Featured
Citizens Group Critical of TVA Information and Sampling Procedures
By Maureen Halsema Almost a year after the coal ash disaster at the TVA plant in Kingston, a citizens advisory group says they are unhappy with TVA’s information and water sampling procedures. “This is a horrible economic and environmental situation that we are in,” said Steve Scarborough, Roane County Community Advisory Group (RCAG) spokesman and…
Read MoreBacklash: Counties in Alabama, Tennessee Fight Ash Relocation
By Julie Johnson Disposing of the coal ash spilled by TVA in December 2008 may turn out to be as much of an environmental problem as the original disaster. According to the Waterkeeper Alliance, toxic surface water with levels of arsenic eight times higher than drinking water standards has been found at the coal ash…
Read MoreSerena: Historical Fiction with a Taste for Blood (and Timber)
By Sarah Vig Set in the mountains of North Carolina during the early years of the Great Depression, the landscape of Ron Rash’s “Serena” (Harper Collins, $24.95) is at once familiar and foreign. Serena is the new bride of timber baron George Pemberton–she is anything but! Smart, beautiful, and fiercely independent at a time when…
Read MoreChasing Copenhagen
By Bill Kovarik So this is the speed of light. We laugh as the solar-powered boat glides silently down the Spree River through the heart of Berlin, Germany. As monumental buildings drift past, our captain, Arno Paulus, points out a series of 64-year-old bullet holes in the stone walls alongside the river. It’s a sobering…
Read MoreDwellbox: Building Blocks for Sustainable Homes
By Jamie Goodman When you drive by the tiny red house on Hill Street near downtown Boone, it looks like any other college-student dwelling— a small, square, structure with an apartment perched atop a one car garage. Upon closer inspection, however—perhaps a casual rap of your knuckles against the siding—you will discover that the structure…
Read MorePrize-Winning Prose to be Performed at NC Stage
Peter Neofotis is an extraordinary storyteller. He does more than narrate; he embodies every syllable of his well-crafted prose, which centers on a small town in the mountains of Virginia. He navigates characters, drama and flashbacks with grace and brings life to an entire town through the personalities and personal histories of its people. But,…
Read MoreNew River Expedition Sees Both Beauty and Problems
By George Santucci, Executive Director National Committee for the New River We started talking last year about a complete trip down the New, from Watauga County, N.C., all the way to the confluence in West Virginia, to celebrate the river’s 10 years with the American Heritage designation. At times we feared we’d bit off more…
Read MoreProdigal Summer: Steamy and Smart Summer Reading
Story by Sarah Vig Appalachian author Barbara Kingsolver’s 2000 novel “Prodigal Summer” reads at times like a steamy romance, a natural history, and a family drama, and it is the best of all these things: sexy, smart, lovely, and at times deeply sad. The unlikely mixture of all these elements makes the book perfect for…
Read MoreBehold the Beautiful Butterfly
Monarch Migration Offers Teaching Opportunities Story by Marsha Walton Talk about endurance athletes! Monarch butterflies make human tri-athletes look like slackers. Millions of these beautiful insects (weighing less than two ounces as adults) embark on a spectacular 2000+-mile journey from the United States and Canada to spend winters on a few mountaintops in central Mexico.…
Read MoreHow Country Became Contra: The American Social Dance
Story by Sarah Vig To say contra is a dance craze would imply that it just came about recently or is going out of style. Neither of which seems to be true. Contra’s origins lie with the early American colonists who brought the popular English Country Dances with them when they hopped the pond to…
Read More