“Nigerian Appalac...

A few weeks ago, just as fall was starting to peek around the hillsides in Appalachia, I got to meet Tunde Wey. Tunde is a Nigerian-born chef based in New Orleans who came to my friend Lora’s Egypt, Ky. farm, Big Switch, to prepare part of a meal that Lora termed, “Nigerian...
Appalachia is a borderland: Lessons from the third annual Appalachian Food Summit

Appalachia is a borderl...

Food is the great equalizer. That wasn’t the official theme of this year’s Appalachian Food Summit, but it should be what most attendees walked away understanding when the last crumb of peach upside down cake was eaten. Presenters throughout the day-long program talked of...
Community Members hope to revitalize Route 7

Community Members hope ...

  Route 7 Antique Alley and Route 7 Artisan Fellowship are teaming up in eastern Kentucky, working across county lines, and hoping to make change happen in their communities. With 5,200 plus members — to put it into perspective, Whitesburg had only 2,057 residents in 2013 — Route 7...
Appalachian Food Summit wins 2015 John Egerton Prize

Appalachian Food Summit...

Food is very important in Appalachia. Not that food isn’t important everywhere. But Appalachians are distinctly connected to their food as a cultural definition of who they are as a people – whether they themselves would say it in those words or not. The fact is that one of...
MACED helps create possible new economic model for rural communities

MACED helps create poss...

By: Ivy Brashear The City of Berea in Madison County, Ky., hopes the Berea Artist Accelerator, an innovative new program born of a unique set of partnerships, will help plug the leak of Berea College graduates fleeing town after graduation, and in the process, become a model example for...
Women’s History Month: Women who shape Appalachia

Women’s History M...

Central Appalachia has been shaped by countless women. Think about life in the mountains, and then try to think about one aspect of it that hasn’t been touched in some significant way by a woman. It’s very nearly impossible. From environmental and community health...
‘Central Appalachia is in mourning:’ New radio documentary details grief of losing coal in the region

‘Central Appalach...

“All over Appalachia, people are in different stages of mourning this thing that’s put dinner on the table and shaped culture for as long. Some are even starting to talk about transition – about Appalachia past coal.” So starts a piece from a new radio documentary...
Appalachian Love Story: The Radio Series

Appalachian Love Story:...

Search the hashtag for Appalachian Love Story on any social media site, and you’ll find images of fracking protest signs, mountain vistas, heavy metal shows, videos of Loretta Lynn singing about being a Blue Kentucky Girl, and pancakes in the shape of Kentucky. This is the result...