This time of year in North Carolina’s foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the weather just cannot seem to make up its mind. Not cold enough to be refreshing, not warm enough to be a relief. Not quite winter, but not quite spring. Just somewhere in between, in limbo. Waiting. This […]
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In recent weeks, I’ve watched West Virginia make national headlines and receive praise for its seemingly efficient rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Just last week, NPR interviewed the head of the state’s task force overseeing the vaccine rollout here to glorify his accomplishments, placing the interview under the headline West […]
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February 26 is Student Press Freedom Day, a national day of awareness for student media that highlights the challenges and experiences of high school and college journalists. Growing up in a small town has become a sort of glorified trope in movies and television. The idea of living in a […]
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In the summer of 2018, my hometown town of Clarksburg, West Virginia, seemed to be experiencing a major crisis. We had a large number of unsheltered residents in our small town and a lack of resources to help them. On any given day, you could drive through town and see […]
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Anyone who’s worked in local or regional newsrooms knows what it’s like to have a national news outlet publish irresponsibly inaccurate reporting on something happening in your community. At best, these reports result in additional work for local journalists who now have to push back against this top down misrepresentation. […]
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College is the way to a better life. At least, that’s what I was told growing up in east Tennessee. The textile mills that employed my great-grandparents and grandparents were shuddered, leaving behind only defaulted pensions and a polluted river. The plant that made toothpaste and hair care products that […]
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