Deborah Fallows is a writer, linguist and fellow at New America. She has written extensively on language, education, families and work, China, and travel for The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, The LA Times, and The Washington Monthly.
Greenville's public library puts its past and present on full display: mills, racial history, internationalism, public-private collaborations, and culture.
Mississippi schools come in #49 in many national rankings. Read these essays and poems by high school students from Columbus, Mississippi. Then tell the folks who make up the rankings that they need a different algorithm.
Most people associate libraries with fustiness, quiet, and a previous era in technology. But across the country, they're embracing new technology to fill important new civic roles.