Rural Remix

As we reach the end of a monumental year for reproductive justice, we talk with Rebecca Stern, a student activist and former Rural Assembly intern who spent her summer in Whitesburg, Ky. at The Center for Rural Strategies headquarters. Becca interviewed rural young people about their thoughts and concerns about reproductive justice following the reversal of Roe v. Wade. We talk with Becca about what she heard and we will be sharing those interviews and stories at www.ruralassembly.org.

Rebecca Stern is a second-year Robertson Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill studying Public Policy and Global Gender Studies. This past summer, she interned at the Center for Rural Strategies, mainly working with the Rural Assembly on rural policy and writing a bit for the Daily Yonder. Her main project was interviewing rural youth about reproductive health and access to contraceptives and sex education following the overturn of Roe vs. Wade. At UNC and Duke, Rebecca is the Campus Outreach Coordinator and Advocate at the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF), a Bryan Fellow, Penny Pilgrim George Women's Leadership Initiative Cohort Member, and the Tour Manager of the UNC Loreleis.

We talk with Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies, about results of the midterm elections and what's on the minds of rural voters. Read more about rural voting at www.dailyyonder.com.

About Dee Davis

Dee Davis is the founder and president of the Center for Rural Strategies. Dee has helped design and lead national public information campaigns on topics as diverse as commercial television programming and federal banking policy.

We talk with Xandr Brown, producer of the new exhibit "Free Hill: Renewal and Rememory,"  about the story of Free Hill, a community of free Black residents of Athens, Tennessee that was established before the 1840s and later demolished as part of urban renewal. Families that lived in the Free Hill area were displaced after phases of urban renewal, spearheaded by the City of Athens, which demolished their homes in the 60’s and 70’s to the benefit of Tennessee Wesleyan University. Through video, oral histories, and portraits, the exhibit "explores the relationship between place, personal memory, and identity as a way to challenge collective assumptions about democracy, freedom, and equality." 

The exhibit is hosted by the Athens Area Council for the Arts (AACA) through December 12, 2022. An online multimedia version of the exhibit will be available soon at ruralassembly.org. Sign up for newsletters at www.ruralassembly.org/newsletters for more. 

Xandr Brown is currently a multimedia producer with the Center for Rural Strategies. In 2018, she graduated from the University of Rochester in upstate New York with a BA in History and Communications with a minor in Environmental Humanities. Before reporting for the Daily Yonder she previously reported with hyperlocal newsrooms in Flint, Michigan. While trained as a journalist, she aspires to continue to do community engaged, multimedia exhibits based in the intersection of oral history, ethnography, and documentary.

As a rural health care reporter, Liz Carey has spent much of the past two years writing about the pandemic. But one day, she received a press release about something other than Covid ... Big Foot. We talk with Liz about how that led to her new e-book "Rural Monsters, Myths, and Legends," an exploration of not only the cryptids themselves, but the impact they've had on communities and people — and how some rural towns are using these tales of alien encounters, lake monsters, and other legends as economic development strategies.

About the book

Contrary to what you might think, these stories are not simply silly or scary. Call them foolish or farfetched if you must, but they offer a valuable window into the unique culture and community life of places often unseen and under-appreciated.

Originally published in the Daily Yonder, we invite you to join us in this closer look at the cryptids of rural America. Let your imagination roam, welcome feelings of wonder or dread, and, if only for a moment, ponder the possibilities beyond what’s proven and known.

Rural Monsters, Myths and Legends takes a look at not just the tales from these remotes areas of the country, but what kind of an impact they've had on their communities and the people who experienced them. From alien encounters to tales of water dancing nymphs to evil witches set on revenge to beasts hiding in the mountains of Appalachia, walk with us through the farmland, the swamps, the desert roads and the chilly lake waters where the unknown and mysterious lurks just out of sight.

About Liz Carey

Jessica Shelton and Katie Myers have been on the frontlines of responding to the flooding disaster in Eastern Kentucky in a variety of roles. We talk with them about their work and the region's recovery.

When we can work from anywhere, does place matter? That's the question award-winning writer Melody Warnick poses in her latest book, If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World.  We talk with Warnick about the book, her own life in Blacksburg, Virginia, and how to you choose where to live — and how to make a community feel like home.

