Appalachia Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Food, Fandom And ‘Porch Beers,’ An Appalachia Zine

Elliott Stewart has been making zines since he was 13 years old. His ongoing zine “Porch Beers” is an incisive look at Appalachian culture, through the eyes of a queer trans man.

This conversation originally aired in the March 3, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.

Elliott Stewart has been making zines since he was 13 years old.

His ongoing zine “Porch Beers” is an incisive look at Appalachian culture, through the eyes of a queer trans man. “Porch Beers” dives into pop culture fandom, West Virginia food and the life of a 20-something navigating moves from Huntington, West Virginia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee and back again.

Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams contacted Stewart to talk about the newest issues of his zine, and what Appalachia in 2022 looked like through the eyes of a zine writer.

Adams: So I first found “Porch Beers” kind of randomly online using a different search engine than I tried before. I ordered a couple of copies on Etsy and was just blown away. I’ve read zines for a long time, and I’ve read Appalachian zines. These grabbed my attention as a reader.

The writing is fun and short and funny, but also serious and thoughtful. And the stuff you write about is all stuff that I’m interested in. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is this person that makes “Porch Beers?”

Stewart: I guess born-and-bred West Virginian, moved around a lot as a kid. We lived with my grandparents, who are ministers and moved out every three to four years to different parts of the state. So I feel like that wanderlust has always kind of been in me. One of my ways getting in and out and recording memories is writing. My grandma has little booklets I made when I was five or six that were maybe my first zines. It’s a good way to be front and center about a lot of intersecting identities that I have. I feel a lot of people come up to me and say that I’m the first person from X group that they’ve ever met. And I don’t know, that’s kind of cool. It has a lot of responsibility to it, but it’s kind of cool.

Adams: Everybody that comes in my house, when they see these zines, they always wonder about the name. Tell us about the name “Porch Beers.”

Stewart: Sure. That was a tradition in Huntington and I’m sure elsewhere where you have a porch. Huntington is a small knit community, to where everybody knows everybody pretty much. You can go by somebody’s house or on their porch, [and they ask,] “Hey, do you want a porch beer?” “Yeah.” So you sit down, you have a talk that could be about nothing. It could be about very important heart-to-heart stuff. But that’s just a hallmark of Huntington summers, and I wanted to reflect that.

Adams: The first issue was about fandom, and you have a few different essays about different arenas of fandom per se. The second issue is about West Virginia and its food. Three was about music. And then you came back to food in issues four and four-and-a-half. What pulled you back to food after you had already written about the different kinds of foods unique to West Virginia?

Stewart: When I go to make an issue of “Porch Beers,” sometimes I will set out and it will be, “I want X theme,” and write around that theme. But more often than not, it’s just, I write a couple of articles as to what I feel, and a theme loosely takes shape. That’s what was happening with this one, to the point where I had a couple of other runner-up themes that I was going with, and my partner was like, “You might as well write about food, because that seems like where this one is drawing you to.” I was like, yeah, he’s right. That was what was on my mind. I don’t know if there was any particular reason for it. But that’s just where the writing led me.

Adams: So I read through these five issues there on specific topics — whether it’s pro wrestling, or the Ben Folds Five or West Virginia Food. But there’s a larger story arc here, too. I mean, I can read growth in these zines. You moved from Huntington to Chattanooga, and back. When you read back the zines, what is the story of “Porch Beers” so far?

Stewart: I do go back and read them at times. It is a little painful to read some of the early stuff, just because I have changed so much as a person. But I’m glad I have a record of it, that these things happened. And honestly, it’s valuable to get stories of growth out there because not a lot of people record the minutiae of life in Appalachia or in the various sub-communities I’m in

Adams: “Porch Beers” tracks this geographic shift, but it also documents a different kind of transition. Can you share a little bit more about that?

