can, at times, feel inundating for the people on the ground. So as part of its consulting model, TIO has started offering free micro lessons, like trauma-informed decision-making, implementation, and boundary-setting, skills that communities expressed needs for. </p>
<p>Davis described the work as both rewarding and overwhelming; there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. She came to this work through the years as a social worker, clinician, and provider in sexual assault and domestic violence services. What stood out, she said, was that healing often became “less about the intervention and more about connection.”</p>
<p>Davis saw people healing and doing amazing work—until systems got in the way. By “systems,” she meant the institutions meant to serve people: healthcare, law enforcement, education, mental health services, and the courts. For Davis, trauma-informed care must support individuals while also holding these structures accountable. “Systems either create trauma, activate old trauma, or get in the way of the healing process,” she said.</p>
<p>But trauma-informed communities create space for change. “I can’t often change what’s already happened, but I can influence how the system treats you and impacts you,” Davis said.</p>
<p>To start that shift, Hansen said, “normalizing the conversation is crucial.”</p>
<p>But creating lasting change, both Davis and others agree, begins with building a shared understanding of how trauma affects us and the systems we rely on.</p>
<p>“I want my neighbors to have foundational knowledge about how toxic stress, scarcity and trauma impact our brains, bodies, and ability to engage with one another and with services,” Davis said. “Knowing that, how might we show up for ourselves and each other?”</p>
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<p><em>Caroline Tremblay is a freelance writer who assists with news coverage of Radically Rural, an annual summit on rural issues held in Keene, New Hampshire. This year’s event, featuring people and organizations cited in this story, is Oct. 7-9. For more information, and to register for this year’s summit, visit </em><a href="https://radicallyrural.org/"><em>radicallyrural.org</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/how-communities-are-reframing-trauma-and-rebuilding-pathways-to-healing/2025/07/09/">How Communities Are Reframing Trauma and Rebuilding Pathways to Healing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>In a Small Texas Town, Pride Grows Loud and Joyful</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/in-a-small-texas-town-pride-grows-loud-and-joyful/2025/07/09/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/in-a-small-texas-town-pride-grows-loud-and-joyful/2025/07/09/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Madeline de Figueiredo]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231349</guid>
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<p>The sound of Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and the stomping of boots on hardwood echoed against the neon-bathed walls of O’Donnell’s in Lockhart’s town square. This Pride of Caldwell County dance night was one of eight events that the organization hosted over the last week of June, and with the bar packed from end to […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/in-a-small-texas-town-pride-grows-loud-and-joyful/2025/07/09/">In a Small Texas Town, Pride Grows Loud and Joyful</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>The sound of Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and the stomping of boots on hardwood echoed against the neon-bathed walls of O’Donnell’s in Lockhart’s town square. This <a href="https://www.prideofcaldwellcounty.com/">Pride of Caldwell County</a> dance night was one of eight events that the organization hosted over the last week of June, and with the bar packed from end to end with line dancers, onlookers singing along, and laughter, there was no shortage of celebration in this small Texas town. </p>
<p>Nestled in the heart of Central Texas, Caldwell County is better known as the barbecue capital of the state. But over the past few years, it’s also become home to a growing and visible LGBTQ+ community, a transformation sparked, in part, by a conversation among friends in 2021. </p>
<p>That year, a group gathered in Lockhart Arts and Craft, a bar just around the corner from O’Donnell’s, and laid the foundation for what would become Pride of Caldwell County, a grassroots nonprofit organization committed to building LGBTQ+ community and visibility in the region.</p>
<p>“Even just a few years earlier, there was so much more hesitation about starting something like this,” said Haley Fort, one of Pride of Caldwell County’s board members. “Pride did not have the same presence back then and we didn’t have stickers showing safe spaces or anything.” </p>
<p>But as the organization took root in 2021, there was a tangible shift. </p>
<p>“We are invested in building a sense of community around these events,” said Jessica Rutland, another one of Pride of Caldwell County’s board members. “We want them to be free, open to the public, and welcoming. This is how we’ve fostered an amazing community.” </p>
