! FREE The 15 Yearsand & stillCounting... Appalachian February/March 2011Voice

the

of Appalachia WomenOne of our most powerful Womennatural resources Julia “Judy” Bonds.... 1952-2011

Also Inside: EPA’s Veto of Spruce Mine • The Foothills Trail • A Virginia Bill That Could Threaten Our Water The ppalachian A A Note From the Executive Director VOICE Dear Readers, A publication of The Appalachian AppalachianVoices This issue marks the fifteenth anniversary of Voice, and during that time,The Voice has celebrated the people 191 Howard Street • Boone, NC 28607 1-877-APP-VOICE and culture of Appalachia and highlighted the threats to our www.AppalachianVoices.org region’s vibrant environment. Through The Voice’s narrative, [email protected] which includes many a diverse tongue, the struggle to protect Appalachian Voices is committed to protecting the land, air and water of the central and southern Appalachian region. our mountains from destructive mining practices, our water Our mission is to empower people to defend our region’s from toxic coal ash and our air from power plant pollution has rich natural and cultural heritage by providing them with - tools and strategies for successful grassroots campaigns. Ap- been brought home to our readers, catalyzing and empower palachian Voices sponsors the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper® ing them with information and strategies for creating a more ® and is also a Member of the Waterkeeper Alliance. equitable and environmentally just Appalachia.

Ed i t o r ...... Jamie Goodman The intention of The Voice is to connect with people who share our vision for a vibrant As s o c i at e Ed i t o r ...... Jillian Randel Appalachia: prosperous communities that both recognize the need and have the desire to Contributing Ed i t o r ...... Bill Kovarik The Voice will Distribution Ma n a g e r ...... Maeve Gould be good stewards of our ancient mountains and their surrounding areas. Ed i t o r i a l As s i s t a n t ...... Kaley Bellanti continue to wield the power of the word and the strength of the image to bring even more Organizational Staff people together to work toward that constantly unfolding vision. As we gear up to make a clean energy future for our Ex e c u t i v e Di r e c t o r ...... Willa Mays Pr o g r am s Di r e c t o r ...... Matt Wasson region a reality, the next fifteen years promise to be full of Dep u t y Pr o g r am Di r e c t o r / Vi r g i n i a Di r e c t o r ...... Tom Cormons Back to 6 issues! i r e c t o r o f a t e r r o g r am s new challenges, transitions and unprecedented victories as D W P ...... Donna Lisenby We’re pleased to announce Campa i g n Di r e c t o r ...... Lenny Kohm strives each issue to tell the tale of Appalachia. Join De v e l o pme n t & Co mm u n i c a t i o n s Di r e c t o r ...... Sandra Diaz that we will be publishing 6 The Voice OPERATIONS & DEVELOPMENT issues this year, bringing you us and become part of the story. Ope r a t i o n s Ma n a g e r ...... Susan Congelosi more environmental and cul- Ad m i n i s t r a t i v e As s o c i at e ...... Shay Boyd Willa De v e l o pme n t As s o c i at e ...... Parker Stevens tural news about Appalachia. De v e l o pme n t As s o c i at e ...... Rachael Goss Look for us on newsstands De v e l o pme n t As s o c i at e ...... Kayti Wingfield every other month! PROGRAMS Le g i s l a t i v e As s o c i at e ...... J.W. Randolph Na t i o n a l Fi e l d Co o r d i n a t o r ...... Kate Rooth Fi e l d Co o r d i n a t o r ...... Austin Hall Le g i s l a t i v e As s o c i at e ...... John Humphrey Inside this issue Vi r g i n i a Campa i g n Co o r d i n a t o r ...... Mike McCoy Ame r i c o r p s Ri v e r k eepe r As s o c i at e ...... Eric Chance Regulars Technology & Communications This Green House...... p. 4 Opinions and Editorials...... p. 22 Te c h n o l o g i s t ...... Benji Burrell IT Spe c i a l i s t ...... Jeff Deal Hiking the Highlands...... p. 8 Inside AV...... p. 24 Co mm u n i c a t i o n s Co o r d i n a t o r ...... Jamie Goodman Ame r i c o r p s Ed u c a t i o n a n d Ou t r ea c h ...... Jillian Randel Across Appalachia...... p. 20 Naturalists Notebook...... p. 27 INTERNS Coal Update...... p. 21 Get Involved!...... p. 28 Mo u n t a i n t o p Rem o v a l Campa i g n As s i s t a n t ...... Julia Kinsey Mo u n t a i n t o p Rem o v a l Campa i g n As s i s t a n t ...... Claire Austin Ad m i n i s t r a t i v e As s i s t a n t ...... Matthew Presnell Correction Co mm u n i c a t i o n s As s o c i at e ...... Kaley Bellanti In the December 2010 Note from the Executive Director, Bill About the cover McKibben was incorrectly attributed as having written the book Jo Syz took the feature photograph of “Blessed Unrest,” when it was actually written by Paul Hawken. Judy Bonds, a resident of West Virginia We apologize for the mistake. and advocate for a cleaner future for Ap- palachia until her death in January. Board of Directors Appalachian Voice Distribution VOLUNTEERS: Marielle Abalo, Heather Baker, Becky Barlow, Jenni Barron, Jere Bidwell, Blue Ch a i r ------Christina Howe Smoke Coffee, Rebecca Booher, Candy Bouchard, Charlie Bowles, Jane Branham, Steve Brooks, Gail Burns, Carmen Cantrell, Shay Clanton, Vi c e Ch a i r ------Heidi Binko Patty Clemens, April Crowe, Detta Davis, Deborah Deatherage, Jim Dentinger, Lowell Dodge, Jeremy Ferrell, Emma Ford, Dave Gilliam, Se c r e t a r y ------Matthew Anderson-Stembridge Declan Gould, Gary Greer, Colton Griffin, Dot Griffith, Mo Halsema, Sharon Wonder Hart, Susan Hazlewood, Jennifer Honeycutt, Tim Tr e a s u r e r ------Bunk Spann Huntley, Brenda Huggins, Julie Johnson, Rose Koontz, Sean Levenson, Susan Lewis, Loy Lilley, Joy Lourie, Gail Marney, Mast General Store, Kim Greene McClure, Jay McCoy, Rich McDonough, Mike McKinney, Doug Mitchell, Steve Moeller, Dave and Donna Muhly, James Members-At-Large: Jim Deming, Dot Griffith, Cale Jaffe, Mullens, Marilyn Mullins, Dennis Murphy, Catherine Murray, Joel Packard, Dave Patrick, Janet Perry, Jacquelyn Pontious, Bronwyn Reece, Mary Anne Hitt, Brenda Huggins, Pat Watkins, Lauren Waterworth Martin Richards, Steve Scarborough, Gerry and Joe Scardo, Kathy Selvage, Gregg Shirk, Kayla Sims, Jennifer Stertzer, Meghan Stump, Bill Advisory Council: Jonathan C. Allen, Liz Aycock, Brenda Wasserman, Dean Whitworth, Donna Williams, Graham Williams, Diana Withen, Kirsty Zahnke, Gabrielle Zeiger, Ray Zimmerman Boozer, Annie Brown, Alfred Glover, Kathy Selvage Printed on 100% recycled newsprint, cover 40% recycled paper, all soy-based inks Pa g e 2 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 The Formidable, Fearless and Fantastic Women of Appalachia ...p. 4 Saluting the Women I Want To Be Extraordinary Educators...... p. 5

By Jamie Goodman deliver babies. She knew the plants in Marvelous Artists...... p. 6 Healthcare & Communities...... p. 8 y grandmother was a the woods, how to make herbal teas and true Appalachian moun- poultices for croup. She often tended Mountain Musicians...... p. 10 tain woman. sick neighbors when the doctor couldn’t Amazing Affrilachians...... p. 12 She stood a mere 5 feet come. She took care of the animals, one Magnificent Cherokee...... p. 13 2 inches, but she was as tall as a tree in time using her own hands to turn a The Heart of the Mountaintop Removal Movement...... p. 14 breached calf in a birthing cow. my eyes. Her skin was weathered by Heroic Environmentalists...... p. 16 She ate country ham nearly every years of working on the farm; her eyes Mountain Media ...... p. 17 were water-blue, and her hands scarred morning of her life, and baked the best Cultural Legacy...... p. 18 and tough. Her back was hunched from biscuits I have ever tasted. Her name of Appalachia Women years of bending to tend the garden, was Virginia, but we called her Nanny. chop and stack wood, carry water She was humble to the point of be- My grandmother was in her mid- and historians (to name just a few) striv- and wash laundry by hand. ing self-effacing, eighties when she stopped tending ing for a better world. She could grab a hot pan of always put others the farm, 93 when she died in 2002. In the following pages, we feature yeast rolls out of the oven without before herself and At her funeral, the pastor spoke of her more than 60 women and groups who using a towel and carry 60-pound faithfully kept the as though she were the last of the real represent a mere sampling of the ladies bales of hay on her back to feed family Bible updat- mountain women, and at the time I who have devoted their lives to work the cattle. She crocheted small ed with new births. believed him. But after researching the for the health and well-being of our white ornaments, using sugar She saw the ocean amazing women for this issue, I know mountain culture, people and environ- water to shape the thread only one time in her for a fact this is not true. ment in their own unique ways. into angels and delicate entire life. While the women of today may We thank the folks who helped us lace teacups. She mend- not have to be as versed in the art of compile these stories; without you this ed fences, chased off My grandmother, Virginia everywoman-on-the-farm like my would have been next to impossible. Wagoner Goodman, snakes and sewed gor- grandmother, they are as equally if not Please forgive us for the women who pictured here in her late geous patchwork quilts more amazing in their contributions were left out and elp us to expand our teens (top), mid-40s from scraps of fabric (bottom), was born in 1909, to our region. I wish we had enough list by visiting AppalachianVoices.org/ and my grandfather’s married at 18, and watched space in this issue to include all of the appalachiawomen/ to add to our grow- old shirts and ties. the world evolve from spectacular, deserving Appalachian ing database of amazingly incredible, She was a midwife, horse and buggy days to mothers, grandmothers, healthcare stupendous, fantastic, extraordinary and would walk miles to space travel and personal providers, nuns, students, scientists, and utterly wonderful super women help the country doctors home computers. musicians, teachers, farmers, writers of Appalachia.

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Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 3 the earless women settled Appalachia – and are still formidable,fearless fighting for it. Alongside men, they & fantastic plowed fields, put up food, kept Fthe family and faced conflict. Women like Mary Draper Ingles, taken hostage in 1755 by Shawnee Indians, hiked 500 hun- dred miles of wilderness barefoot to find her way back home, found- of Appalachia ing the settlement that became the Women Lorelei Scarbro, mountaintop removal activist. Photo by Jillian Randel city of Radford, Va. Women like who called themselves the “daugh- Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who in the 1900s orga- ters of Mother Jones” played a education, literature and art. nized women for the labor movement. Women like crucial role on the picket lines during the Pittston One of the underlying themes has been a reac- Judy Bonds, who fought the coal industry’s destruc- strike of 1989. tion to the hillbilly stereotype that made it so easy for tion of mountain communities in the 21st century. Women have led the way in activism as well. In the timber and coal companies to push Appalachian In Ingles’ time, women were the indispensible cen- 1965, Ollie “Widow” Combs laid down in front of people off their land. ter of subsistence farming households. By the 1900s, the bulldozer that was preparing to strip-mine her Appalachian people were complex, human, only men could work in the coalmines and women’s Kentucky farm. She spent Thanksgiving in jail, but her intelligent and often beautiful as portrayed in Lucy roles diminished in comparison. Paradoxically, this protests led to strip mining legislation in 1967 in the Furman’s 1920s novels about the Hindman Settlement made them a potent force for labor, as Mother Jones Kentucky General Assembly. Ten years later, Widow School, or in the social realism of Elizabeth Madox discovered, since they could not be fired from jobs or Combs was invited to the White House for the sign- Roberts or Anne W. Armstrong of the 1930s and 40s. fired upon by soldiers. ing of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation And they were fighters, too, as depicted in the mid- While the first women did not begin working for Act of 1977. 20th century and early 21st century novels of Wilma the coal industry until the 1970s, a group of women Other crucial roles for women have involved Dykeman, Denise Giardina and Anne Pancake. Nikki Giovanni, an African-Amer- ­—The Mother Teresa of Mud Creek ican poet teaching at Virginia Tech, is Eula Hall another woman whose work describes By Kiran Bhatraju ever, with grit and determination Appalachian people and speaks out common to so many Appalachian At the tender age of 14, Eula against all kinds of hate-motivated women, Eula rallied the community Hall vowed to “raise holy hell” violence. Another poet, Marilou Awi- to rebuild the clinic, with donations in response to miserable work- akta, is informed by her Cherokee coming in from as far away as ing conditions she faced in a heritage in writing about growing up California. Today, the Mud Creek World War II factory in New York. Clinic continues to provide care and in Appalachia and describing Native Soon after, she was arrested and stands as a testament to the power American legends that point towards a charged with ‘inciting a riot.’ But of one woman’s determination. nurturing relationship between people it wasn’t enough to stop Eula. Eula, like so many quiet civic and Mother Earth. She returned to eastern Kentucky heroes, didn’t do it for fame be- vowing to fight injustice wherever Nature writing is another major cause, in her words, “fame ain’t she saw it. contribution of Appalachian women, worth a damn.” She didn’t do it for Born into the searing poverty especially the Hollins University group, accolades because, “we need action of the Depression and taunted by led by Anne Dillard, who wrote the not awards.” And she didn’t do it poor health and abusive relation- Eula Hall in her Mud Creek Clinic Office (2009). Pulitzer Prize winning Pilgrim at Tin- for money because she’s, “been rich ships, she sought to make a better Photo by Kiran Bhatraju ker Creek in 1975. And harmony with since birth.” life for herself and her Mud Creek, nature motivated Barbara Kingsolver, Eula took her community’s well-being Eula has spent her life fighting Ky., community. As an early par- a Southwestern Virginia writer whose injustice, even risking her life at times. ticipant in the VISTA program, Eula into her own hands. She transformed But, just as the sign outside her clinic 2005 book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle became a poverty warrior fighting her trailer-home into a doctor’s office, reads, she did it, “for the people.” helped launch the local foods move- for clean drinking water and black launching the Mud Creek Clinic to ment. lung compensation and against local provide free healthcare for all. Kiran Bhatraju is a native of Pikeville, And so, we present to you the re- political fiefdoms. The clinic was an incredible suc- Kentucky currently working on a biog- gion’s most powerful natural resource In the 1960s, when President cess, but it wasn’t without enemies. A raphy of Eula Hall titled “Mud Creek Johnson’s War on Poverty ended mysterious arsonist set fire to the clinic —the outstanding and fearless women Medicine,” due out in late 2011. funding for a crucial health program, in 1982, leaving nothing behind. How- of Appalachia. --Story by Bill Kovarik

Pa g e 4 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 extraordinary Educators Theresa Burriss: Literary Luminary University, Deborah chal society,” said Burriss. McLaughlin, with “I’m all about providing By Jillian Randel she interviewed over 40 female activists whom she has pre- space for those voices that across central and southern Appalachia. Growing up in a matriarchal fam- viously worked on don’t always get space.” ily, Theresa Burriss was surrounded “The performance is coming out of a dance piece about Burriss recently re- by strong female Appalachians, ignit- an oral tradition,” said Burriss. “I am mountaintop re- ceived a grant to write her ing a passion for studying— and later using some of these interviews and ex- moval coal mining. first children’s book, The educating about— women’s issues in tracting excerpts out- there are themes Musicians Don Country Store on White Oak Appalachia. of migration and strength of character Hall and Bud Ben- Grove, which she will begin of Appalachians. It’s very abstract and As a professor at Radford University, nett will be creating working on this year. She is similar to a dream montage and political Burriss is in the process of transforming original work for the piece as well. the director of RU’s Learning Assistance social commentary.” her Appalachian Women Activists project Artist Susan Stryke will be creating the and Resource Center, director of Appala- into a multi-media performance called She will be collaborating with set design. chia Regional Studies Center and Chair Sounds of Stories Dancing. For the project, her colleague and friend at Radford “Appalachia is known as a patriar- of the Appalachian Studies. Joyce Berry: Up and Coming Historian Pat Beaver: Investing in Appalachia By Jillian Randel mental activism to stop moun- By Anna Oakes field of Appalachian taintop removal mining. Studies. In 1998, Joyce Barry visited Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains on “Ordinary people—Appa- Her recent research Larry Gibson’s camp on Kayford the campus of Appalachian State University lachian women—can make real concerns cultural and Mountain and saw mountaintop in Boone, N.C., the Center for Appalachian differences in the world and they ethnic diversity in Ap- removal for the first time. Studies develops, coordinates and facilitates are doing so in Appalachia with “Coming of age in West Vir- curricula and programs related to the Appa- palachia, with special their critiques of the coal industry. ginia, the beautiful mountains lachian region. focuses on African Amer- They are my heroes, the people that surround us were inextrica- Patricia Beaver, a professor of anthropol- ican and Jewish commu- that I look up to and try to pattern bly linked to our history, culture ogy who earned her doctorate from Duke nities in Asheville, N.C., Melungeon history and my life after.” and sense of place in the world,” University in 1976, is the director of the Center identity, and rehistoricizing gender and ethnicity. Joyce Barry is currently a said Barry. for Appalachian Studies. She has conducted The Center for Appalachian Studies visiting professor of Her forthcom- encourages individuals, including students, women’s studies at research in Appalachia and China, focusing ing book, Standing faculty and the public, to invest more of Hamilton College on community, family and public policy and Ground: Gender and themselves in the region, beyond the simple in N.Y. She teaches issues related to gender, class and ethnicity. Environmental Justice economic exchanges derived from studying, classes on the in- Beaver was project director of the landmark in the Age of Moun- working and relaxing here. This investment tersections between Appalachian Land Ownership Study (1979-1980), taintop Removal Coal credited with contributing to the emergence of provides the vital human capital necessary Mining, is a study of gender and environ- participatory action research in the United States for the region’s continued development. For women’s environ- mentalism. and the establishment of the interdisciplinary more info visit appstudies.appstate.edu.

