Ivy Brashear is the March 2022 host of 100 Days’ Creators and Innovators newsletter series. Sign up for the weekly email here. She backed her Cadillac long-ways across the one-lane road in front of her house, lit the Virginia Slim in her mouth, pulled her .38 pistol from her purse, […]
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Appalachian Students Displaced by Outbreak Get a Lifeline
Colleges and universities are closing across the United States to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus. But while some students are able to continue their studies online, others can’t, and they have a different set of challenges that could limit their ability to even make it back home to […]
Read MoreWrestling with Rural Stereotypes (Instead of Pigs) on Television Could Bridge Our Political Divides
You never really forget a hog killing once you see it. The smell of woodsmoke mingling with the smell of burning flesh as the men pour boiling water over the body to loosen the hair that would then be shaved off with a sharpened garden hoe in quick raking motions […]
Read MoreThe Lies We’re Told About Appalachia
The old exploitative images are indelible: out of work, white, needy. They obscure the region’s diversity and long tradition of activism. Granny Hazel taught me how to feed the chickens. Hold the ear of dried corn in both hands and twist to pry the kernels from the cob, then throw […]
Read MoreHow to Get Out of the Debt Trap When Banks Won’t Help
In many rural areas, a lack of banking options has led to an increase in predatory lending. In eastern Kentucky, a new nonprofit is fighting back. Erica Knight had been in charge of her own money since she was 16, when she had her first job. “I was always very […]
Read MoreThe Radio Show Bringing Prisoners Messages from Home
For inmates that can’t afford phone calls, this weekly program connects them to faraway family and friends. The call comes in clear. A woman on the line tells her loved one she’s consulted with officials, and he should be allowed to light an electric menorah for Hanukkah. It’s an issue […]
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