Your source for a deeper, richer story about life in rural places. Each episode of Rural Remix spotlights unexpected rural stories and pushes back on stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding rural communities. Rural Remix is a co-production of the Daily Yonder and the Rural Assembly, both projects of the nonprofit Center for Rural Strategies. Rural Remix is an evolution of Everywhere Radio, an interview podcast that featured conversations with rural leaders and allies, spotlighting the goo ...
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North Cove, Washington once had the fastest eroding shoreline on the West Coast. For the 72 cranberry farmers who call the area home, the erosion was an existential threat to the local community and economy. That was, until Connie Allen and her late husband David Cottrell got involved. Daily Yonder reporters Claire Carlson and Julia Tilton bring yo…
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The Associated Press called the presidential election in favor of former president Donald Trump at 5:34 am on November 6th, the morning after Election Day. But even before that, political pundits and TV reporters had plenty to say about rural voters and their role in re-electing Trump. Now that the numbers are in, host Olivia Weeks examines these a…
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Former President Donald Trump’s re-election to the White House has many looking at rural America to understand his victory. Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson is joined by Keep it Rural producer and fellow reporter Julia Tilton to discuss why focusing on small-town voters alone is misleading. They break down data analyzed by the Daily Yonder to s…
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Once upon a time, it was not unheard of for a voter to cast a Republican vote for president and a Democratic vote for a down-ballot candidate like a congressman or state representative – or vice versa. In the 1970s and 80s, an estimated 25% of voters split their ballots this way.Now, this type of voter is rarer than ever because of the political po…
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In the newest episode of the Backroad Ballots podcast, we asked our staff what they are paying close attention to between now and the election. Host Olivia Weeks interviewed Daily Yonder publisher Dee Davis, and Daily Yonder reporters Claire Carlson and Sarah Melotte about election denial, how Democratic policy affects rural America, campaign commu…
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This week, Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson talks about the dangers of misinformation in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton. As Claire points out, a lot of the misinformation comes from climate change deniers.
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We bring you a special Keep it Rural this week. Claire speaks with her colleague, Daily Yonder reporter Sarah Melotte about the devastating hurricane Helene. Sarah is currently unable to get to her home in Bakersville, North Carolina. She lives in the western part of the state where roads in and out are completely flooded. Claire talked with her ab…
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Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson talks about some of the hidden and not so hidden benefits of rest stops on American highways.
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Salmon have always had a perilous journey returning home to spawn. Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson explains how climate change has made their mere existence perilous.
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The opening discussion from this year's Rural Assembly Everywhere, Lead for America Co-founder Benya Kraus and Wahpetunwan Dakota artist, writer, and midwife Autumn Cavender — in conversation about what it takes to nurture thriving communities
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Four experienced arts administrators discuss agency in storytelling and community voice. • Francisco Guajardo, Chief Executive Officer of the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg, Texas; • Madeline Matson, Executive Director of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, Washington; and • Gwendolyn Trice, founder and Executive Director of …
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This week on Keep it Rural, Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson talks about how in rural communities, where access to resources and support is already limited, the aftermath of disasters often brings a second wave of hardship.
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This conversation was originally recorded for the Rural Assembly Everywhere virtual event. In this episode, Center for Rural Strategies President Dee Davis sits down with political scientists Kathy Cramer, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Hahrie Han from Johns Hopkins University. They discuss the challenges facing American democracy, ru…
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How have rural and urban economies diverged in recent decades, and what effect has that had on the geography of American politics? In this episode, Daily Yonder reporter Olivia Weeks speaks with historian Keith Orejel and journalist Nick Bowlin about the history of “small-town boosters,” the outsized effect of the Great Recession on rural America, …
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Hours-long lines, faulty vehicle permitting systems, and poorly maintained facilities beg one question: are there too many people visiting national parks?
