Reframing Rural wins "Best Podcast of the Year" Award + a New Season is in the Works!

Dear Listener,

I was at Winnett ACES' 10 year anniversary celebration in Eastern Montana when Maddie Jorden, our associate producer, texted me that we had just been named the "Best Podcast of the Year! I was flooded with emotion. I had already teared up at the ribbon cutting of Winnett's historic 55 Main - a building that just a few years ago, I could see through the walls of - and now I was learning that Reframing Rural had just received this award! The timing felt kismet with Winnett ACES being our beloved, past season partner.

I've got to be honest, it feels really good to be recognized in this way. It's an acknowledgement of: all the work and faith it took to build and continue this fledgling idea I came up with in grad school, the countless bleary-eyed nights of editing, the thousands of miles traveled across the rural West, the invaluable relationships formed with those who've so generously shared their stories with us along the way, the audience who spends their precious time listening to our show, and the incredible people who have contributed their creativity and commitment to this project. Those people are: Aaron Spieldenner and Sean Dwyer, our brilliant audio engineers, composers and dear friends from Seattle who add critical emotional depth to our stories; Mary Auld who asked if I needed a story editor in 2022 and who sends me Word Docs marked up with red edits that at first overwhelm me, but then absolutely astound me; Maddie Jorden, our associate producer and the newest member of our team who is whip smart, kind and incredibly good with both words and numbers; my parents Renny and Russ Torgerson, who gave me interview ideas for season one and who have joined me on reporting trips and provided childcare while I do interviews all across rural Montana; and my husband Andrew Drinnan who wrote the music for the first two seasons and who has been a cheerleader of the podcast from the very beginning. I'm so lucky to work with you and to do this work. Some days I can't believe this is my job... and it continues to be.

A New Season is in the Works!

This September we will have been reporting (pretty quietly), on our new upcoming season - Season 5: Rural Motherhood - for a full year now! But I started thinking about it in 2023 when I was pregnant with my son Connor and reading books like Matrescence about the emotional, physical, psychological and social transformation of new motherhood. Throughout the whole pregnancy and postpartum period, I couldn't get my fill of stories and research on motherhood. Now two-and-a-half years into the parenting journey, I am still completely fascinated by women's experiences navigating maternal healthcare, perinatal mental health, childcare and the stresses of life like running a farm and a family.

This is the most ambitious season we have ever produced. It will be a six-episode season exploring the stressors - and solutions - rural Montana moms experience today.

It takes a lot of resources to produce a documentary-style season like this. This year, we have travelled over 2,000 miles to Dillon, Lolo, Browning, White Sulphur Springs and Plentywood for interviews. To date, we have raised $92,500 from nine incredible supporters: Headwaters Foundation, the Llewellyn Foundation, the Steele-Reese Foundation, Greater Montana Foundation, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Women’s Foundation of Montana, Red Ants Pants Foundation, Zero to Five Montana and Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies. We still have roughly $15,000 to raise. If you'd like to donate, please check out our Support page.

Now that we're done reporting, the real work begins. From September to December I'll be holing up to write and edit the new season. As Mary Auld is on maternity leave (congratulations Mary!), the exceptional writer, editor and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s MA in Writing program, Courtney Lowery Cowgill, will step in as a story editor for Season 5. Right now Maddie is reviewing tape and creating summaries of all our interviews, and Aaron and Sean are at work composing original music for the season. In the new year, they will begin mixing the episodes. Then, just a week before Mother's Day, we'll release episode one!

I'm so excited to be in this phase of the process. To sit with all the tape we've gathered and to begin the work of crafting these important stories. I don't want to give away too much, but stay tuned for more updates on the progress of Season 5!

Thanks as always for listening,

Megan Torgerson

Reframing Rural Founder & Producer