The Grand March And A Year After A Denied Abortion, Inside Appalachia

For nearly a century, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival has staged a formal dance. We visit the festival and learn about a manual that’s been passed down for generations.

Also, abortion is illegal in most cases in Tennessee. A photographer spent a year following one mother who was denied an abortion. 

And we talk to Marshall University professor and poet Sarah Henning about her latest book, Burn.

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

In This Episode:

• The Tradition Of The Grand March
• Indian Creek Water Worries Residents
• Stacy Kranitz And “A Year After A Denied Abortion”
• Memories Of Family And Loss With Burn Poet Sarah Henning

The Tradition Of The Grand March

The Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival is the oldest festival in the state of Kentucky, and it happens Memorial Day weekend. 

It’s a four-day celebration culminating in “The Grand March,” a traditional dance that has been passed down since the first festival in 1931.

Folkways Reporter Will Warren, a Pineville native, went to the festival over Memorial Day weekend last year and brought us the story.

Indian Creek Water Worries Residents 

Residents of Wyoming County, West Virginia, say their drinking water is making people sick. But it’s unclear exactly why — and who’s responsible for fixing the problem.

State regulators say water from a nearby mining complex is flowing into the creek, but who owns the mine and who is responsible for cleaning up the toxic water?

WVPB’s Briana Heaney reported.

Stacy Kranitz And “A Year After A Denied Abortion”

Tennessee photographer Stacy Kranitz acknowledges the complicated history of people taking pictures of poor Appalachians, often focusing on the harsher, ugly elements that reinforce stereotypes. She actively wrestles with it in her work. 

Host Mason Adams spoke with Kranitz about her work documenting the lives of a young family last year called “The Year After a Denied Abortion.” 

Memories Of Family And Loss With Burn Poet Sarah Henning

In her new book Burn, Marshall University professor and poet Sara Henning draws on her complicated family history and rough upbringing to explore young love, loss and the weight of grief.

Producer Bill Lynch spoke with her.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Sierra Ferrell, Ed Snodderly, Ron Mullenex and Gerry Milnes, Jeff Ellis, Eric Vincent Huey and John Blissard. 

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.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.