This week, Inside Appalachia, a West Virginia man is reviving a Black coal camp through farming. Also, the legacy of Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan includes a summer camp for teens to study their heritage. And, the Reverend George Mills Dickerson of Tazewell, Virginia, was born in the years after slavery ended. He’s remembered during Juneteenth through his poetry.
‘Muddling Through’ 2020: A Year of Challenge and Adaptation
Kevin Koran, Ed Gabriels & Trey Kay after a cold open-water swim.Richard Appleman
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2020 has required a lot from us all. It’s been a year of challenge and adaptation.
Us & Them host Trey Kay recalls the line in a holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that says, “we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” None of us had any idea how much muddling 2020 would demand. We’ve faced the pandemic and its consequences and a contentious national election that highlight the divisions in our nation. The year presented a series of choices with a clear outcome: sink or swim.
Moving ahead, Trey looks at the adaptations he’s made and which he might adopt long term.
Oh, and spoiler alert: he’s learning to like swimming outside in ice water!
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
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 on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.
Ed Gabriels
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Trey Kay before swimming in the Hudson River on Christmas Eve 2020. The water temperature was 33.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ed Gabriels
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Trey Kay breaking a sheet of ice before swimming in North Lake in Elizaville, NY.
Trey Kay & David Temple on Christmas Eve 2019 performing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
This week, Inside Appalachia, a West Virginia man is reviving a Black coal camp through farming. Also, the legacy of Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan includes a summer camp for teens to study their heritage. And, the Reverend George Mills Dickerson of Tazewell, Virginia, was born in the years after slavery ended. He’s remembered during Juneteenth through his poetry.
Marion County native and playwright Cody LeRoy Wilson is returning to his home state to stage a production in the Contemporary American Theater Festival.
On this West Virginia Morning, we hear about a new play from a West Virginia playwright, plus listen to the musical stylings of Paul Thorn for our Song Of The Week.
State borders are now all important in determining access to abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, West Virginia’s only abortion clinic has moved across the border to Maryland to continue providing abortions. This Us & Them episode was recently honored by the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters as Best Podcast of 2024.