Honoring the rich history of rural western Illinois, and examining the problems we currently face
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!
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 …
On Wednesday May 2, we were pleased to welcome Dr. Tim Kasser to Cuba, IL to share his presentation titled "Media and Children's Well-Being" (The first 30 minutes are Tim's talk while the last 20 minutes Tim answers some questions from the audience). This presentation was part of our Screen Free Week Activities that took …
On Thursday May 3, 2018 we enjoyed facilitating a conversation with parents about their experience with screens and kids. This event was part of our week-long Screen Free Week experiences at Cuba High School. Our parent panel consisted of Jackie Scharping, Samantha Gilham, Tiffany Clark, and Amy Willett. The panel was moderated by high school …
On Wednesday May 2, 2018 we enjoyed a conversation with students about their experience using technology. This event was part of our week-long Screen Free Week experiences at Cuba High School. Our panel consisted of about a dozen students in Cuba High School's Sociology class. The panel was moderated by Mr. Joe Brewer. Special thanks to …
Burma-Shave was a brand of shaving cream famous for its humorous advertisements during the 1920s (check out the link here to see some examples for yourself). They had a reputation sort of like Geico does today; a company known for doing unconventional commercial advertisements with their own quirky sense of style. Yet perhaps another reason for their success lies not in the content of their ads, but new trends in American life in the 1920s that emphasized more materialistic values of status and wealth. Or as sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen called conspicuous consumption; spending money on luxurious goods to flaunt the wealth and status of the buyer.
The following is a portion of the transcript from our interview with Tim Kasser about value pollution. On this edition we return to our conversation with Dr. Tim Kasser, a psychology professor at Knox College who is no stranger to rural living. We were extremely fortunate to speak with Dr. Kasser, he is the well-known …
Continue reading "S1, E5 – Value Pollution: Why Should We Ban Advertisements in School?"
We've explored a number of topics revolving around social problems we face in rural America, but just because we're studying problems in rural America doesn't mean everyone is miserable. Rural places are awesome places to live and there's endless amounts of great things going on. But here´s our essential question today - can one make …
On this episode we wanted to share a cool experience we recently had in our psychology class. We were visited by the lovely Mrs. Karen Hahn a social worker from Psychology Specialists in Canton, IL. Karen’s visit is definitely consistent with our objective to examine the social problems we face in our own context of rural America; specifically these 16 counties in western IL referred to by many as Forgottonia. In fact if we want firsthand insights of what exactly the issues are and what it takes to overcome them, I’m not sure there’s anybody better to talk to then a social worker like Karen.
The Forgottonia Project 