The Appalachian Voice
Editorial
Carthage and Kentucky When Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, do you suppose they tried to sell their citizens on the virtues of salty land? Did they tell them that the salt-laden fields of Carthage were just brimming with opportunities for new hospitals and businesses? If that sounds absurd, consider this bit of rhetoric from…
Read MorePrescriptions for an Enlightened Energy Policy
A Voice interview with Jay Hakes, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, former head of the Energy Information Administration, and author of a new book: A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy, and the Environment. Story by Bill Kovarik There is a moment in serious…
Read MoreIndian Trails of Appalachia
By Kathleen Marshall & Lamar Marshall This map is a snapshot of the major trails and roads centered around western North Carolina in the late 18th Century. (A New and General Map of the Southern Dominion Belonging to the United States of America, Laurie & Whittle, London, 1794. Courtesy of the David Rumsey Collection) .…
Read MoreFilm Festival to Showcase Environmental Shorts From Across the Nation
The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, presented in joint effort by Patagonia, Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, and Appalachian Voices, will be held November 11, 2008 at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Virgina. The event is a benefit for Appalachian Voices. Screenings will begin at 7 p.m and will include ten short films made for…
Read MoreACE conference starts needed conversation
At the first ever Appalachian Community Economics (ACE) conference held September 19-21 in Abingdon, VA, participants brought that old maxim “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” into contemporary context. The conference focused on developing sustainable, local economies that don’t rely on coal. Prior to the conference, participants had the option of taking a…
Read MoreTwelve Ghost Story Books of Appalachia
Compiled by Sarah Vig Appalachia has a long and rich folklore tradition, and as anyone knows who has ever sat around a campfire at night, or held a flashlight under their chin, ghost stories are one of the most thrilling parts of oral tradition. As our issue is coming out so near to the time…
Read MoreThe Story of Mysterious Martha
By Joe Tennis In the Bible, it is told, all things will return to dust. But for one little girl in Wise, Virginia, the vision of seeing dust turn into things that talked would prove so haunting that she would be too frightened to sleep alone. It happened on the campus of the University of…
Read MoreGhost Hike to Cone Manor
By Joe Tennis It may be ambiguous, mind you – all this stuff about ghosts. And it might be only your imagination, you see – this idea that you can stare up into the night sky and see figures or shadows or just-plain-something in the windows of the Moses H. Cone Manor House. But maybe…
Read MoreLeading by Example
Solar Homes Tours Show People the Light Story and Photos by Sarah Vig It’s been said that the best way to lead is by example. The American Solar Energy Society has embraced this mantra with the sponsorship of a national solar homes tour. Over the first weekends in October, people all over the nation traveled…
Read MoreMontezuma’s Revenge
Mountain Electric Right-Of-Way Crews Spray Near Drinking Source, Cooperative Refuses Cleanup Story by Sam Calhoun, Associate Editor of High Country Press, Boone, NC – reprinted in part, courtesy of High Country Press “We are deeply concerned for the contamination of water that leads into the Toe River and for our grandchildren who play in this…
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