2008 – Issue 1 (January)
Review: A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West
James J. Lorence, A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West (University of Illinois Press) Review by Kirk R. MacGregor appvoices.org/books In this comprehensive and insightful biography of radical Appalachian poet, preacher, and social activist Don West (1906-92), James J. Lorence, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin, Marathon County, carefully traces the…
Read MoreWhen the Buffalo Roamed
A curious characteristic of Appalachian geography is the number of features- creeks, knobs, hollows, etc. – with “buffalo” in their name. This beast from the western plains seems as out-of-place in the forests of Appalachia as a saguaro cactus on the Blue Ridge. In colonial times though, buffalo were found throughout much of eastern North…
Read MoreReview: Strange as This Weather Has Been
/images/AppalachianVoice/Jan_2008/strange_circle.gif Strange as This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake Shoemaker and Hoard Some novels are so good you can’t put them down, but Ann Pancake’s book is not one of those. Strange as This Weather Has Been is the better sort of book, the kind you have to put aside every few pages just…
Read MoreSaving Place: Art in Nature
Theresa L. Burriss is an assistant professor at Radford University. She is currently working on a book entitled Women of Change, Women of Courage: Appalachian Activists, to be published by the University of Tennessee Press. Natural beauty abounds in Appalachia, and it inspires artists and scientists equally. In a discussion at Radford University entitled “Saving…
Read MoreHiking in the Highlands: The Virginia Creeper Trail
You can hike it. You can bike it. You can take it by horseback or on cross-country skis. Zipping across most of eastern Washington County, the Virginia Creeper Trail is a multi-use recreational trail linking downtown Abingdon to the North Carolina border near Grayson County’s Whitetop community. The 34-mile-long trail is the former site of…
Read MoreWise power plant foes turn out in Richmond
Hundreds of opponents of Dominion Power Company’s proposed $1.8 billion coal-burning power plant traveled to Richmond in early January to voice their opposition at a hearing of the State Corporation Commission. The commission will decide on the need for the 585 megawatt plant and whether the type of technology the utility has chosen is appropriate.…
Read MoreBig Trouble for Coal Plants
Big coal is in big trouble. You can see it in the statistics compiled by the Sierra Club: Nationwide, courts or state governments have forced the cancellation or delay of 59 out of over 160 proposed new coal fired power plants, according to a Sierra Club database. In 2006, almost 50 new power plants were…
Read MoreFrank Taylor: “I Think People are Still Willing”
I think People are still Willing Frank Taylor, Dungannon, VA Dominion Power says they need to build a plant in SW VA to sell to the inhabitants of 140,000 unbuilt homes in Northern Virginia. There are 140,000 real homes in Southwest Virginia that would emerge under the cloud of pollution from that plant. When the…
Read MoreNew Media Strikes a Deep Chord
/images/AppalachianVoice/Jan_2008/electric_earth_circ.gif Teri Blanton typed her five digit zip code into the web site. Then it hit her. “I was shocked,” she said. The page showed that her own electricity was coming from the very mountaintop removal site that she had fighting for years. As an environmental leader in Berea, Kentucky, Blanton was among the first…
Read MoreIllustrating Unimaginable Hardship
Illustrating Unimaginable Hardship by Matt Wasson According to Dr. Matt Wasson, the conservation director of Appalachian Voices, “New media is du rigueur for building a national movement and a national movement is absolutely what’s required to stop mountaintop removal coal mining – it’s a national issue. Taking on a national issue was difficult to impossible…
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