Is this an ‘Accident’?: How one-dimensional media portrayals of ‘Trump Country’ hit close to home
Recently, I picked up our morning copy of The Washington Post to see “Accident, Md.”, my tiny home town, on the dateline. A Post reporter ventured into far western Maryland, so-called “Trump Country” in the heart of Appalachia, to find out how Trump voters feel about the new Administration. On […]
The Mountaineers as a metaphor: How WVU’s heartbreaking loss reminds us of what else we’re missing
On nights like Thursday night, it feels like it’s the very mountains that are keeping us down. No matter how high we climb, it’s never quite high enough. Very few people outside the state of West Virginia know that the Mountaineers are the winningest college program without a national championship. […]
Defunding Appalachia: Coal communities resist President Trump’s budget cuts
Danny Ferguson didn’t like what he saw happening in Lincoln County, West Virginia, where he grew up. The downturn in the coal industry had hit hard, and young people had few job options beyond some fast food places. “We don’t have nothing else for them to be employed,” Ferguson said. […]
When your job moves to Mexico
“My initials are inside a casket, J.B.,” said Bean. Jeffery L. Bean: We are making things for a person that they will put their loved one in. It’s a very memorable moment in their life. I lost two family members at one time – my mom and her sister. I […]
Rural hospitals may struggle under House GOP’s proposed healthcare overhaul
Over the last two years, the number of coal mining jobs in Boone County, West Virginia has halved. Drive through the county now, and signs of depression are becoming evident in shuttered storefronts and homes in increasing need of repair. Given that context, it’s somewhat startling to stumble across the […]
We still live here and we still make it, despite the obstacles.
It’s sort of brought out a little bit of pride in us — because if we can make it in the toughest place in America, that means that we’re pretty resilient. — Margy Miller Vanda Rice: Three years ago The New York Times released an article saying that Clay County was […]
Job-spurring grants in Appalachia are targeted in Trump’s budget. Here’s what is on the line
In 2015, Cassidy Wright-Hubbard was a seventeen-year-old sophomore at Southeast Community and Technical College in Cumberland, Kentucky. Raised in Harlan, she was dually-enrolled in high school and college studying for her art degree. But she needed an income and jobs in the area are few and far between. Most people […]
Progressives need more than Bernie Sanders in McDowell Co., West Virginia to win
It is becoming an article of faith among the progressive left that the struggling working class, the poor and people from declining rural communities would vote for progressive left politicians if only they were told (or permitted to hear) about all the ways progressive policies would benefit their lives. This […]
Still fighting 100-year-old pollution, some worry it could get worse.
Environmentalism is a bad word, but we’re just trying to clean up the streams. — Stanley Jennings Stanley Jennings: When I worked in the coal mines we had meetings where the safety man would come and say, ‘You got to follow the law. You got to follow these […]
Muslim convert bridges divide between Christians and Muslims in Appalachia
Bob Jones is a sixth generation West Virginian and a Muslim convert. He feels at home in Appalachia at the intersection between his Christian roots and Islamic faith and lives within 10 miles of where his ancestors immigrated to W.Va. in the 1800s. “West Virginia is my story,” he says. Bob’s full […]