If Small Towns Want to Survive, They Need a Plan B

To Fill Up the Storefronts Again, It Takes Talented, Enterprising Folks Who Aren’t Acting Alone

This country is littered with dying small towns that lacked a plan B, one they should have had in place before the mill shut down or the factory moved to Mexico.

Mount Shasta, California, and Ashland, Oregon did it right. Located in the California–Oregon border region where I live, they avoided economic devastation by having their survival plans well underway by the time their lumber mills began to shut down more than a half century ago.

Indeed, Mount Shasta was more than 100 years ahead of the curve thanks to a guy named …

Why Conflict Should Look Like Streaming TV

To End Polarizing Community Battles, Embrace Complexity

The La Brea Tar Pits may only run a few inches deep, but if you get trapped in the natural asphalt, you can’t get out. In fact, the more you …

After the Prisons Close, Where Does That Leave Rural Communities?

Incarceration Is Big Business In Towns Like Susanville, Which Now Must Find a New Economic and Civic Path Forward

Efforts to close prisons need to come with assistance to rural communities that depend on these institutions, said panelists at a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event in the northeast California town …

California Is Closing the Wrong Prison | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

California Is Closing the Wrong Prison

Politics Dominated the State’s Move Toward Mass Incarceration. In Towns Like Susanville, It’s Dominating the State’s Move Away From It, Too

hen your town’s biggest business is punishment, how do you fight back when you’re being punished unfairly?

That’s the predicament facing Susanville, a small town that is the seat of Lassen …

The World Calls It a Prison Town—And I Call It Home | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The World Calls It a Prison Town—And I Call It Home

A 20-Year Resident of Folsom, the Town Johnny Cash Made Famous, Reflects on the Relationship Between the Community and Its Prisons

 learned Johnny Cash songs because of my own frequent imprisonment in the backseat of the family station wagon. Dad played all the Man in Black’s hits on the Chevy’s 8-track. …

What I Learned From Being Sent to County Jail | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

What I Learned From Being Sent to County Jail

The Realities Are Different From Prison—And Here’s Why That Matters

ust before I started graduate school, I was arrested and spent a night in jail. I wrote in my journal about the experience, but I put it behind me and …