Marie Daly: Chartering An Education for Low-Income Kids By Jesse Wood cally 10 – 12 students, and class periods here. Kids that never got good grades be- run longer. fore are passing here and doing well.” In the fall of 2009, Marie Daly Over 85 percent of Ivy Academy’s The public high school is adjacent founded Ivy Academy, a unique and students are considered low-income. to 7,000 acres of protected wilderness in successful tuition-free charter school Studies and reports often correlate socio- Hamilton County and the curriculum outside of Chattanooga, Tenn. economics with success in school, but places an emphasis on the environment. After teaching English for 20 years Ivy Academy proves to be an exception The staff and students recycle their and witnessing apathetic students, she to the rule. waste, and students spend at least half knew she had to do something differ- In their first year, the school reported of their class time outdoors. ent to help children regain their natural 83 percent of students were proficient or “There is a real movement for edu- curiosity for the world around them, as advanced in Algebra 1, and 96 percent cation reform. I think we have to learn well as excel in school. of students were proficient or advanced how to think differently, and the envi- “I always wanted to teach outdoors in English. ronment is very important,” she said. in more of an integrated thematic cur- “We have some kids that hated “Sustainability and going to alternative riculum,” she said. “I couldn’t find [a school, now they really like school,” said sources of power is the wave of the fu- school] like this, so I created one.” Daley. “We have kids that had chronic ture. You can either get on the bus or get Compared to traditional public absentee problems and they don’t have it left behind.” schools, the class sizes are smaller, typi-

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 5 marvelous ARTISTS The Art of Empowerment

By Jillian Randel Three years ago, Kari Gunter-Seymour was sitting at her monthly potluck supper sur- rounded by her closest female friends, when Photo courtesy of Penland archives she and her friend, Winsome Chunnu— as- At left, Lucy sistant director of the Multicultural Center at Morgan circa 1930 watching local Ohio University— had a vision. spinner Emma “People think of an Ap- Conley stir the dye palachian woman and look pot, and above down on her,” said Gunter- circa 1950. Above: Sisters in Recovery posing Photo by Bayard Wootten Seymour. “I started thinking behind their t-shirts. about women and art out Lucy Morgan: Weaving there needing support and that Left: “Sunrise, Sunset” by Simona A Community Craft School prodded me to put together an Aizicovici, pressed flowers. exhibit.” “It is hard to learn about what By Alli Marshall Thus began the annual these women have been through When Lucy Morgan stepped off a train in Penland, women of Appalachia Art knowing they are 2nd and 3rd gen- N.C. in 1920, ready to work as a teacher at the Appala- Exhibit and its sister project, eration victims and now they have chian School, no one knew that she would one day lay the Women Speak— a night dedi- the opportunity to leave that life,” foundation for one of the most well-known craft schools cated entirely to spoken art. said Gunter-Seymour. on the east coast. Inspired by weaving classes at Berea Seymour strives to in- Unique to the exhibit is the di- College in Kentucky, Morgan decided to teach western clude less-traditional artists versity of mediums used— among them metal, North Carolina mountain women to weave as a means and women with fewer resources. enamol, acrylic, water color, clay, photography of income. As the popularity of the weaving collective “Some of the women in our area have not had and fiber pieces. spread, Morgan secured government funding for pro- the same opportunities as others,” said Gunter-Sey- This year’s Women Speak event will be held gram instruction. Morgan’s success attracted the atten- mour. “I was a single mother going to school and a on May 12 from 6-8 p.m. in the university’s main tion of Craft Revival leaders like weaving expert Edward lot of people were helping me. We have women that theatre. Worst, who suggested adding a pottery production to the don’t have that support or encouragement.” “I think there is a lot less opportunity for weaving program and in 1928, the cottage industry duo This led to the involvement of the Athens spoken art than visual,” said Gunter-Seymour. was named Penland Weavers and Potters. County Sisters in Recovery program. “We are in a time where people aren’t speaking Penland Weavers morphed into Penland School of “We have women who need to be safe from anymore— they are emailing and tweeting. It is Handicrafts in 1929, offering training for artisans in a domestic violence and rape and things that we more important than ever to remind people of quickly expanding variety of traditional and contem- don’t like to talk about,” said Gunter-Seymour. spoken word.” porary craft disciplines, with a goal, says the school’s “Last year they made two beautiful quilts that were Support comes from Ohio University’s Multi- webpage, “to support creative traditions and build just wrenching in their message.” cultural Center and the Women’s Center. community through instruction in craft.” Even during This year the art exhibit will feature work from This year’s exhibit will show April 1 through the Great Depression, Morgan was adding programs at the Clothesline Project, a program where women June 10, 2011. womenofappalachiaevents.com Penland like chair-seating, vegetable dyeing and spin- create t-shirts, a process to help heal the wounds ning. She was named the Southern Mountain Handicraft of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Guild representative to the International Exhibition of Folk Arts in Berne, Switzerland in 1934. By the 1940s, Sharman Chapman-Crane: Quilting Community visitors from Canada, Alaska, Peru and China were visit- Two years ago Sharman over 80 squares ranging from 2 ing Penland to learn about crafts and cottage industries. Chapman-Crane held a meeting by 2 feet to 8 by 8 feet. Today, the Penland School of Handicrafts is a nationally to start a Heritage Quilt project. The county festival committee recognized center for craft education offering short-term She had seen quilts decorating the is considering creating a brochure workshops, a resident artist program and an exhibiting countryside in other states and de- and map of the quilt locations for gallery space. cided to bring the idea to her own visitors to follow. Letcher County community. The quilt project—now in 20 According to her own memoirs, Lucy Morgan never “My idea was to put them near states—was started by a woman in left the Western Carolina mountains for any length of community and senior citizens Ohio and was originally intended a strong quilt heritage, but not time during her life (and she lived to be older than 90!). centers, but it has gone way be- for the sides of barns. enough barns so we have them Morgan’s story is well-documented in Western Carolina yond that,” said Chapman-Crane. “Other counties have applied hanging in many places.” University’s project, “Craft Revival: Shaping Western “Schools, parks, businesses and for grants and had professional “People just love it and it has individuals are putting them up. It’s artists doing it,” said Chapman- been a real unifying thing,” said North Carolina Past and Present.” Morgan remained at been pretty amazing to see.” Crane. “Ours is entirely volunteer. Chapman-Crane. -- Written by Jil- Penland until 1962. Her community has created Also unique is that here we have lian Randel

Pa g e 6 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 7 Marie Cirillo and Carol Community Judy: Keeping the Land in health & the Hands of the People Minnie Vance: Sixty Years of Open-Door Healthcare In the Eagan, Tenn., community, two By Katherine Vance an office visit was about $3, women strive tirelessly to promote com- but if a parent couldn’t afford munity development. Carol Judy and Ma- When I was asked to it, the doctors would see their rie Cirillo have worked with the Clearfork write a 500 word feature children anyway. Community Institute and the Woodland about my grandmother, Dr. “We could never turn Community Land Trust to purchase land Minnie Vance, I admit that for community members who would other- away a child,” Minnie said. I almost turned the assign- wise be left without. The land trusts allow “Children from the lower ment down. How could I residents to enter into lifetime renewable end of the socio-economic leases where they can build homes and possibly fit the story of her spectrum needed good doc- businesses, grow gardens, plan community more than half a century’s tors, too.” meals and foster a sense of belonging and work as a pediatrician in The two women participation. Judy and Cirillo work to keep Chattanooga, Tenn.? the land in the people’s hands, rather than maintained this mental- Perhaps I should start for-profit private and corporate owners. ity throughout their years Cirillo, a former nun, keeps a smile on her in 1932. Minnie was a ten- Minnie, at the time 87 years old, looks at a of practicing medicine, face and positive energy everywhere she year-old tom-boy, running patient’s ears at her office on McCallie Ave. Photo by Katherine Vance. Inset, Minnie at often taking patients that goes. Judy is a good-humored root dig- around barefoot during a 23 when she first entered medical school. other doctors would not. ging herbalist and passionate about the hot, sticky summer. When mountains. Both women have dedicated Before the civil-rights she wasn’t playing in the their lives to creating positive community tional. But Minnie never bill passed, Minnie and Texas heat, she read in the big, old development. flinched. Eleanor’s office had one -- Written by Jillian Randel wicker chair in her family’s living “I never thought it was weird,” of the few non-segregated waiting room. When she was ten, she read a she said. “I always believed that I rooms in Chattanooga. book about nurses, which helped her could be what I wanted to be.” “We could never do that to a realize that she wanted to use her life In 1950, Minnie married Daniel human being,” Minnie says, “I was to help others. Yet, this wiry little girl Vance of Chattanooga. After finishing brought up by my parents to be didn’t stop there. Despite the tradition- her residency in 1952, she opened a open-minded and loving towards al gender roles of the 1930’s, Minnie pediatric office in a small house at all people, to believe that we are all remembers thinking, “Why be a nurse? 2507 McCallie Ave. The little Chat- children of God.” Nurses have to empty bedpans. I don’t tanooga house would serve as her want to empty ‘ole bedpans. Why not Minnie was 30 years old when she office for 58 years. be a doctor?” opened the McCallie Ave office and did Minnie continued to live a life that In 1945, at 23, Minnie started her not retire until the fall of 2010, at the age was unconventional and revolutionary. first year at the University of Tennes- of 88. She saw tens of thousands of pa- With four children, she balanced life as see’s Medical School in Memphis. A tients over the years, and often multiple a doctor with life as a mother. tall, striking blonde, she was the only generations within families. A friend of Minnie’s, Dr. Eleanor woman in her class, and remained so Dr. Minnie Vance has touched the Stafford, became a partner at the office for the first few years. lives of so many people. She is truly a in 1954, and the two women gained Minnie claimed she was isolated great woman of Texas, of Appalachia, Kit Gruille: Turning domestic a reputation for treating underprivi- by some of her male classmates; some of the world. violence ‘victims’ into ‘survivors’ leged children. Their initial charge for found her career decision unconven- Kit Gruelle has been a professional advocate for battered women in North Carolina for 25 years, helping them tap into their unrealized strengths. “It’s almost a form Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture: An Emphasis on Local of midwifery – you get to be a part of the In 2005, a group of women farm- and Agriculture Grant (deadline March birthing process,” said Gruelle, who lives in ers in northwestern North Carolina, 1) to women farmers in their region, Wilkes County. She has lectured throughout frustrated by the lack of resources and supporting innovation in sustainable the United States as a community educator skepticism often shown to female agri- agriculture. While focusing mostly on to law enforcement, clergy and health care culturalists, decided to create a support the needs of women farmers, the orga- professionals. She breaks the stereotypes system for themselves called the Blue nization’s ultimate goal, says Mel Weiss, regarding domestic violence in her educa- Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA). month (open to both men and women) Americorps Vista Program Coordinator tional film, Private Violence, which is being Over the past seven years, the on topics such as chicken processing, for BRWIA, is to create “a strong and made into a feature-length documentary all-volunteer group has accumulated a bread making and policy. vibrant food system.” with support from Gloria Steinem and Crazy directory of more than 60 female farm- Their third annual Farm Tour, held BRWIA will host a Winter Gathering Love author Leslie Morgan Steiner. Gruelle ers in a tri-county region. All donation last August, featured seventeen farms at Hob Knob Farm Cafe in Boone, N.C., is working on a sociology degree at Ap- and grant money is applied directly to and hosted more than 250 visitors; on February 21 from 4-6 p.m. for the palachian State University, with possible BRWIA’s various programs, helping participating farms included a goat community to meet the members and plans to attend law school to better sup- women attend regional and national dairy, a blueberry orchard, and a horse learn about the group’s work. For more port domestic violence reform. -- Written by farming conferences and offering well- rehab center. This year BRWIA will be- information visit brwia.org. Linda Coutant attended community workshops each gin offering a $1,500 Sustainable Food -- Written by Jamie Goodman

Pa g e 8 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Community Appalachian Women’s Fund: health & Picking Up Where Crisis Centers Leave Off Appalachian Women’s Alliance: Celebrating Strength In Watauga County, N.C., there are a number of By Anna Oakes agencies that help women in crisis situations, but once they are out of immediate danger, what comes next? Since the heyday of the Appalachian Women’s Fund (AWF) works in col- railroads and coal companies, laboration with organizations in the High Country to when black Appalachians set- provide services and educational opportunities that tled in the coalfields of south- help women transition from crisis situations towards safety, stability and independence. western Virginia, the black and Run by an all female volunteer board, AWF has white “camps” of Clinchco raised and granted over $180,000 to programs in seven remained separated—until the N.C. counties that provide women with the skills and late 1990s, when local groups confidence they need to improve their future. organized by the Appalachian “We are all very proud of the work we do empower- ing women” says Cathy Williamson, AWF board mem- Women’s Alliance planned a ber. “We are providing opportunities to impoverished, diversity workshop and rally disenfranchised women and empowering them to break that drew threats from the Ku out of that cycle.” Klux Klan. AWF focuses on programs that give women the The Appalachian Wom- tools – including professional training, education, and en’s Alliance, headquartered financial skills – they need to become self-sufficient. The cast of a play presented by the Clinchco Center included Edna Gulley (far -- Written by Parker Stevens in Floyd, Va., was founded right), a full-time staff member at the center and member of the Appalachian in 1993 by a group of women Women’s Alliance. Photo by Julia Powers, courtesy of the Clinchco Center. organizers throughout the Teresa Gardner & Paula Hill Meade: region. Striving for economic to work with low-income women tailored to classes in social studies, justice, human rights and safety for Mission Work in Your Own Back Yard in her community, helping them women’s studies and Appalachian women and children, they work to Best friends since 8th grade, realize that they do have a voice. studies, and supplemented with preserve the Appalachian moun- Teresa Gardner and Paula Hill “It’s work that makes you feel workshops. tains, culture and communities. Meade have drawn even closer good,” Gulley said. “If I wasn’t The alliance also sponsors through their work together at the The alliance resolved to end getting paid, I would still be a part Ironweed, a gathering that cel- Health Wagon in Clinchco, Va. racism in Dickenson County, of this organization. Coming into ebrates the artistic talent, regional As Nurse Practitioners, the holding black history celebrations, the alliance has made a tremen- leadership and courageous lives two women serve communities placing black history books in in Dickenson and Wise Counties dous impact on my life…getting of Appalachian women through schools and libraries and opening year round, offering free health out and meeting and greeting music, storytelling, poetry, dance care to people who could not the Clinchco Center in 2004. The different people.” and visual arts. otherwise afford these services. center is a resource for education, The alliance has published “I do thank the alliance for A mobile clinic drives to remote civic involvement, creative expres- the Appalachian Women’s Journal, coming together and saying, ‘how areas of Dickenson County and sion and social interaction. every July, the Health Wagon hosts the Remote Area encouraging Appalachian women can we bridge this community so “Since that time, we’ve in- Medical clinic (known as RAM) in Wise, Va., serving over to speak to each other and the it can be one community?’” Gulley volved hundreds of women in our a thousand patients in one weekend. world in their own words. added. “It’s a community—it’s not Inspired by Sr. Bernie Kenny, founder of the Health programs,” said Meredith Dean, “Mountain Women Rising”— either/or.” Wagon, the two women have dedicated their lives to director of the alliance. a traveling performance pre- For more info about the Ap- serving those in need in their community. As Meade Edna Gulley is a Clinchco resi- sentation that shares women’s palachian Women’s Alliance, visit says, “my philosophy has always been that the only way dent and full-time staff member at to find yourself is to lose yourself in serving others.” experiences through poetry, prose appalachianwomen.org or email the center. Gulley said she is proud -- Written by Hannah Morgan and song— was designed to be [email protected].

