SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Most New Pioneers have a divided identity. Tonight, after landing at San Francisco International Airport, I rented a car and drove north. Coming round the northbound turn on 101, the skyline of the illuminated city bloomed out of the night. Memories of childhood and the years we spent on the oceanside of the city when our children were small came back to me. The smell of the fog and eucalyptus. Yet as I approached the entrance to the Bay Bridge and headed east, I thought of the conversation I had yesterday afternoon with Sharlet Teigen. Sharlet is an agricultural and food products marketing professional. She lives 17 miles from paved road in a remote area along the Little Missouri River near the border of South Dakota and Montana. She is part of a partnership of women scattered throughout the Midwest who all work from their homes. Most of the time, she telecommutes by satelite Internet and fax. Even though she grew up on a ranch in northwestern South Dakota, Sharlet says she is still an outsider to many people in her community because she has lived in the big city (Chicago), and a part of her still loves the urban life.  Like many digital immigrants, living with these divided affections presents a challenge to her relationships with her rural community. It’s a challenge we all have to figure out if the Internet era is going to bring prosperity to rural America.