‘It means community’: Kansas rural development director evangelizes small-town life
- Jennifer Goetz
- May 21
- 1 min read
When I began driving around the state for the Kansas Reflector last year, I didn’t know what to expect.
I was raised and educated in Kansas, yes, but I had spent nearly 15 years away. When I returned, I worked in Topeka and Lawrence. The rural areas of my youth weren’t just distant in memory — they were a lengthy drive away. My childhood recollections of these places as comfortable and nurturing clashed with the national political narrative that had emerged over the past 20 years. Urban areas were growing and progressive. Rural ones were decaying and reactionary.