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Who is the rural voter and what does she stand for? In conversation with political scientists Nicholas Jacobs and Chelsea Kaufman, Daily Yonder reporter Olivia Weeks discusses the demographics of the rural electorate. In this episode, learn more about who actually turns out to the polls and the values that motivate their decisions.…
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Rural Assembly Everywhere virtual event is August 1st, 2024 at 1 pm Eastern. Register now! In a year marked by elections and challenges, it’s essential to shift our focus toward envisioning what it truly means for rural areas to flourish. That’s why this year’s Rural Assembly Everywhere will explore a diverse range of topics, all centered on nurtur…
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In this episode of Backroads Ballots, Daily Yonder reporter Olivia Weeks asks what the post-2016 years have taught us about progressive organizing in small-town America. With rural movement builders Annie Contractor and Anthony Flaccavento, they discuss the role of the labor movement in rural life, the “branding problem” facing Democrats, and the m…
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Kamala Harris is most likely the new Democratic nominee for president. Does she have what it takes to win rural voters?
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Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson's recent bat encounter on a camping trip prompted this episode all about the only mammal that flies. Over the past decade, a fungal disease has killed millions of bats in North America. The struggle to contain the disease illustrates how little control we humans have over illness and death, much to our own chagr…
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Are rural communities prone to conspiracy? Not necessarily. Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson breaks down this misconception by looking at the notorious Bundy family and the election denial movement.
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Lois Keller is an avid baker and a spokesperson for the Kansas Wheat Commission. In this episode, she speaks about how her son’s diagnosis of Celiac disease has been a part of her baking history and all about many unique German bread recipes. Check out recipes, show notes, and more on our website.
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On this episode we are learning all about the art of making biscuits! Appalachian leader Margo Miller speaks about how a middle school competition led to a lifelong passion for biscuits and how she is returning to her roots through crafting and baking. Check out the recipe, show notes, and more on our website.…
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With the recent conviction of former President Donald Trump, juries have been in the news. And on the mind of Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson who just reported for jury duty. In this episode, she discusses her experience and questions if certainty beyond all doubt is possible in courtrooms.
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Tina Mozelle Braziel is a poet and author living in rural Alabama. In this episode she shares her secrets to cornbread, what life is like in the glass cabin she built with her husband, and some of her poetry. Check out the recipe, show notes, and more on our website.
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On this episode, we are speaking with Cheryl Whitesitt about her grandmother's recipe for white bread. Cheryl is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Future Problem Solving Program where students are taught how to think, not what to think. Cheryl lives in Brownsville, Minnesota on a farm that has been in her husband’s family for many years, wher…
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Our obsession with speed and efficiency might fill our stomachs, but it doesn’t do much else. Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses how we can slow down in a fast food culture.
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On this episode we are speaking with Eliza Blue about the art of sourdough bread. Eliza is a folk musician, writer, and rancher residing in one of the most remote counties in the contiguous United States, Perkins County, South Dakota. Listen to learn how we can co-evolve with bread and how bread connects us to our ancestors. Check out the recipe, s…
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Welcome to Rural Food Traditions. We’re starting where many meals across diverse food traditions begin: with bread. On this episode we visit with Nico Albert Williams about fry bread. We discuss the bread's Native American roots, controversial history, and Nico's personal relationship to the language of food. Check out the Fry Bread recipe discusse…
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Extreme survival stories like the Donner Party’s expedition over the Sierra Nevada or the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes are sensationalized for the lengths they went to survive, but is what they did really so unbelievable?
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Don’t be fooled by stereotypes. Rural people care about the natural resources on which their communities depend. This week Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses the importance of specificity in environmental conversations and why environmentalists should listen to rural perspectives
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Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson heard stories of multiple beached whales on the northwest coast in January 2023. Beached whales are not that uncommon on the shores of beaches on both coasts, but the number of dead whales has been growing. Claire's interest was piqued and thus began her whale obsession.…
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This episode of Rural Remix centers on the story of Jeans Corduroy and his journey as a transmasculine man in East Tennessee. Daily Yonder reporter Lane Wendell Fischer speaks with Jeans to explore growing up rural and queer, and identity’s impact on family, religion, and community. Read the full story on The Daily Yonder.…
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In the series's fifth and final episode, the narrative links back up with the present. Synthetic drugs like meth and heroin are being seized in their highest quantities to-date, and deadly overdose rates have reached new heights. What can be done? And what can the newfound popularity of harm reduction offer the debate? Learn more on our website.…
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While the Nevada suburbs continue to sprawl, a remote stretch of Highway 50 is starting to feel more and more like home for Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson. On today’s episode, she discusses a love for open spaces in the state of Nevada.
