Our Towns Flyer | May 2021
Welcome again and thank you for taking a look at our second newsletter.
This month, we’re calling out famous filmmakers (Ken Burns) and not-yet-famous filmmakers (Jessica and Nick Taylor) from MenajErie Studio in Erie PA. And of course, we’re celebrating once again the stunning Our Towns documentary made for HBO by award-winning Steve Ascher and Jeanne Jordan of West City Films.
Others, from C-SPAN Journal’s Steve Scully to Today’s Hoda and Jenna have been watching Our Towns, the film, as well and invited us to talk with them.
We also checked in with one of our favorite towns, Columbus MS, to visit for our 8th time, the Eighth of May Emancipation Day reenactments of Civil War-era stories by the students from the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS). Our colleague, Ben Speggen, writes about the program and its founder, MSMS teacher Chuck Yarborough, for us in the section of the website called Voices From America.
We appreciate your interest, and please send along this link to subscribe others who you think would like to know about the stories and developments of Our Towns and yours. We have a series of new features to unveil in the coming weeks: new voices, new possibilities for connection, new applications of “geo-journalism,” new links between America’s long history of renewal and the challenges immediately ahead. Please check our next newsletter for updates on these fronts, and visit our website in the meantime for reports.
Deb and Jim Fallows
Reports
'One Flat Tire Away': Community Colleges Deserve the Spotlight
In the Our Towns HBO documentary, the coverage of East Mississippi Community College emphasized the importance of these colleges in preparing students for jobs and fighting educational inequality. A few weeks ago, First Lady Jill and President Joe Biden, at two separate events, shared a vision of an American future in which community colleges are at the forefront. Read about how community colleges are addressing the needs of the American moment here.
'My Friends': Communications and a 'National Family'
Renowned filmmaker Ken Burns has a new project, UNUM, that explores the sources of connection rather than separation in American life. James Fallows joins UNUM to comment on the revolutionary precedent set by FDR in his 'fireside chats' and how it connects to the spirit of our moment in political time. Watch the video here.
'New Old Ideas': A Modern CCC
'Big little ideas,' are essential for community renewal, yet so are 'new old ideas,' like the 21st-century version of projects and measures tried out during the New Deal. Read here about how the California Climate Action Corps is setting the tone for how a 'new old idea' can inspire sustainability and climate-mitigation efforts on the national level.
Voices from America
What happens when a once-in-a-century crisis threatens to cripple a local renaissance? That’s what filmmakers Jessica and Nick Taylor, the wife-husband duo behind MenajErie Studio in Erie, Pennsylvania set out to explore in the summer of 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in their “Meet Erie” four-part series – the first two installments of which are available to watch below:
Meet Erie: Part I
Jessica and Nick Taylor begin their exploration of a Rust Belt region, Erie, Pennsylvania, as it navigates its renaissance through the Covid-19 pandemic. Read our writeup and watch their video here.
Meet Erie: Part II - Economic Impact
Jessica and Nick Taylor focus their lens on the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to Erie through interviews with local entrepreneurs. Read our writeup and watch their video here.
The World You Can Change is the World You Can Reach Out and Touch
What is the Eighth of May Emancipation Celebration, and what does it stand to teach us about how we learn history? Here, Chuck Yarborough, a history instructor at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, explains the project and its impact in his own words. This year, the event welcomed a virtual audience via a Zoom livestream.
Learning from Eisenhower (and Lincoln): A Grand Bargain on Transportation
Patrick Doherty and Christopher Leinbergeris, both of whom are long-time authorities on national and regional renewal, offer a proposal for making transportation the center of both economic renewal and social and political inclusion efforts. Read their case on linking Lincoln to Eisenhower here.
Geo-journalism
Geo-journalism, using interactive maps to tell stories, not only brings stories to life in a visual way, but also expands a story by showing the relationship between pieces of data we might not have noticed otherwise.
In her article, "How Libraries are Leading the Way in Digital Equity," Deborah Fallows uses Esri's ArcGIS mapping software to demonstrate the intersections of computer usage in libraries with other variables, such as neighborhood income levels. The result is a comprehensive view of how libraries in Columbus, Ohio are addressing major community needs, such as the lack of internet and computer access, and attempting to close the digital equity gap.
See our guide on how to read these interactive maps.
What we're reading
“There are few events in our city that serve a more noble and inspiring purpose.” That’s what The Commercial Dispatch wrote the day after this year’s Eighth of May Emancipation Celebration in Columbus, Mississippi.
The Mississippi Free Press also covered the celebration, describing the history of Emancipation Day in Columbus and the experiences of students planning and performing the event.
Education, particularly community colleges, has been an important element of the ongoing coverage in the “Our Towns” journey. In his oped for the Washington Post, David Ignatius argues that Biden’s proposal gives the country “something closer to the social safety net that most of the world’s advanced democracies have,” and goes on to detail several strands of the net, including investment in human capital through investment in education.
Join us
We invite you to virtually sit down with us and Our Towns HBO filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan on May 27th as we talk with the Jefferson Educational Society during their Global Summit Speaker Series next week.