Stewart: I am an out transgender man, I have been out in one form or another as trans since about 2018. Just slowly began socially transitioning and then medically transitioning, and considered myself queer as my orientation. It’s been an interesting experience with that, a lot of learning curves. Sometimes people, when they find out, will have … I like to assume that most people are in good faith when they ask questions, but sometimes they can be very awkward or a little hurtful. But I try to take it in stride. Like specific medical questions or things, and if I don’t feel comfortable, I’m at least to the point now, where I’m like, “Hey, that’s kind of a weird thing to be asking me.” A lot of times I’m the first trans person that someone has knowingly met. And that is wild to me.

Find Elliott Stewart on Instagram.

MSHA Issues Final Rule To Lower Silica Dust Exposure In Mines

As expected, the new MSHA rule lowers the maximum exposure to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air during an eight-hour shift.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued its final rule lowering silica dust exposure for coal miners Tuesday, a long awaited change amid growing concern about black lung disease.

As expected, the new MSHA rule lowers the maximum exposure to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air during an eight-hour shift. The current limit is 100 micrograms per cubic meter.

The rule will take effect on June 17. Coal producers will have 12 months to comply. Metal and nonmetal mine operators will have 24 months.

Respirable crystalline silica is a carcinogen. It can cause lung disease, silicosis, lung cancer, progressive massive fibrosis and kidney disease. Coal dust containing silica dust has been shown to increase the severity of black lung cases and affect miners in their 30s and 40s.

The silica dust problem is thought to be caused by the mechanization of mining, especially in central Appalachia. Large machines grind through larger volumes of rock to maximize coal production.

Mine operators are supposed to ventilate mine work areas to lower the concentration of coal and rock dust, as well as methane.

Studies have shown in recent years that 1 in 5 miners in central Appalachia has black lung.

An investigation of the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster in Raleigh County found that 17 of the 24 miners whose lung tissue could be sampled showed signs of black lung disease. A total of 29 miners died in the explosion, caused by a mixture of methane and coal dust.

MSHA rolled out the silica dust rule at an event Tuesday morning in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

U.S. senators from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, including Sen. Joe Manchin, praised the rule, though they had previously criticized the agency for delays to its implementation.

Read NPR’s coverage here.

The Many Uses Of Violets And Ed Snodderly Has Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, violets bloom across Appalachia throughout spring, but the flowers are more than just some extra color in the yard. They’ve long been a key ingredient in herbal remedies.

On this West Virginia Morning, violets bloom across Appalachia throughout spring, but the flowers are more than just some extra color in the yard. They’ve long been a key ingredient in herbal remedies. For Inside Appalachia, Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch brings us this story.

Also, in this show, our Mountain Stage Song of the Week comes to us Ed Snodderly, whose songs have been recorded by some of roots music’s most well-known names. We listen to his performance of “Gone with Gone and Long Time,” accompanied by the Mountain Stage Band and Lisa Pattison on fiddle and vocals.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, and Randy Yohe.

Eric Douglas is our news director. Emily Rice produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Citizen Science Project Brings Pure American Chestnuts Back To Appalachia

A Shepherd University student is leading a citizen science project that aims to repopulate American chestnut trees in Appalachia. American chestnut populations have been threatened for decades by an infectious disease called chestnut blight.

Imagine trees more than 100 feet tall stretching across the skyline of Appalachia; families resting in the shade down below or collecting husks bursting at the seam with chestnuts.

Before the 1900s, sights like these weren’t just imaginary. American chestnuts once reigned supreme in Appalachia, populating forests in 13 present-day states.

But things changed at the turn of the 20th century with the arrival of a new disease: chestnut blight.

“In the early part of the century, a strain came in that affected the chestnut tree, and chestnut trees began to die,” said Sylvia Shurbutt, director of Shepherd University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities.

“By the end of the century, we had virtually no standing chestnut trees in most places,” she said. “The chestnut tree does still live. … [But] the tree will grow for a bit, and then it will die. It will contract the blight.”

According to Shurbutt, chestnut trees were a pivotal part of pre-Civil War Appalachian history.

Chestnut wood helped build log cabins and household furniture. Chestnut forests fostered regional biodiversity. Even chestnuts themselves were a staple of eighteenth and nineteenth-century cuisine.

That’s why Shurbutt and the Center for Appalachian Studies jumped at the opportunity to help repopulate the American chestnut.