More about Melody Warnick

Whitney talks with Tim Lampkin, co-founder and CEO of Higher Purpose Co, a 501(c)(3) economic justice nonprofit that works with Black residents to build wealth across Mississippi, specifically by supporting Black ownership and financial, cultural, and political power. Whitney and Tim discuss his return to Mississippi more than a decade ago, closing the racial wealth gap, and the powerful benefits of ownership.

Lampkin has over a decade of community development and entrepreneurship experience. He previously managed the racial equity program for the Mississippi Humanities Council, which won the National 2018 Schwartz prize. He also worked for Southern Bancorp Community Partners to implement multimillion dollar community initiatives and has advised rural entrepreneurs in several counties. 

Learn more about the Rural Assembly by getting our newsletters in your inbox: https://www.ruralassembly.org/newsletter-subscribe 

We welcome Lyndsie Bourgon, author of "Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods" to Everywhere Radio.   Bourgon wanted to know more about how tree poaching affects forests like the one in her front yard. Her research led her to stories about our human quest for dignity and identity in the face of displacement and poverty.  (Find the transcript and more on our episode page.) 

Lyndsie Bourgon is a writer, researcher, oral historian, and 2018 National Geographic Explorer. She writes about the environment and its entanglement with history, culture, and identity, and her features have been published in The Atlantic, Smithsonian, the Guardian, the Oxford American,  Aeon, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and elsewhere. Her first book, Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods, came out in June 2022.   

Everywhere Radio is a production of The Rural Assembly.

We're taking a short break for the summer. Everywhere Radio will be back in August with more of the good, scrappy, joyful ways rural people are building a more inclusive nation. Until then, keep following The Rural Assembly's other work at https://www.ruralassembly.org. A new episode of our video series Everywhere Extra drops next week. It explores Native American representation in the media. We’ve got clips and interviews with some searing voices including writer and actor Bobby Wilson of Rutherford Falls and the hit series Reservation Dogs.  You'll find that, plus video episodes of this season's podcasts, on our Youtube Channel. See you in August! 

Transcript

Hi everyone, it’s Whitney, checking in to let you know that Everywhere Radio is taking a summer break. You know what I’m talking about—we’re pausing our program in June, July, and early August to catch our breath, lean into new projects, travel to conferences and events and hopefully score some vacation time, too.

I hope all of you are getting the same opportunities to reconnect, recreate, and maybe recalibrate your work a little. Our staff also plans to use these summer months to reflect upon the work we’re doing in the world. We’re setting aside time to wrestle with questions like “What is ours to do in this season?” and “Why do we think building an inclusive nation is essential to the future of rural and urban places?” It feels important to sit with these big questions every so often, to make sure that everything we put out into the world—from Everywhere Radio to our virtual events to our email newsletters is responsive and true to the spirit of our call to be caring and courageous right now.

Just because we’re not in the recording studio however does not mean we aren’t creating spaces and content for you: There are lots of things to look forward to on the Rural Assembly platform this summer, especially, the premier of our newest episode of Everywhere Extra. The latest video drops the week of June 27. It’s a sort of mini documentary that explores Native American representation in the media. We’ve got clips and interviews with some searing voices including writer and actor Bobby Wilson of Rutherford Falls and the hit series Reservation Dogs. 

We’ll also continue sending the latest news, stories and rural advocacy opportunities that you’ve come to expect via our email newsletters. If you’re not yet signed up, head over to ruralassembly.org and click the subscribe button.

If you’re looking for more video content, you can access all the videos from Rural Assembly Everywhere on our YouTube channel. There are hours there of  programming featuring artists and poets, civic leaders and experts.

If you are looking for another podcast, check out The Yonder Report, a weekly podcast rounding up the latest rural news, produced by The Daily Yonder and public news service. You can listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

On this episode, we talk with Neema Avashia, author of "Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place," about her memoir, identity, finding your people, and growing up in West Virginia. 

This interview was first recorded at Rural Assembly Everywhere, a virtual gathering of the Rural Assembly in May 2022. Avashia is interviewed by Skylar Baker-Jordan, Contributing Editor for Community Engagement at 100 Days in Appalachia.  

For more rural content, subscribe to Rural Assembly newsletter: https://ruralassembly.org/newsletter-subscribe 

The Rural Assembly is a movement of people and organizations devoted to building a stronger, more vibrant rural America. This interview was first aired at Rural Assembly Everywhere, our virtual festival for rural advocates and the rural-curious, listeners and leaders, neighbors and admirers.