This is one of the finest examples of local journalism I’ve encountered recently: KUOW’s five-part series on the Purepecha—a little-known community that links Seattle to a rural area of central Mexico. It’s one of those rare stories that manages to avoid patronizing the audience with simplistic descriptions and easy answers. On the contrary, it adds complexity and depth to our understanding of the Pacific Northwest’s economy and the people who live here.  

I happen to know the reporter, Liz Jones, and I’d heard she was in Mexico working on the story, but I had no idea the result would be something of this magnitude. It’s not suprising that KUOW is playing it repeatedly. If you don’t catch it on the air (or if you don’t live nearby), you can stream it on the web. It takes about a half-hour to listen to the whole thing.