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As the U.S. found ways to successfully limit domestic production of methamphetamine, Mexican drug traffickers innovated new, high-volume production methods. Meth became very potent and very cheap, and began to infiltrate new American drug markets. What does this new system mean for the illicit drug supply? How does it affect people using and polici…
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In 1999, the state of Missouri destroyed more than 900 clandestine meth labs. Among the officers tasked with carrying out that constant cleanup process, fear reigned. In response, the state trained an astronomical amount of resources on understanding the problem. A slew of state and federal laws were passed to limit access to meth’s precursor chemi…
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Home can be a difficult place to leave, even for Oregonians in the danger zone of a major earthquake. In this episode of Keep It Rural, Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses natural disasters of the past, present, and future.
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In the 1950s, meth was available over the counter. In the 1960s, it was still unscheduled by the FDA and widely prescribed by doctors. All kinds of people – among them housewives, truckers, and college students – used the stimulant to induce weight loss, wakefulness, and high spirits. But in 1971 meth was reclassified as one of the nation’s most da…
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Welcome to Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America. In the early 2000s, the “Faces of Meth” were tacked to cork boards in high school hallways and the nightly news was full of meth lab explosions. In this period, the stimulant was stigmatized as a “white trash” drug, and thought to favor rural trailer parks and farmhouses over inner-city …
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Country music is inextricable from Black culture, no matter how much the music industry has tried to separate them. Beyoncé’s new country songs could force a long-overdue change to how we think about a genre. Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses the overhaul of country music that is happening before our very eyes.…
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Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America Stay tuned for Home Cooked, Rural Remix’s five-part series on the history of methamphetamine in America. How’d meth get a reputation as a “hillbilly” drug? Why was meth ever so explosive in rural America? And why is it back in the news today? We’re investigating these questions and more, beginning w…
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To love something is to eventually grieve the losing it. But what happens when climate change speeds up our rate of loss? Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses love, life, and loss in the anthropocene.
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This is Keep It Rural. Your spot for musings on rural news, exploration of rural culture, and queries about rural life. Today Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses a Colorado effort to reintroduce gray wolves and the debate over humans' place in the natural world.
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It's 2024 and we're still talking about how to get high-speed internet to the rural people and places that need it. An influx of federal dollars coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 may offer a path forward, and a group of Illinois government and business leaders are getting ready to seize the opportunity. As part of the B…
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This is Keep It Rural. Your spot for musings on rural news, exploration of rural culture, and queries about rural life. Today Daily Yonder reporter Claire Carlson discusses how a viral airplane near-disaster made her think about pedestrian safety on rural roads.
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With Halloween in the rear view maybe you thought spooky season was over. But the scariest day of the year is yet to come… the horrors of Christmas are almost upon us. It's time for a Rural Horror Holiday Special. Join us for a bonus episode of the Rural Horror Picture Show as we explore this uniquely absurd and terrifying sub-genre of films that r…
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In Rushville, Illinois, Erin Eveland and her team at The HUB - Arts and Cultural Center are carrying out a mission to to bridge the gap between art, culture, and rural communities. In this new episode of Rural Remix, Eveland and Rural Assembly Deputy Director Libby Lane (a Rushville native!) talk about what drives the work, as well as the challenge…
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Was Burkittsville, Maryland ever the same after the "Blair Witch?" What about the Texas town that played host to the "Chainsaw Massacre?" Dawn breaks and we conclude our series with some reflections on the lasting legacy of rural horror. How have the places featured in popular films been affected by their depictions on screen? And what do the trope…
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No examination of rural horror would be complete without talking about folk horror. Superstitions about witchcraft and the occult hearken back to the country's pastoral, Puritan roots. We dig into the sub-genre and how it uses rural places to illustrate modern tensions between science and the supernatural. Films discussed include "The Children of t…
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