This week on Inside Appalachia, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens. Also, an Asheville musician’s latest guitar album is a call to arms. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
There’s a lot of energy and movement on abortion policy and law this fall. Some states have defined their position with five states offering ballot measures to protect or further restrict access to abortion.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, plenty of people feel like one side has won and the other has lost. But how is this power shift playing out for people on the front line of the issue? How are individuals and groups facing what comes next in this post-Roe world?
In this episode of Us & Them, two West Virginia women, an abortion rights advocate and an abortion rights opponent, outline their perspectives on where we are in this moment and what’s ahead.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Greater Kanawha Valley Fund, the CRC Foundation and the Daywood Foundation.
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Emily Womeldorff, Advocacy Campaigns Director for Planned Parenthood Vote South Atlantic, speaking at the “Bans Off Our Bodies Rally” in front the Monongalia County Courthouse in October 2021.
Wanda Franz, President of West Virginians for Life
This week on Inside Appalachia, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens. Also, an Asheville musician’s latest guitar album is a call to arms. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
Affrilachian poet and playwright Norman Jordan is one of the most published poets in the region. Born in 1938, his works have been anthologized in over 40 books of poetry. He was also a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. He died in 2015, put part of his legacy is the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy in West Virginia. Folkways Reporter Traci Phillips has the story.
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia took 10 years to complete. Author Denali Sai Nalamalapu was part of the protests to stop the pipeline. They have a new book, called HOLLER: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance. It’s written and drawn in comics form and profiles six activists who fought the pipeline. Mason Adams spoke with Nalamalapu.
In West Virginia, homeownership is a paradox. While the state boasts the nation’s highest homeownership rate, low incomes mean many homes are aging and in disrepair. In one county, 67% of houses are over 80 years old. Across Appalachia by one measure, there are 500,000 people living in substandard conditions. This is the hidden crisis at the heart of Appalachia's housing landscape.