Memorial Day Our Towns Newsletter
On the road, in the air, and all over America: Sharing New Updates and Stories from Recent Travels.
Welcome to a Memorial Day edition of the Our Towns Flyer!
We take our theme this month from the great Johnny Cash, and his American anthem “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man.” Through this past month, Jim and Deb Fallows have been on the road, in the air, and all over America – sharing ideas, hearing stories, and now feeling the unique combination of exhaustion and exhilaration that comes from seeing people in motion, and at their best.
By Cirrus we’ve been to:
Eastern Tennessee, for a memorable presentation in a restored downtown theater, and lots of ideas about the role of community banks, schools and libraries, civic groups, and citizens in bringing a naturally beautiful area to its best potential.
Central Kentucky, for a glimpse of a community based on nature, academics, and advanced Bourbon brewing.
Muncie, Indiana, to see the astonishing community impact of a university whose motto is “We Fly.”
And we turned to the airlines for trips to:
Northwest Arkansas, for a theater screening of Our Towns HBO movie clips, and a discussion with our friend Michael Zakaras of Ashoka, and a gathering of civic and business leaders at the “Heartland Summit” – including our friend Mark Sherman of Community Heart & Soul ®.
The “inland empire” of Washington state and Idaho, where we joined the community leaders of the Innovia Foundation as they announced an ambitious new “Launch NW” programs – and had later visits to Spokane’s West Central Project, and the innovative FEAST Central Kitchen.
As is always the case on the road, every place has meant more stories, more ideas, more inspiration, and more optimism about the reinvention of the country going on place-by-place.
We are sharing some recent examples below (and even more at the end of this newsletter):
Deb & Jim Fallows
Logo of "The Purgatory," a restaurant that is part of downtown Spokane's revival on Main Street, complete with a world-class "wall of whiskey" selection of hundreds of spirits bottles along one of its restored brick walls, and a restaurant and selection of craft beers in the rest of the classic craftsman building. Make a point of seeing it.
Marquee of the restored Princess Theater that is part of the downtown revival of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, one of four communities we visited in the mountainous, growing region of Marion County. We spoke about our film at the theater, under the auspices of the locally active Tower Community Bank.
The skyline of Bentonville, Arkansas, just before the opening of this year's "Heartland Summit" there, under the auspices of the Heartland Forward organization.
New Our Towns Publications
How Powerful Stories are Rebuilding a Church
This is the story of Elias Van Buren Parker, and how today’s telling of his story has the power to pull the town of Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania from its early glory days, then decline, back to new days of glory.
DEBORAH FALLOWS | FAITH INSTITUTIONS & ORGANIZATIONS
Real Mississippi Podcasts: Having the Grace to Find a Sense of Place
Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science student Christina Zhang explores how a church in Biloxi serves as a space to share and celebrate Asian-American culture.
BEN SPEGGEN | EDUCATION
A Safe Place to Talk: Raising HIV Awareness through Barbershops
Barbershops are often hubs for conversation in Black and Latinx communities. DKBmed’s Fade Out HIV initiative strives to make use of these gathering spots to destigmatize HIV education and save lives.
PATRICK WAECHTER | HEALTH
Voices from America
Ball State University Honors Spring 2022 Graduates in Traditional Commencement Ceremony
For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ball State University returned to its traditional setting for its Spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, featuring Jim and Deb Fallows as commencement speakers.
OUR TOWNS| PRESS
Photo Credit: Courtesy Ball State University
Books & Writers – The Creative Process Features Deborah & James Fallows
Interviewed by Bruce Piasecki & Mia Funk
Following the success of their New York Times bestselling book Our Towns and HBO documentary based on their reporting on towns around the country, Jim and Deb Fallows formed the Our Towns Civic Foundation to promote reporting from under-served areas, connect innovators, and give Americans a fuller and more realistic picture of their country’s challenges and opportunities.
OUR TOWNS | PODCASTS
Write America: Deborah and James Fallows
By Alice-Byrd's Books
Join us for the fifty-seventh episode of Write America featuring Deb and Jim Fallows as they read and discuss their works intimating how the deep divisions in the country may be healed by the quiet power of art.
OUR TOWNS| PODCASTS
S2 E11: What Makes a City Great? - BYU Radio
Top of Mind with Julie Rose
Millions of Americans move each year in search of a better house, neighborhood, job, or quality of life. Is leaving the only way to live someplace better? What would it take for an imperfect place to become your perfect match? Jim and Deb Fallows join Julie Rose to discuss what makes a city great.
OUR TOWNS| PODCASTS
More on American Renewal
Where are Families Taking Advantage of the Home Broadband Discount?
From Daily Yonder, Kristi Eaton showcases a new mapping tool (powered by Esri) that identifies places where larger numbers of households could be signing up to reduce the cost of their broadband bill.It was a Toxic Wasteland. Now it's a National Park.
Shannon Hohle writes for National Geographic how, after a $50 million cleanup, flowers and wildlife replace chemicals and rusting cars in one corner of Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park.The Delicate Downtown Future. Aaron M. Renn writes in Governing how city centers can have a successful path forward if they have the fortitude to adapt.
Researching to Renewal: Advancing University Tech Transfer
Researchers at Heartland Forward share how states, cities, and rural areas can more effectively partner with universities in their pursuit of prosperity.
Have a story to share about your town? We want to hear from you!
More Photos from Our Towns Travels
Getting ready to take off in Cirrus!
Spokane's innovative, non-profit Feast World Kitchen, where chefs from immigrant and refugee backgrounds take turns featuring their dishes at the restaurant and receiving the revenues.
The Joy of Running Together is a riverfront installation of 40 bronze statues by David Govedare celebrating the annual Spokane Bloomsday Run.
The motto of Ball State University in Muncie: We Fly.
Deb and Jim felt a natural kinship.