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 9 mountain Musicians Reel World String Band: Singing for Justice By Jillian Randel to politicize Reel World’s work. “These hills hold my soul; King Coal owns my land; Oil In 1977, a group of twenty- Inspired by a group of wom- barrens own King Coal; It’s five women in Kentucky gathered en living in Harlan County, time we make our stand.” Lyr- their instruments to perform for Ky., Futrell wrote a song called ics of activism articulate Reel the International Day of Women. “Cranks Creek,” about the de- World’s style. Of that group, four women (later structive strip mining happening “Certainly the arts have joined by a fifth) decided to keep above their homes and the ensu- been very active in trying to stringing and singing, playing ing flooding this small commu- keep these issues in the fore- traditional tunes incorporating nity suffered. front so there is constant pres- country, swing, blues and jazz. “We have seen the evolu- sure on the coal companies,” It was the birth of the Reel World tion of coal mining through our The ladies of Reel World String Band from left to right: Sharon Ruble (bass), said Jones. Bev Futrell (guitar), Sue Massek (banjo), Karen Jones (fiddle) and Elise String Band. songs,” said Jones, recalling one Reel World taps into more Melrood (piano). “As we began to develop a written by Futrell in 1986 about sensitive issues in Appalachia repertoire, we realized that many the injustices of broad form with a sense of grace. “In the early days as a band, community and politics.” of the songs we sang were pretty deeds­— documents that estab- “Sometimes people don’t people often approached us after “If we wanted to go com- sexist,” said Karen Jones, the lish that coal companies owned know how to define us when a show and asked, ‘What do mercial we would have had to band’s fiddler. “Our own song the subsurface rights of people’s they book us for a place to play,” your husbands think?’” Futrell give up being socially conscious writing sort of evolved out of a lands. Two years after the song said Futrell. “When we start laughs. and we were never willing to lack of material on contemporary was written, 82% of Kentucky playing, the audience wonders “Back then we had an agent do that.” issues.” residents voted in favor of an what we’re going to do. We who tried to portray the novelty “Also,” adds Futrell, “It The Reel World String band amendment to broad form deeds usually win them over even if of an ‘all-girl string band,’” adds probably wouldn’t be as much worked closely with the High- which would protect landowners they don’t like what we’re sing- Jones. “He wanted to make fun.” lander Center, an organization from strip mining. ing about. We don’t antagonize money off us, but we weren’t To learn more about Reel based out of Tennessee that In a recent song, titled “Who them—we inform them in a really commercially viable. We World String Band, visit reel- works with grassroots move- Owns Appalachia,” the band’s gentle manner. had a bigger connection to our worldstringband.com. ments; an experience that helped banjo player Sue Massek writes,

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Pa g e 10 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 mountain Musicians Appalachian History: Women Blazing Trails in Song and Verse

By Jason Reagan Aunt Molly Jackson (right, Village; it also lit Ask most people what they source “Hard Hitting a bright torch for think when they hear the term Songs for Hard-Hit the burgeoning la- People”) and Maybelle “Appalachian Women in Music” and Sara Carter (left). bor movements of and the likely response may be post-Depression “Coal Miner’s Daughter/ America. Kathy Mattea & Coal Loretta Lynn” or maybe “She came to be Kathy Mattea is a Grammy-winning their eyes will brighten as perceived by intel- singer, songwriter and social activist they shout “Dolly Parton!” lectuals of the time from South Charleston, West Va. On her And, although Lynn as an ‘authentic’ album, Coal, Mattea compiled historic and Parton paved the way representative of the coal-mining songs in honor of her place for a generation of musi- American folk,” said and her people. “Coal is a re-education for the listen- cians from the hollers and Alexis Luckey, a folk- ers, a record that reshapes the way we mountains to the stage of the lorist at the Universi- think about music,” said Mattea Grand Ole Opry, the deeper ty of Virginia, writing Both of Mattea’s grandfathers were traditions echoing down in a 2005 article. coalminers and her own parents grew the Appalachian mountain Almost synony- up in coal camps. The idea for Coal was born after the Sago Mine Disaster, when range over the decades whis- mous with folk music are the equally 12 miners were killed, an event that re- pers a rich tapestry of many women and father in another incident. To cope melodious names, Maybelle and Sara minded her of the Farmington Disaster with such horrors, Jackson turned making their songs heard despite the Carter. during her childhood, when a staggering barren soil from which it often came. to her great-grandmother’s rich folk Born in the mountains of Scott 78 miners were killed. “I thought ‘now is “I think there were probably music heritage. County, Va., the Carters – along with the time to do these songs.’ Sago was more socioeconomic factors that kept Such loss and her seemingly natu- Sarah’s husband A.P.—recorded more the thing that brought it all back to the surface,” said Mattea. women from the forefront of history ral sense of justice shaped Jackson’s than 250 songs between the late 1920s Mattea said in a recent National evolution into one of the century’s best in Appalachian folk music than those and 1941. Public Radio interview, “My goal was to that brought them to the front,” Mark known protest singers. “Maybelle’s ‘Carter Scratch’ style tell the story and to open up a window Freed, a North Carolina-based folklor- “She was at the height of her glory on the guitar became one of the most to people who have not heard these ist said. when she was giving someone she mimicked styles across the region,” songs before and hopefully they might find some accessibility there.” -- Written For many folk singers of Appa- thought was no good a hard time,” Freed said. by Kaley Bellanti lachia – both men and women – their recalled Jim Garland, Jackson’s half- “The harmony singing of Sara musical muse spawned not from light- brother and fellow musician, in his and Maybelle was extremely influ- hearted days spent idly by a mountain autobiography, “Welcome the Traveler ential,” he added, noting a pantheon Kellin Watson: stream, but rather from the depths of Home.” of other folk music goddesses who The Evolution of Mountain Music the coal pits with songs as gloomy “These troublemaking instincts helped shape a generation of later Mountain music isn’t disappear- led her to write many a fine song,” and combustible as the coal dust that musicians; pioneers like Hazel Dick- ing, it’s evolving. Singer/songwriter inspired their lyrics. he said. ens, Jean Ritchie, Lulu Belle and Ola Kellin Watson, “I think the women songwriters By 1930, Jackson’s songs began Belle Reed. from Black Moun- from the coal camps were forced to the to take shape as a key factor in bring- The list goes on, but amid these tain, N.C. is proof. She’s descended forefront,” Freed said. “They were the ing deplorable mining conditions in triumphs, perhaps the most poignant from Appalachian places like Harlan, Ky., to light. ones at home with starving children, aspect in the development of Ap- musicians (third- dealing with company thugs, and wit- Songs like “Poor Miner’s Fare- palachian women of music was the cousin to blue- nessing the atrocities of coal camps.” well” and “Kentucky Miner’s Wife” heart-wrenching poverty and heart- grass legend Doc Such was the genesis of Aunt brought the plight of the miner to the break that often consumed regions Watson), her dad taught banjo and Molly Jackson, born in 1880. attention of a wider --- some would of Appalachia through unfair labor fiddle, and Wat- The daughter of a bankrupt grocer say national --- audience. Photo by John Warner Photography practices, treacherous mining condi- son herself started The combination of her great- and union activist in Clay County, Ky., tions and general exploitation. playing guitar and writing songs at 13. Jackson felt the black arm of the mines grandmother’s pure folk roots and “Women were backed into corners Her sound is informed by jazz, blues and at a young age when her father had to her flaming internal combustion to where speaking out and writing songs pop as much as by roots music. In fact, close his store due to the failure and right wrongs launched Jackson into were the only ways to try and over- Watson’s resume includes singing on a Japanese metal album and opening for abandonment of a nearby coal mine. greater heights of fame when she come their situations,” Freed said. country artist Jessica Simpson, as well recorded her first album in New York The Appalachian mines that Here’s hoping future generations as playing Black Mountain’s Lake Eden robbed her father of his livelihood, City in 1931. of songwriters never forget those dark Arts Festival. She just completed her also stole everything she held dear, Her work inspired a generation corners where a little lyrical light still fourth album, the soulful Halo Of Blue, killing her first husband in a 1917 ac- of younger folk singers and later led shown. due out this spring. Visit kellinwatson. cident and blinding both her brother to a folk music revival in Greenwich com. -- Written by Alli Marshall

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 11 Amazing Affrilachians Kelly Ellis: Helping Students Tell Their Stories By Jillian Randel “There had to be a space for non- white writers and artists in the region, Kelly Ellis’s legs were shaking the because we were ignored,” said Ellis. “It first time she got up to do a poetry read- was assumed there weren’t a lot of black ing. She was working on her Ph.D. at people in Appalachia. When Frank gave the University of Kentucky when Frank us a name and said, ‘you belong here, Walker X— a student in the graduate pro- you have always been here,’ it gave us gram and also program coordinator of the permission then to identify people and Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Center— ourselves as black Appalachians— and asked her to do an open mic night. “Why extended that to other artists of color.” are you asking me?” said Ellis. “You just “Writers and artists need communi- act like a writer,” replied Walker. ties. It doesn’t mean you’re all the same, Ellis and a group of other minor- but you have a place where people ity students and staff members started recognize you are an artist. If you’re by meeting regularly- including poets such yourself it can be really lonely. You keep as Crystal Wilkinson and Nikky Finney. your art secret or hidden in a journal or They finally became known as the Af- sketchbook. You won’t dance because frilachians- a term coined by Walker. you think no one else is dancing.” Kelly Ellis is one of the founding members of the Affrilachians— a collective of artists working to “[The Affrilachian Group] was Ellis is an associate professor of bring voice and name to African Americans across Appalachia. supportive and made me feel like I was English and creative writing at Chicago a writer,” said Ellis. “Having people State University, as well as the associate respond to my work in a positive way don’t want just a few people to have ac- the same.” director of the MFA Creative Writing made me keep going.” cess to the power of language and words- Ellis is currently working on a The women in Ellis’s family were program. that is every body’s right.” book called The Shoe Cobbler’s Daugh- natural storytellers. She always wanted “I learn so much helping my students “I work with different races and ter- a collection of poems about her to be a writer, and started taking creative claim their voices,” said Ellis. “But it’s also ethnicities, and everybody has a story grandfather’s life. She is also working writing classes at UK around the time about what I learn about who were are and these stories amaze me and make on an anthology of black writers in she helped found the Affrilachians. as human beings and how important it is me think about my own humanity. Even Appalachia, titled Brown Country. Visit for people to be able to tell their stories. I though we are all different, we are all affrilachianpoets.com. Crystal Good: Changing the Community through Creativity

By Jillian Randel about how to put together a show that Good is the recipient of numerous fuses music, multimedia and poetry.” When Crystal Good was ten years awards for her community organizing Growing up near chemical plants old and her best friend was hit by a including the Charleston Black Minis- in Charleston, W.Va. and seeing her car, her reaction was to rally for speed try’s Community Trailblazer Award. parents work in them put environmen- bumps in her town. It showed Good that She was honored along with nine other tal and human health dangers on the she had a voice and ideas to bring to women, significant because prior to forefront of her mind. the table, and was an early demonstra- that, only one female had been honored As Vice President of Create West tion of the values that would shape her the award. Virginia- a grassroots initiative to build life and the positive contributions she “It comes from many years of work, the new, creative economy of WV- she would make to her community. value of diversity and trying to speak looks for ways to build an economy A West Virginia native, Good knew representation and finding my way to outside of the traditional manufacturing very little about the history of African projects and giving a voice there- some- jobs that can have negative effects on Americans in her region, though she what fearlessly at times,” said Good. her community. They look to engineers, was aware a rich history existed. On top of being a mother of three doctors, technologists and the arts as boys, Good works as Director of Brand “I was a poet and trying to find Crystal Good is a community organizer guru, alternative forms of economy. Experience for a marketing firm called somebody else like me,” said Good. using her passion to help her community. “I found the Affrilachian poets. They “What if we didn’t build a plant but Mythology. something intellectual and creative in “I can’t imagine not being engaged were working to preserve and share sharing her poetry with others. our economy?” said Good. “I am really in the community and having my own the history, and not just in an African “Twelve years ago I did my first interested in the diversity aspect of that passions and not raising my boys with American context but people from poetry slam,” said Good. “There were because ideas come from the diversity of this perspective. It’s all about hard Native American or Hispanic back- open invitations to poets and the people people who have different backgrounds work. It’s the value I come from- not an grounds, too.” who came out to those first few are now and that will help us solve some of the option- it’s the way I’m wired.” Good has always had a passion for good friends of mine. Now I’m thinking challenges that are before us.”

