You may not have felt it, but last week, Appalachia experienced a political earthquake. The epicenter is Huntsville, Alabama, where Democrat Marilyn Lands won a special election for the seat in Alabama House District 10. The seat was left open after Republican David Cole resigned following his conviction for voter […]
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It was on the muddy banks of the Scioto River that Hillary Clinton’s electoral ship began sinking in 2016. At a CNN townhall in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton – then in a heated primary battle against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont – infamously said, “We’re going to put a lot of […]
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I don’t remember the first time I heard “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” The song has been a familiar hymn from infancy, a lullaby my grandmother would sing along with “You Are My Sunshine” and “Rock-a-Bye Baby.” You see, like Loretta Lynn herself, my grandmother was a coal miner’s daughter from eastern […]
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Neema Avashia’s book points to contradictions resulting from a sense of belonging and identity informed by place as complicated as Appalachia. I want to be Neema Avashia’s new best friend. That was the feeling I came away with after reading her memoir Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a […]
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To win in rural communities, Democrats need to show up and help, not heckle. Earlier this month, a small Twitter spat erupted between mystery writer Don Winslow and Tessa Duvall, an investigative reporter with the Louisville Courier-Journal. Winslow, well known as a liberal activist, kicked it off by tweeting, “The two senators […]
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“And they wonder why folks don’t trust the vaccine.” That was my first thought when I saw the news last week that the Sacklers – the owners of Purdue Pharma and the family behind OxyContin and by extension the opioid crisis – have been granted immunity from all future lawsuits […]
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