Townsizing

Located in the Arctic Circle, Utqiagvik, Alaska is the Northernmost town in America. And even though it’s one of the least habitable places in the U.S., there are plenty of folks who call this place home. This week, host Anne Helen Petersen speaks with Kawahine Danner, a local Inupiaq artist about life in the Arctic Circle. Danner explains the misconceptions about growing up in a remote arctic village, as well as some of the more u...

Maybe you’ve seen the Instagram account Cheap Old Houses (@cheapoldhouses) in a revenge bedtime procrastination blur. The account highlights homes in need of TLC where the price tag isn’t the sore spot… it’s the money and sweat equity you’ll have to put into restoring it. They’re often in rural areas, or in towns where, for various reasons, the population has declined significantly over the past 100 years. Host Anne Helen Petersen ...

In this week’s episode, we get into the nitty gritty of small town dating. What are the lengths you’re willing to go to find your person? Like emotionally but also how far are you willing to go... in a car? And what’s it like embarking on this solo adventure? We’re going to hear from two women with two totally different experiences. First up, we have Ruth, a divorced mom of 5 living in a small Michigan town. Then, we’ll hear from C...

Many city dwellers find themselves daydreaming about moving to a small town. Maybe it’s a chance to slow down, own property or just have a porch to sip tea on. The pandemic and remote work accelerated these plans for a lot of Americans. In this episode, we’ll talk to listeners considering making the jump. First, we have Laura and Anders Wennstrom. They have a great community in Minneapolis but Anders, an avid gardener and grouch wh...

In this episode, Anne travels to a small town close to her heart – Walla Walla, WA. There, she’ll meet up with Michelle Morales. Michelle grew up in Walla Walla and is now a part of the city’s fabric, working in the prosecutor’s office there since 2017 and currently running for Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney. We’ll talk to Michelle about growing up in town, why she left and came back, and hear why being a public servant is...

Brian Brigantti was a lifelong city guy, raised in Chicago and living in New York City, when he found himself moving to a farm in rural Tennessee. He followed his boyfriend Domonick Gravine, who had moved there shortly after they started dating. Fast forward a couple years, Brian has fully embraced country living and vegetable gardening in particular – with 2.3 million followers on Tik Tok to prove it. And Domonick has created a ni...

Guthrie, once the capital of Oklahoma, is a town that could easily be the backdrop in a country western. Its downtown area – with its iconic Victorian buildings – is the largest historic preservation district in the nation. But Guthrie has faced its ups and downs over the years – as people moved to Oklahoma City for opportunities. In recent years, there’s been a push to restore the town. In this episode, host Anne Helen Petersen ta...

Known as the “hit recording capital of the world,” Muscle Shoals, Alabama has seen some of the biggest names in music history come through its studio doors to record – from Aretha Franklin to Bob Dylan. Traci Thomas is lucky enough to call Muscle Shoals Sound Studio a second home. We’ll talk to Traci, the longtime manager of musician Jason Isbell, about moving to nearby Florence after falling in love with a turn of the century Quee...

After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Erin and Ben Napier married and moved to Erin’s hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. Since then, they’ve been on a dedicated mission to revitalize the town. Erin and Ben walk us through their journey and the changes they’ve made that mean the most to them. We’ll talk about their role in building community and how vital that is to a town’s livelihood. We’ll ask questions about the big...