Pa g e 12 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 magnificent Cherokee Marilou Awiakta: Writing, Culture, Gender...Atoms By Jared Schultz tic pieces with the intent of creating the As a Cherokee poet, writer and literary equivalent of a woven basket. “I am a Cherokee-Appalachian speaker, Marilou Awiakta (right) Awiakta blends together ideas just as is a leading literary figure in the woman who grew up with the atom,” she blends literary techniques, seam- Appalachian region. writer Marilou Awiakta stated as we lessly and with purpose. discussed her work and mission as a “When I told my mother I wanted and gender that existed before the poet, storyteller and essayist. to be a poet, she said ‘that’s good, but arrival of Europeans, who tried to The seventh generation of her what will you do for the people?’ All destroy that system. family, Awiakta grew up in Oak Ridge, of my work has been in that mountain “Woman had a respected Tenn., a federal center for nuclear re- tradition—to take the material at hand place in governing society. It was search. Over the course of her career as and make something useful and comely an egalitarian idea that a balance a writer, she has blended these seem- for the community,” Awiakta said. “I of genders is best in any aspect ingly disparate influences in her writing wanted to create art for life’s sake as of society,” said Awiakta. Today on environmental and social issues in opposed to art for art’s sake.” many nations have restored these such books as Abiding Appalachia: Where traditional systems. Mountain and Atom Meet and Selu: Seek- Dr. Theresa L. Burriss, Director of At 75, Awiakta continues to sensibilities and cultural foundations ing the Corn-Mother’s Wisdom. the Appalachian Regional Studies Cen- be active as a writer and speaker. Sum- to encourage youth. “From nature and my relatives, I ter at Radford University, said of Awi- marizing her lecture on, “Balancing the “I look forward to seeing how new learned that everything in the universe akta’s legacy, “Every time I talk with her, Virtual and Real Worlds,” Awiakta told generations will redefine the environ- is connected like a web. Each strand af- Awiakta speaks from a deep, heartfelt me, “Scientific evidence indicates that ment, gender roles, family and so on. fects the other. My work is to make those space inside her that beckons her ances- the overuse of electronics is causing a The young people I have met in my connections visible,” she explained. tors and seeks to honor their memory, difference in human brain frequencies, travels inspire me to believe that they Our conversation flowed among their legacy and their traditions.” creating a digital brain that only works will do this well.” discussions of modern gender roles, The feminism Awiakta supports is in a binary way, not a holistic way.” strip mining, mountain living and sci- one that exists in balance with family Awiakta hopes to use her poetic entific evidence of nature’s laws and and gender, so that female voices are vibrations. In her book Selu, first pub- equally influential in policy develop- lished in 1993, she transitions between ment. She refers to Cherokee beliefs poems, traditional stories and journalis- about the collective potential of family

Joyce Dugan: First Female Chief of the Eastern Band Joyce Dugan was elected Chief of in museum exhibits. She also brought the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians the Cherokee voice to the chorus of envi- (EBCI) in 1995, becoming the first ronmentalists seeking solutions to water woman to ever lead in that role. During quality and air pollution problems, as her tenure she advocated for employ- well as advocated for responsible game ment rights for the Cherokee, sought laws. She continues to work for the to revitalize Cherokee culture through women and people of Western North language-focused government pro- Carolina through teaching and advocacy grams, repatriation and education issues work. -- Written by Jared Schultz

Marie Junaluska: Translating Cherokee for the World Marie L. Junaluska’s interpreter of the Cherokee recent reappointment to the language for the Smithso- North Carolina Arts Coun- nian, Disney Imagineering and cil cements her presence Western Carolina University, as and reputation as a master well as teacher of the Cherokee conveyor of Cherokee his- language to students in Chero- tory and culture. kee schools. She received the Junaluska grew up in Photo by Herb Key Friends of Sequoyah Award the Qualla Boundary, home in 2004 for her work on the to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Sequoyah Syllabary— the first written (EBCI), speaking Cherokee as her first language of the Cherokee, and received language. Over the years, she retained the Peacemaker of the Year Award in her first language and has become an 2008. -- Written by Jared Schultz

