Queering Appalachian Agriculture

Kent follows the pattern of Rust Belt city decline with recovery, including a focus on sustainability. Edible Kent fits in the framework of moving toward sustainability while also addressing economic needs for low-income folks, while the city’s economic recovery and development strategy has been so focused on gentrification that one could call its view of sustainability anti-poor.

2024-04-25T10:21:54-04:00April 18, 2024|

Barbara Kingsolver’s Appalachian Epic

It took a long time for Kingsolver to be able to write a book that goes right at the hardest parts of her home. The notion that everybody in Appalachia is hanging out on their porch, eating cornbread and drinking moonshine is certainly a stereotype, but there is some truth to it.

2023-12-08T10:17:30-05:00December 4, 2023|

The Cost of Loss at WVU

Losing the entire world languages program may simplify a spreadsheet, but it will also send talented West Virginians outside state lines for better opportunities.

2023-08-28T09:38:49-04:00August 23, 2023|

They Shrink From Hard Work

I don’t have enough memories to draw on to fit the form, and I can’t fake it without moving into the realm of fiction, without lying to myself, no matter how nice a story it would make, no matter how very rural or Appalachian these stories could present me.

2023-01-09T09:34:03-05:00January 4, 2023|

Wild and Wonderful Folklore of West Virginia

"Folklore is living and breathing, always evolving, and part of contemporary life—the twist you add to an heirloom recipe, a lullaby sung to a child at bedtime, the in-jokes that emerge among families, the vocabulary unique to a particular occupation, the beloved foodways of a certain place, the meme altered and shared among friends."

2022-12-26T10:17:58-05:00December 21, 2022|