This article was originally published by The Ohio Valley ReSource. When Nicole Riegel left her hometown of Jackson, Ohio, at the age of 18, she couldn’t wait to be gone. Last year, Riegel returned to Jackson with a film crew in tow. The town was tapped for a starring role […]
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Gayle Manchin Takes Helm of Appalachian Regional Commission as First West Virginian to Lead
This article was originally published by the Ohio Valley ReSource. Gayle Manchin is the first West Virginian to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission in its 56-year history. That’s not all. Manchin comes to the agency at a time when West Virginia is in the spotlight. She […]
Read MoreAppalachian Labor Songs and Punk Rock Converge In KY Youth Empowerment
Girls Rock Whitesburg in Whitesburg, Kentucky is a music camp for female, gender-fluid, non-binary, and trans youth. Over the course of a week campers learn an electric instrument, form a band and write songs. At the end, they perform in front of a live audience. While the camp focuses on […]
Read MoreMeet 5 People Who Complicate The Narrative About What It Means To Be Appalachian
Think back to the last time you saw an Appalachian portrayed on TV, in the national media, in a book or a cartoon. Often, when people talk about Appalachians, they portray us as white, or poor, or ignorant — or all three. But when you dig beneath the surface, and […]
Read MoreProtest and Pride: How Joe Troop’s Appalachian Roots and Queerness Created Latingrass Music
In 2017, hours after an activist was killed at a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a new bluegrass band from Argentina called Che Apalache performed in a contest at the Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, on the other side of the state. Joe Troop, the band’s founder and lead singer, […]
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