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 13 Dr. Margaret Janes - Creating Policy and Catching Polluters of the Mountaintop Removal Movement If you think you can handle the sticker shock, Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Margaret Janes can tell you a lot about the true cost of coal and When Ollie “Widow” Combs laid down in front of a bulldozer that was preparing to strip-mine her Kentucky farm in 1965, it’s doubtful that she realized industrial agriculture. As a 16-year veteran of The her actions to protect her land would grow into a movement. Today, women’s voices are among the loudest in the fight to protect not only personal land, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment (ACEE), Janes has worked on is- The Heart but drinking water, clean air, the natural environment and the very culture that Appalachia thrives on. Here are but a few of those amazing voices. sues ranging from industrial agricultural pollution to mountaintop removal coal mining. Thanks to Jane’s in-depth research and the talented team Julia “Judy” Bonds: Saying Lorelei Scarbro - She Knows Which Way The Wind Blows at ACEE, mining and agricultural polluter’s have Lorelei Scarbro’s vision for the economically oppressed of Coal River Valley in W.Va. is a been required to clean up their act while the laws Goodbye To An American Hero thriving and empowered community with the capacity to shape its economic future. Scarbro, a and regulations which safeguard the health of the W.Va. native, has worked to help establish the Boone-Raleigh Community Center in Whitesville. By region have been improved. Find out more about Judy Bonds, at left, outside of a West Virginia By J.W. Randolph providing a “third space” (outside of home and work), Scarbro encourages local residents to come Jane’s and the Center’s work at appalachian- courtroom, lived her life in the quest of an together in a spirit of community to reclaim local traditions and create new ideas, with the hope center.org. -- By Jeff Deal It is with a heavy heart that we wit- end to mountaintop removal coal mining and of stimulating local entrepreneurship. She has also been a passionate advocate for a wind farm ness the passing of one of the greatest to protect Appalachia for the next generation. on Coal River Mountain as an alternative to mountaintop removal mining. -- By Sandra Diaz Photo by Antrim Caskey Appalachian leaders in our country’s history, Judy Bonds. in the campaign to build a new Marsh A loyal friend, inspiring leader and Fork Elementary School and she fought Ann League: A Force to be Reckoned With a proud family woman, Judy will be re- tirelessly to end the poisoning and blast- membered for her unwavering commit- ing of her own community. Recognizing By Dana Kuhnline “Ann has a tireless presence in ment to the people of Appalachia and for the hallways of Congress,” said Bill the corruption and ineffectiveness of When Ann League’s dream her heroic efforts to ending mountaintop Price, a community organizer for the many Appalachian politicians, Judy also home near Zeb Mountain in Tennes- removal coal mining. With her sharp wit Sierra Club. “She is a true force to be spoke about the importance of organiz- see was threatened by mountaintop Vivian Stockman singlehandedly stops a coal truck from and quick smile, Judy was a joyful peer, reckoned with and could go against a ing across the nation and bringing the removal, she decided to become barging into a ‘stop mountaintop removal’ rally. Photo an engaging collaborator and a powerful paid industry lobbyist any day of the fight to Washington D.C. involved with Statewide Organiz- by Janet Keating and beautiful storyteller who told the week and come out ahead.” Judy’s family lived in Marfork Hol- ing for Community eMpowerment Vivian Stockman: rest of America the story of Appalachia Fellow organizer Chris Hill low for six generations until she was (SOCM), where she now works as A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Mountains Maria Gunnoe: Turning Spirit and Grit into A Goldman and its people. Judy stood up for her adds, “From the hills of Tennessee forced to leave in 2001, as the last resi- an organizer. If you have seen a photo of mountaintop region at great personal risk to herself, to Capitol Hill, Ann is one of the When floods from a nearby mountaintop removal mine dents of a community ravaged by moun- “I do this work because I love the removal, there is a good chance it was taken by facing arrest, threats and even assault most energetic and caring individu- washed away acres of Maria Gunnoe’s ancestral land in Boone taintop removal. She recalled standing mountains, and I have a deep seated Vivian Stockman, whose work in West Virginia County, W.Va., she began to tirelessly organize with Ohio Val- from allies of a corrupt coal industry. als I know. With her humor and in a creek in the Coal River Valley with feeling of southern Appalachian heri- with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition has ley Environmental Coalition to stop the mine and protect other Born in Marfork Hollow, W.Va., she her 7-year old grandson, his fists full of Photo by Jamie Goodman passion, Ann always brightens up helped knowledge of mountaintop removal communities from the same fate, despite threats against her life. tage,” said League. “I don’t know if I was the proud daughter of a coal miner. the room.” spread as far as Ghana, Germany and Japan.“My “Maria is a prime example of true Appalachian spirit and grit. She dead fish, and knowing that something have a good voice, but I have learned In 2003 Judy received international ac- members who fish and kayak these Ann League knows how to find grandpa had an inspiring connection to the land goes out of her way to help someone in need, and won’t think was going horribly wrong. Fueled by her I have a loud voice.” and he taught me that,” said Stockman. “All life claim, winning the prestigious Goldman 50-foot wide streams, and they the common denominator between twice to stand up to those who do wrong,” said Dustin White, first hand knowledge of the injustices A few years ago, a bill was is important; salamanders can’t read a sign that brought in pictures and stories, and who works with Maria to protect cemeteries from mountaintop Environmental Prize for community or- people – and these connections often says don’t drink the water.” Photo by Vivian Stockman faced by coalfield citizens, Judy went introduced in the Tennessee legis- removal. Maria’s tenacity earned her a 2009 Goldman Environ- ganizing at a time when few people had the legislators listened. They fixed the involve food. on to become the director of Coal River lature that would create a buffer of “I do this work because the people impacted mental Prize and stopped expansion of the mine behind her house. She is currently even heard of mountaintop removal. bill, it passed and we learned later “I have a philosophy that I deal are my family. Whenever I drive away from an event, working to keep the community of Twilight, W.Va., from being lost to mountaintop Mountain Watch, and a leading voice protection around streams near min- Like many Appalachian women, that this protection set a precedent with people with respect and camara- I think, I love us! The people in this movement help removal. Learn more at mtrstopshere.org. -- By Dana Kuhnline calling for justice in Appalachia, helping ing. It was a good bill – except for a keep me going.” -- By Dana Kuhnline Judy was intimately familiar with the for all of Appalachia.” derie till they prove to me otherwise. build a national movement. loophole that eliminated most of the flora and fauna around her. “See that? In addition to her work in Ten- If we can find a way to work together, “When powerful people pursue protection. That’s the ironweed,” Ms. Bonds once nessee, League is a leading member then I’m willing to share a barbeque Dr. Margaret Palmer - profits at the expense of human rights “The regulators said it wouldn’t Kathy Selvage: A Woman “Wise” Beyond Her Years of the Alliance for Appalachia, often said, pointing out a purple-flowered and our environment, they have failed recipe with them.” Creating Healthier Ecosystems For All With a sweet demeanor Country and Electricity Fairy. matter, because they were only tiny plant to a visiting reporter. “They traveling for lobbying visits. Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University and a southern disposition ri- As part of the Wise Energy for as leaders,” Judy once said. “Responsible streams,” said League. “But we had of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and valing any Georgia Peach, you Virginia Coalition, Selvage was say they’re a symbol for Appalachian citizens must step forward, not just to Director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, might not take Kathy Selvage instrumental in the fight against women. They’re pretty. And their roots point the way, but to lead the way to a has done much to shed light on the biological for a fighter, but she is. A coal a proposal for a Wise County run deep. It’s hard to move them.” better world.” Teri Blanton: Turning Suffering Into Strength impacts of mountaintop removal on streams. Al- miner’s daughter from Wise coal-fired power plant. She As much as Judy loved her home, Words will fail to express the awe though she received her Ph.D. in oceanography, County, Va., Selvage has always was the recipient of the 2006 Teri Blanton began organizing in stories of injustice every day that she spent years on the road bearing she turned her attention to freshwater systems, had a great respect for miners, St. Francis Ecological Award we all shared as we watched Judy live Harlan County, Ky., when a toxic Su- makes me sick. I met a little girl witness to the problems in Appalachia focusing on ecologically effective restoration but when a coal company be- of Sowers of Justice and was her life, the gratitude that we feel for perfund site ruined her community’s just two weeks ago who is sick and of rivers and streams. She was a lead scientist gan blasting off mountaintops named in Blue Ridge Country and inspiring thousands of people to her leadership and courage, or the loss water. As a fellow with Kentuckians coughing from coal dust. To a coal on a study showing the impacts of mountaintop in her community, Selvage began working magazine as one of 14 individuals shap- join the movement to end mountaintop for the Commonwealth Canary company and their profits, this little of a friend that is felt in our shared com- removal to be “pervasive and irreversible.” The to bring national exposure to mountaintop ing the region. “Appalachian women are removal. Her organizing efforts were Project, Teri has become one of the girl’s life means nothing. People munity. It is a community that is much study garnered national attention, even bringing removal coal mining. hard working women,” said Selvage. “We region’s most powerful voices for a are paying a real price for so-called palpable at the national level and in her larger thanks to Judy Bonds. Judy’s the issue of mountaintop removal to a more un- She has been a citizen lobbyist for five are multi-taskers, we are given to great just, sustainable future. cheap energy.” people tell their stories, it can’t stop own backyard where she confronted usual audience when Palmer was interviewed by years at the annual Week in Washington thought and we are people of action.” family has asked that donations be made “It’s important to build new lead- “To keep going, you have to take there. We have to turn them into ac- Comedy Central comedian Steven Colbert. and has appeared in films such as Coal -- By Parker Stevens dangerously overloaded coal haul to Coal River Mountain Watch (www. ers so that everyone is speaking for this suffering and turn it into a source tion.” -- By Dana Kuhnline -- By Sandra Diaz trucks. These efforts were instrumental crmw.net) themselves,” said Blanton. “I hear of strength,” said Blanton. “When Pa g e 14 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 15 Dr. Margaret Janes - Creating Policy and Catching Polluters of the Mountaintop Removal Movement If you think you can handle the sticker shock, Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Margaret Janes can tell you a lot about the true cost of coal and When Ollie “Widow” Combs laid down in front of a bulldozer that was preparing to strip-mine her Kentucky farm in 1965, it’s doubtful that she realized industrial agriculture. As a 16-year veteran of The her actions to protect her land would grow into a movement. Today, women’s voices are among the loudest in the fight to protect not only personal land, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment (ACEE), Janes has worked on is- The Heart but drinking water, clean air, the natural environment and the very culture that Appalachia thrives on. Here are but a few of those amazing voices. sues ranging from industrial agricultural pollution to mountaintop removal coal mining. Thanks to Jane’s in-depth research and the talented team Julia “Judy” Bonds: Saying Lorelei Scarbro - She Knows Which Way The Wind Blows at ACEE, mining and agricultural polluter’s have Lorelei Scarbro’s vision for the economically oppressed of Coal River Valley in W.Va. is a been required to clean up their act while the laws Goodbye To An American Hero thriving and empowered community with the capacity to shape its economic future. Scarbro, a and regulations which safeguard the health of the W.Va. native, has worked to help establish the Boone-Raleigh Community Center in Whitesville. By region have been improved. Find out more about Judy Bonds, at left, outside of a West Virginia By J.W. Randolph providing a “third space” (outside of home and work), Scarbro encourages local residents to come Jane’s and the Center’s work at appalachian- courtroom, lived her life in the quest of an together in a spirit of community to reclaim local traditions and create new ideas, with the hope center.org. -- By Jeff Deal It is with a heavy heart that we wit- end to mountaintop removal coal mining and of stimulating local entrepreneurship. She has also been a passionate advocate for a wind farm ness the passing of one of the greatest to protect Appalachia for the next generation. on Coal River Mountain as an alternative to mountaintop removal mining. -- By Sandra Diaz Photo by Antrim Caskey Appalachian leaders in our country’s history, Judy Bonds. in the campaign to build a new Marsh A loyal friend, inspiring leader and Fork Elementary School and she fought Ann League: A Force to be Reckoned With a proud family woman, Judy will be re- tirelessly to end the poisoning and blast- membered for her unwavering commit- ing of her own community. Recognizing By Dana Kuhnline “Ann has a tireless presence in ment to the people of Appalachia and for the hallways of Congress,” said Bill the corruption and ineffectiveness of When Ann League’s dream her heroic efforts to ending mountaintop Price, a community organizer for the many Appalachian politicians, Judy also home near Zeb Mountain in Tennes- removal coal mining. With her sharp wit Sierra Club. “She is a true force to be spoke about the importance of organiz- see was threatened by mountaintop Vivian Stockman singlehandedly stops a coal truck from and quick smile, Judy was a joyful peer, reckoned with and could go against a ing across the nation and bringing the removal, she decided to become barging into a ‘stop mountaintop removal’ rally. Photo an engaging collaborator and a powerful paid industry lobbyist any day of the fight to Washington D.C. involved with Statewide Organiz- by Janet Keating and beautiful storyteller who told the week and come out ahead.” Judy’s family lived in Marfork Hol- ing for Community eMpowerment Vivian Stockman: rest of America the story of Appalachia Fellow organizer Chris Hill low for six generations until she was (SOCM), where she now works as A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Mountains Maria Gunnoe: Turning Spirit and Grit into A Goldman and its people. Judy stood up for her adds, “From the hills of Tennessee forced to leave in 2001, as the last resi- an organizer. If you have seen a photo of mountaintop region at great personal risk to herself, to Capitol Hill, Ann is one of the When floods from a nearby mountaintop removal mine dents of a community ravaged by moun- “I do this work because I love the removal, there is a good chance it was taken by facing arrest, threats and even assault most energetic and caring individu- washed away acres of Maria Gunnoe’s ancestral land in Boone taintop removal. She recalled standing mountains, and I have a deep seated Vivian Stockman, whose work in West Virginia County, W.Va., she began to tirelessly organize with Ohio Val- from allies of a corrupt coal industry. als I know. With her humor and in a creek in the Coal River Valley with feeling of southern Appalachian heri- with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition has ley Environmental Coalition to stop the mine and protect other Born in Marfork Hollow, W.Va., she her 7-year old grandson, his fists full of Photo by Jamie Goodman passion, Ann always brightens up helped knowledge of mountaintop removal communities from the same fate, despite threats against her life. tage,” said League. “I don’t know if I was the proud daughter of a coal miner. the room.” spread as far as Ghana, Germany and Japan.“My “Maria is a prime example of true Appalachian spirit and grit. She dead fish, and knowing that something have a good voice, but I have learned In 2003 Judy received international ac- members who fish and kayak these Ann League knows how to find grandpa had an inspiring connection to the land goes out of her way to help someone in need, and won’t think was going horribly wrong. Fueled by her I have a loud voice.” and he taught me that,” said Stockman. “All life claim, winning the prestigious Goldman 50-foot wide streams, and they the common denominator between twice to stand up to those who do wrong,” said Dustin White, first hand knowledge of the injustices A few years ago, a bill was is important; salamanders can’t read a sign that brought in pictures and stories, and who works with Maria to protect cemeteries from mountaintop Environmental Prize for community or- people – and these connections often says don’t drink the water.” Photo by Vivian Stockman faced by coalfield citizens, Judy went introduced in the Tennessee legis- removal. Maria’s tenacity earned her a 2009 Goldman Environ- ganizing at a time when few people had the legislators listened. They fixed the involve food. on to become the director of Coal River lature that would create a buffer of “I do this work because the people impacted mental Prize and stopped expansion of the mine behind her house. She is currently even heard of mountaintop removal. bill, it passed and we learned later “I have a philosophy that I deal are my family. Whenever I drive away from an event, working to keep the community of Twilight, W.Va., from being lost to mountaintop Mountain Watch, and a leading voice protection around streams near min- Like many Appalachian women, that this protection set a precedent with people with respect and camara- I think, I love us! The people in this movement help removal. Learn more at mtrstopshere.org. -- By Dana Kuhnline calling for justice in Appalachia, helping ing. It was a good bill – except for a keep me going.” -- By Dana Kuhnline Judy was intimately familiar with the for all of Appalachia.” derie till they prove to me otherwise. build a national movement. loophole that eliminated most of the flora and fauna around her. “See that? In addition to her work in Ten- If we can find a way to work together, “When powerful people pursue protection. That’s the ironweed,” Ms. Bonds once nessee, League is a leading member then I’m willing to share a barbeque Dr. Margaret Palmer - profits at the expense of human rights “The regulators said it wouldn’t Kathy Selvage: A Woman “Wise” Beyond Her Years of the Alliance for Appalachia, often said, pointing out a purple-flowered and our environment, they have failed recipe with them.” Creating Healthier Ecosystems For All With a sweet demeanor Country and Electricity Fairy. matter, because they were only tiny plant to a visiting reporter. “They traveling for lobbying visits. Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University and a southern disposition ri- As part of the Wise Energy for as leaders,” Judy once said. “Responsible streams,” said League. “But we had of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and valing any Georgia Peach, you Virginia Coalition, Selvage was say they’re a symbol for Appalachian citizens must step forward, not just to Director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, might not take Kathy Selvage instrumental in the fight against women. They’re pretty. And their roots point the way, but to lead the way to a has done much to shed light on the biological for a fighter, but she is. A coal a proposal for a Wise County run deep. It’s hard to move them.” better world.” Teri Blanton: Turning Suffering Into Strength impacts of mountaintop removal on streams. Al- miner’s daughter from Wise coal-fired power plant. She As much as Judy loved her home, Words will fail to express the awe though she received her Ph.D. in oceanography, County, Va., Selvage has always was the recipient of the 2006 Teri Blanton began organizing in stories of injustice every day that she spent years on the road bearing she turned her attention to freshwater systems, had a great respect for miners, St. Francis Ecological Award we all shared as we watched Judy live Harlan County, Ky., when a toxic Su- makes me sick. I met a little girl witness to the problems in Appalachia focusing on ecologically effective restoration but when a coal company be- of Sowers of Justice and was her life, the gratitude that we feel for perfund site ruined her community’s just two weeks ago who is sick and of rivers and streams. She was a lead scientist gan blasting off mountaintops named in Blue Ridge Country and inspiring thousands of people to her leadership and courage, or the loss water. As a fellow with Kentuckians coughing from coal dust. To a coal on a study showing the impacts of mountaintop in her community, Selvage began working magazine as one of 14 individuals shap- join the movement to end mountaintop for the Commonwealth Canary company and their profits, this little of a friend that is felt in our shared com- removal to be “pervasive and irreversible.” The to bring national exposure to mountaintop ing the region. “Appalachian women are removal. Her organizing efforts were Project, Teri has become one of the girl’s life means nothing. People munity. It is a community that is much study garnered national attention, even bringing removal coal mining. hard working women,” said Selvage. “We region’s most powerful voices for a are paying a real price for so-called palpable at the national level and in her larger thanks to Judy Bonds. Judy’s the issue of mountaintop removal to a more un- She has been a citizen lobbyist for five are multi-taskers, we are given to great just, sustainable future. cheap energy.” people tell their stories, it can’t stop own backyard where she confronted usual audience when Palmer was interviewed by years at the annual Week in Washington thought and we are people of action.” family has asked that donations be made “It’s important to build new lead- “To keep going, you have to take there. We have to turn them into ac- Comedy Central comedian Steven Colbert. and has appeared in films such as Coal -- By Parker Stevens dangerously overloaded coal haul to Coal River Mountain Watch (www. ers so that everyone is speaking for this suffering and turn it into a source tion.” -- By Dana Kuhnline -- By Sandra Diaz trucks. These efforts were instrumental crmw.net) themselves,” said Blanton. “I hear of strength,” said Blanton. “When Pa g e 14 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 15 Heroic Environmentalists Dr. Anna George: Enhancing Ann Pickel Harris: Safety is the Tie that Binds the Life of Our Southern Waters By Sarah Vig For Harris, the two issues are For Dr. Anna George, Director and Chief Research The truth will out, as Shake- intertwined, the common thread Scientist of the Tennessee Aquarium, the waters of our speare says, and in Tennessee, Ann being safety and protecting fami- Southeast might just be heaven’s own aquarium. Harris is around to help it along. lies. “I find that with women and “The Southeast has more than half of all freshwa- Harris, 71, has become some- safety, regardless of what your ter fish species found cultural origins are, there’s a con- in the U.S., including thing of a mentor for whistleblow- nection around the world,” she some very colorful ers and a well-known source of groups like shiners and information and guidance on said. darters,” said George. nuclear and advocacy issues since Harris still speaks at rallies and “Unfortunately, 30% of she acquired a reputation as a files complaints when she believes these beautiful animals whistleblower at Tennessee Valley poor decisions are being made at are at risk of extinction, Authority in the ‘80s and ‘90s. TVA or in the nuclear industry, and they need more such as the construction and rapid champions.” Harris went to work for TVA ramp-up of new generators; the lax Dr. George has as a clerk in 1982. “I got sucked worked to design a in,” she explained. She didn’t nuclear waste disposal regulations best practices guide know much about the nuclear in- in the state that allow radioactive for threatened and en- dustry at the time, except that they waste material to go in the same dangered fish and has actively documented and Photo courtesy of The Tennessean needed workers and were paying landfills as household waste; and researched the devastating effects of the billion gallon good money. “To be honest, I don’t matter of recognizing the mismatch the production of isotopes for mili- Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill since it happened between what was written on pa- tary weapons in commercial power in 2008 in Harriman, Tenn. even know if I could spell nuclear per and what was actually happen- generators at Watts Bar. “While documenting the impacts of the [spill] at the time.” has been one of the hardest parts of my professional Within a few years, however, ing at the plant, and then having Though Harris’ activism career, I also feel hopeful when I watch the recovery she was learning more and more the courage to report it. shows no signs of ceasing, her and resilience of a community, whether it is the fish or about where corners were cut at “I come from a long list of role as a mentor has shifted her the humans,” said George. -- Written by Jeff Deal the plant and where regulations strong backbones,” Harris said. focus to providing others with the were slack. Her mixture of conscience, information and skills they need At first, she says, she wasn’t persistence and deep commitment to make decisions and fight for Jane Branham: “I just written off by TVA and the Nuclear to protecting family have fueled their safety. think that my people need help” Regulatory Commission, because her activism for nearly 40 years, “My legacy,” she said, “is that she thinks they saw her as only a first at TVA and—after a family I didn’t write down a prescription Growing up in Pound, Va., in a family supported high-school educated woman. But tragedy where Harris’ son-in-law and tell them to go get it filled… I by her father’s coal mining wages, Jane Branham according to Harris, understanding murdered her daughter—on the don’t have a magic wand, what I’ve could not wait to get out of the coalfields and change issue of domestic violence. got is a pathway.” the world. She lived all over the southwest and the safety violations was a simple worked as a traveling nurse, but plagued by dreams of her home she returned to Wise County. When she we get our people behind us.” first saw mountaintop Pat Banks: removal from the top River Warrior Banks is currently working of Fox Gap, she said with two filmmakers on separate to herself, “right here on the Rise documentaries to be shown in is where I need to be public schools and viewed on changing the world.” By Jesse Wood public access channels. Branham be- After hearing Robert Ken- She also collaborated with a came involved with the group of multi-media artists on Southern Appalachian nedy, Jr. speak in 2000 at Eastern a presentation called Shaped by Mountain Stewards in Kentucky University about envi- Water 2006, and has served ronmental problems in Appalachia, of Kentucky’s Energy and Environ- , in which artists show their as a board member Pat Banks knew something had to be ment Cabinet against three coal work in a traveling presentation and leader of the orga- done, so she helped lay the ground companies: ICG Knott County, ICG with public schools, universities nization since 2007. She uses her words and music work for integrating the Kentucky Hazard and Frasure Creek Mining, and galleries. Banks took these to spread the message that mountaintop removal a subsidiary of Trinity Coal. Cases artists to polluted rivers, coal-fired must end. Riverkeeper into the Appalachian such as these have opened her eyes power plants and flew with them Through her activism, Branham’s eyes have Studies program at EKU. over mountain top removal sites. opened to a new vision for Appalachia. Better access For the past few years, Banks to the partnerships between corpo- to quality, affordable health care, good education has fought coal companies—and rations and government, she said. “I am an artist, too, and have systems and new political leaders in the coalfields are the government—while protect- “Messaging has been very effec- been an environmentalist my whole amongst her many passions in the struggle for justice. ing Kentucky’s waterways as the tive in getting our population and life,” said Banks, also a teacher, wife “We need education, jobs, resources, and we need to Kentucky Riverkeeper. politicians to think this is the only and mother. “Taking the river on as a preserve what we have,” said Branham. way,” Banks said. “I think we have to project and mission as been a natural -- Written by Hannah Morgan She is involved in a current lawsuit pitting the Commonwealth come up with a better plan. It’s crucial process for me.” Pa g e 16 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Ashley Judd speaing to media the National Mountain Press Club last fall about mountaintop Ada Smith & The Stay Project: Seeing Appalachia as Home removal mining By Anna Oakes be very, very proud According to its mission state- of where I came As a young adult, ment, The Stay Project “is a diverse from,” Smith said. Ada Smith realized regional network of young people that few groups were Smith attended ages 14 to 25 working together to the 2007 Appala- create, advocate for and participate focused on organizing Ashley Judd: youth in Appalachia— chian Studies As- in safe, engaging and inclusive com- much fewer than in sociation conference munities throughout Appalachia.” Outspoken on the Issues other regions. and learned about In addition to her work on The Ashley Judd, whose family hails from Smith, 23, is the the challenges of the Stay Project, Smith was recently eastern Kentucky, is a dedicated humanitar- ian and environmental advocate. She has daughter of two Ap- youth exodus from hired as the operations coordinator Appalachia and the for the Appalachian Media Institute, traveled the world to work on issues of pov- palshop filmmakers, a erty and social injustice, and recently focused reasons for it; a lack of good educa- an Appalshop program that trains multimedia arts and cultural orga- her attention on an issue that strikes closer nization located in Whitesburg, Ky., tional and economic opportunities and central Appalachian youth to use to home: the destruction of the Appalachian striving to develop effective ways to health and safety hazards, especially media to ask and answer critical mountains through mountaintop removal coal mining. She has suffered ridicule due to use media to address the complex in the coalfields. As a result, Smith, questions about themselves and their her outspokenness on the issue- but stated issues facing central Appalachia. along with Willa Johnson, Brittany communities. Hunsaker and Joe Tolbert, decided to For more information, email that it, “absolutely pale(s) in comparison to “My parents really, really in- what it is like for those who live every day stilled in me at a very young age to form The Stay Project. [email protected]. in the war zone created by mountaintop removal mining in our beloved communities and mountains.” -- Written by Sandra Diaz Collaboration Mari-Lynn Evans & Jamie Ross: Key for Women Broadening Awareness Through Film Margaret Morley: of Appalachia Photographs for the Ages By Linda Coutant early 21st centuries. Conference Though she grew up in Iowa, the The Women of Appalachia Also in 2009, West Virginia native In 2009, two women filmmakers mountains of western North Carolina held Conference will return this fall to Mari-Lynn Evans and Sierra Club Pro- a special place in the heart of writer, pho- celebrate the wonderful and awe- broadened awareness of environmen- ductions released Coal Country, a film tographer, biologist and educator Margaret inspiring women of Appalachia. tal issues in Appalachia. Asheville, examining the impact of mountaintop Warner Morley. Among the 20 books she au- Through storytelling, poetry, art and N.C., resident Jamie Ross’ four-hour thored is The Carolina Mountains, originally cooking, the conference celebrates removal coal mining on Appalachia’s series, Appalachia: A History of Moun- published in 1913 by Houghton Mifflin. Trav- the contributions of Appalachian citizens and economy. It included seg- tains and People, aired on PBS, remind- elogues, historic research and biological women engaging multi-disciplinary ments with Judy Bonds, who for years ing viewers that humanity is part of observations were paired with Morley’s own conversation that spurs additional ardently spoke out against moun- photographs, collected during her travels research and scholarship. The con- the environment, not separate from taintop removal and passed away in through the mountains by train, horse and ference will be held in October 2011 it. The series explored the intersec- on foot (all of this before many roads were at Ohio University Zanesville. January 2011. Coal Country first aired tion of natural and human histories built, let alone hiking trails, and Morley’s Contact Christine Shaw via on The Discovery Network’s Planet by focusing on the region’s geologi- adventures were carried out in Victorian email at [email protected] or phone Green channel in November 2010 and cal formation, clash of European and attire). The Carolina Mountains, reprinted at 740-588-1565 for updates on the is now available to public audiences. by Asheville-based Bright Mountain Books planning. Native cultures, industrial age and the search for identity in the 20th and in 2006, endures as a reliable guidebook to the area. -- Written by Alli Marshall

