‘Central Appalachia is in mourning:’ New radio documentary details grief of losing coal in the region...

“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 airing nationally this spring, “Moving On But No Way Gone: Coal in America.” This particular piece was produced by West Virginia’s Catherine Moore (of Beauty Mountain Studio in West Virginia), who looked at what sort of transition is actually happening in Central Appalachia. Here’s the set up for her 8-minute piece, “Building Barns out of Coal Tipples: Appalachia’s Shifting Economy:” Since the days when mules carted coal and miners were paid in company credit, coal has certainly been king in Central Appalachia. But now, in a trend not widely noted outside the region, far fewer people make a living in mining there. West Virginia, for example, had 132,000 miners in 1950. Today there are fewer than 20,000, and that number is falling. Nearly every day, Appalachians awake to news of mass layoffs and mine closures. It’s no one thing. There is cheap and newly-abundant natural gas. Limits on coal-burning power plants. Increased competition from Wyoming, where coal is cheaper to mine and lower in polluting sulfur. And finally, after over 100 years of intensive mining, Appalachia’s coal seams are simply becoming mined out. Producer Catherine Moore has witnessed this moment. She travelled the back roads of West Virginia from county to county, like Logan,...

Eastern Kentucky Transition stories in statewide media

At least two examples of economic transition in eastern Kentucky were in the media recently. Roundabout Music Company in Whitesburg was featured on Kentucky for Kentucky’s blog last week. Co-owners Matt Carter, Josh May, Jonathan Hootman and Ben Spangler spoke with KFK about what it means to own a cooperative record store in the heart of the mountains and about what it means to the community, which has been built on media arts for the last 40 years. “Appalshop’s obviously made a huge contribution to the economy here,” says Spangler. But it’s deeper than that: “15 years ago they get this building and they basically let young people do what they want there. And what we did was have shows. It created a pretty strong music scene here. Particularly punk music. That’s how most of us met. That’s how I met my wife. That’s how Josh met his girlfriend. Fast forward to now when these people are adults and you’re starting to see a huge influx of these people who were involved in that time and moment who were impacted so deeply by it that they now want to come back to this area and they want to contribute. You definitely can’t ignore Appalshop’s place in all this. They gave young people like us a space. And in rural areas like this space is like gold.” Roundabout Music Company is building on that tradition. In addition to selling tons of hard-to-find new and used vinyl, instruments and supplies, they’re starting a...

Eastern Kentucky reporter is optimistic about the possibilities in her community...

“With the start of this new year, I’ve given myself permission to dream big – not only for my own life, but also for our entire region.” That’s how Hazard Herald reporter Mindy Beth Miller starts her most recent column for the Hazard, Ky., newspaper.  She’s choosing to stay optimistic about eastern Kentucky’s future this year, joining the chorus of folks throughout the region who are a part of the larger just economic transition movement in Central Appalachia. According to Miller: As an Appalachian writer, I believe I have a responsibility to these mountains and to my hometown and county. My job is to bear witness and to tell the truth, even if that truth is hard. So, now, as our way of life is changing and must change, I want to look toward a bright future and share what I see. And so, she’s urging her community to see the best of itself and to use those best parts to help build a brighter future. Hazard’s Main Street could one day be full of shops promoting traditional Appalachian arts. These shops could be made specific to our area, sporting handmade quilts, pull candy, hand-woven baskets, and all sorts of things produced right here in Perry County. Perhaps we could have factories making these kinds of things. Perhaps we could have a moonshine distillery, a nice restaurant offering modern spins on traditional Appalachian cuisine, a bookstore and coffeehouse, a fancy Appalachian bed & breakfast, a playhouse where Appalachian-produced works...

Pat Gish’s legacy, as well as husband Tom’s, should inspire today’s Appalachian reporters...

Eastern Kentucky laid to rest one of its fiercest advocates this week: Pat Gish, who with her husband Tom, ran The Mountain Eagle weekly newspaper in Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 50 years. (Lexington Herald-Leader photo by James Kenney, used with permission: Pat, with husband Tom) The Gish’s “spoke truth to power . . . through their crusading weekly newspaper,” writes the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Bill Estep in this excellent piece about Pat’s life and legacy. From the piece: “‘We’ve lost another true bulldog of journalism. Pat and Tom were inseparable when it came to what they believed was right and wrong and neither hesitated to go after the truth,’ said David Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Press Association.” The Gish’s were never afraid to print the truth about local politics and the abuses of the coal industry against miners and communities, even though printing that truth in the local paper at that time was practically unheard of. Even after threats, business boycotts of the paper, dropped ads, and after The Mountain Eagle office was firebombed by a police officer, the Gish’s kept publishing their paper. They knew they had a duty to their community, and they helped uplift it and propel it forward. “We are convinced that knowledge is power and that the more the Eagle can help inform its readers about local and far-away developments that affect them, the more good things can happen,” said the couple in a 2000 commentary. The Gish’s were champions of rural journalism, writes Tim Mandell of...