EDITOR’S NOTE: Jacob Stump grew up in rural Southwest Virginia as the region was developing its tourism industry, which today generates nearly $1 billion in spending each year. Stump teaches international studies at DePaul University in Chicago. Tourist-cabin rentals in Southwest Virginia began long before Airbnb arrived. But the online […]
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Inside the dimly lit Mason Jar Saloon nestled along U.S. 19 on the outskirts of Morgantown, West Virginia, billiard balls clang into one another while Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” blares from the jukebox. The walls are plastered with signs supporting coal miners and touting American pride. One bears the slogan […]
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West Virginia native and WVU law student Brian Gardner defines himself as a biracial, LGBT religious minority. He’s also a rural expat from a hometown so small, Antioch, West Virginia, that the U.S. Census Bureau does not keep data on it. Gardner left home to become what many in rural communities now […]
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