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It’s not easy to find a place to play hockey in Appalachia, and if you happen to be young and ambitious, it can be harder.
Also, rappers and musicians across West Virginia come together for a song challenge.
And, farmers learn to turn unwanted sheep’s wool into home insulation.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
In This Episode:
- Olympic Gold Medalist Gwyn Philips Comes Home
- Black By God Challenged Hip Hop Artists To Write W.Va. A Love Letter
- Insulating Appalachian Homes With Sheep Wool
- Artists Weave Landscapes To Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary
- Small Borough In A Pennsylvania County Faces Most Data Center Proposals In State
- Why Are Opioid Settlement Funds Being Used For Surveillance?
- Berkeley Springs, W.Va Shares ‘Healing Water’
Olympic Gold Medalist Gwyn Philips Comes Home
Photo Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
The National Hockey League, including the beloved Pittsburgh Penguins, kicks off its new season next week. Minor league and college teams will soon follow suit. But at a grassroots level, hockey still isn’t all that big of a sport in central and southern Appalachia. That can make it hard for a hockey lover to get her start.
Associate Producer Abby Neff met a woman who made it anyway. All the way to the Olympics.
Black By God Challenged Hip Hop Artists To Write W.Va. A Love Letter
Photo Credit: Trey Smoot/Blank Slate Visuals
Black by God is a community news organization that centers on Black voices from across the Mountain State. Leeshia Lee is Black by God’s cultural reporter. She’s the mastermind behind Black by God‘s “Dear West Virginia” songwriting challenge.
Insulating Appalachian Homes With Sheep Wool
Photo Credit: Sandy Hausman/Radio IQ
In many parts of mountainous Appalachia, where pastures are at a premium, farmers raise sheep. Mostly, it’s for meat.
Wool is still useful; there’s just not a great market for it. Textile companies have moved overseas.
Researchers at Virginia Tech have teamed up with farmers, to figure out how to use wool to insulate houses and create a new market for it.
Radio IQ’s Roxy Todd reports.
Artists Weave Between The Lines Of Art And Function
Photo Credit: Wendy Welch/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Through early October, the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum in North Carolina is hosting an exhibit celebrating one of the region’s most notable fiber artists – Barbara Grennell. The exhibit does more than expose people to great art; it asks people, what makes art, art?
Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch reports.
Small Borough In A Pennsylvania County Faces Most Data Center Proposals In State
Photo Credit: Kat Bolus/WVIA News
Proposals for large scale data centers have been popping up across Appalachia, causing conflict and opposition from people worried about noise and their energy and water use.
The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsapple speaks with reporter Kat Bolus about how a Pennsylvania community that has more data centers than anywhere else in the state is responding.
Why Are Opioid Settlement Funds Being Used For Surveillance?
West Virginia was hit hard by the opioid crisis. The state received roughly $1 billion in settlement funds from pharmaceutical companies and distributors. That money has been flowing into communities across the state.
But those funds aren’t always going to people in recovery.
Schuyler Mitchell, assistant editor at nonprofit newsroom Mother Jones, reported the money went instead to surveillance technology. Specifically automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, from companies like Flock Safety. She spoke with WVPB reporter Chris Schulz about her findings.
Berkeley Springs, W.Va Shares ‘Healing Water’
Photo Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The Appalachian Mountains have been shaped by hundreds of millions of years of water erosion. The region’s groundwater and waterways shape how we live. And people here especially swear by the natural springs found all over Appalachia. Before indoor plumbing, that’s where most folks got their fresh water.
In Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, people still fill jugs with spring water to lug back home. In 2022, Folkways Reporter Zack Harold visited the springs and brought us this story.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Paul Loomis, Blue Dot Sessions, Tim and Dave Bing and Hello June.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Irina Zhorov is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways Editors Allison Silverstein and Chris Julin.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
You can find us on Instagram, Threads or here on Facebook.
Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
