The Vermont Lake Monsters, and Other Updates From the Road
Are people in smaller towns "nicer" than cosmopolitans? No. But their political structures are working better.
Civic Life
164 posts
East, West, and Points in Between
Where the Pacific Ocean is east of the Atlantic
Separated at Birth? Greenville, Sioux Falls
Here is Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, last summer: And here is Falls Park in Greenville, South Carolina, this afternoon: A decade ago, the falls areas in both…
On the Character of a Community: What Local Narratives Emphasize, and Leave Out
The role of universities, and our un-loved public efforts.
A City’s Turning Points
The steps toward success, or failure, and why our understanding of them matters.
How the #1 ‘Breakthrough’ Helps Modern Communities Survive
The importance of communities, imagined and real.
Eastport Road Map: Global Meets Local in a Very Small Town
The consequences of a good kind of frustration.
Eastport on Marketplace
Hearing voices you won't forget, from a small group of inventive and determined people.
Eastport, Maine, Population 1,300
On a per capita basis, one of the grittiest and most inventive places in America.
From Burma to Burlington: The Story of ‘Brings Luck’
A refugee finding a new life.
‘When’s your birthday? January 1st’ Report from Sioux Falls
A school district of 60 different languages and cultures.
Welcome Marketplace Listeners, to American Futures
Kicking off a new collaborative project
American Futures: Grand Finale Holland-Palooza
A small arena in which many dramas are being played out.
If We’re Talking American Orientalism …
… as I was doing previously here and here, I thought it would be worth going back to re-read Joan Didion’s 1966 Saturday Evening Post article that so offended my home town back when I…
Readers on ‘American Orientalism’
Good thing I didn't mention snowmobiles.
On the ‘Orientalism’ of the Prairie
What happens when the "ordinary objects of our culture" are treated as curiosities.