I grew up on a farm in west central Illinois, where there was one stoplight in the entire county. As a newspaper reporter and award-winning columnist ("Six Degrees from Galesburg"), public-radio commentator and blogger, I've uncovered the truth behind local legends (remind me to tell you the one involving Ringo Starr's tonsils), visited ghost towns and forgotten haunts, and interviewed marginally famous celebrities who happened to be stopping through town ("Corky" from "Life Goes On," anyone?). Now, after 12 years in journalism and PR, I've moved to Davenport, Iowa, to start life with my husband and to embark on a new gig as an English instructor. I'm also working on a batch of essays about life in small-town, murderous-to-latter-day-prophet America, (see "Joseph Smith" tag below). I love to hear from people who land here. Please leave comments at the bottom of posts, or drop me a line at alison dot sixdegrees at gmail.com.
COOL
Hey, just found this blog after randomly googling “forgotonia” based on an NPR this afternoon. My girlfriend’s parents grew up in Macomb (both WIU grads) and she still has family there. I myself lived for a year in Galesburg while in college.
Cheers.
[...] Please allow me to give a huge thanks to the reader who alerted me to this story (via a comment on a previous post). [...]