“We really want to engage our students and the community in what I think is probably one of the most important and significant things and gifts that we could certainly give,” she said. “That is to bring back an iconic tree, a tree that was the symbol of Appalachia, a tree that was at the heart and soul of what Appalachian stood for.”

The project came to the Eastern Panhandle with the help of Susan Thompson, a graduate student in Appalachian Studies at Shepherd University and an affiliate of West Virginia’s chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation.

Community members pose for a drone photo beside two chestnut saplings they planted in Morgan County on April 6.

*Photo Credit: Randal Stewart*

Thompson began the local project last year, when she rallied together a team of community members to plant hybrid chestnut trees at a local farm.

These trees were hybridized with Chinese chestnut trees, which made them more resistant to the blight. Now, Thompson’s team aims to replant pure American chestnuts, with a little help from an ecological ally.

“When it has a symbiotic relationship with mycelium, which is the plant that a mushroom grows off of — it’s all these white tendrils. Sort of imagine how the internet has threads going in every direction and connections. It’s like that, the threads going in every direction,” she said.

Mycelium then works with chestnut trees to more efficiently capture resources.

“They connect with the tree roots, and they spread out another 50 feet,” Thompson said. “You may have 80 feet of area that a tree can collect nutrients and water.”

While environmental interventions like these support early growth in American chestnut trees, conservationists are still grappling with how to best protect trees from the threat of chestnut blight.

Finding a cure to the disease is a work in progress, and scientists are looking for answers in the genes of chestnut trees from around the world.

In the meantime, one new strategy has helped extend the lives of ailing trees. It involves taping a package of soil around an infected segment of the tree for months on end, which blocks the disease’s spread.

This is not a catch-all solution, because it doesn’t prevent new infections, and it is harder to use on big trees. More than anything, scientists need more information on how the disease works, and American chestnut resiliency more broadly.

While this American chestnut sapling is just a few feet tall, adult chestnut trees can grow to more than 100 feet.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

This, again, is where Thompson comes in.

Thompson is creating a website for a new citizen science project that involves documenting the life cycle of local American chestnuts online, from planting to infection to treatment. That way, researchers have more information on what works and what does not.

“It’s bringing together minds from all over the country. Potentially, we can have people from all over the world,” she said. “But we’re first trying to bring together a group of people in Appalachia who know where these trees are, who can keep an eye on them and provide data about them.”

By engaging with volunteers on an online project, Thompson said she and other self-described “chestnutters” can also offer advice on how to treat infections and protect the species as a whole.

Thompson said the project has good traction so far, but it will take time for Appalachia to see the chestnut forests that were widespread centuries ago.

Still, Thompson said she and other conservationists are excited by the possibilities American chestnut reforestation provides. This includes protecting Appalachian ecosystems, and even combating global warming.

“These trees are out there. We know we have this big problem to solve with cooling the Earth. We have all these people who are excited about chestnuts,” Thompson said. “I’d like to see people join our group.”

“I’d like to see chestnutters making the world cooler,” she added.

To learn more about American chestnut reforestation in West Virginia, visit chestnutters.org.

Federal Data: United States Was Globe’s Top Exporter Of LNG In 2023

U.S. exports of LNG totaled nearly 12 billion cubic feet a day, more than any other country.

The United States was the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in 2023, according to federal data.

U.S. exports of LNG totaled nearly 12 billion cubic feet a day, more than any other country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Europe was the biggest customer of U.S. LNG last year as the continent continues a shift that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

About 66 percent of U.S. LNG exports went to European countries, primarily the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom.

Asia was the second biggest market for U.S. LNG at 26 percent. Japan and South Korea were the largest importers.

Australia and Qatar trailed the United States, with about 10 billion cubic feet of LNG exported from each. Further down were Russia and Malaysia, each with less than 5 billion cubic feet.

West Virginia, the fourth largest U.S. producer of natural gas, produced 3 trillion cubic feet in 2023, according to the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia. Some of it was exported as LNG through the Cove Point terminal in southern Maryland.

The state’s gas industry expects the mid-year opening of the controversial and delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, which will have a capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has sharply increased gas production in the Appalachian Basin in the past 15 years.

