Hi! Welcome to Sparse, an exploration of urban and rural.
In short, Sparse is about sparse, dense, and how the two differ when applied to society.
Sparse is the concept of few in a large area; dense is the concept of many in a small area.
Sparse is miles of fields, forests, and wetlands interspersed with lone houses; dense is miles of homes, stores, and offices interspersed with lone parks.
Sparse is sprawling expanses of prairies and deserts interspersed with small towns; dense is sprawling grids of roads and street lights interspersed with abandoned factories.
Sparse is the knowledge of the intricacies and beauty of rural communities yet to be discovered and explored.
Sparse is pockets of dense spread far apart, with airports and highways to keep them connected. Sparse creates a culture and lifestyle that is different in meaningful ways from that created by dense. Sparse is something special that we as a society don’t always appreciate, but which makes us stronger for living within it. The United States of America is sparse at scale.
This publication, Sparse, is an exploration of the socioeconomics of rural areas, especially those in the United States, and why life gets more difficult, yet also simpler, the further one is from the nearest major city. Topics will be broad-ranging under this umbrella as we explore the advantages and disadvantages of both urban and rural community structures and our theories for how to close existing disadvantage gaps between sparse and dense.
The plan is to produce weekly content - in keeping with the title - where our readers will get to experience each of our focus areas and writing styles. We hope to educate readers on the diversity found in rural communities that are in reality small, close-knit hubs, and draw attention to the similarities, not just the differences, between rural and urban areas. In addition, we will explore theories on improving life, the economy, and society in general for these communities. As we continue to build and refine our foundational theory, we hope that some of our ideas will gain traction and cause real change.
Sparse the culmination of over a year of discussion between two folks who were born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The first is Dana Ferguson, a current resident of Marquette County and 2020 congressional candidate for Michigan’s 1st District who is working on his Ph.D. in Economics. The second is Michael Mathieu, a former resident of Houghton County with an engineering degree and an MBA who brought his interest in politics to help Dana refine his congressional campaign platform. Together, we share a broad range of interests and have complementary strengths in the quest to draw attention to often-overlooked aspects of the rural United States and the importance of rural areas to the country as a whole.
The first two articles we are planning to produce will lay the groundwork for our future explorations of sparse communities - Dana will be focusing on Economies of Sparse, while Michael will be laying out a framework for what actually constitutes a Sparse region. As we continue to build this framework, we will welcome discussion in the comments to help us discover new avenues of thought to explore.
We hope you find what we have to say here to be thought-provoking, and that you continue to come back to read our articles in the future!
- Dana & Michael