Category: Appalachia
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Buffalo Creek Disaster – 42 years Later & Still Remembering
Forty-two years ago people were suffering from the terrible loss of their loved ones and all they knew. The reason, a cheaply built slurry impoundment. Coal companies put profit before people. As much as things change, they stay the same. “This was the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen in my life, I’m sorry God…
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Going Against the Grain
Many people consider me to be going “against the grain” when it comes to coal politics. I am, after all, very active in social justice these days and have been known to sit in front of buildings, participate in documentaries, testify at public hearings, and even have Op-Eds published in “The Hill.” In various Facebook…
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Remembering the South Mountain No. 3 Mine Explosion
December 7th, 1992 was a cold Monday morning. My brother and I were getting ready for school when the phone rang a little after 6:45 am. Mom answered and immediately went into the bedroom to wake my father. There had been an explosion at the South Mountain No. 3 mine and there was no communication…
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Telling it how it is….
I recently engaged in a conversation with people on the “Coal Miners Light” Facebook page, asking pro-coal followers if they wanted their children to become future coal miners. I was not entirely unsurprised to find that everyone was about saving “coal,” but I was surprised that no one would answer my question directly. I pondered…
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Are We Ignorant Hillbillies?
Previously titled “Ignorance – Fighting the Appalachian Stereotype” Appalachians have been looked down upon, made fun of, and dehumanized as “uneducated,” “backwards,” or just down right “ignorant.” I myself would often denounce such stereotyping, but as of late I cannot help but acknowledge that many Appalachian people are fulfilling the descriptions placed upon them. The…
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True Appalachians
We are finding more and more ways to overextend ourselves in Appalachia. Our wants create debt; our debts force us to work dangerous environmentally destructive jobs. Nice homes, nice vehicles, nice this…nice that. Happiness is no longer admiring the small things—happiness became what people on TV told us it should be, it became what salesmen…
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Coal Miners are Good People
I’ve often stated that younger coal miners have a tendency to get themselves into large amounts of debt. It’s easy to do when you grow up in a low income household, start making decent money, and your coal company pay stub acts as instant credit with many local banks and auto dealerships. When the coal…