Tag: Insects

Following Up With A Ukrainian Musician And Smoky Mountain Firefly Magic, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, a Ukrainian musician reflects on what music means during wartime. And there’s a growing number of a certain kind of blood-sucking arachnid — and diseases that come with it. We also sit in on one of the natural wonders of the Great Smoky Mountains.

This week, a Ukrainian musician reflects on what music means during wartime.

And there’s a growing number of a certain kind of blood-sucking arachnid — and diseases that come with it. 

We also sit in on one of the natural wonders of the Great Smoky Mountains.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

An Update On Our Hammered Dulcimer Story

Last year, Folkways Reporter Clara Haizlett reported about the Appalachian hammered dulcimer, and its Ukrainian relative, the tsymbaly. Along the way, we met Ukrainian musician Vsevolod Sadovyj, who was in Ukraine as the country fought against the Russian invasion.

Haizlett recently caught up with the tsymbaly player over Zoom and brought us an update. 

Ticking Off The Trouble Of Ticks

Warm weather sends more people outside. But enjoying nature has it’s inherent risks, including ticks which can cause disease. Pictured is the black-legged tick, or deer tick, which can spread Lyme disease.

Credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

With the exception of a cold snap on Christmas Eve, Appalachia had a mild winter. And now we’re paying the price, with a surge of ticks. Appalachian social media has seen a steady stream of complaints about the arachnids, Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome.

Producer Bill Lynch reached out to regional epidemiologist Daniel Barker-Gumm and Steven Eshenaur, the health officer for the Kanawha County Health Department, to learn more.

Firefly Magic In The Great Smoky Mountains

Not all bug stories are bad stories. Jacqui Sieber from WUOT takes us deep into the Smoky Mountains to watch lightning bugs, also called fireflies.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Patrick Couch and Kay, Frank Hutchinsen, Jean Ritchie, Hazel Dickens, Paul Loomis, and Tyler Childers.

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.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Encore: Millipedes And Taylor Swift, Inside Appalachia

This week, we visit a farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that can grow on one acre what other farms grow on 100 acres. We also hear about a podcast that remembers the “Back to the Land” movement of the 1970s and ‘80s – and a mysterious disappearance. And, we meet a team of scientists that found dozens of new millipedes across Appalachia. They named one species after a pop star.

This week, we visit a farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that can grow on one acre what other farms grow on 100 acres.

We also hear about a podcast that remembers the “Back to the Land” movement of the 1970s and ‘80s – and a mysterious disappearance.

And, we meet a team of scientists that found dozens of new millipedes across Appalachia. They named one species after a pop star. 

These stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

  • The Flow Of Water In McDowell County
  • The Queen Of Pop And The Millipede
  • I Was Never There
  • Communities Of Healing Helping Appalachian Furnishings

The Flow Of Water In McDowell County

McDowell County, West Virginia, has been one of those places where access to clean water has not always been a given. But now, some communities there have finally been connected to a reliable water system. One of those places is Keystone — where 74 percent of residents are Black.

Jessica Lilly has the story.

The Pop Queen And The Millipede

Pop star Taylor Swift is known for ridiculously catchy pop songs and legions of obsessive fans. And now — she has a millipede in Appalachia named after her. It’s called Nannaria Swiftae, or Swift Twisted-claw Millipede.

Taylor Swift’s millipede was given her name by an entomologist named Derek Hennen, who was a PhD at Virginia Tech when he and a team of scientists discovered 17 new millipede species.

Mason Adams traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia and spoke with Hennen.

Derek Hennen, the entomologist who helped to discover 17 new species of millipede. Courtesy Photo

I Was Never There

Marsha Ferber’s disappearance in 1988 has puzzled the community around Morgantown, West Virginia for decades. 

Ferber moved there from New Jersey in the late 1970s and became a fixture. She established a pair of clubs and the Mountain People’s Co-Op. Then in April of 1988, she vanished.  

A new podcast titled I Was Never There aims to shed new light on the disappearance, and the “Back to the Land” movement that provides the story’s backdrop.

The podcast was created by a mother and daughter, Karen and Jamie Zelermyer.

Reporter Chris Schulz sat down with them to learn more.

A new podcast, I Was Never There, aims to shed new light on the disappearance, and on the “Back to the Land” movement that provides the story’s backdrop. Courtesy Photo

Communities Of Healing Helping Appalachian Furnishings

Tammy Jordan, the founder of Fruits of Labor, is helping other businesses create work environments that are recovery friendly. She helped create a program called Communities of Healing.

Jessica Lilly brought us a story about one business that’s using the program — Appalachian Furnishings, in Wyoming County.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Ona, Blue Dot Sessions, Montana Skies, and Taylor Swift.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Alex Runyon is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads (new!) and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The African Art Of Face Jugs, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, a North Carolina potter is reviving an art form brought to America by enslaved Africans. We return to the town of Hindman, Kentucky, which endured catastrophic flooding last July, and get an update on the town’s recovery. We also talk with West Virginia poet Doug Van Gundy about disasters, and their relationship to art.

This week, a North Carolina potter is reviving an art form brought to America by enslaved Africans.

We return to the town of Hindman, Kentucky, which endured catastrophic flooding last July, and get an update on the town’s recovery.

We also talk with West Virginia poet Doug Van Gundy about disasters, and their relationship to art.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

The Twisted Path That Brought African Face Jugs To Appalachia

You’ve probably seen pottery with a face on it – maybe a decorative teapot or an odd-looking milk bottle with a toothy grin. 

