No one comes to the front door of the old clapboard house, unless of course they are peddling something, or lost. The gravel drive shoots up a short, steep hill and curves around to the back of the house like a strong arm pulls you in for a hug. LeftoverContinue Reading
For a half century Wendell Berry has been on record defending small communities and local economies, dating back to his 1977 treatise The Unsettling of America, which, as Appalachian author Wilma Dykeman once observed, deserved to unsettle America more than it did. In his roles as poet, essayist, novelist, and,Continue Reading
In 1935, East Tennessee mountain man William Henry Hawkins grabbed his shotgun and marched with purpose out of his humble, box-frame home, where he lived with his wife and young daughter. He then drove to Norris Dam as a one man show of force to stop the Tennessee Valley AuthorityContinue Reading
John Allyn Miller (1947 – 2007) lived in the Asheville area from the 1970s until 2002. He was an outdoorsman who loved being in nature, wandering backroads, trails, and streams in hopes of capturing the iconic beauty and images of Appalachia. John taught photography at Asheville-Biltmore TechnicalContinue Reading
On closer look it becomes what we most despise: something unnameably near, confounding us with its ability to make vague silhouettes of familiar landmarks or bloat the once-solid shapes of signs lending geometric certitude to all our directions. — Edward Francisco From “The Terror of Kudzu” One of myContinue Reading