Antrim Caskey: Pushing the Bounds of Journalism Antrim Caskey has pushed the bounds started the Appalachia Watch journalism of photojournalism time and again, often project to provide support and training Music e Mountain risking arrest and even her own safety, to for other journalists covering mountaintop from th s document the crucial strug- removal coal mining. In the Offering a diverse mix of gle surrounding mountaintop past, Caskey documented music and informative programming removal coal mining in West community and social justice for the diverse heart of Appalachia. Virginia. Originally based in issues in Afghanistan and Broadcast from Your listener supported radio, WMMT. New York, Caskey moved India. Her work has been the Appalshop to West Virginia in 2008 to published by many numer- cover the issue full time. She ous top publications includ- published her gripping im- ing New York Times, the ages of the Coal River Valley Boston Globe, Smithsonian region “at the center of the Magazine and Le Point. Visit conflict” in the docu-photo antrimcaskey.com. -- Written book, Dragline, in 2010 and by Jamie Goodman 91 Madison Ave., Whitesburg, Ky • (606)633-0108 • www.wmmtfm.org Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 17 Cultural Legacy Phyllis Sizemore: Joy Lynn: Getting The “Coal” Experience At Whipple Store Teaching About Life in the Mines Phyllis Sizemore wants the public to experience By Jillian Randel coal from the depths of the coal mines. Traveling down County While most of America’s coal interactions come through light switches and thermostats, Sizemore, the Route 612 somewhere between curator of the Kentucky Coal Museum in Benham, Ky., is de- Oak Hill and Scarbro, W.Va., you termined to highlight all facets of coal by telling the stories will find one of the oldest wooden of the men and women and the mining that produces it. coal camp company stores still in The museum is host to Portal 31, an interactive business—the Whipple Company tour of a defunct underground coal mine that allows Store­­—­ nowadays operating to visitors to tour eight different eras of mining, and hear from recorded first-hand accounts what life was like preserve mountain heritage. for the average coal miner. In 2006, Joy Lynn bought the In addition, Sizemore oversees the museum’s historic museum—a longtime other exhibits, including art inspired by the experience, childhood dream—and invited and emotional toll of coal on local citizenry. With mining her husband along for the ride. on the wane in Harlan County, another goal of the mu- seum is to create a culture of tourism to help revitalize The company store still con- the region. Sizemore is leading the way on creating a tains the original hand-operated future for her community by drawing on the legacy of freight elevator, post office, and a the past. -- Written by Rachael Goss third floor ballroom. The store’s Above: The historic Whipple Company Store in West Virginia was built by the Coal Baron, Justus Collins. The store is one of the few still left standing. Appalachian Heritage Museum Becky Anderson: hosts year-round events like the Moonlight Masquerade and including a game where children The store is open from May Handcrafting Livelihoods Haunted History Tours. can mine and weigh coal, get through November 11-6 daily. When a group of western Lynn and her husband have paid in scrip and trade their scrip Visit whipplecompanystore.com North Carolina citizens met in created interactive and educa- for toys and candy—just as coal for more info. 1993—concerned that the region tional opportunities for visitors, families used to. was seeing its relative economic standing in the state wane—they realized that tapping into the rich mountain tradition of crafts could Highlander School: The Birth of Grassroots Organizing provide sustainable economic opportunities, and Hand- ne and Zilphia Horton used the Highlander Center Made in America was born. By Rachael Goss as an organizing resource, where they participated Anderson, now retired, founded the program in Throughout the history of Appalachia, women in integrated workshops and trainings. In a time 1995 that today facilitates the growth and sustain- have risen to the call for community empowerment, ability of quality handmade objects in a 23-county of racial tension, the Center’s dedication to social and for 75 years, the Highlander Research and Edu- area of western North Carolina. HandMade in America justice created a strategic safe haven for building publishes guides and an online database encouraging cation Center in New Market, Tenn., has served as a the movement. travel to artisan studios and cultural attractions, provides fire-starter and training ground for activists across As the civil rights battle raged on, Highlander resources for craft entrepreneurs and assists with com- the region and greater nation. also became involved in the plight of communities munity restoration. In 2000, U.S. News and World Report Formerly the Highlander Folk School, the Center named Anderson one of America’s Top 20 Visionaries in Appalachia’s coalfields. With growing concern has proven as resilient and resourceful as the people for her work. Visit handmadeinamerica.org for more over coal mining’s impact on the environment and and communities it seeks to empower. From protect- info. -- Written by Anna Oakes the health of these communities, the Center started ing labor rights in industry to cultivating the tools for the Southern Appalachian Leadership Training pro- the civil rights movement gram. This foray into organizing for environmental and beyond, a quick glance justice has trained many of the women warriors chal- Asheville’s Most Affordable at Highlander’s history re- lenging the coal dynasty throughout Appalachia. veals that many of the most Organic Eats! The list of organizers to come forth from High- dynamic figures to emerge lander is exhaustive, and the ripples created at the from the Center were rab- Center extend far into movements for social and ble-rousing women, who environmental justice across the world. Today, created unique histories Highlander continues to empower men and women of their own while forever alike, with specific programs aimed at catalyzing a changing the fabric of the new generation of Appalachian young women. The American story. Mon thru Sat, 10am - 10pm • 48 Commerce St (next to irsty Monk) • (828) 255-8115 legacy of Highlander’s women warriors continues Many of the matriarchs to be a work in progress. Visit highlandercenter. Healthy, vegetarian fare! Gourmet coffee, tea and espresso. Sand- of the civil rights move- org/. wiches, soups, baked goods and snacks featuring organic, local and ment, including Rosa Parks, fair trade ingredients. Community Powered • Worker Owned Septima Clark, Nina Simo-

Pa g e 18 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 Prodigious Writers Linda Hager Pack Denise Giardina ter and Berea College’s says for Coal Country and other works. “Write about what you know and Denise Giardina is Appalachian Center. Visit: georgeellalyon.com/index.html what you love,” quotes Linda Hager from a small mining town, She also directed an Barbara Kingsolver Pack, author of the alphabet book of Ap- Black Wolf, W.V. Her in- Appalshop film series Barbara Kingsolver grew up in palachian heritage, A is for Appalachia! fluential novel Storming called, “History of Ap- rural Kentucky, this taught her the im- Pack explains that she wanted to Heaven, which took its inspi- palachia.” portance of the effects of mining and write a book, “that would encourage Ap- ration from the 1921 Battle of She is currently working poverty that has stricken places like her palachia’s children to be proud of their Blair Mountain, won the Discovery on a book about the early civil hometown. Her most notable works are people, their place, and their heritage.” Book-of-the-Month award. rights activity by the southern YWCA The Poisonwood Bible, a story of a mis- In A is for Appalachia! readers jour- In Storming Heaven, Giardina tells a movements in women’s colleges during sionary family in the Congo and Animal, ney through the mountain history and fictional version of the coal miners’ fight the 20s, 30s and 40s. Vegetable, Miracle, a non-fiction account culture that has shaped their region. to unionize and the mining companies Dr. Shirley Stewart- of her family and their attempt to eat A native of Hamlin, W.Va., Pack who tried to stop them. “It’s important Burns local produce. Kingsolver has received grew up playing in the hills of Appa- to know that people fought back. When “...this love of the people and places many honors and awards, including the lachia, a life that instilled in her a love I found out that people fought back, I of home led me to want to study the area National Humanities Medal and the Na- of mountain culture. Pack has both her thought maybe I should too,” said Giar- and write about it.” tional Book Price of South Africa. Many Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in dina. She is an activist for environmental Dr. Shirley Stewart-Burns has been of her books have been translated into Education and taught in Kentucky and justice, once making a bid for governor an Appalachian all her life and thanks dozens of languages. She currently lives West Virginia for 22 years. lindahager- in West Virginia as a third-party candi- to her words in song and writing, we’re in southwest Virginia. pack.com date to raise awareness about the effects able to share the experience. West Vir- of mountaintop removal. Currently, Wilma Dykeman ginian born Stewart-Burns has written Giardina is a deacon in the Episcopal Wilma Dykeman (1920-2006), often two books concerning mountaintop Church and teaches at West Virginia State referred to as the “First Lady of Appala- removal coal mining, vividly depict- University. chian literature,” wrote 18 books in her ing the experience of those living in lifetime. A native of Asheville, N.C., she Ann Pancake the region impacted by the mining focused her attention on the culture, envi- Ann Pancake is a fiction writer through weaving the view points of ronment and people of her region. and essayist whose work concentrates Americans living with, and witnessing Dykeman’s work includes The Tall on the people and atmosphere of Ap- the destruction caused by the practices, Woman, a story about an Appalachian palachia. Most of her short stories take with those profiting from it. Stewart woman who works to reestablish her place in rural West Virginia; she writes Burn’s talents don’t stop at the pen’s tip. community post-Civil War; a biography about characters that live differently She possesses a strong, poignant voice, of Edna Rankin McKinnon, an early than the mainstream American society. and through it, genuinely articulates pioneer for birth control; and The French Her novel, Strange as this Weather has the story of her land and folks sharing Broad, a book about saving the integrity Been takes place in a small coal town in it. Learn more about Shirley’s work at Used, of the environment. West Virginia that is in the midst of a shirleystewartburns.com. Rare & Out Dykeman was a journalist, profes- coal boom and suffering from the effects George Ella Lyon sor and phenomenal public speaker, but of mountaintop removal. of Print Books George Ella Lyon grew up in the perhaps her biggest accomplishment Other most noted short stories are mountains of Kentucky with a love of Specializing in was bringing Appalachian literature to Dirt, Jolo, Ghostless and Tall Grass. nature and writing. She studied english Books about Black the national scene. Mountain College Helen Lewis and music in school and has become a Lee Smith Helen Lewis is a leading pioneer strong voice in the Appalachian writ- Lee Smith grew up in the Appala- in the efforts to document the history ing scene. chian mountains of southwestern, V.A.; of coal mining in Appalachia. A native “When we write or dance, sing or she started writing stories at nine years of rural Georgia, Lewis worked ex- draw or practice any of the arts, we’re old. Smith’s most ambitious work is Oral tensively to bring together the mining listening to our hearts and expressing History. This novel tells the story of a communities of South Wales with those what we hear,” writes Lyon. mountain family who inhabit the hills in Appalachia. Lyon is the author of numerous of Hoot Owl Holler. Smith uses multiple This relationship allowed commu- children and adult books, as well as- points of view to tell the story of the nities in Appalachia to learn from the works of poetry. She is also a songwriter Cantrell family and it is told over the economic and social changes undergone and activist using her written word and period of a century. Her novels typically by Welsh communities and their labor voice to inspire the movement against Jean & Carl Franklin Powered center around the people and culture of movements— which occurred earlier coal. She has contributed to projects by (PV) Appalachia, and include Black Mountain than those in Appalachia. like Songs for the Mountains, a cd to raise 103 Cherry Street Solar Cells Black Mountain, NC 28711 Breakdown and Cakewalk, her first collec- Lewis was the director of the High- awareness about the destruction of our mountains, and has written political es- (828) 669-8149 tion of short stories. lander Research and Education Cen- [email protected]

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 19 This GREEN House Two Appalachian Women Focus On Sustaina-Buildability Chris McCurry: Finding Inspiration in Bark By Alli Marshall so that an unsuspect- ing homeowner won’t It was the old later face shrinkage, rot, chestnut-bark siding or worse, insects. “We that provided the know which products inspiration. Though will fit into a certain ap- the chestnut blight plication — there’s a lot has destroyed mature of thought and service American chestnut behind that.” trees, Chris McCurry There is alot of wondered why the thought behind High- once-popular shin- land Craftsmen’s pledge gles couldn’t be du- to environmentalism, plicated in poplar. evidenced by a B Corpo- Jennifer Woodruff: Building It Naturally “We wanted to Chris McCurry (above) is a green ration Cradle to Cradle By Alli Marshall Jennifer Woodruff (center), pictured with two reintroduce some- building entreprenuer, working to gold certification— a employees of Build it Naturally. thing indigenous and Build It Naturally owner Jennifer develop ethical business practices. multi-faceted green des- match the culture; we Woodruff developed an environmental ignation that evaluates duce toxins to their homes. wanted the build- mindset early in life. Her parents re- a product’s safety to The store stocks items like green ings to fit the area,” she explains. So, cycled before recycling was fashionable. human beings and the environment, as flooring made from bamboo, cork, pine McCurry and her husband Marty co- Woodruff grew up composting, organic well as to future life. resin and reclaimed wood; concrete founded Highland Craftsmen, Inc. in gardening, canning food and dyeing wool McCurry isn’t just about making countertops from sand and gravel col- Spruce Pine, N.C. from the sheep on her family farm. and selling bark shingles, she is about lected through low-impact dredging; Highland Craftsmen has been The seeds for an Asheville-based economic revitalization and building Paperstone countertops made of 100-per- manufacturing Bark House Shingles green building store were planted when, a strong local community. McCurry is cent post-consumer recycled paper; since 1990, and today the company of- as an MBA student in a California- Vice President of the Spruce Pine Main and natural cotton-fiber denim (that’s fers reclaimed white pine panels, bark based Environmental Entrepreneurship Street board, which fosters economic re- right, discarded jeans!) refashioned into laminates, natural moldings, handrails program, Woodruff landed a job at the structuring. The board has involved the chemical-free insulation. They also offer and wooden slabs. Natural Home Design Center in Santa University of North Carolina’s Kenan- water-based paints made from natural Highland Craftsmen has two crite- Rosa. Woodruff was impressed by both Flagler STAR (Student Teams Achieving ingredients like plant dyes, essential ria for the materials they use: they must the growing green building supplies Results) program to evaluate potential oils, natural minerals, milk casein and be sourced locally and must be a waste market and by the business practice of her business opportunities; McCurry her- bees’ wax. product of the forestry industry. employer, “based upon a triple bottom- self has a background in group facilita- That Woodruff parlayed a green “If people have a tree that needs to line that considers people, the planet, as tion and collaborative efforts. upbringing into a green business is a be removed [due to disease or because well as profits.” “We’ve suffered a lot through fire great story in itself, but here’s a nice ad- of construction], they know they can Woodruff opened the first Build it and job loss,” she says of the town. “Fa- dendum: On her National Association of bring it to us,” says McCurry. Naturally showroom in 2006, and moved cilitating so other people can have their Professional Women profile, Woodruff Her company has the expertise to its current location in the autumn of voice: There’s huge hope in that.” lists Habitat for Humanity as, “the char- to properly dry and treat such wood 2007. The company specializes in prod- ity that I am most passionate and drawn ucts for people who suffer from chemical to.” Makes sense. sensitivities or just don’t want to intro- Voted best barbeque in the region

by Appalachian Voices’ crack staff of tasters!

