Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Americana
What makes the place you live different from every other place out there? It’s not the Taco John’s out on the strip. It’s not the dollar store, or the strip mall, or the Starbucks. It’s the red brick commercial buildings around the courthouse square, in so many American communities built in that common pattern. It’s […]
June is Great Outdoors Month here in the U.S. Coordinated by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), the theme is getting outside to enjoy parks, trails, forests, waters, and other natural places. Some places have events. And there’s plenty of places to go with just you and whomever is in your buddy system. The celebration began […]
On this Memorial Day, we pause to remember those who gave all in service of our nation. Originally called Decoration Day after the US Civil War, as we decorate their graves in memory, we honor their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families. During the Civil War, roughly twice as many soldiers died from disease […]
Proven: Parks Are Critical Infrastructure for Rural Communities Healthy Communities Series · Week 2 of 5 Parks Are Infrastructure: Why Rural Communities Need to Bring Parks and Recreation into their Community Plans The case for treating recreation as essential — not optional Policy Brief Community Infrastructure May 2026 The fairgrounds. A trail with exercise stations. […]
What Does a Healthy Rural Community Actually Look Like? – JC Shepard May 2026 · Week 1 of 5 — Health, Parks & the Outdoors What Does a Healthy Rural Community Actually Look Like? Planners have long known that where you live shapes how long you live. Here is how smaller communities are using real […]
The Winter Olympics have returned for their once-in-four year run. While winter weather has mostly passed over the Midwest and Western US for points East, generally outside Florida and Southern California we are a four-season people, like it or not. The Winter Cities movement is a community-building approach which treats cold, snowy winters as something […]
Small Town & Rural Comprehensive Planning: JCShepard.com’s Theme for 2026 Comprehensive planning in small towns and rural counties is not a big complicated urban process writ small. It is about neighbors deciding what kind of place they want to be in the future… and then putting that promise in writing so the next subdivision, the […]
Music is life… if you believe the hashtags. I certainly believe music is one of the finer points of life: The Pursuit of Happiness. Or in my case, the Pursuit of Americana. The blog here at JCShepard.com is a bit of a sandbox, where I share my professional and creative interests, as well as family […]
It’s the end of the year. A good time to set goals and list our achievements. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but Americans love lists. The Top 10 this, and the Top 20 that. We seem to be constantly trying to get back on the teacher’s Student of the Year list, […]
This has been a great year for our blog here at JCShepard.com. A lot of things to discuss regarding Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Americana, wherever you may be. Now the holidays are upon us, let’s take a look back at the posts which you, our readers, have given the most interaction over the […]
