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Harpers Ferry is a historic West Virginia city and international tourist hub. But four years ago the national park and surrounding town were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Crystal Wilkinson, Candy-Makers And A Cross-Cultural Music Collaboration
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This week’s episode of Inside Appalachia is an encore episode filled with rich storytelling and cross-cultural collaborations. What happens when a musician from Belarus gets together with Appalachian folk musicians? And we’ll talk with Affrilachian writer Crystal Wilkinson, who has been named this year’s Kentucky Poet Laureate. You’ll hear these stories and more in this episode.
You can find recipes for pull candy online. But be prepared to fail, if you’ve never made it before. It’s hard to get it right. But it’s amazingly soft and creamy to eat.
Crystal Wilkinson Named Kentucky’s ‘21-’22 Poet Laureate
Crystal Wilkinson is the first Black woman in Kentucky to hold the title of Poet Laureate. Wilkinson is an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky. Over her career, Wilkinson has focused much of her writing on Black women and their experiences in Appalachia.
“In a way, this book is sort of dispelling these sorts of stereotypes about blackness. I think many people think of blackness as being a rural phenomenon. So I think that so many of us who are from the mountains from Appalachia are sort of dismissed or sort of invisible to mainstream society — others don’t really think that we’re here,” Wilkinson said. “So the title also sort of leans into that idea that a rural blackness and an Appalachian blackness can also be a perfect blackness. There is no one way to be black in America.”
Final arguments wrapped up this week in Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy case. The opioid manufacturer is just one of several companies to come under fire in recent years for what some believe is their role in the opioid epidemic. With several of these cases currently making their way through the court system, we thought it would be a fitting time to listen back to an interview with reporter Eric Eyre, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting into the issue. He compiled his reporting into a book called “Death In Mud Link: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic.”
Last year, West Virginia’s New River Gorge National River became the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. It’s the 63rd national park in the U.S. and the first in West Virginia. Those who fought for the change say it could make all the difference for the local tourism economy.
Appalachia is no stranger to music as a form of protest. A new, cross-continental connection between Slavic and Appalachian folk musicians has given the form a unique flavor.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we hear a story from 100 Days in Appalachia’s Chad Reich about the musical collaboration known as Slavalachia and how this musician collaboration has lent its voice to an uprising halfway around the world from its roots in Athens, Ohio.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was by Florence Reece, Wes Swing, Dinosaur Burps and Slavalachia.
Roxy Todd is our producer. Jade Artherhults is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Andrea Billups. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode. You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia. You can also send us an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this West Virginia Morning, tourists from around the world visit Harpers Ferry each year to immerse themselves in U.S. history. But the number of visitors fell in 2020, as public health restrictions ramped up nationwide. Jack Walker visited the town to learn how things have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
On this West Virginia Morning, it has been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department. We speak with the superintendent of state police for an update.
On this West Virginia Morning, political analysts say the two Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming May primary election give voters some particular, and troubling, food for thought. The candidates themselves say voters need to focus on the positives, not the negatives.