People to Know

An audio project set in Appalachian Ohio expands the idea of “listening to each other” to include natural soundscapes and audio archives. Composer and artist Brian Harnetty says such listening is one way to bridge differences in…

A visual artist teaches himself to paint by capturing the images of the people in his small, East Tennessee town. More than a decade later, the project continues to give the community a new vision of itself.

The closeness of small towns means that local journalists are likely to know more than the “who, what, when, and where” of their news subjects. For writer Sara Millhouse, the challenge of living with the people she covers is part of the…

Nonprofit leaders hope business training for “creatives” in northwest Mississippi will help communities build wealth and regain control of their future.

With equal quantities of truth and empathy, the book Heartland reveals the stories of the rural working class. But Sarah Smarsh isn't fighting for her tribe, she's building bridges across America’s cultural and politics divides.

If you want good local leaders, look for the people who finish projects, not just start them, says the mayor of Granby, Colorado, a small town in the Rockies. In our series on small-town leadership, Paul Chavoustie shares how the drive to…

When you’re squatting by a tractor tire hoping no one drives by or stumbling through poison ivy to answer nature's call, an outhouse would sure come in handy. But where do you find one?

By focusing on the rights of marginalized rural farmers in the South, Ralph Paige (1943-2018) had an impact on the nation as a whole.

“My dad was no Joan of Arc. He thought being a good citizen was taking out the garbage, paying most of your taxes, and not parking in front of the fireplug. But he did this one thing that no one saw coming.”