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

W.Va. Opioid Settlement Funds are Supposed to Reverse Years of Crisis. In Several Counties, They’re Being Used to Pay Regional Jail Bills.

In rural Wyoming County, West Virginia, Ann Reed is the sheriff’s department’s only social worker. Funded through a temporary grant from a local mental health center, Reed provides resources and care ...
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

In Southwest Virginia, Reestablishing a Rural Hospital System Requires Rebuilding Trust

This is the second story in Critical Condition, a three part series. Read more here. When the sun rises over the Cumberland Mountains of southwest Virginia in mid-spring, it’s hard to imagine all’s ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Q&A: The West Virginian Keeping Appalachian History Alive Through Storytelling

In Appalachia, storytelling and folklore has served as an important tool and perpetual reminder of who and what makes up the region’s history. That is one of the many reasons award-winning storyteller ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Tyler Childers’ Appalachia: How the Country Singer Challenges our Relationships with Addiction and Religion

The first time I heard Tyler Childers’ voice I was riding in the passenger seat of a 15-year-old car late at night through the back roads of West Virginia. It was 2019, and I was 17 years old. And ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Photo Essay: Exploring Trans and Queer Identity through Appalachian, Christian Iconography

As a queer and gender-nonconforming person navigating life in a region deeply entrenched in Christianity, I find myself straddling two worlds. While I don’t hold any religious beliefs, I cannot deny ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Five Years After It Became a National Park, There’s a Growing Divide In West Virginia’s New River Gorge

The New River Gorge is a jagged area in the middle of Southern West Virginia’s coalfields. Shaped by one of the oldest rivers in the world, whitewater rapids roll under its high petrified sandstone ...
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

Reporting Locally on Domestic Extremism? Here’s How to Not Platform Their Violence, A Case Study

It’s easy to find examples of how not to cover extremist violence and groups in American news coverage. On the national level, everyone from the New York Times to Fox News consistently platform white ...
100 Days in Appalachia

‘A Union for Appalachian Healthcare Workers’: W.Va. Author’s New Book Recounts History Amid Resurgence of Labor Organizing

In his new book “A Union for Appalachian Healthcare Workers: The Radical Roots and Hard Fights of Local 1199,” John Hennen tells the story of a union founded in New York City that worked its way into ...
100 Days in Appalachia

A ‘Fly on the Wall’: The West Virginian Who Chronicled State History for Five Administrations

Name a significant event in West Virginia over the last three decades. There’s a good chance Steven Rotsch was there. He was on the scene at two major mine disasters. He was front and center at seven ...