How a ‘Communiversity’ Works
Real collaboration in Mississippi
Recent posts
Articles & News
The Rural-Urban Divide Is More Complicated Than You Think
Here are a few stories I found intriguing from the past week’s newspapers, on the unfolding complexities of the much-discussed “rural-urban divide.” 1) The first is by Andrew Van Dam,…
When Libraries Are ‘Second Responders’
Everyone knows about first responders. I've come to think of libraries as playing a crucial role as "second responders."
An Engineering School Pulls Off an ‘Epic Trick Play’
Daring and Guts Pay off for Trine University
Small Towns, Big Ideas
Jim reports on a session he moderated on May 13, sponsored by the renowned social-entrepreneur organization Ashoka. Four of its fellows working in rural or small-town locations report on innovations…
What David Halberstam Learned in Mississippi
A Journalistic Icon's First Lessons
Can Schools ‘Teach Students to Think’?
A reader's response
National Policies Have Local Effects
Changes—in trade policies, and for refugees—are making the United States more closed, rather than more open
How to Teach Students to Think
Students getting a 'first chance' at MSMS
The Last Family-Owned Daily in Mississippi
How one local paper survives
Featured in The Dispatch
The Dispatch reported on James and Deborah Fallows and their HBO crew, in Columbus and Starkville, MS this week filming for their upcoming HBO documentary based on their Our Towns…
Dead Malls, Everywhere
Readers weigh in on malls past their prime
On Emancipation Day, Back to Mississippi
A return visit to the Golden Triangle
Dead Malls, Reborn Cities
Ideas from the readers
What Happens to Abandoned Malls?
Opinions differ
‘Unknown Outside Indiana’
The previous four “Our Towns” posts have been about Indiana: One about Angola and the importance of its relationship with Trine University; one about Fort Wayne and its ambitious reconstruction of a cavernous abandoned GE works;…