Dear Community,
I launched the second season of Reframing Rural: Sowing Possibility this morning!
This next chapter grows out of the dialogue I sparked in the first season and expands beyond a case study of my home county in Northeast Montana to illuminate rural realities across the West and Heartland. The format of my new season is deeply inspired by the work of Krista Tippet, a Peabody Award winning journalist from rural Oklahoma whose podcast On Being explores the “intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts.” Krista Tippet begins each of her interviews by asking guests about the spiritual or religious background of their childhood. In my second season I’m starting each conversation with “how has the geographic background of your childhood informed who you are and what you do today?” To me, geographic background means the layers of human, geologic, economic, familial, cultural and storied understandings that inform one’s understanding of place, and ultimately one’s identity.
As you’ll hear, this season pivots from the oral history-inspired, narrative nonfiction style of Season One: Coming Home. Season Two takes a conversational approach to identifying solutions that can safeguard our future in rural America and beyond. A through line from season one, Reframing Rural is still working to reframe the narrative on rural America and uplift and celebrate the many ways rural matters!
I invite you to listen to my Season 2 Preview in which I share my hopes for a “contemplative experience that uplifts the resiliency of rural communities, stretches our social imagination and calls attention to our interconnectedness.”
I’m so grateful to have you along with me on this journey. It means so much to me that you support a project that’s so close to my heart. I hope this season inspires, uplifts and sows possibility!
Yours,
Megan Torgerson
Reframing Rural Founder & Producer
In other news: Reframing Rural wins $8,000 grant from Greater Montana Foundation!
This spring and summer I've been busy applying to grants for season two. I'm humbled and grateful to receive an award from the Greater Montana Foundation which will support the production of six episodes, including the creation of original music by composer, Andrew Drinnan.