School absences plague the state of Mississippi, but they are concentrated mostly in "King Cotton," a region of the state commonly known as the Delta. To understand why this is, Christopher Chen and Aaden Khaek-On explain how socioeconomic status and systemic consequences might lead to the rising statistics of chronic absenteeism. This episode was written by Christopher Chen and produced by Aaden Khaek-On. Background music was provided courtesy of Irene Doyle.