On this week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage, host Kathy Mattea welcomes American Patchwork Quartet, Kyshona, The Brother Brothers, and Stephanie Lambring to the historic Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, WV.
O Pioneer, Turtle Travels And Throwing Rocks, Inside Appalachia
West Virginia documentary filmmakers Jonathan Lacocque and Clara Lehmann have a new film out, "O Pioneer."Courtesy
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Appalachians are often called mountaineers — but are they also “pioneers?” A new documentary reckons with what it means… to be a pioneer.
In Michigan, an Appalachian mountain man competes in a championship tournament for skipping stones — and we wade into a mountain wetland to search for one of the region’s most elusive creatures.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
In This Episode:
O Pioneer Shares A Vision Of Appalachia
A Rock’s Throw Away
In Search Of The Bog Turtle
Trouble Finding Teachers
O Pioneer Shares A Vision Of Appalachia
O Pioneerblends animation and documentary to track the lives of three West Virginians. It explores the question of what it means to be a pioneer — and how those qualities show up in our day-to-day lives.
Producer Bill Lynch recently viewed O Pioneer and then met with filmmakers Jonathan Lacocque and Clara Lehmann.
A Rock’s Throw Away
If you’re standing next to a body of water — like a lake, or river, or even a tiny creek — and there are flat rocks lying there, the impulse to skip them is just about irresistible. Just about anybody can do it. But, some people are really good at it.
Kurt Steiner of Western Pennsylvania is considered one of the best in the world at skipping rocks.
Bog turtles are the tiniest turtle in North America, and among the most endangered. Their habitats are disappearing.
Radio IQ’s Roxy Todd went along with biologists, who are researching how many of these rare turtles still exist.
Trouble Finding Teachers
Across the country, schools are forced to double up on, and sometimes even cancel classes because of teacher shortages. The problem is felt here in Appalachia, too, where vacancies are often filled by substitutes who lack formal teacher training.
WVPB’s Chris Schulz reported on West Virginia’s efforts to keep schools staffed.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jeff Ellis, Erik Vincent Huey, Frank George, Lobo Loco, Mary Hott and Gerry Milnes.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
Us & Them host Trey Kay takes a look at the closing of a newspaper in Welch, West Virginia and investigative journalism students examine the use of opioid funds for harm reduction.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability because no one is there to watch over things. When local news sources vanish, a community can also lose its sense of cohesion and identity. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. This story was also honored with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best News Documentary and by the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters for Best Documentary.
West Virginians have one more flight destination to consider from Charleston, and a student led investigation delves into whether opioid settlement funds are really helping kids stay away from drugs.
This week, people with mental health challenges or substance use disorder often end up in jail. But crisis response teams offer another way. Also, one year after the Mountain Valley Pipeline went into service, people who live directly in the pipeline’s path have received compensation. But not everyone. And, the Sacred Harp songbook gets an update for the first time since the early 1990s.