What is why [here]?
Since the 2016 Presidential Election, I’ve visited nearly every US state in an attempt to better understand everything that unites, divides and defines our society. In digital spaces, demagoguery and misinformation have created caricatured, ideological straw-men of one another, reinforcing our division across varying identities and geographies. However, in person, I’ve seen people who care about their neighbors and want nothing but the best for their communities.
How might we bridge that divide between what we are perceiving nationally versus what I’ve seen locally?
Well, why [here] is a multimedia storytelling project attempting to elevate community-driven narrative of people and places existing on the margins of the prevailing narrative in the United States of America. why [here] exists to capture and share the stories of people making a difference in those communities in an unadulterated, yet compelling way.
My project might seem a bit contrived, but I think that our ability to hold discourse and see each other across different lived perspectives has become so unwound over the last couple of years that we need to start with a premise as simple as understanding and honoring why places and communities matter to the people who live there.
To pilot this project, I’ve chosen three communities - South Bend, Indiana, Johnson City, Tennessee and Bentonville, Arkansas. Each place has their own unique regional identity - the post-industrial Midwest, the foothills of Appalachia and the emerging rural South - challenges, successes, opportunities, and a friend or family member who can host me! I hope to bring visibility to these under-represented and misunderstood communities by finding locals to share their stories of why their communities matter to them and what they are doing to improve them.
Through why [here]’s newsletter, website and Instagram (@why_here_matters), I will share these videos, recordings, images, writings, drawings and anything else you can imagine hoping that their perspectives can positively influence the way that we think about the people doing important, impactful work on a local level all over the United States.
Why subscribe to the why [here] newsletter?
I want to share these stories of local difference makers with as many people as possible. Likewise, I want to share the story of finding and capturing these stories with as many people as possible.
That’s where this newsletter comes in. The end result of why [here] will be something that centers the voices and perspectives of the communities that have hosted me. However, in the process of piloting this project, I want to share my personal experience of launching why [here] in addition to my thoughts and insights of why this project and why now.
That will happen here.
Stay up-to-date on my journey
As I get this project off the ground, my posting will be sporadic, informed by the connection between my heart and mind. As the project gets going, I intend for it to follow more of an intentional cadence with weekly updates and content that I’ve generated. As the pilot concludes, I’ll use the platform to reflect and highlight some of the best stories that have emerged from these communities that I’ll have been fortunate enough to experience.
Help to bridge-the-divide
I want those who follow this project to be part of a greater community of people who care about bridging the divides that have come to define our society across varying ideologies, identities and geographies. That’s my only prerequisite for following along and being a part of this.
My goal is for the insights and perspectives that I share through this project (and newsletter) to improve our abilities to understand, empathize and collaborate with one another across our differences.
What do you say? Are you up for joining me in this journey of finding out why [here] matters all over the United States?
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
