Inside Appalachia

It’s been nearly a year since West Virginia was hit with historical flooding. In this episode, we’re listening back to the voices of those who were impacted by last summer’s floods. On Thursday June 23, 2016, massive flooding swept across most of West Virginia. Within a tragic 24-36 hour period, at least 23 West Virginians perished. Thousands of homes were flooded, many of them destroyed. There were stories of terror and heroism that came out of this flood. Last year, we produced a video for

Summer is often a time for road trips, so we put together a few stories that made us think of summer break. And our Struggle to Stay series continues as we catch up with Mark Combs on his journey to find a home outside of West Virginia.

Beans and cornbread are something that seem almost as big a part of growing up in Appalachia as the mountains themselves. But did you know that these beans and seeds have a history that dates back to Native American culture? Farmer and author Bill Best has spent his life farming and learning all about the different ways that beans have been used to sustain life and fill several purposes throughout Appalachia over thousands of years. His new book is called Kentucky Heirloom Seeds: Growing, Eating

This week on Inside Appalachia, we talk with Marcus Murrow, a West Virginia native who’s telling the story of southern West Virginia, and the surprising way cultural divides are sometimes bridged in and around Appalachia. He's working on a film called Staring up from the Mine Shaft .

Our next Struggle to Stay story comes from someone who might be familiar to you -- Mark Combs. He’s a veteran who helped us produce a documentary last fall called Still Taking Casualties . The documentary features veterans speaking about how their experiences in war taught them what it means to support their fellow soldiers. And our host Jessica Lilly speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Eric Newhouse , author of Faces of Combat.

In this episode of Inside Appalachia, we talk about faith and music. We learn about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of the first great recording stars of gospel music, find our the story behind a song that became an American icon, and we’ll learn more about a project Glory that depicts images of Pentecostal style tent revival in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Here in Appalachia, thousands of young people are leaving each year, moving from their hometowns to find opportunities elsewhere. In this episode, you will hear part of Colt Brogan’s Struggle to Stay in Appalachia. It’s part of a series on Inside Appalachia called, “ The Struggle to Stay .” This decision is different for each of us. While academic studies might provide a generalized view, the complexities are found in the individual journey as we try to find a place where we belong.

It’s been about 20 years since the opioid epidemic started. Appalachia has been called ground zero for this crisis, and the Mountain State leads the country in drug overdose deaths. This episode of Inside Appalachia explores how the epidemic is affecting veterans, who are twice as likely to become addicted to opioids than the general, or civilian, population.

It’s been about 20 years since the opioid epidemic first exploded across Appalachia, and now doctors are shifting away from prescribing opioids for long-term pain. But this shift away from pills has met resistance from some doctors and patients. In this episode of Inside Appalachia, we'll hear why addiction hit Appalachia so hard. We'll also find out what the medical community is doing to fight the pain pill epidemic.

It’s not always easy to live in these mountains, but some of us are determined to stay. In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we'll explore the deep roots to the region in a new series called The Struggle to Stay . Appalachia isn’t alone in watching its young people fight with the decision to stay or go from their homeplace—it’s a conversation happening all over the country. But people are leaving parts of Appalachia at a rapid pace. It’s also true that some cities in Appalachia are