The Appalachian Voice
Across AV Shorts
A Quilted Memorial The Floating Lab Collective, an arts collective based out of Washington, D.C., is calling for submissions of quilt patches to commemorate mountains lost to mountaintop removal. The patch may be any size or shape, but they must have the name of the memorialized mountain on them. Submissions are due by July 1.…
Read MoreGrowing Community Agriculture
Story by Maureen Halsema A community vision, a team of volunteers and generous donations will transform a 90-year-old school into the new Agricultural Development Center for Polk County, N.C. Mill Springs School is a 40,000 square foot building that rests on six acres of pristine, viable farmland, and is the future site of the County…
Read MoreGET Going–Trekking the Great Eastern Trail
Story by Derek Speranza It is only fitting that poet Robert Frost took “the road less traveled by” in his poetry collection entitled Mountain Interval – and now long distance hikers everywhere have a new opportunity to do exactly that. The Great Eastern Trail is to be a 2,000-mile alternative to the well-worn Appalachian Trail,…
Read MoreThe Battle Over Blair Mountain Rages On
By Bill Kovarik The fight to preserve West Virginia’s Blair Mountain Battlefield has taken a new turn. Preservation advocates thought they had won in March 2009 when the site was formally listed on the federal National Register of Historic Places. However, the site was “de-listed” in December 2009 at the request of state authorities who…
Read MoreEditorials
An Orwellian approach to Appalachian history By removing federal protection from the Blair Mountain Battlefield site, state and federal officials have abrogated a sacred trust. Even worse, by removing the protection in an underhanded manner, and ignoring evidence of skullduggery, they have set a scandalous, shocking and inexcusable precedent. No one questions the fact that…
Read MorePortrait Story Project Highlights Ties To Appalachia
By Jillian Varkas The Portrait Story project came to the southern highlands in March 2008 to continue a legacy of capturing images and stories to identify with the region through the eyes of its people. The artist, Francesco Di Santis, had recently completed a portrait project of Hurricane Katrina victims. Days after the hurricane devastated…
Read MoreAcross Appalachia
April 22: Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary By Jillian Varkas This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, but the concept started years before. After years of concern over the lack of political interest in environmental issues in the United States, Sen. Gaylord Nelson of…
Read MoreEnvironmental Injustice Seen in TVA Policies
Reported by Kyle Wolff TVA’s environmental policies are putting low income Americans at risk, according to the nation’s most prominent advocate for environmental justice. “We take your poison for a price,” said Dr. Robert Bullard on TVA’s decision to ship coal ash from spill in Kingston, Tenn., to waste disposal facilities near poverty-stricken neighborhoods in Uniontown,…
Read MoreHiking the Highlands
A collaborative piece by Maureen Halsema, Kristina Tarsan of Southern Appalachia Highlands Conservancy, and Joseph Gatins of Georgia Forest Watch Neither Cold nor Snow nor Sleet (nor Ice and Driving Winds!) Can Keep These Hikers Down The crunch beneath your boots, a calming sense of solitude, a familiar landscape transformed. The world of winter hiking is…
Read MoreLegislation Update: Coal in the Political Arena
By Maureen Halsema Coal has been a keyword in many recent political discussions across the nation as bills addressing mountaintop removal and coal wastes have been submitted to state and national legislatures for review. Clean Water Protection Act / Appalachia Restoration Act The Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) in the U.S. House of Representatives…
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