Examples of this type of art turn up everywhere, but some of them are connected to African Face Jugs, an art enslaved people brought with them to America.

Folkways Reporter Zack Harold traced the story of Face Jugs, which began in a basement pottery studio in West Virginia.

Flying On The Wings Of The Cicada

Many of us who live in the eastern half of the U.S. can instantly identify the distinctive droning of the cicada. We don’t get them every year. Cicadas have a very long life cycle with different broods emerge from underground every 13 to 17 years. 

In the spring of 2016, a massive brood of cicadas emerged in northern West Virginia. Their appearance inspired a West Virginia University professor to take a closer look at their wings.

This led to a discovery that may be helpful to humans.

WVPB’s Assistant News Director Caroline MacGregor has the story.

    

African Face Jugs came to America through slavery. Artist Jim McDowell uses the art form to speak about the African American experience. Courtesy

Hindman, Kentucky Making Progress On Recovery

Last July, thousands of residents in southeastern Kentucky endured historic flash flooding that took lives and devastated communities. One of the hardest hit towns was Hindman in Knott County. 

Stu Johnson from WEKU has this update about the town’s recovery. 

Writing And Talking About Disaster With Poet Doug Van Gundy

One of the places struck by those Kentucky floods was the Hindman Settlement School, home to the Appalachian Writers Workshop. Poet Doug Van Gundy was at the workshop during the flood.

Bill Lynch spoke with Van Gundy about poetry, disasters and tattoos.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Frank George, Amythyst Kiah, Gerry Milnes, Chris Knight and Born Old. 

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.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Studying Insect Wings On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, in the spring of 2016, a massive brood of cicadas emerged in northern West Virginia after 17 years underground. The event prompted one West Virginia University professor to study the composition of their wings. Assistant News Director Caroline MacGregor has the story.

On this West Virginia Morning, in the spring of 2016, a massive brood of cicadas emerged in northern West Virginia after 17 years underground. The event prompted one West Virginia University professor to study the composition of their wings. Assistant News Director Caroline MacGregor has the story.

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 Concord University and Shepherd University.

Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and 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

The Unseen Hand of God

"If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if they (invertebrates-insects) were to disappear, the land's ecosystems would collapse.  These small creatures are within a few inches of our feet, wherever we go on land – but often, they're disregarded. We would do very well to remember them." ~Sir David Attenborough

I am watching the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth for the first time and it is astonishing. This 2006 release came to my attention when I asked a friend, himself an amateur entomologist, what might be a good documentary on insects.

This series delivers the goods for anyone who has a remote interest in the micro world of hidden creatures largely ignored and dismissed as unimportant. It turns out, they are more important than we, as Attenborough states in the above quote.

Credit Life in the Undergrowth BBC
/
We believe that we are the rightful owners and heirs of Earth, but an argument could be made that not only were invertebrates here long before us, but they sustain our very existence. So, who’s more necessary in that equation?

Sir David Attenborough has a marvelous, almost giddy, passion for these diminutive marvels; often mucking about in the undergrowth while joyously teaching us about the behavior of butterflies, slugs, centipedes and other amazing invertebrates.

The filming is simply stunning, shocking, revelatory and mind-bending. Attenborough tells us that miniature cameras, a breakthrough at the time, made these incredible shots possible. The flight sequences are a miracle: watching a carpenter bee prepare and then take flight is to experience wonder. Thus it is with all winged beings in the film.

Then, there’s the macro or extreme close-ups. Steady thyself for the shock.

For those who find a macro view of a slug unbearable, I feel your pain. There were several times when I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. It’s sort of like a late night stumbling onto the surgery channel- we’re not prepared for the ground’s eye view of these alien beings. The details are (a slug’s mouth, for instance) pretty gruesome, but this is truth. A strange truth, to be sure.

When the slug unravels a long tube and its eye appears, you cannot help but think of John Carpenter’s The Thing. This is truly the inspiration of horror and science fiction.

One thing rings true: their design is genius. Call it God, nature, Darwinian, happenstance, alien design- whatever your preference, these bugs have defense systems and body designs that ensure survivability.

When it comes right down to bare bones, there’s only two reasons to exist in their micro world: survive and propagate. That’s it and no more, people. The breathtakingly beautiful wings of a damselfly or a dragonfly are designed to attract a mate. Ergo, the beauty of nature is not of artistic intent or purpose, but serves a biological imperative.  It would seem that most of life follows that model.

The natural world is ruthless and merciless; balanced only by the meticulous and focused care of its progeny. The arachnid known as the harvestman, or “daddy longlegs”, is featured in a segment. This little guy, horrifically scary at bug’s-eye view, has to defend his nest from predators, all the while making sure to engage in mating rituals.

However, his main preoccupation is the tender care of his nest which is constantly checked and rechecked by the digging of a tiny egg out of the earth, rolling it about, cleaning it if needed, then burying it again. Comical and mechanized, this daddy longlegs does this in an OCD-like fashion.  There is almost a worried look to his “face.”

The old saying is, “The devil’s in the details.” Methinks God is the master of details and what incredible details were endowed on these miraculous creations!

So, the next time an ant catches your eye or you see a spider, realize that what you witnessing is perfection in design. These tiny workers might well be the true inheritors of the earth.

Buy the film on DVD or BluRay.

Exit mobile version