The following is a portion of the transcript from our interview with Tim Kasser about value pollution. On this edition we return to our conversation with Dr. Tim Kasser, a psychology professor at Knox College who is no stranger to rural living. We were extremely fortunate to speak with Dr. Kasser, he is the well-known …

Continue reading "S1, E5 – Value Pollution: Why Should We Ban Advertisements in School?"

We've explored a number of topics revolving around social problems we face in rural America, but just because we're studying problems in rural America doesn't mean everyone is miserable. Rural places are awesome places to live and there's endless amounts of great things going on. But here´s our essential question today -  can one make …

Continue reading "S1, E4 – Well-Being: Are We Happier in a Small Town? Conversation with author & Psychologist Dr. Tim Kasser"

From January 2016 to January 2017, the region known as Forgottonia lost approximately 2,775 jobs.  To learn why, we sat down with Dr. Trenton Ellis, a rural sociologist from Black Hills St. University.  Although he lives in Spearfish, South Dakota, Ellis is a native of Forgottonia growing up in Canton, IL and graduating from Spoon River College in 2005. After SRC, Ellis completed undergraduate and master’s degrees from Western Illinois University in Macomb.  In 2009 he matriculated to South Dakota State University’s Department of Sociology and Rural Studies where he graduated with a PhD in sociology in 2015. In 2016 he was awarded an outstanding Teaching Award at BHSU.

On this episode we wanted to share a cool experience we recently had in our psychology class. We were visited by the lovely Mrs. Karen Hahn a social worker from Psychology Specialists in Canton, IL. Karen’s visit is definitely consistent with our objective to examine the social problems we face in our own context of rural America; specifically these 16 counties in western IL referred to by many as Forgottonia. In fact if we want firsthand insights of what exactly the issues are and what it takes to overcome them, I’m not sure there’s anybody better to talk to then a social worker like Karen.  

The following is an excerpt from our initial episode about the Neil Gamm and the history of Forgottonia. Our guest for this episode was Mr. Larry Eskridge from the Canton Daily Ledger. Our essential questions ask "What was the Forgottonia movement about and how is it similar and different today?" ENJOY!