It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night in Boone, North Carolina, and a hush falls over the East Boone Listening Room. “We spent many years trying to find a space like this in town,” says artist and songwriter Sarah DeShields.  Boone, which is home to Appalachian State University, has plenty […]

Teaching inclusivity and diversity to kids is important—but especially where LGBTQ role models are less visible. In patent leather stilettos and sparkling diamond eyelashes, Rylee Hunty closely held the attention of dozens of bright-eyed schoolchildren. Perched on a thronelike chair, his legs primly crossed and tucked to the side, Hunty […]