Bring in the Refugees
The most encouraging front-page headline I’ve seen in the New York Times in a long time was this, from Labor Day. It was on a story by Miriam Jordan and Jennifer Steinhauer, and…
Town: Sioux Falls
24 posts
Learning from a Prairie State
Small cities, potentially big lessons. What a state that is home to 800,000 people can demonstrate to the country as a whole.
How a City Talks About Itself: Sioux Falls
In June 2013, my husband, Jim, and I first landed our small, single-engine Cirrus propeller airplane at the main airport, Joe Foss Field, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was the first…
Sioux Falls is Ready for Tom Hanks
A year ago, America’s Favorite Actor™, Tom Hanks, triggered a series of reports on TV and in the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He did so with one little…
A Post-Election Field Report From America’s Refugees and Immigrants
Words and stories from the towns where the newest Americans live
Refugees, Immigrants, and the Battle Over Who Is American
Deb Fallows has a new post up, about what’s actually involved in settling immigrants from Syria—or Somalia or Congo or Bhutan—in the American cities that have taken the lead in…
How America Is Putting Itself Back Together
Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.
A Song of America’s Downtowns
A heartening surprise of our travel so far: the breadth, seriousness, and—in some places—success of the effort to revitalize small-town downtowns. Or, what 3 programmers from Uzbekistan taught us about America.
The Word Cloud of a Town
How the people of Sioux Falls describe themselves and their hometown
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…
A City’s Turning Points
The steps toward success, or failure, and why our understanding of them matters.
On the Limits, but Also the Power, of Local Narratives
The stories cities tell about themselves, and the difference that makes.
The Question We Keep Running Into: What Turns a Town Around?
Plus, a nationwide golden age of beer.
A New Type of Growing City
"This is where the talent wants to live"
Romanesque on the Plains: The Look of Sioux Falls
Introductory note by James Fallows: Yesterday I discussed why the part of greater Sioux Falls that is visually least interesting, to put it politely — the expanse of fast food joints and big-box…
What ‘Fringe City’ Status Means for a Community’s Look and Feel
Sioux Falls: If you can make it there ...