Hwy 321 Bypass ~ Blowing Rock,N.C. (828) 295-3651 www.woodlandsbbq.com Open for lunch and dinner. Closed Mondays. Pa g e 20 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 An Odyssey along Hiking the Highlands the Appalachian Trail Review by Jillian Randel For this issue, we asked Jennifer Pharr Davis—long-distance hiking queen from An adventure in the woods becomes a Following the Asheville, N.C.—to profile her favorite hike in Appalachia. Davis has hiked more journey through the mind for Jennifer Pharr than 9,000 miles, including the Appalachian Trail (twice!), the Pacific Crest Trail, the Inca Trail to Machu Davis, as readers discover in her book, Foothills Trail Picchu and the 600-mile Bibbulmun Track in Australia. In 2008, she became the fastest woman to hike the Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail*, averaging 38-miles a day and completing the trail in 57 days. Davis lives in Asheville and Appalachian Trail. By Jennifer Pharr Davis is co-owner and founder of Blue Ridge Hiking Co. The summer af- If you live in southern Appala- ter she graduated is rare to walk more than an hour from college, Da- chia and hear the term “long-distance vis set out on the or two without passing some place hiking trail,” you immediately think of 2,175 mile trail giv- the Appalachian Trail. However, there to soak your feet or take a quick ing herself time to are several lesser-known multi-day swim. think about where treks in the southeast that are often The trail’s most breathtaking her life would go next. more convenient, less crowded and view is found at the base of Upper “I started to Whitewater Falls, the tallest water- most importantly, don’t take six months realize how what to complete. fall east of the Rocky Mountains. was important in my life had changed,” One of my favorite local treks is Observing the power and grace writes Davis. “Out here I wasn’t worried the 80-mile Foothills Trail. Although it of the river as it plunges over 400 about the government or the economy, touches the North Carolina and Georgia feet is impressive. However, for fashion or pop culture... For the first time some hikers, the still banks of Lake in my life, I was experiencing real pain. And borders, the path remains predomi- even though it hurt, it made me feel more Jocassee or the light blue currents nantly in upstate South Carolina. The alive than I did in the controlled comfort geography along the route is stunning; of the Chatooga River are just as of society.” Walking through the escarpment, the awe-inspiring. Meeting obstacles along the trail, rolling foothills of South Carolina turn No matter what section of the Davis is challenged both physically and mentally, but she addresses each new into the majestic Appalachian moun- trail you like the best, every step hurdle with humor and grace, allowing a Photo of the trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis is beautiful and worthwhile. And tains. sense of openness to guide her through Beyond the gorgeous rock face at the best part is, the entire path can tallest peak, my favorite feature on the unexpected. Table Rock State Park and scenes from be hiked in less than a week. Spring “It struck me that every person I the Foothills Trail is the water. Rivers, Sassafras Mountain, South Carolina’s break, anyone? had ever met and would ever meet knew waterfalls and lakes line the trail and it something I didn’t and could do something I couldn’t,” she writes. “It was a simple truth, but I finally realized that the more people I invested in, the smarter and better Grandma Gatewood Put the “Tough” in Thru-Hiking equipped I would be.” Davis provides unique insight into the Emma “Grandma” nuts and Vienna sausages bought in towns First female thru-hiker (1952): Mildred Norman challenges of the trail for a young female. Gatewood stands as along the way. is the earliest female thru-hiker on record, hav- She certainly provides a beautiful odys- an inspiration to hikers Gatewood was profiled in Sports- Il ing reported a flip-flop hike in 1952. Under the sey through her emotional and physical everywhere. lustrated and numerous local newspapers, name “Peace Pilgrim,” Norman later walked transformation. For anyone looking for a In 1955, Gatewood and even appeared on The Today Show. over 25,000 miles throughout North America to promote world peace, a calling she felt on funny, yet thoughtful, adventure on the became the Appala- In 1959, the sassy grandma walked 2,000 her first AT thru-hike. trail, Davis is your girl. chian Trail’s first solo miles of the Oregon Trail to Portland, Ore., Barefoot and Backwards (2000): Two sisters Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures female thru-hiker after averaging 22 miles a day, and led a yearly from Maine did a “yo-yo” thru-hike (starting on the Appalachian Trail; Jennifer Pharr reading an article in winter hike in her hometown until she died in Maine, hiking to Georgia, and then turning Davis, 2010. National Geographic at age 85, in 1973. She had eleven children, immediately back to Maine), walking barefoot magazine. She was 67 24 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren except when they encountered snow. years old. and one great-great-grandchild living at the Gatewood was the time of her death. first person to hike the trail three times, the Gatewood is often attributed with hav- second time in 1960 and the third in 1963, ing said, “Most people today are pantywaist • Delicious Deli-Style when she was 75 (the last was completed in (sic).” sections). She held the title of oldest female Appalachian Trail Stats* Sandwiches through-hiker until 2007. 25% of all thru-and section hikers who finish are The tiny 5’2” farmer’s wife from Gallia women, up from 15% a few decades ago. • Homemade Soups County, Ohio, was also an unwitting pioneer Oldest female thru-hiker (2007): Nancy “Magel- of extreme ultra-light hiking, wearing Keds lan” Gowler, age 71 • Vegetarian Fare sneakers and carrying an army blanket, a Oldest female section-hiker (1003-2004): Beverly “High 5-R” LaFollette was 80 when raincoat and a plastic shower curtain for she completed her hike. • and Much More! shelter slung in a homemade bag over her Youngest female thru-hiker (2002): Autumn shoulder. She gathered wild foods along Pratt, age 8, hiked with her parents and 6-year the trail, supplementing them with cheese, old brother (record-holder for youngest ever). (*All Appalachian Trail stats are self-reported and are not 240 Shadowline Drive, Boone, North Carolina confirmed by the Appalachian Trail Commission) (828) 262-1250 • www.Peppers-Restaurant.com Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 21 cross Appalachia A Environmental News From Around the Region

Google Sees the Forests... Slurry Bill Introduced in WV Congress dealing with the damaging effects of and all the Trees! the extraction, processing, and waste The Alternative Coal Slurry Disposal Act— a bill introduced in the West disposal of nuclear, coal and natural gas On December 2nd, Google Inc., Virginian Legislature on January 25— would prohibit new permits, modifi- energy production fuels. announced an ambitious 21st century cations and renewals of existing permits for injection of coal waste or slurry Appalachia is host to some of the innovation to help protect and monitor into abandoned underground mines. The bill also makes provisions for the most aggressive strip and mountain- the World’s precious forests. Via their creation of safer more responsible coal processing methods via support for top removal coal mining in the United Google Earth Engine, the company technological innovation. States and the massive Marcellus Shale seeks to enable scientists and research- The bill is considered an achievement by those in the state of West natural gas bed. ers around the world to study, track and Virginia seeking to protect residential and municipal drinking waters from clearly report their findings as to the toxic coal mining wastes. Order Up! One New Sub- health of the world’s forests in a timely Read more about the proposed legislation at sludgesafety.org committee Name - HOLD internet-driven fashion. THE ORGANIC … The Google Earth Engine utilizes The incoming U.S. House of Rep- Google’s “cloud” computing infrastruc- wind farm along an eight mile section President Obama’s State of resentatives has changed the name of ture, a vast array of powerful comput- of ridge in Barbour and Randolph coun- Energy and Appalachia the former Horticulture and Organic ers linked to deliver resource intensive ties. The $250 million Laurel Mountain In his beginning of the year State Sub-Committee to the Horticulture calculations in a prompt, near-realtime wind farm will provide enough electric- of the Union address, President Obama and Nutrition Subcommittee, drop- fashion. Find out more at http://blog. ity for between 20,000 and 50,000 U.S. called for 80 percent of America’s elec- ping the name organic. While specula- google.org homes, depending on their level of tricity to come from clean sources by tion abounds as to the reason for the energy efficiency. Wind energy today 2035, including “wind, solar, nuclear, Windy West Virginia - Open change, proponents of local organic is the second fastest growing source of clean coal and natural gas.” While for Green Business! food systems are concerned what this US electricity and accounts for about some of these sources of energy, such One hundred and fifty union work- may mean for the future initiatives of 2% of the United States’ electricity as wind and solar, are largely clean, no ers in West Virginia have begun con- the committee on behalf of pesticide- production. solutions or plans were presented for struction on a 130 Megawatt, 61 turbine free foods in the U.S. “What a great magazine!” “I discovered your magazine while visiting and found it to be uplifting and delightful! I plan on moving to your area and am thrilled to stay in touch through your magnificent magazine online.” —Best, Karen from California whose parents live in Vilas, NC

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Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 23 Editorial Will Duke Make “Progress” in Cleaning Up Its Act? It may look like a fairytale wedding to some, but many environmentalists wonder if the merger between Duke and Progress Energy—reportedly to take place by the end of this year—will end happily ever after or result instead in a climate change who-dun-it. The vast combined resources of these two energy giants—soon to be the largest single energy utility in the country—could provide Duke/Progress with a unique opportunity to become the most innovative renewable energy provider in the Northern Hemisphere. But the real question is whether the new mega-utility will assume the mantle of socially responsible hero, or use its monopoly to influence regulators to act in the company’s own best interests? According to Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, the merger will increase the utilities’ ability to “deploy a ‘tsu- nami of capital’ to retire and replace old plants, upgrade the grid, meet stricter environmental regulations and improve energy efficiencies.” Unfortunately, the track record of these two utilities when it comes to defending the rate-payer and the envi- Viewpoint ronment is relatively dismal. Progress is currently facing a lawsuit for a proposed rate hike on a $17 billion nuclear plant that might never be built and actually lost a suit for Going Back to the Garden: Stepping Up to Godliness overcharging customers for coal fired power plant fuel. By Rev. Pat Watkins lion years now. So far, we’ve not problems with enough science, but Duke’s original “Save-A-Watt” energy efficiency program been able to do better, and I fear we I was wrong. The real problem is sought to charge consumers well beyond the expenses Creation is Good! “In the begin- never will. not those three items but greed, incurred by the efficiency program itself. In direct conflict ning when God created the heavens Perhaps dominion has to be selfishness, and apathy. And for with claims of environmental stewardship, the utility is and the earth, the earth was a form- balanced with another truth of cre- that we need a spiritual and cultural constructing a new 800 MW coal-fired power plant in its less void and darkness covered the ation; “So God created humankind transformation. And we scientists home state of North Carolina. face of the deep, while a wind from in God’s image, in the image of God don’t know how to do that. We need The United States, and especially the southeast, lags God swept over the face of the wa- he created them.” your help.” far behind the Western world in developing renewable ters. Then God said, ‘Let there be Long story short, Adam and When our relationships are not energy options. As one of the largest coal burning compa- light,’ and there was light. And God Eve lost their relationship with right, relationships with each other, nies in the world, the new Duke/Progress utility will bear saw that the light was good.” the garden; God kicked them out with God, and with God’s creation, a mountain of responsibility for making massive cuts in Seven times in the story, God because, according to God, “See greed, selfishness, and apathy carbon emissions to reduce climate change and the result- saw that creation was good; God the man has become like one of us, emerge. It’s not about hugging trees; ing environmental and human impacts. called creation good six times before knowing good and evil.” No longer it’s about greed, selfishness, and ap- While Duke deploys more than 1000 MW of wind humanity ever came on the scene, does God have the exclusive right to athy; it’s about the reconciliation of and solar, mostly in Texas and other western states, the by the way. It’s important that we determine good and evil. We have all things in heaven and on earth, to utility has constructed less than 3 MW of solar electricity remember that. Perhaps our task taken on that responsibility our- Christ Jesus our Lord. I know of no in the state of North Carolina, barely enough for 400 - 600 as God’s people is simply to also selves. Our task is to define good the organization other than the church residences. observe just how good creation is, way God defines it, for example, as that can effect such a spiritual and If the mega-utility newlyweds were to use their vast not how good it is in its ability to God sees creation and calls it good; cultural transformation. I’m afraid combined resources to actually implement ambitious make us wealthy or comfortable, and to understand evil the way God the mantle falls to you to make that programs—like installing large solar arrays on sprawl- but how good it is simply because understands it. happen! Who else is going to do it? ing parking lots and rooftops in cities like Charlotte— God made it and because of its in- Gus Speth, dean of the School Who else is there? No, I’m afraid it’s substantive electrical generation from renewables would credible beauty. of Forestry at Yale University, up to you! Amen. be an affordable reality. They could become champions of The fact of human domination recently addressed a group of re- To read this fine sermon human and environmental health—all the while keeping of the planet is, I think, beyond dis- ligious leaders. He said, “I used to in its entirety visit appvoices. electric rates affordable and still creating moderate profit pute. The writer of Genesis would think the top environmental prob- org/2010/09/12/rev-pat-watkins- for shareholders. not have imagined in a million lems facing the world were global sermon-naked-vegetarianism/. Let’s hope this marriage will benefit the community years just what we’ve learned in warming, environmental degrada- and not just the happy couple. terms of asking the earth to serve us. God created an ecosystem that tion and ecosystem collapse, and has worked great for several bil- that we scientists could fix those Pa g e 24 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 The COAL REPORT Appalachia and Beyond EPA Vetos Spruce Mountaintop Removal Mine Permit Bill To Limit Va. From On January 13, the U.S. Environ- lessened the aquatic impacts of the the EPA could veto the permit after the Effectively Enforcing mental Protection Agency (EPA) an- Spruce mine from eight miles to three Army Corps of Engineers had already nounced a veto of the largest proposed miles of streams, for a cost of around signed off on it. Federal Water Laws mountaintop removal permit in West fifty-five cents per ton of coal. However, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) plans The coal lobby backlash to the EPA’s efforts to Virginia history. Arch Coal’s “Spruce EPA officials said that Arch Coal walked to make it his first act as senator to in- limit mountaintop removal began in the Virginia Mine #1” permit would have impacted away from negotiations. troduce legislation to remove the EPA’s General Assembly this January. Legislation was more than 2,000 acres and buried more Citizen groups in Appalachia were ability to veto Clean Water Act permits. introduced by southwest Virginia state senator than eight miles of streams in Logan generally pleased with the EPA’s veto In a letter to his colleagues, he said, Phil Puckett to tie the state’s hands by limiting County, W.Va. of this mountaintop removal permit. “While it is not unusual for the EPA to the authority of the Water Pollution Control Board “The proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking with object to a coal mine permit, this particu- and the DMME Director to even consider effluent would use destructive and unsustain- Appalachian Voices, called Lisa Jackson lar decision is shocking in that the EPA, toxicity testing or water quality monitoring as able mining practices that jeopardize “the most courageous EPA Administra- for the first time in more than three de- evidence of water quality violations. Under this the health of Appalachian communities tor this country has ever had.” cades, has “vetoed” a coal mine permit legislation Virginia regulatory agencies would be and clean water on which they depend,” The groups said that if the EPA was that had been thoroughly reviewed by unable to test or regulate discharges from surface said EPA’s Peter Silva. going to be consistent, they needed to the EPA and other regulators, awarded coal mining operations, coal waste impound- Historically, the EPA has been slow continue to deny mountaintop removal by the United States Army Corps of ments and preparation plants. to reach for its veto pen. The decision on permits that use valley fills. Engineers (USACE), and put into action By conservative estimates, over 150 miles the Spruce mine permit was only the “The EPA’s action is the kind of by the mining company.” of streams have been buried in Virginia. Sci- thirteenth such veto the EPA has used bold step we need to ensure the health Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV) entific consensus concluded that stream burial under section 404 of the Clean Water of our communities and safety of our added, “The good news, if there is any, has severe impacts on downstream waterways, Act, and the first time ever on a water natural heritage,” said Ann League of may be that by EPA’s finalizing this including toxic metals overload and potentially permit associated with an Appalachian Tennessee’s Statewide Organizing for threatened action, the matter can now irreversible damage to aquatic life, along with human disease and mortality. Appalachian Voices surface mine. Community Empowerment. be taken before the courts, where I hope and others are working to ensure this legislation The EPA offered an alternative The coal industry and its allies op- it will receive a thorough hearing and does not pass. proposal to Arch Coal that would have posed the veto, particularly the fact that expeditious reversal.”

newsbites from coal country Duke & Progress To Merge: Duke Energy and Prog- ing plants to comply with likely mandates.” The report ress Energy announced they will merge at the end also says that by 2020, coal plant closures will reduce of 2011 to become the largest electric utility in the coal demand by 15% and reduce CO2 emissions End Mountaintop Removal country, serving more than 7 million customers; half of by 150 million tons. Coal consumption has lowered the combined electricity generation will be provided by more than 10% in the past several years, supplying coal, including new power plants under construction only 44% of the country’s total electricity needs (as eek IN in North Carolina and Indiana. of October 2010). Retiring With A “Blank” Check: Massey Energy’s Safety first...in a few months: In June of this year, mountaintop removal mining czar, Don Blankenship, the Mine Safety and Health Administration will issue announced his retirement in late 2010. Massey had a final rule for rock dust requirements, replacing ashington the worst mine safety record in America under his emergency temporary standards put in place last WAPRIL 2 - 6 • Washington, D.C. 10-year leadership. Blankenship’s retirement pack- September after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster; age includes a $12 million bonus, health care for MSHA investigators believe that an inadequate layer two years, and a 2-year, $5,000 per month consult- of rock dust—used to control highly explosive coal The 6th Annual End ing retainer. dust—may have contributed to the intensity of the Mountaintop Removal Week What Egg-actly? Groups of the newly formed Water explosion that killed 29 miners. In March, 2011, the in Washington is an annual Mining Safety Health Association will start requiring Advocacy Council, including the United Egg Produc- event organized by the ers, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the mine operators to install proximity detection devices National Mining Association, recently asked Council on on mobile equipment, to prevent pinning and crush- Alliance for Appalachia, Environmental Quality chair, Nancy Sutley, to oppose ing accidents in underground mines. Since 1983, 31 bringing together 150 miners have been killed in accidents involving remote the EPA’s veto of the Spruce No. 1 surface mine’s Sec- citizens from the Appalachian tion 404 permit, stating that the decision to revoke a controlled continuous mining machines. previously authorized permit could have implications on One Country’s Junk is Still Junk: A recent New coalfields and across the all previously authorized 404 permits, including those York Times article reported that, although developed nation who care deeply for agriculture, home building and transportation. The countries are closing coal-fired power plants or limit- about mountains, clean water agency, however, has been sparing in using its veto ing the use of coal over pollution and climate change authority; The Spruce mine veto is only the thirteenth concerns, the market demand in Asia, and particularly and social justice. in thirty-nine years, and the first ever of an Appalachian China, is expanding at a rapid pace. Demand from Deadline for Scholarship: Feb 17 strip-mine permit. Asia has helped double the price of coal over the Coal Fired Power Soon To Be Up In Smoke?: Accord- past five years, creating what the Sierra Club calls a Deadline to Apply: Feb 25 ing to a report by The Brattle Group, “emerging EPA “worse-case scenario” in the push to reduce carbon regulations on air and water quality for coal-fired emissions. power plants could result in over 50,000 MW of coal plant retirements and require $180 billion for remain- Visit ilovemountains.org/wiw to register! Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 25 INSIDE APPALACHIAN VOICES Welcoming New Faces to Appalachian Voices

