This week, we reflect on Dolly Parton’s passing and her legacy in the region. Also, the Adaptive Climbers Festival at Kentucky’s Red River Gorge feels like home for climbers with disabilities from around the world. And, a new book spotlights Appalachian plants and encourages readers to get in touch with nature.
Randy Blake Thomas (a Creeker) and Trey Kay (a Hiller).Joni Deutsch
Listen
Share this Article
Our cultural divides start early in America – some even in childhood.
As kids, we learn where we come from and where we belong. Those divisions can really run deep. When Us & Them host Trey Kay was a kid at George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, you were either a ‘hiller’ or a ‘creeker.’ The sorting followed class lines and separated kids based on their family’s income.
Trey goes back to his old neighborhood to see if others remember it the way he does. Some of their differences were subtle while others were as basic as the clothes they could afford. But what he learned from these adult conversations is that they had a lot in common. They were all self-conscious and knew that even their shoes could define them.
Another thing they all share? The pain of those 40-year-old wounds can sometimes still sting.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in every fourth Thursday at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.
George Washington High School Yearbook
/
Randy Blake Thomas in 1977 as a sophomore at George Washington High School in Charleston, W.Va.
George Washington High School Yearbook
/
Joey Minardi in 1977 as a sophomore at George Washington High School in Charleston, W.Va.
George Washington High School Yearbook.
/
Trey Kay in 1977 as a sophomore at George Washington High School in Charleston, W.Va.
Joni Deutsch
/
Randy Thomas sporting a pair of his coveted Nike Cortez sneakers.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
On this West Virginia Week, a client for a big data center is revealed, flock cameras see resistance and social media settles in court.
Bill Lynch is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt...
This week, we reflect on Dolly Parton’s passing and her legacy in the region. Also, the Adaptive Climbers Festival at Kentucky’s Red River Gorge feels like home for climbers with disabilities from around the world. And, a new book spotlights Appalachian plants and encourages readers to get in touch with nature.
The Bluefield State University Board of Governors reported that the university is behind on paying financial obligations by at least $1.5 million dollars and may have violated NCAA rules, among other pressing issues.
In the wake of Dolly Parton's death on Tuesday, her Imagination Library of West Virginia has had an outpouring of comments and calls about the late singer's impact.