I am writing this from a hand-hewn table built into the wall of a tinned cabin in the woods. Outside the large picture window, there’s a small meadow of wildflowers below the green canopy of trees, and beyond that a gravel road. I haven’t heard a car all morning, but I have heard the clip-clop […] The post  “A Beautiful and Unusual Thing:” When Region-Specific Is Truly the Best appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

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. […] The post Q&A: What’s Special about Rural Educators? appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

The beauty of the Ozarks has become a little more in question due to a lack of protection around property rights.  That’s the perspective of Dan Chiles, Dave Coonrod and Kathy Christy, and it’s based in part due to the 2019 removal of local control of confined animal feeding operations, otherwise known as CAFOs.  As it stands now, Missourians could be informed of the request for a permit for these CAFO operations, which may include thousands of animals – but, aside from protesting, have little ability to stop one from popping up next door, bringing concern around sights, smells and ..read more

The national conversation about the motivations of rural voters oversimplifies a complicated electorate that faces a common set of difficult economic issues, according to a new podcast whose producers include the Daily Yonder. The new podcast series “Backroad Ballots” aims to help clarify what’s at stake in the countryside this November. Through interviews with rural scholars and organizers, host Olivia Weeks guides us through the nuances of who rural voters are and the difference they could make this election season.  The series is part of Rural Remix, which is produced by the Daily Yon ..read more

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. There’s no one in movies today who’s more associated with the spirit of the West, the quiet pleasures of a small town, and the sound of wind moving across the open range than Kevin Costner. In t ..read more

Nonmetro areas are worse off financially than metropolitan areas, and the gap is consistent and widening, according to a new report recently released by the Federal Reserve Board.  Based on the Fed’s latest consumer survey, the study found that in 2023, 68% of nonmetro and 73% of metro respondents answered that they are “at least doing okay financially.” The gap of 5 percentage points is within the poll’s margin of error. What is Nonmetro? The nonmetro/metro designations are based on the federally defined Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Nonmetropolitan areas do not have a city of 50,00 ..read more

This story was originally published by the Lexington Herald-Leader. I was born in 1946 and raised in a Black coal mining family at the foot of Black Mountain, Kentucky’s highest peak, in Harlan County. From its summit, during my frequent hikes as a teenager, I could see — looking to the northwest — the ridges of Breathitt County, the ancestral homeland of JD Vance. Vance came to my attention with his 2016-published best seller, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” the most derogatory and uncomplimentary stereotype of people from the Appalachian region that I ever rea ..read more

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see?  Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. Imagine, for a moment, a world in which a former U.S. president is nearly assassinated, a Republican vice presidential nominee is announced, and the current U.S. president and presumptive Democratic nominee drops out of an election occurring not even four months from now, all in the span of roughly one week.  Oh, yeah! We don’t have to imagine, ou ..read more

In Colorado, a new online database hopes to bring attention and collaboration to rural businesses, primarily those in the outdoor industry. Rural is Rad was started by Kelly Mazanti, TJ Smith, and Robin Hall, who all own small businesses based in rural Colorado. They discovered a shared interest and mutual frustration over growing businesses in rural communities.  The group met during West Slope Startup Week, a conference that brings together startups based in the rural Western Slope of Colorado for a week of networking, lectures, and discussions. They wanted to build something that woul ..read more

This story was originally published by the Nevada Current. The federal push to build large-scale renewable energy projects on public lands is in full force, and Nevada’s rural counties fear they may be on the chopping block. As of June, there are over 130 pending applications to build renewable energy projects across Nevada’s public lands. Most of those projects are in rural counties, where as much as 80% of land is federally managed.  Several rural counties are now asking state lawmakers to establish a policy that would require federal agencies to coordinate all their  land use pla ..read more