GOOD FOLK is a newsletter, podcast, and community project about the people and stories of rural America and the American South.

We believe in the power of stories to connect us to one another.

We believe that the stories we tell about ourselves matter. One in every five Americans lives in a rural community, and yet the stories we tell of these places are shrouded in stereotype and bias. Furthermore, they are often misrepresentative of what rural and Southern places truly are— places of community, artistry, diversity, joy, innovation, and love, among many other things.

For too long, the narratives of rural and Southern places have been controlled by outsiders. It is time we reclaim our stories, and begin telling them from our own mouths first.

Good Folk brings together a community of individuals passionate about telling the stories of rural America and the American South. At the same time, we understand the importance of creating a platform to share the stories that are already being told.

We aim to work as a two-fold operation, providing the tools to tell your stories, as well as a space to share them with the world. We publish a weekly newsletter and a biweekly podcast in addition to hosting regular donation-based storytelling workshops and community events. Any donations made through workshops or subscribing to our newsletter go towards compensating our contributors.

 

What does it mean to be Good Folk?

If you look up the definition for the word folk, you will find a few things: people in general; a friendly term to address a group of people; a traditional form of art, music or culture; ordinary, down-to-earth, unpretentious people.

The term folk has long been used to describe people from rural and Southern communities, often in a derogatory manner. Folk is a simple term; folks are simple people. But our stories are complex and beautiful and redemptive. We are all of us good folk, and it is time the world begins to see that.

To be Good Folk is to remove your assumptions and biases about the world and learn how to pay attention to what is around you. It is to do the mundane and important work of practicing empathy. It is to believe in the radical power of hope and the inherent resistance of joy. It is to hold on to the capacity to be surprised by the world. It is difficult to live this way, but it is also free, and freeing. We already possess this capacity within us. Our great work is learning how to harness it. That is where we come in. Join us.

 


  • Founder & Head of Content and Editorial

    Spencer George is a Writer and Teaching Artist hailing from the Carolinas. She holds a B.A. in English and Human Rights with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College and is pursuing her M.A. in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work focuses on narrative representations of the rural South and has been published in The Bitter Southerner, The Adroit Journal, Longreads, and Medium, and once received a shout-out in the The New York Times. She is the creator and writer of GOOD FOLK, a weekly newsletter and podcast examining the intersection of artistry, empathy, and community in and around rural America and the American South. She spent the last few years working as a Teaching Artist in rural North Carolina schools, and has previously worked with the StoryCorps Mobile Tour, as a barista at a tea house and farm, and as a yoga teacher at a boy’s summer camp in Canada. Spencer was the 2019 recipient of the Peter S. Prescott Prize for Prose Writing and is currently at work on a neo-Southern Gothic novel set in a post-climate change Appalachia about a pine tree god who appears only in dreams and the individuals who worship him. She can be found on Twitter talking about poetry and forests at @spencerggeorge.

  • Good Folk Book Club Producer

    Katherine Carroll is a senior at Auburn University working toward a B.A. in journalism with a minor in sociology. She runs the University’s literary arts magazine, The Auburn Circle, which has been awarded two Pacemakers from the Associated Collegiate Press. Katherine, who goes by Ren, is from the town of Fyffe on Sand Mountain in North Alabama. She grew up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and is interested in cataloging many of the colloquialisms, traditions, culture, and folk stories of this region through art and audio journalism. She currently holds an internship with Alabama State Council for the Arts where she helps produce content for their radio hour and podcast, Alabama Arts Radio, and is planning the 2023 Folklife in the South conference. She has previously interned for The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. and the Alabama Prison Arts Project. She is joining the Good Folk team as a guest contributor and running the Good Folk Book Club. If you want to read or hear any of her work, you can visit her website here. To keep up with future projects, follow her on Instagram @ktdarlinn.

 
 


  • Head of Media and Design

    Is a visual artist based in North Carolina Victoria graduated with a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Photography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in July 2020. She is currently based in Moore County, North Carolina, working with local non-profits by day and expanding her artistry by night. Since the unexpected move back to their hometown due to COVID-19, Victoria’s work has shifted to highlight the stories, people, and communities tied to the South. Victoria looks to capture the complex and complicated relationship of growing up queer in the South while also looking to highlight and pay homage to the backroads and the unique community that helped raise them. You can visit their personal website here to keep up with their current projects or find them on Instagram posting about their cat Vincent P. Capronni and weird art at @victoria__landers.