<p>Over time, their presence grew, and so did the town’s response. Events began to draw large crowds. Inspired by the movement, local businesses started showing their support, and ongoing collaborations with hair studios, queer artists, and local bars and restaurants demonstrated care and solidarity year-round. </p>
<p>“Because Pride happened, there is a year-round community that shows up for each other,” Fort said. </p>
<p>“It has evolved in an amazing way. Open-minded people have opened businesses and have totally changed the face of the town’s center,” said Sandy Jones, founder of Pride of Caldwell County. Jones, who has lived in Caldwell county for 20 years, said that the support has been transformational for queer people in town. “It really opens the community up to being more authentic.” </p>
<p>Now, storefronts across the town square display bright stickers identifying their businesses as safe spaces for all.</p>
<p>Despite occasional pushback, Rutland said the spirit of in-person celebration has helped the community drown out negativity.</p>
<p>“The in-person events really shine a light on the reality that the bravery of hate really only persists in online spaces,” said Rutland.</p>
<p>While some board members have felt uncomfortable or unsafe in other Texas towns, Lockhart has stood out as a place where they’ve been able to put down roots.</p>
<p>“Lockhart has a pretty big gay population,” said Lisa Hause, another Pride of Caldwell County board member. “We feel safe here. We feel good here.” </p>
<p>“It’s still a small town in Texas, but when it comes to Pride, we have so many allies,” Fort said. </p>
<p>What started as a community among friends has grown into a movement that brings people together and redefines what small-town Pride can look like.</p>
<p>“Lockhart is open and welcoming,” Fort said. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else.” </p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/in-a-small-texas-town-pride-grows-loud-and-joyful/2025/07/09/">In a Small Texas Town, Pride Grows Loud and Joyful</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<title>Home Insurers Shift Cost to Homeowners as Climate Change Exacerbates Natural Disasters</title>
<link>https://dailyyonder.com/home-insurers-shift-cost-to-homeowners-as-climate-change-exacerbates-natural-disasters/2025/07/09/</link>
<comments>https://dailyyonder.com/home-insurers-shift-cost-to-homeowners-as-climate-change-exacerbates-natural-disasters/2025/07/09/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Melotte]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Rural Index]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=231345</guid>
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<p>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. Subscribe to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox. Last weekend, I stood outside an apartment complex in Mitchell County, North Carolina, and, as the mid-day sun beat down on me, […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/home-insurers-shift-cost-to-homeowners-as-climate-change-exacerbates-natural-disasters/2025/07/09/">Home Insurers Shift Cost to Homeowners as Climate Change Exacerbates Natural Disasters</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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<p><em>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. </em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/"><em>Subscribe</em></a><em> to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox.</em><br></p>
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<p>Last weekend, I stood outside an apartment complex in Mitchell County, North Carolina, and, as the mid-day sun beat down on me, I listened to a middle-aged woman tell me that her family’s home place in the neighboring county was up to her chest in mud. She moved into an apartment nine months ago, when Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, killing over 100 people and razing homes and businesses across the region.</p>
<p>I’ve been conducting interviews for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey methodology called <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/casper/php/overview/index.html">Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response</a>, or CASPER, for short. A local health advocacy nonprofit called <a href="https://www.searchwnc.org/">SEARCH</a>, where I serve on the board, organized these surveys to collect information about our community’s ongoing recovery in an attempt to bring resources to the region. </p>
<p>Conducting these interviews made me think about the infrastructure that is supposed to help communities recover from natural disasters, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to state-level aid, all the way down to local food pantries and churches. These organizations play a key role in the emergency response ecosystem, and without them, cities and small towns alike wouldn’t have the resources they need to get back on their feet after a disaster. </p>
<p>In this edition of the Rural Index, I’m looking at just one aspect of that vast ecosystem of recovery efforts: home insurance. Home insurance is supposed to help homeowners deal with unexpected damage or repairs to their home by allowing them to buy into a system that offers a safety net in case of an emergency. But as climate change increases the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/weather-climate">frequency and severity</a> of natural disasters, insurance companies are increasingly backing out of high-risk markets either by increasing premiums or cancelling plans altogether.</p>
