Susan Atteberry Smith

Experienced Freelancer

Southwest Missouri, USA

‣ A journalist with more than 35 years of experience who still loves reporting and writing on a variety of topics‣ Passions: Family, music, education, the environment, and creating a better community

Susan Atteberry Smith

Experienced Freelancer

Southwest Missouri, USA

Partnering for Prairies: Transforming parts of Lake Springfield Park
Mission Statement The mission of the Springfield Daily Citizen is to inform our community and be a catalyst for good. Our vision is to reinvent local news in Metro Springfield by telling the stories of our community, bringing issues to light, encouraging
Springfield Daily Citizen
Periodical cicadas ready to emerge in Springfield area after 13-year slumber
Mission Statement The mission of the Springfield Daily Citizen is to inform our community and be a catalyst for good. Our vision is to reinvent local news in Metro Springfield by telling the stories of our community, bringing issues to light, encouraging
Springfield Daily Citizen
Dancers on the prairie: Why birders are fascinated with prairie chickens
Learn all about a bird with a captivating mating ritual and a dwindling grassland habitat at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center on Jan. 18
Springfield Daily Citizen
Gardening with native plants: Missouri color in your yard
Barbara Kipfer laughs as she thinks about the gardening choices she made in the early 1970s, when she and her husband, Bob, moved with their family to their southwest Springfield home. Like many other new homes in the neighborhood, their professionally la
Springfield Daily Citizen
Murals in Missouri
Cities and towns across Missouri are telling their stories and adding beauty through colorful murals. Discover how these murals have transformed neighborhoods, learn what it takes to create a mural, and see beautiful examples of the art form. On your driv
Missouri Life Magazine
Springfield’s got a new crop of urban farmers: Millennials and Gen-Zers rise up
When Anneliese Kerr considers why she traded in her dream of wearing a chef’s hat for a farmer’s overalls, she talks about road trips in an old Honda with her mother and sisters to pick strawberries. “My favorite thing when I was a kid (was) driving out t
Springfield Daily Citizen
Springfield’s community gardens offer healing, friendship and fresh food
The mission of the Springfield Daily Citizen is to inform our community and be a catalyst for good. Our vision is to reinvent local news in Metro Springfield by telling the stories of our community, bringing issues to light, encouraging discourse and insp
Springfield Daily Citizen
MSU handball: A hugely successful club team, and a family for life
When Christian Madsen was growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, the purpose of one of his toys — a ball roughly the size of a golf ball, only rubber — was a mystery to him. But as a boy, he gave it little thought. He joined the cross-country team and played socc
Alumni News
The Flower Box City Blooms Again
Hometown entrepreneurs spark Neosho’s resurgence. Growing up in Neosho in the 1950s, Judith Haas Smith had it made. There were sixteen neighborhood kids—enough for a baseball game at Big Spring Park down the steep hill from her house. Just up Spring Stree
Missouri Life Magazine
Asphalt unsealed: The farm at Finley Farms
Passing by a familiar corner on one of this southwest Missouri town’s major thoroughfares, Ozark residents may wonder how anyone ever managed to turn an old street into bountiful gardens. In a valley near the Finley River, sweet peas and strawberries flourish where asphalt sealed the soil just two years ago.
Missouri Life
The Garrison brings the past to life in Ozark
Once a speakeasy, The Garrison is a feast of flavor, art, and history. Photographs show our family and friends gathered in front of mirrors under strands of mini-lights. Or, even better, sometimes we’re standing with our backs to Howard Garrison’s paintin
Missouri Life Magazine
Photographer Randy Bacon promotes understanding one image at a time
This article originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of Missouri Life magazine. Her face practically fills the frame. You can see every freckle—and the determination in her eyes. She’s Abby, a twenty-two-year-old with Down syndrome who wishes servers wo
Missouri Life Magazine
Springfield's C-Street: 'It just reels you in'
Eclectic north side neighborhood is a mosaic of stories Stand at the east end, and you’ll see a chocolate factory next door to a 125-year-old family-owned hardware store, both facing railroad tracks laid more than 150 years ago. At the west end a half-mil
Missouri Life Magazine
Maple & Main: Music for Buffalo's boom
It’s a windy November evening after sundown. Downtown Buffalo is quiet. Then, empty parking spaces on the west side of the square begin to fill. Braving the chill, people quickly exit their vehicles and hurry down the sidewalk to an open coffee shop on the corner. Inside Maple & Main, under the high tin ceilings of what used to be an old-fashioned drug store with a soda fountain, they slow down, catching up on neighbors’ lives and stopping at the counter for a cup of warm brew or a slice of homemade pie.
Missouri Life
Shared History: Brian Fogle and Rob Fulp
Brian Fogle and Rob Fulp will never forget the moment their small-town high school band stepped off the bus in the big city of Washington, D.C., and they’ll never forget the days of their respective weddings, which happened one year apart. If you ask them
biz417.com
How A Boost in Workplace Culture Created Growth at Environmental Works Inc.
Eight years ago, when the owner of Environmental Works Inc. was killed in a plane crash, her company lost a trusted leader, and the culture at the company would never be the same. The tragedy eventually led to clarity at the consulting and industrial services company Robin Melton founded in 1992, but not before her 2012 death left “a real gaping hole in the business,” says CEO Jamie Sivils.

About

Susan Atteberry Smith

Writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines, I've tackled everything from general assignment stories to enterprise and feature articles on business, education, gardening, health, history, homes, parenting, music, and sports--not to mention profiles about more than a few interesting and notable people.

Besides my credentials in journalism, I have experience in education as

‣ An adjunct English and journalism teacher working with college writers for more than 15 years
‣ An online college writing teacher since 2011