Roots and Wings: A Window into Rural America as I Know It

I have spent my life in Appalachian Kentucky and my career working alongside rural communities.

I am starting this writing practice because the version of rural America that shows up in national conversations is too often incomplete.

We are in a moment when rural America is receiving renewed attention. That can be a good thing. But attention without depth can lead to romanticizing, stereotyping, or reducing rural people and places to a single story. Too often, rural America is treated as a single story instead of what it really is: a wide and varied set of places where people live, work, raise children, build communities, and imagine a future.

That matters because rural America is not small or marginal. Nearly 14 million children are growing up in rural communities. Rural places cover 97 percent of the nation’s land, and about 1 in 5 Americans calls a rural place home.

When we flatten rural America into a single story, we miss the complexity of real people and real places. We miss the differences across geography, race, culture, economy, and lived experience. We also miss the possibility. And when that happens, it shapes more than public perception. It shapes where investment goes, which communities are seen as worthy of attention, and what young people believe is possible for their own lives.

This blog is my effort to open a different kind of window into rural America, one grounded in lived experience, shaped by place, and open to complexity. I want to share my own story, the stories of people and communities I encounter, and the ideas that have shaped my life and work. My hope is that, over time, this space helps make the multiple stories of rural America visible.

A bit about me.

I grew up in Appalachian Kentucky, and I have never wanted to live anywhere else. My family’s roots stretch back generations. On my mother’s side, my family’s history in Harlan County reaches back to the late 1700s. In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather, Daddy Bryan, moved the family to Lincoln County. That is the place that shaped me. It is still home in all the ways that matter. I still own my Ma’s part of the homeplace, and that connection to land and family shape me.

At 17, I moved away from home, but only 30 miles and 35 minutes away. That short move opened countless opportunities. It is one of the reasons I find Raj Chetty’s Opportunity Insights work so compelling. I have lived what it means for a relatively small change in geography to create a very different set of possibilities. I count myself fortunate that my move kept me in rural Appalachia, close to home, close to family, and close to the people and culture that formed me.

I made that move to attend Berea College. It was there that I met Hasan, my husband. Together we built our life in Paint Lick, just a few miles from where we first met. We raised our sons, Malcolm and Christopher, there. We are an Appalachian family, a rural family, and a multiracial family. Each of those identities carries its own set of assumptions and single stories. We do not fit neatly into any of them. That is part of why this blog matters to me.

I know how powerful stories can be. I also know how harmful they can be when they are incomplete.

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie named this powerfully in her talk, The Danger of a Single Story. She reminds us that when people or places are reduced to one narrative, dignity is lost. Complexity disappears. Equal humanity becomes harder to see.

I have seen that happen to rural America again and again.

Too often, rural communities are described only by what they lack. Poverty instead of hard work. Struggle instead of resilience. Need instead of possibility. When that becomes the dominant story, it affects how others see rural places. It also affects how rural people see themselves. It shapes the stories communities tell about their future. It shapes the stories young people tell themselves about who they can become.

I was fortunate. I had people in my life who told me a different story. They helped me believe I could go to college, become a lawyer, marry the man I love, raise a family, and build a meaningful professional life in Appalachia. I became the first person in my family to earn a college degree, and later a law degree. Today, as founder and CEO of Partners for Rural Impact, I have the privilege of working every day to challenge narrow narratives about rural America and to lift up stories that are fuller, truer, and more hopeful.

I have built my life and my work around one belief: place should not determine possibility.

That brings me to the name of this blog.

Why Roots and Wings

This space is called Roots and Wings because those two ideas have long shaped how I think about children, families, and communities.

A dear friend and colleague, Celesta Riffe, once shared something her mother said about parenting: we must give our children roots and wings, memories and dreams. That saying has stayed with me. It put words to something I had been trying to live, both as a mother and in my work with rural young people and families.

Roots are about connection: to family, to culture, to community, to history, and to the places that help us understand who we are. Wings are about possibility: the chance to grow, explore, choose, and build a life of meaning. Rural young people deserve both. They deserve deep connection to where they come from, and they deserve access to the full range of opportunities and experiences that help them pursue their dreams.

For me, I am happiest when I am grounded in family and place while also being stretched by new ideas, new relationships, and new opportunities. This is what I have worked to give my sons and it is what I want for all rural young people. I want my sons and all rural young people to know the beauty and history of their communities, and I want them to have the education, support, and experiences that allow them to achieve their dreams.

What You’ll Find Here

I will share reflections shaped by three beliefs that guide my life and work.

01 Rural brilliance abounds.

I will share stories that push back on deficit narratives and highlight the leadership, creativity, and innovation that already exist in rural communities.

02 Proximity matters.

I will reflect on what we learn when we stay close to people and place, and how that closeness changes the way we understand both challenges and solutions.

03 An American dream for all.

I will write about what it takes to ensure all young people have access to opportunity, how rural and urban futures are connected, and why a child’s chances in life should never depend on geography.

Some posts will grow out of my travels and conversations across rural America. Some will reflect on what I see in my own family and community. Others may be written with Hasan, Malcolm or Christopher, because the story of rural America is a story of family that changes across generations.

My hope is that Roots and Wings becomes a place for curiosity, reflection, and a fuller understanding of rural people and places. A place that makes room for multiple stories. A place that honors where we come from while also expanding what we believe is possible.

This is a window into rural America as I know it.

I hope you will follow along.