Choose your location
The Daily Yonder
45 Degrees North: Digging (In) Rural Life
When you live in a rural area, you get used to weather-related power outages. We also get outages when motorists hit pad-mounted transformer boxes, when the cumulative effects of age and weather cause failures, and when people accidentally cut lines while digging. My husband and I have come uncomfortably close...
Q&A: How to Organize for Racial Justice in Rural America
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.
When a Rural College and Chamber of Commerce Team Up to Fight Local Unemployment
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. Many rural community...
‘Papaw’ and ‘Aunt Pam’ Launch Online Success of Appalachian Actress
Social media was just something fun for Andi Marie Tillman until “Papaw” and “Aunt Pam,” characters based on her upbringing in rural Tennessee, came along. Tillman said she used TikTok and Instagram as a way to advertise her acting and other creative work. The characters she portrays were inspired by her roots in Scott County, Tennessee, on the Cumberland Plateau near Kentucky. It wasn’t until she posted a video of Papaw that her social media blew up.
Rural Assembly Everywhere Explores What It Means to Build Safer, More Connected Communities
Rural Assembly Everywhere, the virtual gathering of the Rural Assembly, will feature conversations with rural leaders and allies, including Anderson Clayton, the youngest state political party leader in the nation. Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, is one of several rural leaders and allies scheduled to be part...
Hiding in Plain Site: Women Are Part of ‘Invisible’ Labor Market Building Maine’s Fiber Networks
This story is part of a series. Amber Richards stands in an aerial lift truck in the canopy of trees on Georgetown Island off the MidCoast of Maine. She steps onto the basket’s side rails, lifts the 50-pound cable lasher, and places it on the cable line. A member...
Border Line Confusion: Charles Vivier Knew He Lived in Patrick County, but Now He Had to Prove It
How do you go to sleep in one county and wake up in the morning in another county without changing your address?. That is what happened to Charles and Hilda Vivier of Carroll Cou… no… Patrick County, Virginia, in April. The Viviers have been residents of Patrick County...
Building Publicly Owned Broadband Starts with a Low-Tech Approach: Community Buy-in
On a Tuesday afternoon, standing in front of the Islesboro Sewing Circle on an island off Maine’s MidCoast, Jane Wherren holds up items recently completed by members for the annual fundraiser. The president of one of the nation’s oldest sewing circles, called simply “circle” by locals, Wherren begins every meeting with show and tell. As sewing machines hum and knitting needles click, a dozen women glance up from their work to watch. “Look at these potholders with blueberry pie.” A woman calls out, “Who knitted those cute mother and baby socks?”
Colleges and Students Are Stepping Up to Help Rural Newspapers
If you want to see the latest way people are helping keep rural journalism healthy, look at Ohio. When the media company Gannett closed the Oxford Press, the community paper in the town of Oxford, faculty at Miami University saw an opportunity to enlist their students in a hands-on learning experience providing local news.
The Practice of Memory: Commemorating America’s History of Racial Terror
On June 5, 1902, a 28-year-old Black man named Wiley Gynn was lynched in Bondtown, Virginia. Gynn, a boarding house proprietor, was accused of attempting to assault a white girl. He was promptly arrested, but his case was never given a fair trial. When a white mob removed him from the jail and began marching him toward a tree to hang him, Gynn tried to escape and was shot hundreds of times.
Commentary: The Hidden Reach of the Farm Bill
With the economic development landscape rapidly evolving, especially as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many rural communities and regions are now facing new and even greater challenges to overcome barriers to growth and prosperity. Despite these significant changes, there is very little focus on how economic development in rural America is shifting, and how federal policy can effectuate change that provides much-needed flexibility and capacity for rural communities.
Commentary: Wilderness Needs Our Humility and Restraint, Not Our Poison
EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary is a response to the article “Killing Fish to Save Frogs,” by Ted Williams, a contributor to Writers on the Range. The Daily Yonder published Williams’ commentary on May 16, 2023. Ted Williams’ recent op-ed attacking wilderness advocates like Wilderness Watch for...
Accidental Rancher: Letting Mothers Do Mothers’ Business
I’m almost done with lambing for another year, and this has been my most successful year yet. Ironically, it is also the year I told myself I was going to take a more hands-off approach (which I have said before)…and then actually did it (which I have NOT done before.) Turns out when you let nature take its course, things work out almost as if that’s the way nature intended it.
Q&A: Author David Joy on the Trials and Triumphs of Writing about Rural North Carolina
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.
Montana’s First-Ever Psychiatry Residency Program to Serve Rural Communities
Montana’s first psychiatry residency program is preparing to graduate three residents. Up until a few years ago, Montana was one of only three states to not have a resident program to train soon-to-be psychiatrists. The other states lacking a similar program are Wyoming and Alaska. With a $3 million...
In ‘Superman and Lois,’ an Iconic Hero Goes Home
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.
Rural Calling: Anya Cope
Cassi Jones’s first impression of Anya Cope when the two met in med school? “Go-getter.” Nothing in the past 17 years has dissuaded her from that assessment. “She’s a fixer,” Jones said. “A doer.”. Today, as associate dean of clinical affairs and an...
Rural Communities Are Upbeat About the Future Despite Persisting Issues
A shortage of quality housing and struggling downtowns were among the top challenges rural community members face, according to consultants who help small towns identify and solve problems. Save Your Towns is an Oklahoma and Mississippi-based group co-founded by Becky McCray and Deb Brown. They work to educate people on...
Does America Still Love Comeback Stories? A Conversation with Beth Macy About What Recovery Requires
America faces no shortage of challenges. One of them, the opioid crisis, is only getting worse. And it’s time to ask the question: what does recovery require? What will it take to bring a decades-old epidemic to an end and communities across America back to life?. To discuss that...
The Department of Transportation To Help Rural, Tribal Communities Access Funding Opportunities
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded Main Street America nearly $6 million to help more than 60 rural and Tribal communities as part of its Thriving Communities Program. “The historic investments we are making in America’s infrastructure must reach the communities that need them the most,” said U.S....
The Daily Yonder
3K+
Posts
5M+
Views
The Daily Yonder provides news, commentary, and analysis about and for rural America.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.