Mountain Musicians

ongs for Justice | Reel World String Band Story by Jillian Randel In 1977, a group of twenty-five women in Kentucky gathered their instruments to perform for the International Day of Women. Of that group, four women (later joined by a fifth) decided to keep stringing and singing, playing traditional tunes incorporating country, swing, blues…

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Extraordinary Educators

Marie Daly | Founder of Ivy Academy By Jesse Wood In the fall of 2009, Marie Daly founded Ivy Academy, a unique and successful tuition-free charter school outside of Chattanooga, Tenn. After teaching English for 20 years and witnessing apathetic students, she knew she had to do something different to help children regain their natural…

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Marvelous Artists

Kari Gunter-Seymour | The Art of Empowerment By Jillian Randel Three years ago, Kari Gunter-Seymour was sitting at her monthly potluck supper surrounded by her closest female friends, when she had a vision. “People think of an Appalachian woman and look down on her,” said Gunter-Seymour. “I started thinking about women and art out there…

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Saluting the Women I Want to Be

By Jamie Goodman My grandmother was a true Appalachian mountain woman. She stood a mere 5 feet 2 inches, but she was as tall as a tree in my eyes. Her skin was weathered by years of working on the farm; her eyes were water-blue, and her hands scarred and tough. Her back was hunched…

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News & Notes from the Organization

A Special Thanks to Mast Store and Patagonia Appalachian Voices would like to give special thanks to Mast General Store and Patagonia Footwear who joined forces to help support us this past September. For the entire month, the two companies donated a combined $10 for every pair of Patagonia shoes sold at Mast. Thank you…

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The Coal Report

EPA Vetoes Spruce Mountaintop Removal Mine Permit By Jamie Goodman On January 13, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a veto of the largest proposed mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history. Arch Coal’s “Spruce Mine #1” permit would have impacted more than 2,000 acres and buried more than eight miles of streams in…

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Environmental News From Across the Region

Google Sees the Forests… and all the Trees! On December 2nd, Google Inc., announced an ambitious 21st century innovation to help protect and monitor the World’s precious forests. Via their Google Earth Engine, the company seeks to enable scientists and researchers around the world to study, track and clearly report their findings as to the…

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The Heart of the Mountaintop Removal Movement

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 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, but drinking…

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Following the Foothills Trail

By Jennifer Pharr Davis For this issue, we asked Jennifer Pharr Davis— long-distance hiking queen from Asheville, N.C.— to profile her favorite hike in Appalachia. Davis has hiked more than 9,000 miles, including the Appalachian Trail (twice!), the Pacific Crest Trail, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and the 600-mile Bibbulmun Track in Australia. In…

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