This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * The Bakers have a long, complicated history with this country, one in which I’ll explore through the chapters […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Whenever I sit down to write about Appalachia and my family’s home, I struggle. As much as I […]
Long before I’d settled on writing this book, I found myself drawn to the Appalachian region. In 1997, I sent out to cover The World’s Longest Outdoor Sale for a little magazine in San Diego, the name of which I no longer remember. I do remember that they paid next-to-nothing, maybe a few hundred dollars, […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * In the coming days, I’ll be writing a little bit aboutThe World’s Longest Outdoor Sale. For now: Here […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Growing up, I always considered Appalachia as some mystical place forgotten in time. I say this full well […]
Community. That’s a word with which I never associated as I grew up, left the Midwest, and headed into the world with delusions of writing grandeur. Life was short, and there was little time to consider what was happening around me if I wanted to succeed. These days, I move a little slower and I […]
“In fact, the violence that brought turn-of-the-century Clay County national notoriety as a land of feudists was a conflict between two families of highly educated, wealthy elites and their supporters.” — The Road to Poverty: The Making of Wealth and Hardship in Appalachia, by Dwight B. Billings and Kathleen M. Blee Apparently I live in […]
“Money had value if there was a place to spend it. Salt was life.” — Charles House in Blame it on Salt. Start your story where the action takes place. That’s how I tell stories, and so as I’ve told stories about Clay County throughout the years, they have oftentimes been about the infamous feud. […]
Today is my birthday. I awoke at 6 am, and made my way across the hall and into my den. The stress of raising money for a project through Kickstarter has ruined any chance I have of sleeping, or relaxing, or enjoying. So I retreat to my sanctuary where I’m surrounded. Books, files, and notes […]
At 8:30 am this morning, I clicked the Launch button and watched my Kickstarter project aimed at funding the completion of So Far Appalachia go live. The moment was both anticlimactic (no band started playing) and terrifying (the clock started ticking). Years of writing, researching, and editing suddenly became very real, and the fate of […]
A few years ago, a former colleague of mine started working on a little movie project. Before long, he had a big movie project. And now, well, he has this: Revelation Trail: You can check out the film’s YouTube site or it Facebook page.
A few days ago, my former boss and friend posted on Facebook that he considered the National Rifle Association’s rhetoric around the Second Amendment to be primarily driven by race. As you might imagine, this set off quite a debate on Facebook. I don’t want to recount the entire affair so let me summarize a […]