Montgomery Advertiser partners with Auburn University program to share more rural stories

Every summer over the past 12 years, a new group of Auburn University students has dispersed throughout rural Alabama. They aren’t there to sightsee or to take anything from these communities. They go to learn about the footwork of democracy at the ground level: the inner workings of a small town.

Students who take part in Auburn’s Living Democracy program spend 10 weeks living in a rural town, volunteering under the guidance of community leaders and writing about what they observe.

This year, there’s one difference: Each student’s weekly writing submission is being shared for publication in the Montgomery Advertiser.

The partnership between the Advertiser and Auburn University has already yielded such stories as the rebuilding of a beloved restaurant post-fire, one local woman’s dedication to return home after college, a look inside a group home for adults with autism and one woman’s journey to provide opportunity to Wilcox County kids.

“As storytellers, these students are introducing our readers to people who are deeply committed to solving problems and creating vibrancy in their communities,” Montgomery Advertiser executive editor Paige O. Windsor said. “We are excited to showcase these stories, which highlight the beauty and ingenuity of rural Alabamians.”

The Advertiser will publish many more of these stories on weekdays as the summer continues.

From lived experience to storytelling

Before those articles reach the newspaper, they go through Auburn journalism professor Nan Fairley, who has led the program alongside Auburn liberal arts professor Mark Wilson since its inception.

“I've always had a passion for community journalism, and one of the reasons why is because good community journalists really know how to listen. They know how to pay attention. They know how to get to know everyone in the community, so one of my missions is to share the best of community journalism with Living Democracy students,” Fairley said.

Most summers, the Living Democracy students are not journalism majors. Many of them don’t even consider themselves writers.

Over the years, as Fairley read piece after piece that the students turned in to relay the depth of experiences they had, she realized that there was something there, something potentially worthy of publication on a wider scale.

The 500-plus pieces of writing she’s received since the start of the program speak to the identity of Alabama. Each shows a snapshot of an intriguing event, person or project that is specific to each town.

Put them together, and you have rural Alabama.

“Collectively, if we look at the stories, they all reflect some deeper meaning about topics such as holding on to hope, history and, ‘What does home mean to people?’ Fairley said. “Using those principles of listening, paying deep attention and trying to get to know everyone in the community really translates into these students being able to find stories that would not be told if they weren't there.”

How Living Democracy began

Wilson, who leads the program with Fairley, remembers taking part in many conversations about service, value and respect before Living Democracy sent out its first students in 2011.

One of those was on a trip he took to Appalachia with an alternative spring break course he instructed. Wilson and 12 students trekked up to east Tennessee to try to understand what it means to be an outsider entering a community that’s not your own.

One woman they met had an answer that Wilson said shaped the program that is now Living Democracy.

“She put us in our place. She said, ‘If you've come here to think that you're going to save us, then you've got something else coming. We don't need you here for that. These problems have taken a long time to create, so it's going to take a long time to solve the problems,’” Wilson said. “‘But if you've come here to share what you've learned about life and how you’ve interacted with people, then we'll have a pretty good week.’”

Wilson gathered support from the David Mathews Center for Civic Life and Auburn’s Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, and they got to work.

Meet the 2023 students

Four students are participating in Living Democracy this year, and through the program, they are officially referred to as Jean O'Connor Snyder Interns with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life.

They are Mikailie Caulder, Jessica Criswell, Payton Davis and Kaitlin Stabler.

Caulder grew up in Weaver and is living in Elba for the summer. She’s volunteering with the community nonprofit Restoration 154 and helping out at the local animal shelter, senior center and library.

“I feel like in smaller communities like coming from one and out being in one, it really shows that you do have power to do things,” Caulder said. “People, I think, in larger cities kind of just sit back and let things change on their own. Whereas like here, especially in Elba, people are really hitting the nail on the head in going for what they want to see.”

Stories from Mikailie Caulder

• Artist's love for mosaics connects her to community in Elba, Alabama

• Destroyed by fire, regional favority JJ's BBQ in Elba will be rebuilt

• Wiregrass Fest stokes kids' imaginations, raises money for Dolly Parton book program

Criswell is spending her summer volunteering at the Washington County Public Library in Chatom. By no coincidence, Chatom is also her hometown. Living Democracy gave her special permission to complete her internship where she grew up with the understanding that she is now looking at the town through a new perspective.

“I would like to see the stigma of staying here in Chatom change. People sort of view people who leave more highly than the people who stay their entire lives,” Criswell said. “Over the years, there's not really anybody encouraging people to stay, to invest in what built you instead of leaving it.”

Stories from Jessica Criswell

• TASA gives southwest Alabama advocates 'a louder voice' to help those with disabilities

• Library in southwest Alabama transforms into learning center every summer

About 280 miles northeast, Davis moved to the town of Collinsville for the summer. It’s a majority Hispanic community in a rural part of DeKalb County. As a mathematics and Spanish double major at Auburn, Davis is spending her time volunteering at the library and teaching English classes to Spanish-speaking community members. She is also conducting an oral history project about how Collinsville residents immigrated there.

“It’s been really awesome,” Davis said. “There's a lot of stories, I think, in the Hispanic community in Collinsville that even people in Collinsville would be shocked to know about their neighbors.”

Stories from Payton Davis

• Why this Collinsville HS grad plans return to rural Alabama after college

• Can English classes help to unify diverse rural town of Collinsville?

• Hispanic culture celebrated with hometown events in North Alabama

Like Criswell, Stabler also received permission to spend her Living Democracy summer in her hometown of Camden. There, she is volunteering with Black Belt Treasures, a regional arts center that has a storefront in downtown Camden.

“I am looking forward to giving back to my community and serving the people of Camden in ways that benefit the town,” Stabler said in a statement. “I’m excited about rediscovering aspects of my community that I find charming and significant.”

The four students are about half way through their rural Alabama summers, and they all said there’s so much more they want to accomplish and learn before they leave.

Stories from Kaitlin Stabler

• BAMA Kids founder Sheryl Threadgill says 'destiny' led her back to Wilcox County

• Collaboration blossoms into beautification project in downtown Camden

Hadley Hitson covers children's health, education and welfare for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Living Democracy students chronicle life in rural Alabama