Makanda, a short drive from the Southern Illinois University campus in Carbondale, features a boardwalk of shops by local artists. Artists sell jewelry, gemstones, sage for burning, paintings ...

Editor’s note: Molly Parker is a southern Illinois-based journalist and instructor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. This is a first-person column that includes commentary and analysis.

I grew up off a gravel road near a town of 60 citizens, a place where cows outnumber people. Southern Illinois University, just 40 miles north, opened up my world.