7 Questions with Gigi Georges

Gigi Georges Discusses Her New Ebook Downeast: 5 Maine Women and the Unseen Story of Rural America

Gigi Georges, a Brooklyn native who now splits her time between New Hampshire and Downeast Maine, wrote her first ebook after an in depth profession in politics, public service, and academia. A former White Home particular assistant to President Invoice Clinton and State Director for Senator Hillary Clinton, Georges has taught political science at Boston Faculty, been a program director on the Harvard Kennedy College, and served as a managing director for the Glover Park Group. She lately revealed her first narrative nonfiction ebook, Downeast: 5 Maine Women and the Unseen Story of Rural America.

Downeast tells a coming-of-age story, because it follows 5 ladies in one of the difficult and geographically remoted areas on the japanese seaboard. Their tales reveal stunning truths about rural America and supply hope for its future. Downeast focuses on the teenage ladies’ journeys of heartbreak and hope throughout unsure occasions, making a nuanced and distinctive portrait of rural America with girls at its middle. We requested Gigi Georges 7 questions on her new ebook.

1. What impressed you to take a step away from the political realm to creator Downeast: 5 Maine Women and the Unseen Story of Rural America?
 
I began researching and reporting on Downeast in early 2016. By that point, I’d already taken an enormous step away from politics and into academia. I’d completed my Ph.D. in public coverage, labored for a time at Harvard’s Kennedy College, and was educating political science at Boston Faculty. My husband Jeff and I had additionally moved to extra rural settings—having made the choice to settle in northern New England about fifteen years in the past. As Jeff and I started to boost our daughter, Margaux, I seen a disconnect between the dominant, downbeat narrative of rural America as a spot of hopelessness and despair and what I used to be seeing — a extra optimistic image of interconnected communities that have been thriving regardless of large challenges.
 
I wished to know extra. So, I got down to get to know a gaggle of highschool college students in Downeast Washington County, Maine. It’s one of the geographically remoted and economically challenged elements of the state—a spot that sits simply an hour up the coast from Bar Harbor however is, in each measurable respect, a world away. Virtually instantly, I had this “a-ha” second: the women there have been excelling, and usually, surpassing, the boys in lecturers, athletics, extracurriculars, and management inside and past the college. They have been additionally deeply linked to their neighborhood and hometowns—and to the land and sea round them. At that second, I knew I needed to inform their tales. 

2. Your previous work expertise within the city world contrasts with the agricultural neighborhood you write about. Did you discover extra similarities between these two realms than you anticipated?

I did, and unexpectedly so. In fact, there are key variations between city and rural settings. The cities in Downeast, for instance, publish inhabitants sizes that will barely fill a high-rise. Downeaster’s modest properties typically sit on sprawling acres of largely untouched land. And on a typical weekday afternoon, the nook retailer, publish workplace, and library are the one open buildings on Fundamental Road.
 
Having been born and raised in Brooklyn, NY—and constructed my political and training coverage profession in city settings—these forms of variations have been readily obvious once I moved to New Hampshire and Maine. But, within the 4 years I spent reporting in Downeast Maine, I spotted that in ways in which matter, there are necessary similarities between my expertise rising up in Brooklyn and that of Downeasters.
 
I noticed in these cities a energy of neighborhood—an interconnectedness within the face of great challenges—paying homage to the bonds my siblings and I solid by our Brooklyn-based church and prolonged Greek immigrant household (assume My Large Fats Greek Wedding ceremony, and also you’ll instantly get the image). At present, we proceed to see neighborhood energy in pockets of city areas, whether or not by African-American church buildings, grass-roots neighborhood and political organizations, and spiritual and secular facilities constructed and sustained by new waves of immigrant households. But, regrettably, this dynamic is way much less prevalent in our cities than in our small cities. Celebrating neighborhood interconnectedness, supporting and inspiring it in city and rural locations, and recognizing similarities the place they exist is a vital a part of selling higher understanding throughout each settings.

3. How did your background in politics and academia affect the strategy you took authoring this ebook?
 
Working in politics and coverage, I used to be in a position to work together with so many various folks. I overcame my naturally extra introverted nature and have become snug in just about any setting. I additionally realized the significance of listening to folks and understanding the challenges they face of their on a regular basis lives—with an eye fixed towards recognizing what they felt they wanted most to beat these challenges.
 
My tutorial background taught me methods to strategy each topic with rigor and objectivity. Earlier than I frolicked with the women, their households, and their communities—and all through these 4 years of reporting—I scoured databases, experiences, books, and journalistic accounts to realize as a lot information as potential about life in Downeast Maine and extra broadly in rural America. I realized about their economies, college programs, non-profits, church buildings, and different organizational helps, in addition to alternatives and limitations to success for his or her younger folks. Then I matched what I learn up towards what I realized by my interviews with a whole bunch of individuals inside and linked to the Downeast area. I took that general information and made it the underpinning of the broader story—the narrative of those 5 younger girls and the place they name dwelling.

4. In your ebook, you selected to deal with girls inside the rural neighborhood of Downeast Maine. Why is it necessary to spotlight girls inside these underrepresented communities?
 
Two causes. First, regardless of the relative growth of literature about rural America lately, few accounts have given voice to up to date younger girls from small cities. As we, as a nation, study and debate questions on rural America, that hole in understanding younger girls’s views and experiences was manifestly evident. Second, and relatedly, as I famous earlier, younger rural girls are rising as leaders—typically outpacing younger males in school-based achievements, neighborhood presence, and enterprise success.
 
