For better or worse, the bulk of coal industry jobs are in Appalachia - and when that coal is gone, so are the jobs. Votes: 5
Yeah, I spent my teen years in West Virginia, and when I was a kid, in Louisiana. I definitely have that exposure to two different sorts of rural: the South and Appalachia. Votes: 5
Appalachia is still, for American musicians, a kind of fountain of youth we always go back to, the old home place to a group of artists who represent the quintessence of American independence, fortitude, genius, and madness. Votes: 5
I live in southern Appalachia, so I'm surrounded by people who work very hard for barely a living wage. It's particularly painful that people are working the farms their parents and grandparents worked but aren't living nearly as well. Votes: 5
I went to a large consolidated school in Appalachia. And I wrote the story when I was in the second grade and I took it up to the third floor to the school newspaper office that was written and edited by juniors and seniors. Votes: 5
Because they [Americans] want to be thought of as a rich nation, they are very ashamed of this place [Appalachia] that has come to represent poverty, even though poverty exists all over the country, and exists as much in urban areas as it does in rural, if not more. Votes: 5
Appalachia, my state, eastern Kentucky, has a large amount of poverty. Votes: 3
I don't really think the outburst is recent; there have always been writers in Appalachia. Votes: 3
You can't have nine children and not be organized. Otherwise it just looks like Appalachia. Votes: 3
There is extreme poverty in Appalachia, where I was, and increasingly poverty is not just an urban thing. Votes: 3
What's popular in places considered ghettos - whether that's the inner city or Appalachia - is having a decent quality of life. Votes: 3
But overall, Obama's record on the environment has been uninspired - and that's putting it kindly. He hasn't stopped coal companies from blowing up mountaintops and devastating large regions of Appalachia. Votes: 3
Think of all the mesquite in Texas, the pinyon pines, the acorns in Appalachia, every place has the possibility of mass production. It's an infrastructural system so nestled in ecology, it's a more beautiful ecology. Votes: 3
I grew up in southwestern Virginia. I was born in South Carolina, but only because my parents had a vacation cabin or something there on the beach. I was like a summer baby. But I did grow up in the South. I grew up in serious, serious Appalachia, in a very small town. Votes: 3
My parents were not affluent people and were not - didn't come from the extremities of education. My mother had a high school diploma. I often think I so wish she'd come out of the hills in Appalachia and been able to go on to college. I think she would have made a wonderful teacher. Votes: 3