Thoughts about art and community.
In 2019, I spent a day with Yolande Van Herdeen, an expat South African whose path serendipitously led her to Greenwood, Mississippi. When I met her, Yolande was serving as the artist-in-residence at ArtPlace Mississippi, a community art center in downtown Greenwood offering classes and programs for all ages. What stayed with me from that visit wasn’t just the art itself, but the way Yolande explained the unique role ArtPlace plays in Greenwood.
Read MoreA while back, I had the opportunity to publicly talk shop about intersections of art and conservation in Iowa with two ISU Extension and Outreach colleagues: Catherine DeLong, program manager, Water Quality, and Adam Janke, assistant professor and extension wildlife specialist. As a once avid hiker, I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never really considered the parallels between natural resource conservation and art until meeting Adam and Catherine.
Read MoreI garden because my mother gardens.
My mother gardens because her father gardened, and his people gardened, and their people gardened.
We come from a long line of east Mississippi dirt farmers.
Read MoreLast week, I invited folks to share how to speak Iowegian.
To be completely transparent, I was pleasantly surprised with the level of response, even the arguments between was what authentically Iowan versus Minnesotan. Enjoy.
Read MoreA few months back, I sent a note to my What’s Good Project newsletter crew to ask them to share with me their third places, and whether these places were in danger of being closed or eliminated.
Here’s some of what they wrote.
Read MoreLook up. Look around.
I'll be honest - this is as much for myself as for you. To help with that, I made us both a sampler platter of stories (and paintings) of folks being awesome.
Plus, my best attempt at movie trailers for each piece, complete with soundtrack.
We’ve arrived at the final official quality of Third Places, according to Ray Oldenburg, and this might be my favorite one.
Read MoreFollowing is a list of six handy facts to use when people make, shall we say, uninformed comments about art and the economy, plus the cited sources of said facts.
Set folks straight, kindly, and with a smile on your face.
Read MoreIn 2015-16, I organized and coordinated Intertwine, a collaborative, large-scale yarn-bombing project on the two-story façade of ISU Design on Main community gallery (RIP Design on Main) in the Main Street Cultural District in Ames, Iowa.
Read MoreGuest post by Mrs. Velma Benson-Wilson of Jackson, Tennessee and Marks, Mississippi. Mrs. Benson-Wilson wrote this autobiographical essay in response to a 2013 visit back to her hometown of Marks, Mississippi. Author of What’s in the Water: Fannie, a Legacy of Love, Mrs. Benson-Wilson is currently the Director of the Quitman County Tourism and Economic Development, and was instrumental in the 50th Anniversary of Marks’ Mule Train and Poor People’s Campaign in 2018.
Read MoreLast week, I shared a Fairly Comprehensive List of 2025 Community Events in the Mississippi Delta-ish. Since I'm now a pseudo-midwesterner, I upped the ante and embarked on creating one for Iowa, my current home, that included every nook and cranny of the state. I give you: Bookmark This List: 100+ (Weird, One-of-a-Kind) Community Events in 99 Iowa Counties in 2025.
To do this well, I hit up the big guns: my top-notch colleagues in the Community and Economic Development unit at Iowa State Extension and Outreach and Husband Aaron.
Read MoreAs January is for plan-making, and I’m feeling a touch homesick for the Sipp, I thought I’d make a list for, well, pretty much everybody: including all you fellow Mississippians, you Mississippi-appreciators, you adventurous folk always gunnin’ for a road trip, and especially for you folks who’ve never been to Mississippi, but have a lot of preconceived notions about it. :)
Read MoreBeing a regular, and being around other regulars - the fifth quality of third places – can change folks’ lives.
Regulars transform from strangers into trusted friends, and can change your perspective.
Read MoreFor all our talk of mental health these days, third places, and the short walk or bike ride they require to visit, can be an antidote.
Read MoreLet’s be super clear –the magic of third places comes from the literal space and time they provide us to talk to each other. Not talk at each other. Not text each other. Not send DMs. But the ability to have real, meandering conversations, in person.
Read MoreIf you live in the Driftless region of the Midwest, you hopefully know about Inspire(d) Media, a magazine I have been a fan of for years for obvious reasons.
I was real, real excited to be included both as the cover artist for their Summer 2024 issue and in a feature article inside.
Read MoreAs places for anybody and everybody, pubs, parks, piers, and public libraries epitomize third places.
Read MoreI made a short video about the early stages of Cultivation, a painting that’s based on a conversation I had in 2019 with Benjamin Saulsberry, Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.
Read MoreDuring 2022, I interviewed a dozen Oskaloosa residents in a variety of places: Smokey Row coffee shop, private homes, downtown offices, golf carts, and Penn Central Mall. Among the myriad things I learned about the community is that’s a whole lot going on in Oskaloosa. Like a LOT.
As you travel through Iowa, I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. Here are a few recommendations for your trip.
Read MoreSo let’s get back to third places.
For the next few months, I’ll introduce each of the six essential qualities that effective third places share, why they matter, and wisdom we can glean for other parts of our lives.
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