Rex Sorgatz has a really great writeup about life in a small town, and an inquiry on how technology may have changed it. This particular paragraph really hit home with me as my town sounded remarkably similar:

1,000 people (more than Napoleon, ND apparently), zero stop lights, no bars (there’s one now), two gas stations, two churches. We had a one-block downtown but had one restaurant, and a beauty shop. A grocery store came and went when I was young. When a McDonalds went in alongside the highway we thought it pretty fancy, and when a Subway came to town a few years ago my mind was blown thinking my little town was growing up.

It’s hard to relate life in a small town (really small, not 20,000 people small) to folks who’ve never lived in a small town but Rex does a fantastic job here. Great read.