Encore: What Is Appalachia? We Asked People From Around The Region. Here’s What They Said

This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commision, a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was legislation that sought to expand social welfare, and some localities were eager for the money, while others resisted the designation. The boundaries and definition of Appalachia can now only be changed by an act of Congress.

This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was legislation that sought to expand social welfare, and some localities were eager for the money, while others resisted the designation. The boundaries and definition of Appalachia can now only be changed by an act of Congress.

Politically, Appalachia encompasses 423 counties across 13 states — and West Virginia’s the only state entirely inside the region.

That leaves so much room for geographic and cultural variation, as well as many different views on what Appalachia really is.

For Inside Appalachia, we turned our entire episode over to the question, “What is Appalachia?” With stories from Mississippi to Pittsburgh, we asked people across our region whether they consider themselves to be Appalachian.

A 1996 map that shows the southern part of Appalachia, as defined by John Alexander Williams.

Mississippi

Bob Owens is a watermelon farmer outside New Houlka, in the northeastern part of Mississippi. Owens said he was aware that Mississippi is part of Appalachia, but that no one in the state would consider themselves Appalachian. “I consider myself the worst redneck you’ve ever seen,” Owens said. “I live in the area of the Appalachian mountain range — not part of it, but close to it. So I guess you call me a redneck Appalachian.” This is the general consensus among the people in Mississippi we spoke to.

Geographically, the foothills of the Appalachian mountain range are located in northern Mississippi. The state’s tallest point is Woodall Mountain, 806 feet in elevation. For reference, the highest point in North Carolina, Mount Mitchell, is more than 6,600 feet in elevation, eight times higher than Woodall Mountain.

Co-host Caitlin Tan spoke with Texas State University History professor Justin Randolph, who wrote an essay for “Southern Cultures” called “The Making of Appalachian Mississippi.” Randolph argues in his essay that Mississippi became part of Appalachia for political and racial reasons, as well as economic advantages the designation brought to the 24 counties in Mississippi that were included in the ARC’s boundaries.

Shenandoah Valley

In the 1960s, while some localities were clamoring to get into Appalachia, on the eastern edge of the region, some lawmakers fought to keep their counties outside the boundaries, including politicians in Roanoke, Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Appalachian Studies associate professor Emily Satterwhite said explaining to her students why some counties in Virginia are included in Appalachia, but others aren’t, is confusing. “

The students in front of me are wondering why they’re not included,” White said.

Pittsburgh

Appalachia’s largest city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When we asked people from that city to tell us if they consider it a part of Appalachia, about half said no. “I definitely do not feel that I am Appalachian culturally,” said Mark Jovanovich, who grew up just outside Pittsburgh’s city limits in the Woodland Hills area. “Personally, I would consider the city of Pittsburgh is sort of like a mini New York City. I guess we’d probably be lumped in as like a Rust Belt city, which makes enough sense, but definitely not Appalachian culturally.”

Writer Brian O’Neill disagrees. He wrote a book called The Paris of Appalachia: Pittsburgh in the Twenty-First Century. “My original title for the book was ‘I love Pittsburgh like a brother and my brother drives me nuts.’”

An editor advised him to change the title of his book to a phrase that he said is sometimes used to refer to Pittsburgh derisively. “I couldn’t figure out why that should be a putdown, because Paris is nice. And Appalachia is a beautiful part of the world. And if we were called the Paris of the Rockies, we wouldn’t run from that. So why would we run from this? Why don’t we embrace it? So that became the title of my book.”

He said that geographically, Pittsburgh is clearly in the Appalachian Mountains. “I mean, this is one mountain range that stretches from Georgia to Maine. And the idea that it belongs only to the southern part of the mountain range defies logic to me,” O’Neill said.

What Do You Think?

How about you? Do you call yourself an Appalachian? Why or why not? Send us an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by John Wyatt, John R Miller, Alan Cathead Johnston, and Dinosaur Burps. Roxy Todd originally produced this episode. Bill Lynch is our current producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Alex Runyon was our associate producer on this original episode. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.