In Downeast Maine, for instance, ladies constantly earn prime highschool honors and coveted school scholarships. Extra younger girls are additionally taking over historically male roles—rising, for instance, as boat captains within the area’s dominant trade of lobster-fishing. These younger girls are succeeding, with optimism and resilience, regardless of the area’s vital financial challenges. And lots of are dedicated to staying—or returning after school—to assist maintain their hometowns.

5. You performed interviews with a number of residents and college students. What was it about these 5 ladies that stood out to you?
 
I had the great fortune to fulfill and interview a variety of younger women and men at the highschool and in the neighborhood. I’m so grateful to the native college’s superintendent and highschool principal for opening their doorways and so generously welcoming me, and to the scholars for sharing their experiences and views. I requested these 5 ladies—Audrey, Josie, Mckenna, Vivian, and Willow—if I may observe them as a result of I felt that, taken collectively, they exemplify the broad themes and experiences of women rising up within the area. Every of the women’ tales is exclusive. Every faces differing types and levels of hurdles.

6. Downeast represents a selected rural neighborhood, do you imagine that your ebook can apply to the tales of people from rural communities throughout the U.S?
 
Completely. I see Downeast Washington County as much less akin to Portland, Ogunquit, or Bar Harbor than it’s to rural Tennessee, Texas, and Michigan. Downeast Maine could also be geographically separated from what some may consider as rural America—however in its sparseness and financial challenges, in addition to its struggles with persistent childhood poverty and pervasive opioid dependancy—it exemplifies it. But, it additionally shares a vital high quality with different small-town communities throughout America: within the face of even the hardest circumstances, these rural dwellers throughout America share a wealth of social capital. They maintain themselves and one another by sturdy neighborhood networks, the interconnectedness of neighbors serving to neighbors, deep bonds to their pure environment, and optimism about the way forward for their hometowns.
 
That is true even amongst younger folks. Among the many a whole bunch of locals I interviewed and dozens I profiled in my ebook, Downeast, I noticed a powerful and multi-faceted attachment to position. Many are opting to remain and construct, not abandon, their hometowns—and amongst these which might be leaving, most need to in the end return. And nationwide information signifies that my experiences amongst rural younger individuals are not distinctive to Maine. A 2018 Pew Analysis Heart survey discovered that rural residents usually tend to need to keep of their communities than their city and suburban counterparts. They’re additionally extra more likely to dwell close to prolonged household and know all or most of their neighbors. In keeping with College of Minnesota sociologist Ben Winchester, who has been monitoring rural inhabitants traits within the higher Midwest for greater than twenty-five years, whereas younger individuals are nonetheless leaving rural areas for school or city-based work, many are returning. His widely known Census-based work has documented the presence of a rural “mind achieve” amongst 30-49-year-olds.
 

7. Has the success and perseverance of those 5 ladies taught you something about how people succeed within the political realm?

I’ve realized a lot from these 5 younger girls within the 4 years I spent following them for Downeast. On the prime of the listing is their perseverance—and resilience—within the face of great challenges. As we all know, working in politics, and working for political workplace requires an abundance of each these qualities. Political aspirants and practitioners can see how, from a younger age, these 5 ladies embraced the work ethic that’s woven into the material of Downeasters but additionally acknowledged the significance of their interconnectedness with mentors, household and different neighborhood members to succeed. Collectively, they confronted obstacles as they got here, with optimism and dedication—and proceed to take action to at the present time. Additionally they don’t let the boys give them any grief! They offer nearly as good as they get.

Bonus Questions:

Do you may have aspirations to put in writing a second ebook? If that’s the case, have you ever thought of what the ebook shall be about?

It’s a query I get so much today, and I haven’t but determined. I feel that if and when the subsequent concept comes it is going to be obvious, simply because it was once I met these 5 wonderful ladies. I’ve typically joked that I’d simply should return Downeast and write a ebook in regards to the boys. They’ve their very own story to inform, and I feel it could be fascinating to listen to it.

Do you assume you’ll return again to politics at any level? If sure, what sector do you see your self going again to? If not, what is going to you miss about working in politics?

I don’t see myself going again. Working in politics for twenty years was a rewarding and enriching expertise, however I’m content material to depart the observe of it to the youthful, extra energetic, era! I’m fortunately elevating my daughter with my husband, and really feel I can contribute extra at this level by writing and educating. What I’ll miss most, although, is standing side-by-side with passionate and tremendously dedicated folks, and dealing collectively towards a bigger aim. I treasure my friendships with the folks I bought to know and work inside politics through the years.

What different books do you suggest to readers, both fiction or nonfiction?

I’ve been studying lots of Maine authors recently, so I’ll share what I feel is among the finest up to date fiction from there immediately: Gregory Brown’s The Reducing Days (2021) is a gorgeously written debut novel in regards to the wrestle by folks of the Penobscot Nation to reclaim their land and honor in a mill city alongside Maine’s Penobscot River Valley. Susan Conley’s newest novel, Landslide (2021), explores a household in disaster, with the backdrop of a gritty, but charming, Maine fishing island. Lastly, I’d suggest something by Christina Baker Kline. Her first novel, Orphan Practice (2014), is an acclaimed worldwide bestseller, however all the things she writes is gorgeous and unattainable to place down. She writes each fiction and non-fiction, typically with deep historic grounding.

Thanks Gigi for answering our questions! You will discover her ebook Downeast: 5 Maine Women and the Unseen Story of Rural America here or at any main bookseller.