Michele Anderson says “I am what you might call a ‘homecomer.’ Wendell Berry, the Kentucky writer and farmer, uses that word to describe people who have spent some time away, usually to pursue better opportunities in cities, and then choose to return to their rural roots.” Her recent opinion piece in the New York Times is headlined “Go Home to Your ‘Dying’ Hometown.” Michele Anderson says “I did, and it isn’t what I expected. I am more involved in social and racial justice, economic development and feminism than I ever was in a big city.”
Michele Anderson is is a writer, musician and an arts advocate. She is the rural program director for Springboard for the Arts, an economic and community development organization for artists in Minnesota. She and her husband live in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, population 14,000.