In April 2018, writer Corie Brown released an article entitled, “Rural Kansas is dying. I drove 1,800 miles to find out why.” If you are wondering why you didn’t see this article shared on any of the media platforms that JenRus Freelance controls, there is a reason. We felt that many of the quotes featured in this story were taken out of context and changed to fit an agenda. Plus, it is our policy to share positive news about rural Kansas. The negative is prevalent and every Kansan knows what the negative items are. As Kansan’s, we often get caught up in this negative self-talk. Instead, our team at JenRus Freelance chooses to focus on what is positive about living in Kansas and work hard every day to overcome our challenges. Another one of the things Kansan’s traditionally fall short on is defending ourselves. That is what this article is for. This is taken from an E-mail that we shared with Ms. Brown today.
Rural Kansas is Living.
Thank you for your interest in writing about your home state of Kansas. While we always welcome you back, I think that your views have been skewed by the Los Angeles population and too many years absent from the true reality of what Kansas is like now. “Alone and in silence”, and “cut off”, I read your article, within hours of it being released in California from my computer in rural Courtland, KS.
Sure, wheat is going away as a go to commodity, you are correct. While you are right that the increase in efficiency on the farm requires less people and is part of the population decline of agricultural areas, we pivot and adapt. My Dad used to grow wheat, milo and alfalfa in the 1980’s. Last year he grew corn and soybeans. Still other farmers I know are growing white corn for tortillas, considering barley for beer making, and growing green beans for distribution. My Father, like many farmers, realizes when something is running its course and hurting their wallet. They are smart business owners after all.
The Nancy Kassebaum Years – 1978-1997
I’m with Nancy Kassebaum, this population loss has been going on a long time. However, no matter how revered Nancy is, she has been out of political office since 1997. More than twenty years later, there is a large, growing, group of Kansans who are done with dwelling on our population loss. We are done with the negative self-talk of Kansans, only amplified when articles like the one that you wrote come out.
Interestingly, Nancy was in office my entire childhood, entering about the time that I was born and exiting about the time I graduated high school in rural Kansas. I recently wrote about the difference that I have seen in rural Kansas between when I lived here in my childhood to when I came back as a Rural by Choice adult. You can read about that here: http://jewellcountykansas.com/news/dont-assume-about-rural-part-1/technologies-influence-on-rural-kansas/
No that’s not Nancy Kassebaum, it’s Marci Penner and WenDee Rowe from the Kansas Sampler Foundation. They are pictured along with two great PowerUp advocates (rural Kansan’s between the ages of 21-39 that are Rural by Choice) Liz Sosa and Sarah Green. Credit Kansas Sampler Foundation
My epiphany about rural Kansas came when Marci Penner, from the Kansas Sampler Foundation (who was quoted in your article) helped me with my College senior thesis. She provided me with information for my project, Economic Development for Glen Elder Kansas. She looked at and spoke about my hometown in a different and more positive way than anyone else had ever talked about it. What at amazing gift to see my hometown that way and know that it didn’t have to have Disney World to be a place worth loving, saving, and thriving in. My journey toward being “Rural by Choice” continued with what I saw when working at Internationally-successful, Brush Art Corporation, in Downs Kansas. (Also cited in the article). They showed me that you didn’t have to be located in a City to be successful, you can do it right from small town Kansas with Internet access and a little bit of travel.