Podcasts about wmmt's rachel garringer

In this episode WMMT's Rachel Garringer talks with novelist Carter Sickels about his second book "The Prettiest Star" - which will be published in May of 2020 by Hub City Press. "The Prettiest Star" is set in 1986 and it tells the story of a young gay man living with HIV who leaves New York City and moves back in with his family in rural Appalachian Ohio. In the interview Sickels reads an excerpt of the novel and talks about the process of writing this book, his interest in the intersection of rural and queer stories, and the challenges of finding stories of the AIDS epidemic in rural communities. And, Sickels talks about getting to spend time on set in Harlan County, during the production of a film based on his first novel "The Evening Hour."

In this episode WMMT's Rachel Garringer sits down with Black in Appalachia Director William Isom II, and audio producer Terence Harris, to learn more about the nearly-10-year-strong community history project documenting Black histories & communities in the region, and the upcoming podcast! Along the way, we’ll hear excerpts from some of the oral history interviews in the Black in Appalachia community archive.

In this episode we bring you stories about challenges to rural healthcare in the region, the last Neon Days Festival, and mine lands sitting idle across the country. First, Appalshop's Tayna Turner & Taylor Pratt spoke with women leading the 141-day-long-and-still-going-strong 24/7 peaceful protest outside Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, TN. They are there to publicly oppose Ballad Health’s decision to close the neonatal intensive care unit (or NICU) and to downgrade other services. Then, WMMT's Rachel Garringer spoke with Dr. Sam Quillen at Neon Days 2019 about the history of the festival, the town, and the uncertain future of small-town festivals. And finally, from Ohio Valley Resource reporter Britanny Patterson we learn about mine lands sitting idle across the region. Music on this episode features Music on this episode features Anna & Elizabeth with a tune called “The Very Day I’m Gone” from the JuneAppal Album by the same title which features songs of Addie Graham performed by contemporary musicians.

In this episode we’re exploring Appalachia’s complicated ongoing relationship to national media coverage. First, WMMT's Rachel Garringer chats with Appalshop staff: Ada Smith, Mimi Pickering, and Taylor Pratt about how the organization has produced media despite, and in spite, of oversimplified national stories about our home for 50 years. Then, we hear Garringer's recent interview with long-time NPR Reporter Howard Berkes, who talks about how technologies and conversations around journalism have shifted over the course of his nearly 40 year career; and shares a few favorite stories & tips for national reporters from his decade as NPR’s rural reporter.

In this episode WMMT's Rachel Garringer spoke with Karida Brown - assistant professor of Sociology and African American Studies at the University of California in Los Angeles - who is also a member of what she calls the Eastern Kentucky African American diaspora. She has deep personal ties to Harlan County, KY where her grandparents lived, and much of her extended family still lives. In this interview Dr. Brown talks about her new book “Gone Home: Race & Roots Across Appalachia” and the Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project - a public humanities project and community archive out of which Brown’s book was born. She also shares memories of coming home to Lynch from New York during the summers as a child to visit her grandparents and cousins, and she talks about her calling to document histories of Black community, work, and migration into and out of the eastern Kentucky coalfields.

Farming opportunities are plentiful in the Appalachian mountains if you look to the herbs and edible plants found in our abundant forests. Appalachian Harvest, a rural food hub run by Appalachian Sustainable Development, recently launched an Herb Hub in Duffield, VA, designed to help forest farmers earn more money on their herbs. The Hub offers equipment for processing herbs and will help farmers connect to national markets where they can receive higher pay for their product. WMMT's Rachel Garringer visited the Hub soon after it opened in October.

This week on Mountain Talk we hear from tobacco farm workers on strike in Garrard County, Kentucky. The seven workers - from the states of Nayarit and Hidalgo Mexico - are here as a part of the H2A guest-worker visa program, and called a strike due to violations of their contract. Mountain people are no strangers to patterns of in and out-migration for work, or to histories of strikes demanding better pay and safer working conditions. WMMT's Rachel Garringer and Elizabeth Sanders host this episode and we hear stories from these striking workers.

On this week's Mountain News & World Report: Appalachia has long been known as a home to traditional music and crafts, but less well known is our thriving digital arts scene. We'll hear from WMMT's Rich Kirby about the history of the guitar and the Crooked Road Heritage Music Project, an excerpt from Malcolm Wilson's 2016 Interview with WV born musician Glen Simpson, and WMMT's Rachel Garringer shares a piece about Appalachian Media Institute youth filmmaker Oakley Fugate - who was recently selected for an exciting fellowship!