Honoring the rich history of rural western Illinois, and examining the problems we currently face
"It’s tough to quantify what’s been lost as more small-town newspapers disappear... but we’re trying to bring back stories that matter most to the people who live here.” — Josiah Chatterton, The Forgottonia Times In This Episode In this episode of The Forgottonia Project, we sit down with Josiah Chatterton, founder of The Forgottonia Times; …
“Greatness comes from within. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a town of 100 or 100,000—if you believe in yourself and work your butt off, you can do anything.” Joe Decker On This Episode We talk with Joe Decker, Guinness World Record Holder and “World’s Fittest Man” who is a native of rural Forgottonia (Smithfield, IL). …
"Our job is to find out what the needs and barriers are around early childhood care and education… and help align goals so we’re all working on the same thing." Shannon McKee, Family & Community Engagement Specialist, Birth to Five Illinois: Region 26 On This Episode We had the privilege of speaking with Paul Larson, …
"Since 2005, the U.S. has lost more than ¼ of its newspapers and is on track to lose ⅓ by 2025." ON THIS EPISODE On this episode we are pleased to share some interview sound bites from students in our current events class at Cuba H.S. Their work is featured on our inaugural monthly newsletter …
Continue reading "Forgottonia Gazette: Rural Youth Reporting, Issue #1 (Podcast Edition)"
"More & more people are “ravenous for admiration” and have “little or no commitment to others... people have “illusions about their importance & fail to recognize their own shortcomings?” Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, 1978 ON THIS EPISODE We dive deep into research about self-absorption and its impact on community, inspired by Dr. John …
"The best ideas are going to come from your generation...it's time to be innovative to address these issues. Action starts with you." Tara Rumler, The 1024 Movement ON THIS EPISODE We are pleased to share this interview with Tara Rumler of the 1024 Movement. Tara is a native of Forgottonia whose work has brought her …
Continue reading "How the 1024 Movement is Helping Youth Prioritize their Mental Health"
On this episode of the Forgottonia Project, we summarize what the 2020 census reveals about Forgottonia. This episode serves as the podcast edition of our previous post analyzing census data: Forgottonia Profile: The 2020 Census. CHS students helped create a mega document that summarizes important demographic, social, and economic patterns that persist throughout Forgottonia (check …
On this edition of the Forgottonia Podcast, our students at Cuba H.S. completed a book study of the graphic novel “Hypercapitalism” and then had the privilege of interviewing the author of this book Tim Kasser. Our students ask Tim... What hypercapitalism is & why he wanted to write a graphic novel about it How spending …
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!
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.
The Forgottonia Project 