Appalachian Voices is very excited ing, planning events power of community, the An Act of Congress to welcome four new faces to our team and organizing ex- healing ability of wilderness Our Washington, D.C. office gets this new year: two in our Boone office, tensively in regional and the potential for YouTube a community advocate in John Hum- one in our Charlottesville office, and communities. She (cat videos aside) and citizen phrey, a North Carolina native who one in Washington, D.C. will be based in our journalism to change the will work on promoting the Clean Wa- Major Developments Charlottesville of- world. ter Protection Act and the Appalachia Our development team gets a huge fice. Distributing More Restoration Act in Congress. boost with the addition of two dynamic Rachael Goss Good News John has had an interest in helping new staff members to help us secure came to western Rachael Goss, communities since he was an activist and Development Associate Last fall, we welcomed North Carolina over public policy student at Duke, where he gifts to support the work of Appala- the addition of our new four years ago on a camping trip and was awarded a Lyndhurst Foundation chian Voices. Appalachian Voice distribution man- never left. A native New Yorker, she Young Career Prize to document Kayti Wingfield, known for her ager, Maeve Gould. graduated from New York University stories of rural communities. collaborative work with Appalachian Maeve is a Rich- with a dual degree in Politics and Jour- His career achievements include Voices through the Wise Energy for mond, Virginia na- nalism, served as a Special Education serving as director of policy de- Virginia Coalition, is an addition to our tive and Virginia teacher and community organizer in velopment for the N.C. Depart- Development team. Tech graduate with Oakland, Ca., and worked on sustain- ment of Environment, Health Kayti hails from Waynesboro, Va., a a degree in Urban able development in Malawi, Africa, for & Natural Resources; as N.C. small town set in the beautiful Shenan- Affairs and Plan- close to two years. Governor Jim Hunt’s local gov- doah Valley at the foot of the Blue Ridge ning. Rachael has worked in grassroots ernment liaison; and as research Mountains. She studied political science Before working environmental and social justice groups and communications director and international relations at Christo- with Appalachian for the past eight years, providing on congressional and statewide pher Newport University and received Voices, she was in- media and development support for Maeve Gould, Voice political campaigns. a certificate of non-profit management volved in Mountain Distribution Manager indigenous sovereignty John studied law at the Uni- from the University of Justice Blacksburg and solidarity projects in versity of Michigan and interned in Virginia. and organized Earth Week with the Bolivia, California, Utah South Africa. At an international law Kayti spent the Environmental Coalition. She also and South Dakota; most firm in D.C., he represented a Hopi last three years as interned for a year with AmeriCorps recently she worked with organization opposing Peabody Coal’s the coordinator for Project Conserve at the Boone-based Greenpeace on both coasts Black Mesa permit. He the Wise Energy for land trust, Blue Ridge Con- of the U.S. then became principal of a Virginia Coalition, servancy. Rachael is also a free- managing inter-orga- Maeve is enthused to civil rights firm and stud- lance writer and aspiring nizational relation- be a part of the Appalachian ied environmental policy, documentary filmmaker ships, coalition Voices team and to work with public policy and conflict who believes in the building, lobby- Kayti Wingfield, Development Associate AV on raising awareness resolution at George Ma- about social and environ- son University. Welcome! ndnd mental justice issues in 22 eeditiditionon AA GuideGuide forfor SouthernSouthern John Humphrey, AppalachianAppalachian LandownersLandowners Appalachia. Legislative Associate ManaManagginingg Now with a FREE DVD: “Landowner’s Guide to Advocates Storm Capitol Hill on 1st Day of New Congress YourYour Sustainable Forestry” - from the Model Forest Policy Program Appalachian Voices and partner Restoration Act in the Senate, bills WWoodoodlanlandsds organizations greeted new and return- that help to end mountaintop removal. ing members of Congress in their first Our team also visited over 150 previ- Our handbook will give you the knowledge and resources to make week of the 2011 Congressional year. ous cosponsors of the bills. Each new smart decisions about your piece of In just two days, our legislative team congress— every two years— pending Appalachian forest, and help you met with every incoming member bills have to be re-introduced into be a good steward of the land. to educate them about the Clean the system. Appalachian Voices will To get your FREE copy, sign up at www.appvoices.org Water Protection Act in the House of be working tirelessly to re-introduce Call 1-877-APP-VOICE, or Email [email protected] Representatives and the Appalachia these two bills this spring.

Pa g e 26 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 INSIDE APPALACHIAN VOICES Taking the Plunge for Appalachian Voices By Jesse Wood, special to come out and jump with us.” Brown, who has jumped 10 Appalachian Voices Each person who plunges will times, described the polar plunge as “crazy… insane…brutal…and I am going to freeze my tail off donate their registration fee to a bone-chilling.” for a good cause – the mountains. local non-profit of choice. I chose Maybe I’ll see you there. On Saturday, Jan. 29, I will Appalachian Voices because I love the Appalachian mountains and jump into icy cold waters for the Editor’s Note: Jesse has pledged his $25 the work Appalachian Voices does 13th annual Polar Plunge in the dollar jumping fee, as well as freelance to protect them. Chetola Lake, during Blowing pay for articles about the event to run It will be invigorating to say Rock, N.C.’s annual Winterfest. in local newspapers for the jump— a the least. A few years ago, the “Brother, it is extreme, you will donation to Appalachian Voices totaling grounds crew at Chetola Resort be singing soprano when you hit almost $100 dollars. To find out how Brrrr! The Winterfest Polar Plunge takes place every used chainsaws and axes to re- the surface,” Tracy Brown, emcee of Jesse’s jump went, visit appvoices.org/ year at Chetola Lake in Blowing Rock, N.C. Photo by move ice from the jumping area. the polar plunge, said. “You should thevoice/polar. Parker Stevens Appalachia Water Watch: State’s A Special Thanks to and with your help we were able to reach Mast Store & Patagonia our goal. The result: $75,000 to ensure clean water throughout the region. Settlement Does Not Go Far Enough Appalachian Voices would like to give Appalachia Water Watch is our special thanks to Mast General Store and Appalachian Voices’ vene. The judge granted newest program designed to protect Patagonia Footwear who joined forces litigation against three permission to file a brief the region’s water from pollution related to help support us this past September. of the largest coal com- in support of the motion to coal mining, processing and waste For the entire month, the two companies panies in Kentucky has to intervene and ordered disposal. Learn more at appvoices.org/ donated a combined $10 for every pair caused a big splash. After the state of Kentucky to waterwatch. of Patagonia shoes sold at Mast. Thank our legal team filed our place the full complaint you Mast General Store and Patagonia We Love Mountains Tour intent-to-sue for over and settlement plan on Footwear for supporting us with over a Hits the East Coast 20,000 violations of the Clean Water their website for a 30 day public com- $700 donation! This winter Restoring Eden and Ap- Act, the state of Kentucky preempted ment period. palachian Voices have partnered for the the action, and levied $660,000 in fines In an article about the suit, the Lex- Appalachian Voices Is “We Love Mountains” concert tour with against the companies. While the state’s ington Herald-Leader called the state’s A River Warrior indie rock band, Dewi Sant. In an effort to action is historic, the fines represent less failure to enforce our nation’s clean In 2010, Appalachian Voices was bring together music, faith and activism than .1% of the maximum that could be water laws “a regulatory meltdown”. awarded the 2010 River Warrior honor by the tour will raise awareness about moun- levied under the Clean Water Act. The court date in the case was the Water Heritage Trust, a project of the taintop removal and the connections Feeling that the proposed settle- scheduled to take place immediately Resource Renewal Institute. River Warrior throughout the southeast and mid-atlantic recognizes 25 organizations annually for ment did not sufficiently address the following press deadline. To keep up region. An exciting line-up is planned from their work benefiting threatened fish, riv- companies’ violations or deter future to date on our latest efforts to bust Jan. 27 through Feb. 8, stretching as far ers and aquatic habitats. They recognized violations, Appalachian Voices and big coal, please visit: appvoices.org/ south as Charleston, S.C. all the way to Appalachian Voices as, “an exemplary or- partners petitioned the judge to inter- kylitigation. New York City. The tour will be joined by ganization working to protect water qual- several local bands at each show. For ity, fish, wildlife and riparian ecosystems.” more information about this concert series Appalachian Voices would like to thank check out appvoices.org/2011mtrtour. AppalachianVoices the Resource Renewal Institute for their recognition and contribution of $1,000. The Last Mountain Business League Awards such as these keep us motivated ing Debuts At Sundance New & renew Members — Dec 011 to continue our hard work! 2010/Jan 2 The Uncommon Productions and Antiques on Howard...... Boone, NC Protecting Waterways, DADA Films piece made its world premiere Doe Ridge Pottery...... Boone, NC Doubletime! at this year’s Sundance Fim Festival and is scheduled to open in theatres this spring. Forget Me Nots Landscape and Stonescape...... Sugar Grove, NC Thank you to everyone who donated The production follows the active debate Hanging Dog Valley Nursery...... Murphy, NC to our Appalachia Water Watch match- between the coal-energy industry and Medicine Man Craft Shop...... Cherokee, NC ing grant fund! Toward the end of 2010, citizens throughout the region over the con- Tabard Corporation...... Washington, DC a generous donor pledged $37,500 to troversial practice of mountaintop removal Timothy L. Warner, Inc...... Asheville, NC our new initiative protecting Appalachian coal mining in Central Appalachia. Appala- Yellow Branch Cheese & Pottery...... Robbinsville, NC waterways, provided that we could raise chian Voices contributed information and We encourage you to patronize members of our Business League. enough to match it. More than 100 donors, footage during the film’s production. Learn members and supporters got involved, To become a business member visit AppalachianVoices.org or call us at 877-APP-VOICE more at thelastmountainmovie.com.

Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Pa g e 27 Non-Profit The Appalachian Voice Organization 191 Howard Street US Postage Paid Boone, NC 28607 Permit No. 294 www.appalachianvoices.org Boone, NC

A detail of Megan Naylor’s “Reflecting on mountains lost...” depicting Larry Gibson looking out onto the mountaintop removal site near his home on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. The image is a finalist in the Appalachian Mountains Photo Competition at Appalachian State University. Finalist’s entries will hang at ASU’s Turchin Center from February 4 - June 4, 2011. Visit www.appmtnphotocomp.org for details.

GET INVOLVED environmental & cultural events in the region The True Story of Bats Community and Small Wind Energy costs $8,000. Class runs Tues–Fri, 10am-6pm in Email [email protected] to be included Now-Jan 2: An exhibit to dispel popular misconcep- Conference-Mid Atlantic Region Asheville, N.C. Visit ashevillage.org. in our Get Involved listing. Deadline for the tions about bats, describe their ecological importance Feb 8-9: Two-day conference discussing wind energy ...... next issue will be Friday, March 18 at 5 p.m. and give visitors an appreciation of the true wonders 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Ball policies and implementing a community clean energy for events taking place between March 25 of the bat world through. Call: (866)202-6223 or visit project; Penn State’s Innovation Park. E-mail catherine. March 5: Held at The Sun Music Hall in Floyd, grayfossilmuseum.com. [email protected]. Va. to benefit the Blue Mountain School. Dress and June 1, 2011...... up and put your dncing shoes on for a night of fun. Visit sunmusichall.com for tickets and info. Caring for Creation The Route 250 Project/Fellowship I Love Mountains Day Feb. 14: Spend your Valentine’s Day sharing your love ...... March 31- April 3: A faith based eco-justice event at Now-March. 10 Application Deadline: Looking for for mountains, and help Kentuckians for the Com- 18th Annual Organic Growers School Lake Junaluska, N.C. Workshops range from Container a team of six people that will live, work and learn at monwealth rally to stop dumping of mining wastes Spring Conference Gardening to Ethnic Faith Groups and Environmental Allegheny Mountain School in Highland County, Va. into streams and create a clean energy future for all Mar 5-6: The southeast’s largest sustainable living Issues. Visit lakejunaluska.com/caring-for-creation/. Fellowship begins May 1. Visit tricyclegardens.org/ Kentucky. Visit www.kftc.org/take-action/ilm. conference. Registration opens in January. Held at the ...... the-route-250-project/ for more information...... University of North Carolina at Asheville. Visit organic- Power Shift 2011 ...... growersschool.org/. April 1-4: Washington, DC at the RFK stadium. Celebrate The Hemlocks! The Hemlocks! Grief Green Film Series: Flow ...... the success stories and hear from leaders of the move- and Celebration by Lowell Hayes Feb. 16: The Green Screen Film Series presents Flow: For the Love of Water at The Showroom in downtown Appalachian Studies Conference ment. To become a Power Shift coordinator or for more Now-Mar 19: This series of paintings is a celebration Spartanburg, S.C. Includes panel discussion. Free March 11-13: Held at Eastern Kentucky University, this information visit energyactioncoalition.org/. of the life and beauty of the Tsuga canadensis, the event begins at 7pm Visit Hub-bub.com. years theme is “River of Earth: Action, Scholarships, ...... Eastern Hemlock, and of the rare Tsuga caroliniana, the ...... Reflection and Renewal.” Featuring innovative sessions 6th Annual Week in Washington Carolina Hemlock. At the Turchin Center for the Visual about the region’s activists, cultural and scholarly heri- April 2-6: Organized by the Alliance for Appalachia. Arts, Boone, N.C. Visit turchincenter.org. Blue Ridge Women in Ag Winter Gathering Feb. 21: Learn about their work to support women tage. Visit appalachianstudies.org/conference. with limited space (this year they are accepting 150 ...... farmers in the region through workshops, grants and ...... like-minded, mountain loving people. Registration ends Appalachian Mountain Photography community outreach. Join BRWIA at Hob Knob Farm Green Screen Film Series: Coal Country Feb. 25. Visit ilovemountains.org/wiw. Competition Exhibit Cafe in Boone, N.C. This event will include local hors Mar. 16: The Green Screen Film Series presents Coal ...... Feb 4-June 4: Come see the winners of the competi- d’ouvres. Country which discusses coal mining from both miner’s Banff Film Festival tion at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, ...... and activist’s point of views. Includes panel discussion. Apr. 1-2: Takes place at the Farthing Auditorium on Ap- N.C. Conference on Sustainable Viticulture Free event begins at 7pm at The Showroom in down- palachian State’s campus in Boone, N.C. Prices are $7 ...... Feb. 23: Learn to make wine and grow grapes sustain- town Spartanburg, S.C. visit hub-bub.com. for students and $9 for all others. Also the festival will be Creative Expressions of Concern for ably in Asheville, N.C. $30 cost includes lunch. Contact ...... visiting Brevard College, outside of Asheville, N.C. Visit Appalachian Mountains [email protected] or call (828)254-1921 Sustainable Film Series: Deep Down banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/worldtour/. Jan.13-Feb.11: This event is a visual art, poetry and extension 5843. Mar. 22: The Green Screen Film Series presents Deep ...... song exhibition for supporting the Appalachian Moun- ...... Down. It will be held at 7pm in the Greer Auditorium on Green Film Series: The Greenhorns tains. It is being held at Southwestern Virginia Commu- Ten-Month Ecological Leadership Training the Appalachian State campus. Visit sustain.appstate. April 12: The Green Screen Film Series presents The nity College in Richlands, V.A. This event is dedicated Feb 28–Dec 16: Learn about innovative design systems edu/film-series. Greenhorns. This event is free and begins at 7pm in the in the honor and memory of Judy Bonds. and practical solutions that create bio-regional sov- ...... Greer Auditorium on the Appalachian State campus in ...... ereignty and empower the human potential. Program Boone, N.C. Visit sustain.appstate.edu/film-series. Pa g e 28 ..... Th e App a l a c h i a n Vo i c e ..... Fe b r u a r y /Ma r c h 2011