Why the Maker Movement Matters: Part 1, the Tools Revolution
Just like the internet before it, the Maker Movement is revolutionizing manufacturing, with implications for startups and jobs.
Farming in the Desert
A small town in Arizona grows a thriving food scene.
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Language as Art in Pittsburgh
Exiled writers use words as art and inspire a community.
Listening to Montana
In Chester, Montana, a world away from city life inspires an artist's music.
How Libraries Are Becoming Modern Makerspaces
They’ve long served as communal gathering spots, but these civic institutions are becoming gateways to technological tinkering.
A Public Library Tells the Civic Story of a Town
Greenville’s public library puts its past and present on full display: mills, racial history, internationalism, public-private collaborations, and culture.
Tech Meets Art in Middle School
A South Carolina public school gives tech-savvy students a sense of humanity.
‘The Looming Entrepreneurial Boom’: Kauffman Weighs In
Brand-new companies play a surprisingly important part in progress toward fuller employment. A new report says that the prospects for start-ups may be improving.
Mississippi Students Write About Life in Their Home State
Inspiring young writers connect with their literary legacy
Pitching in to Save a Library
In San Bernardino, one way to help save the city is to save its library.
American Futures Master List: Some of the Hundreds of Places We Would Like to Go
“There is more going on, in more places, than you imagined.”
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Welcome Our Newest National Monuments!
Often it seems that modern presidents can’t do anything — except wage war. Here’s a heartening exception.
Punching Above Their Weight in Mississippi
Mississippi schools come in #49 in many national rankings. Read these essays and poems by high school students from Columbus, Mississippi. Then tell the folks who make up the rankings that they need a different algorithm.
Can America Put Itself Back Together? Kicking Off Another Online Season
Across the country, people think America is going to hell—but things look better here locally. Why the general tone of the moment’s politics is wrong.
America's Libraries: Old Institutions Becoming Very New Again
Most people associate libraries with fustiness, quiet, and a previous era in technology. But across the country, they’re embracing new technology to fill important new civic roles.
How America Is Putting Itself Back Together
Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.
Talking About Civic Engagement in America's Original Engaged Communities
The Chautauqua Institution is one of America’s great centers for civil, cultural, and intellectual engagement. A talk about 21st-century American renewal, at a place whose history traces to a great 19th-century reform movement.
A Library Writes Its Own Story
A California library becomes a living legend.
Gone Swimmin’
How public swimming pools show you the heart of a town
An Innovative Library in Oregon, and Other Reports From the Road
Kicking off reports from the inland Northwest, plus a happy birthday to James Baldwin
A Library of Good Ideas
Formula for success in Central Oregon: know the users, spot the opportunities, act with vigor.
Why an F-16 Hit a Cessna, and Some More-Upbeat Updates
Sobering news from the NTSB, but encouraging news from Maine to California
The New New York Public Library
Preserving tradition while expanding offerings for a bigger, broader audience.
The Good Ol' Days of the Motor Hotel Are Back
The metamorphosis of a Bend, Oregon, motel—from its classic origins, to crack house, to upscale rustic elegance.
The San Bernardino Story: Fire Fighters Weigh In
Who is to blame when a struggling city runs out of money? A public-safety worker says it’s unfair to point the finger at him and his colleagues. Plus, a young resident of the city discovers reasons to hope.
When High School Means a Build-It-Yourself Education
A charter school in Oregon encourages students to shape their own learning.
A Community College at the Center of an Oregon Recovery Story
When the lumber industry left, the region bet its future on technology—even though it lacked a research university.
How to Tell Oregon Apart From New Jersey
If Chris Christie had thought of this for his state’s gas stations, maybe he’d be doing better in the 2016 race now
Building for the Future, in California's Famously Failed City
The Los Angeles Times has a big, new demonstration of how bad things have gotten in the city of San Bernardino. Here’s a look at people doing their best, despite those odds.
Sports and Civic Life, Bend Elks Edition
An evening at the ballpark, with Vinnie the Elk and friends
Summer in the Pacific Northwest
The Bend, Oregon, Elks open their baseball season.