Dean Bakopoulos

May 9, 2024 | switchyardmag.com | Taylor Le |Dean Bakopoulos

Now, it was Christmas Eve, and we had lived in Mineral Point for nearly three years. We had a four-year-old girl and year-old boy. I remember coming back from Christmas Eve services with my daughter in tears. She had been an angel in the Christmas play and had been shushed by Mary for starting her song too early.

May 9, 2024 | switchyardmag.com | Bill McKibben |Monica Potts |Michael Croley |Dean Bakopoulos

It happens every four years. The national media—which is increasingly urban and coastal—descends on the middle of the country in a pitched, last-minute bid to understand the mind of the rural voter. The contributors to this issue, from small towns or raised there, write with striking intimacy and insight about the challenges faced by rural Americans and how the depopulation and desolation of small towns has affected the national soul.