Not from around here? Newcomers need welcoming in rural communities

In small communities in rural America, everyone knows who is from the locality and who is not. The fish-out-of-water tales are plentiful, but this tension between "insiders and outsiders" must be understood and softened if these same communities are to enjoy the benefits newcomers might bring, writes Ken Root in the High Plains Journal.

Root, a professor of agriculture, recalls his own "outsider" status when he began teaching in a western Oklahoma town, even though he was born and raised on a Oklahoma farm. "In some communities, if you aren't born there -- no, if your parents aren't born there--you are never truly accepted as one of them," he writes. "You can marry in, but you'll always be an outsider although your children may make the grade to inside status."

Root's short essay highlights, often humorously, how newcomers can avoid a faux pas by ratcheting down aggressive behavior, understanding that news travels fast and by bringing the right dish to the potluck. At the same, he says community insiders must make an effort to welcome newcomers, especially when the ramifications could be more than social. He also notes an additional distinction: "There are two groups: insiders, who have lived in rural America all their lives, and outsiders, who have not." (Read more)