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Season 3, Episode 6 – Saving Lives in Forgottonia: How One Rural Community is Creatively Funding and Staffing its First Responder Program

In this episode, Cuba High School's Ashley Howerter shares her conversation with Bob Schnarr, the chief director of the Cass-Putnam rescue squad. While many first responder teams across Forgottonia struggle to fund and staff programs, the majority of the Cass-Putnam rescue squad is made up of high school students. This is the first program of its kind in the state!

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Season 3, Episode 5 – The Music of Forgottonia: How Local Musician Chris Vallillo Captures the Sounds of the Rural Midwest

We are pleased to share our latest podcast interview with local musician, Chris Vallillo.  Chris is a singer/songwriter & folk musician who makes the people & places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song.  Chris is also a fantastic local historian as many of his songs reflect the unique rural Midwestern culture that we've …

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Season 3, Episode 4 – Sociology and Self-Care with WIU Sociology Instructor Alyssa Hall Anderson

One this episode of the Forgottonia Project we are pleased to share a very informative conversation we had recently with Western Illinois University Sociology Instructor, Alyssa Hall Anderson. In this interview, Alyssa discusses her latest blog post for the Forgottonia Project entitled "Sociology and Self-Care." She provides insights regarding sociological thinking as a form of self-care and shares her experience and interests with the subject of sociology.

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Season 3, Episode 3 – What a Small Town Yoga Studio is Doing to Improve Well-Being in Forgottonia – Interview with Lyndsey Larson, Manager of The Breathing Tree

On this edition of the Forgottonia podcast we’re sharing a conversation about mental health in rural America with our friend Lyndsey Larson, the manager of a local yoga studio in Canton, IL called “The Breathing Tree.” Lyndsey is also a native and recent returnee to Canton, IL where she lives with her husband and their surprise triplets!

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S3 – Blog 01: Sociology and Self Care

by WIU Sociology Instructor and Guest Contributor Allyssa (Hall) Anderson The definition of self- care is “the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health” (Oxford languages).  We’ve probably all heard this term enough over 2020.  As an Instructor of Sociology, my Sociological Imagination influences everything I see, read, and hear.  It …

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S2 – Episode 07: What the Salvation Army is Doing to Help the Most Vulnerable Rural Americans

According to a study at Columbia University funded by the National Institute of Health,  4.5% of all deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to poverty (Link to research). And this was before the covid-19 outbreak! What is the cause of poverty? What does poverty look like in rural, western Illinois? What can we do to combat poverty? To help respond to these questions, we turned to Lt. Sarah B. Eddy of the Canton, IL Salvation Army.