Inside Appalachia

In 2016, our Inside Appalachia team began documenting the lives of six Appalachians who were trying to decide if they could find a stable job and keep their roots in Appalachia, or if they’d have to leave home for opportunities elsewhere. This series won first place for “Best Series” from the Public Media Journalists Association (formerly known as the Public Radio News Directors, Inc.).

Two of the people we followed in this series are Colt Brogan and Crystal Snyder. Both grew up in West Virginia, and they were passionate about finding a way to stay in Appalachia. Both spent two-and-a-half years in a job-training program with the nonprofit Coalfield Development Corp.

“I mean, every part of me feels born and raised here and feels a part of this land,” Colt said. “Just like anywhere else in America right now, it’s gonna take the people inside of it to make it stronger.”

From 2016-2018, Colt and Crystal were part of an apprenticeship program that teaches skills like carpentry, solar panel installation, and farming. Trainees also attend community college classes and earn their associate’s degree. Coalfield Development paid their tuition, but if they didn’t keep their grades up, they could be fired. The program is funded in part by federal money to help coal-producing states transition away from coal.

Roxy ToddColt Brogan

Colt and Crystal signed up for Coalfield’s farming program, called Refresh Appalachia, and they became friends.

“I’m proud to be in the field of agriculture, I’m proud to be on this journey. I don’t know where it’s going but it’s going somewhere good,” Crystal said.

They bonded over their similar backgrounds — both have struggled with multi-generational poverty and substance abuse in their families. But they also shared a sense of determination to succeed, and to overcome the obstacles of their past.

Four years after we began following their story, neither Crystal nor Colt currently live in West Virginia. Colt and Adrianna moved to Ohio. He works in the auto industry. He says it’s good money, but he misses his family, and he and his mom still haven’t reconciled. He and Adrianna are hoping to get married next June.

Roxy Todd/ WVPBCrystal planting squash at a farm in Milton, W.Va.

Crystal meanwhile, moved to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where she’s pursuing a career as a water operator.

Both say they made the decisions to leave West Virginia, and leave farming, so they could find more financial stability. Both of them still hold a dream to return to West Virginia, and both still have a dream to own their own farms.

Even though they didn’t end up pursuing jobs in agriculture, they say their experience in Refresh Appalachia gave them a sense of what is possible.

Have you ever noticed how conversations about food can lead us to learn surprising things about each other? In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we talk about holiday foods. We’ve got recipes for things like cranberry salad, sorghum gingerbread, and pecan pie. But more than recipes, this show is about the power of memory, and tradition.

Co-host Caitlin Tan shares her grandmother’s recipe for stollen, a special German sweet bread that she makes each Christmas. And co-host Mason Adams sits down with his mom to talk about baking cookies during the holidays. Their conversation led her to divulge a secret. “Oh goodness, I love to make cookies. You guys would go to bed at night, and I would be up to two or three o'clock in the morning making cookies.”

And our listeners across Appalachia share some of their favorite traditions — that and more in this holiday special episode of Inside Appalachia.

If you live in Appalachia, or for that matter, if you’ve ever lived in Appalachia, you are a part of our family. It defines us. This week on Inside Appalachia we’ll hear about family found in unexpected places — like a West Virginia family who got a letter from a sister in Austria they didn’t even know they had. 

And a young man in North Carolina who was inspired to learn old-time music when he saw a jaw-dropping performance by a fiddle player named Fred McBride. Turns out they’re related.

But not everyone has a family to turn to. We hear from several former foster care children who are trying to find their way in the world without their biological mom or dad. They talk about the uncertainty of being taken from their families and put into foster care.

What are communities in Appalachia doing to address racism? The death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police sparked hundreds of demonstrations over the summer, and a national reckoning on police reform and systemic racism. Those conversations are happening here in Appalachia, too.

In this episode of Inside Appalachia, you’ll hear the story of Iraq War veteran Mark Combs. A few years ago, he recorded his journey as he left Appalachia to become a comedian. He and his friend Cameron tried their luck first in California, then in Colorado. Along the way, homesickness hit Combs especially hard as he struggled to find a place where he felt he belonged. His story is part of a long-term reporting project called "The Struggle To Stay," which has won national awards.

Juggling work and child care has never been easy, but it’s gotten even more complicated during the coronavirus pandemic. Our child care system is in crisis.The system was patchwork and threadbare before this year. Working parents in the United States face a lot of pressure. And child care workers are often underpaid, overworked, and undervalued.In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia we’ll hear from several people who have had to adjust their lives and work in the midst of the global pandemic.

It’s been quite a stressful couple of months for most of us. For this episode of Inside Appalachia, we wanted to slow down, take a breath, and talk about one of our favorite foods — cookies!We'll get some baking tips on a very special kind of cookie, made with local buckwheat and stone ground flour.

There is a deep connection among generations that holds steady for many families across central Appalachia. Perhaps it’s a combination of shared struggles and enduring repeated cycles of economic boom and bust. Maybe it’s our deep ties to the land that help bind so many of us to our past — after all, these mountains are among the oldest on the planet. While many Appalachians have fled the region in search of better opportunities, many of them we interview on Inside Appalachia tell us about the pull to return, even after many years.What happens to these bonds, even if we can’t meet face to face?

Many of us are dreaming about the things we want to do when this pandemic is over — like traveling someplace far away. If you have wanderlust, or the itch to fly, these are not ideal circumstances. But being grounded does give us time to reflect and dream about flights in our future and those in our past.This week on Inside Appalachia, we are listening to an encore episode of a show that aired over the summer that looks some of the unique stories that comprise the Mountain State’s history of aviation.

Four years ago, 95 percent of Appalachian counties voted for Donald Trump. National journalists parachuted in to try to understand why. But, what did they miss? This week on Inside Appalachia, we’re talking with voters across Central Appalachia about the issues that matter to them.