100 Days in AppalachiaOpinion

In Kanawha County, WV, Opioid Settlement Funding for Syringe Services Faces Barriers

In the early afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 17, emergency rooms in Charleston, West Virginia, began experiencing an influx of ...
100 Days in Appalachia

‘In the Boat Together’: Post-Helene, Faith Communities Have Been Central to NC’s Long-Term Recovery

In the year since the storm devastated parts of western North Carolina, religious congregations have provided food, housing and supplies — as well as a shared sense of community.
100 Days in Appalachia

Documenting the Appalachian Intifada: A Review of ‘So Much to be Angry About’

Liberation movements around the world and throughout history have always created our own media: to tell our own stories, to teach our own people and to strengthen our movements and organizations. In ...
100 Days in Appalachia

‘We Know What It’s Like To Be Exploited’: Tucker County, W.Va., Grapples With Future-Defining AI-Infrastructure Proposal

To fully appreciate the beauty of Tucker County, you must visit. Nestled at 3,500 feet in the gorgeous Allegheny Mountains along the Blackwater River, the town of Davis is at the highest elevation of ...
100 Days in Appalachia

In One Community, Faith-based Services Fill the Gaps When Government Can’t – or Won’t

On a Friday afternoon, the washers and dryers run nonstop at Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church, in Charleston, West Virginia. Three bright-white tiled shower rooms line one wall. MREs – Meals ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Across Appalachia, Photo ID Requirements Complicate Voting

When Amanda Saint went to vote in the 2020 election, she didn’t anticipate having any problems. For years, the 36-year-old nurse had been living and voting just outside of Huntsville, Alabama. But ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Getting Over: The Disgraced W.Va. Gospel Music Promoter Who Found Redemption in Indie Wrestling

The sound of twanging electric guitars fills the Madison Civic Center, a small gymnasium in the heart of southern West Virginia’s coalfields. It’s “Ride Stallion Ride,” the entrance music for WWE Hall ...
100 Days in Appalachia

What is the New Apostolic Reformation? How a Religio-Political Movement is Affecting U.S. and Appalachian Politics

Apostles and prophets. Spiritual warfare. Dominionism and the New Apostolic Reformation. You might come across these terms if you follow politics these days. Here’s some context and clarity about the ...
100 Days in Appalachia

‘An Ecosystem of Dysfunction:’ West Virginia Still Has a Child Welfare Worker Shortage, and It’s Taking a Toll on Foster Kids and Families

This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get stories like this delivered to your email inbox once a week; sign up for the free newsletter at ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Hillbilly Horror: Reckoning With a Genre 15 Years After ‘Wrong Turn’

“You’re not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you’ve tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal ...
100 Days in Appalachia

The Straining of North Carolina’s Chattooga River and the Indigenous Artform that Could Save It

I climb a boulder that juts out into rapids. The rushing water is so loud it drowns out my breath. I’ve come to the banks of the Chattooga River for solitude, for the way water carries away inner ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Commentary: Poetry Gives Words to the Language of Survival for Appalachians

I live in Birmingham, Alabama, in the shadow of Red Mountain. As far as mountains go, it’s a bump on the landscape. From my front door, it would take maybe an hour and a half to walk up and over it ...