Sparking a Small-Town Business Ecosystem
The national-level response to the coronavirus pandemic descends from tragedy into catastrophe. The black granite slabs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington display the names of more than 58,000…
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James & Deborah Fallows Interviewed by Jefferson Educational Society
On April 21, 2020, the Jefferson Educational Society of Erie, PA livestreamed a conversation between Jefferson Vice President, Ben Speggen, and writers James and Deborah Fallows.
From Military Service to Civilian Leadership
Here’s another installment in the chronicle of people who are trying to take up the slack, while the national government flails rather than coping with a pandemic. Previously in this…
A Different Kind of Civil-Service Organization
The U.S. national government is failing in its response to the pandemic. One recent example: A month ago, on March 20, the United States and South Korea had about the…
Quoted by The Brookings Institution
In their April 13, 2020 column, The Brookings Institution’s Clara Hendrickson and Mark Muro quote Jim Fallows’s recent post which noted the greater ability of large cities to bounce back from the Coronavirus pandemic’s…
Quoted in The Washington Times
The Washington Times’ Christopher Vondracek quoted Jim Fallows in his April 7, 2020 article on the effects on local journalism of the Coronavirus pandemic. “Right at this moment, they [newspapers]…
A Rural Health Center With a Pandemic Plan
The Rowland B. French Medical Center is the primary health-care facility for the residents of Eastport, Maine, a tiny Down East fishing town, population 1,400. Eastport was one of the…
Books for This Moment
The past weeks have of course meant economic devastation for small and local businesses of all sorts, as discussed here in an item about Erie. The pressures on local bookstores and…
A New Way for Californians to Serve
The coronavirus peril is global. Much of the response must, of course, be international or national if it is to matter at all. In the United States, only the federal…
Featured on A Bookish Type
‘This week on the bookish internet‘ featured Deborah Fallows’s report on how libraries around the country are helping their communities during the Coronavirus pandemic in the April 4, 2020 edition.…
Featured in ArtsJOURNAL
The ArtsJOURNAL quoted Deborah Fallows in their April 2, 2020 entry. “When libraries closed their doors abruptly, they immediately opened their digital communications, collaborations, and creative activity to reach their public…
Public Libraries’ Novel Response to a Novel Virus
America’s public libraries have led the ranks of “second responders,” stepping up for their communities in times of natural or manmade disasters, like hurricanes, floods, shootings, fires, and big downturns…
Referenced in GoErie.com
In his March 20, 2020 column, Kevin Cuneo references Jim Fallows’ recent post on the effect COVID-19 is having on Erie, particularly downtown. He quotes Jim, “The recovery will depend…
Referenced in Tullahoma News
In her March 28, 2020 editorial, Shelley Smith references Our Towns as the inspiration behind the title of her column. “The Fallows visited countless smaller cities and towns where things were…
2020 Politics War Room with James Carville and Al Hunt
In their March 26, 2020 podcast, James Carville and Al Hunt talk with Deborah and James Fallows to examine the pandemic’s effect on small towns in America.
‘Years of Effort, Undone in Weeks’
It has been nearly half a century since Erie, Pennsylvania, was officially recognized as an “All-American City.” But beginning with the first of our repeated visits nearly four years ago, Deb Fallows…