Our Mississippi River

What’s your Mississippi River like? Why do you keep coming back?

I have the great good fortune to regularly talk to people about why they spend time along the Mississippi River and what the river means to them. One thing that always stands out to me: The reasons vary a lot and none of us knows exactly the same Mississippi River.

And I think that’s fantastic. The Mississippi is a big river, and our love for it is just as long, deep, and wide as the river itself. Our perceptions of the river just need to catch up to its realities.

In some surveys, the image of the Mississippi that comes to mind first for most people is barges floating by. I sometimes get discouraged by that. I’m not anti-barge, but there’s so much more to the Mississippi than giant steel boxes moving grain for export. Barges dominate so much of our image of the river because few other images get around. As a people, we turned out backs on our big rivers over a century ago, and the shipping industry stepped into the vacuum.

Of course, when we think about the Mississippi, it’s hard not to think of Mark Twain’s river, of steamboats and epic raft trips. We still hold those images in our imaginations when it comes to the Mississippi. The thing is, the river has changed dramatically since Twain’s days. We’ve changed the river dramatically.

But while those images may dominate public perceptions of the Mississippi, especially among people who don’t live near it or visit it very often, those of us who are blessed to spend time along the river consistently understand that there is much more to the Mississippi than barges and paddlewheelers of the past. And we find an incredible variety of ways to get meaning and enjoyment from time along the river.

The river’s scenic beauty is generally a unifying force. Most of us appreciate that part of being along the river. It’s probably the main reason that a Facebook group that features photos of the river has more than 160,000 followers.

But goodness, there are so many more reasons. When I was thinking about this before I started this project, I came up with these ways that people enjoy the river:

• Fishing
• Paddling
• Hiking
• Photography
• Birding
• Boating
• Swimming
• Activities aimed at improving mental health or respite
• Painting
• Music inspired by the river
• Water quality monitoring
• Habitat restoration

You can probably think of even more! In the posts below, you’ll read about people who have connections like these with the Mississippi River. They describe how they got interested in the Mississippi, their experiences of time along the river, and what time along the river means to them.

You’ll hear from the broad range of people who spend time along the river: folks from all along the length of the river; men and women; people from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds; people who work on the river and people who enjoy it casually.

This is an on-going project for me, a long-term goal to collect stories about our relationship with the Mississippi, about what it means to us. Want to be featured? Drop me a line, and let’s talk.

I am grateful to 1 Mississippi for providing the inspiration and funding that made starting this project possible!