<p>For home insurance companies, <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2025/01/19/colorado-home-insurance-nonrenewals-crisis/">insuring properties is a gamble, and it’s increasingly not worth the risk</a>. Sometimes, companies will decide to drop homeowners by not renewing their plans.</p>
<p>Although changes in home insurance policies can happen for a variety of reasons, an emerging body of research is demonstrating the link between <a href="https://citizensclimatelobby.org/blog/policy/climate-change-and-insurance/">home insurance and climate change</a>. In ZIP codes more prone to natural <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/homeowners-insurance-in-an-era-of-climate-change/">disasters</a>, people can pay up to 82% more for home insurance compared to their neighbors in lower risk areas.</p>
<p>In North Carolina, <a href="https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/mapping-the-home-insurance-crisis-north-carolina/">private home insurers were backing out of the market</a> in high-risk areas like the Outer Banks even before Hurricane Helene.</p>
<p>The home insurance crisis is hurting both urban and rural communities, according to my analysis of insurance data collected by the <a href="https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/mapping-the-home-insurance-crisis/">Revolving Door Project</a>. In 2023, the latest year of available data, home insurance nonrenewal rates were a little more than 1% in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan, or rural, counties.</p>
<p>That might not sound like a lot, but those figures shift county by county. Some rural counties had nonrenewal rates of more than 10% in 2023, meaning that more than 10% of home insurance policies in the county were not renewed that year.</p>
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<p>The above map shows the percentage change in home insurance nonrenewal rates between 2018 and 2023, demonstrating where the most pronounced changes have occurred in recent years by splitting the data into quintiles, or five groups. In the fifth quintile, represented on the map by the darkest shade of red, are the areas where nonrenewal rates have increased the most since 2018. </p>
<p>I like percentage change maps because they are an easy way to visualize change over time. But showing this data in terms of percentage change can be misleading when we’re working with relatively small percentages. </p>
<p>In rural Marion County, South Carolina, for example, the percentage change in nonrenewal rates between 2018 and 2023 was 382%. That figure might sound unbelievably high, but it’s just a product of working with small numbers. The reality is that Marion County’s nonrenewal rate increased from 0.5% in 2018 to 2.7% in 2023. </p>
<p>The best way to look at this map is to view the fifth quintile, or the darkest shade of red, as the areas where the nonrenewal rates increased the most, in relative terms, not necessarily as the counties that have the highest nonrenewal rates. With that in mind, let’s zoom into a few of the hardest-hit rural counties.</p>
<p>Wildfires in rural northern California make the region a hotspot for home insurance nonrenewal. In Plumas County, California, the home insurance nonrenewal rate went from just under 2% in 2018, to almost 7% in 2023. Home to 20,000 residents in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Plumas County was hit by the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/bear-fire-update-flames-destroy-homes-in-bear-creek-it-was-so-fast-it-sounded-like-a-jet-plane/">North Complex Fire</a> in 2020 that killed 16 people and burned over a quarter of a million acres.</p>
<p>The North Carolina coast is another hotspot in the home insurance crisis because of hurricanes. Nonrenewal rates increased from 2% in 2018 to 13% in 2023 in coastal Dare County, North Carolina. Dare County is the easternmost county in the state with a population of 36,000 residents. Since 1985, <a href="https://www.darenc.gov/departments/emergency-management/hurricanes/hurricane-history">24 hurricanes</a> have made landfall with Dare County. In 2018, Hurricane Michael, a category 4 storm, hit Dare County, causing $7 million in damages.</p>
<p>Homeowners who lose home insurance have to shop around for a new plan, as most mortgages require one. But new policies are likely to lead to higher premiums, particularly for residents in areas at high risk of natural disasters. The loss of home insurance shifts the heavy burden of adapting to a changing climate from private corporations to everyday American homeowners, leaving the most vulnerable among them to fill in the gaps.</p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/home-insurers-shift-cost-to-homeowners-as-climate-change-exacerbates-natural-disasters/2025/07/09/">Home Insurers Shift Cost to Homeowners as Climate Change Exacerbates Natural Disasters</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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