Mar 15, 2016
In the fall of 2012, a resolute group of intrepid volunteers sat around a dining table in a renovated old tobacco warehouse discussing the perennial issue of school fundraising. Burned out after years of big, time-consuming events that required many volunteer hours,...
Feb 9, 2016
Once again, Matt Voz offers his dark, dry, and insightful humor as it pertains to (growing up in and then returning to) life in a small town. And I though I had a very different childhood experience, perhaps because of that, this piece resonated with me...
Jan 9, 2016
With Parker Palmer, Naomi Shihab Nye and Howard Zinn At its core, the true passion and intention behind the work at RST is its focus on the ways in which we build meaningful lives in community. I focus on small, in part because it is more concentrated, but these small...
Dec 3, 2015
RealSmallTowns is honored to have Matt Voz sign on as a contributor to The Secret Sauce! Matt is the administrator and teacher of many classes at the Youth Initiative High School — the first High School in the United States to be elected into the prestigious Ashoka...
Nov 9, 2015
“Then the singing enveloped me. It was furry and resonant, coming from everyone’s very heart. There was no sense of performance or judgment, only that the music was breath and food.” —Anne Lamott The sun was setting over sloping streets in Decorah, Iowa as...
Oct 7, 2015
Early on in my RealSmallTowns project, I set out to write a piece about the common threads of connection in those places that are thriving with collective effervescence and the resilience that originates from it. After conducting several interviews, It was quickly...
