Maija Hecht

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Articles

Where Now Rural Progressives? The Harris Campaign’s Rural Outreach Director Has Answers

2 months ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Maija Hecht |Kristi Eaton |Mary Welcome

Rural America’s decades-long shift to the right has been targeted by coastal critics as the reason Donald Trump is now President. But in August 2024, the Harris campaign’s decision to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the vice presidential nominee and to hire Matt Hildreth as its rural outreach director, signaled an engagement with rural voters to reverse this trend. The effort fell short, but rural communities tended to shift red to a lesser degree than elsewhere.
Will the Next DNC Chair Get Serious About Competing for Rural Votes?

Jan 22, 2025 | barnraisingmedia.com | Matt Barron |Frederick Clarkson |Bennet Goldstein |Maija Hecht

Much has been made of the problem the Democrats have in messaging. Why were the things they do to help rural folks and working-class voters not better known and appreciated at the ballot box on Election Day last November? You would think that as part of his re-election campaign last year ex-Sen.
Pete Hegseth supports a Christian Nationalist form of government

Jan 16, 2025 | barnraisingmedia.com | Frederick Clarkson |Maija Hecht

Almost as remarkable as Hegseth’s views is the fact that none of this came up during his confirmation hearing. The religious identities of presidential nominees for high office and judgeships have become something of a third rail that Senators dare not touch, despite the potential consequences for the foundations of constitutional democracy.
Who Does Minnesota’s White Earth State Forest Belong To?

Jan 8, 2025 | resilience.org | Maija Hecht |Barn Raiser

This story was originally published by Barn Raiser, your independent source for rural and small town news. Can a beloved forest bridge the gap between a fractured past and a hopeful future? The following is the third installment of “Reimagining Rural Cartographies,” a new Barn Raiser series exploring innovative and nontraditional forms of mapping. It is guest-edited by Lydia Moran and funded by Arts Midwest’s Creative Media Cohort program.
The Best Country Album of 2024 You’ve Never Heard Of

Dec 25, 2024 | barnraisingmedia.com | Lee Winkelman |Brooks Lamb |S. Nicole Lane |Maija Hecht

2024 is the year a storied R&B artist put out a transcendent country album. I am talking of course about Swamp Dogg’s latest album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St. I first encountered Swamp Dogg some 30 years ago when I bought a budget CD that collected soul songs about the Vietnam War.
Who Does Minnesota’s White Earth State Forest Belong To?

Dec 22, 2024 | barnraisingmedia.com | Maija Hecht |Winona LaDuke

The following is the third installment of “Reimagining Rural Cartographies,” a new Barn Raiser series exploring innovative and nontraditional forms of mapping. It is guest-edited by Lydia Moran and funded by Arts Midwest’s Creative Media Cohort program. Near the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, more than 130,000 acres of the state forest—a dense swath of Northwoods—lie within the White Earth Reservation boundaries, home to the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
In Rural News Deserts, Trump Won Big

Dec 15, 2024 | barnraisingmedia.com | Paul Farhi |John Volk |Maija Hecht

The findings are based on results from 193 of the 206 counties Medill has identified as news deserts, in states where county-level election results are currently available. The third annual State of Local News report, released by Medill’s Local News Initiative in October, documented the continuing decline of local news across the country, as measured by the number of newspapers, circulation, frequency of publication, employment and readership.
Foraging for Connection: Three women celebrate their love of foraging around White Earth

Mar 27, 2024 | womenspress.com | Maija Hecht

In the warmly lit living room of her house on the edge of White Earth Reservation, Jasmin Larson returns from her pantry, holding a jar of dried sumac berries. “Would you like to try this?” she offers, spooning a small ruby pile into an empty tea sachet. She drops it into a jar of cold water, and hands it to me. I look down with a bit of trepidation. “Staghorn sumac,” she adds. “It’s not the same as poison sumac. You won’t have a reaction, I promise,” she says, and laughs.