QUEERNECKS

Just a few highlights and teasers of the kinds of things your hosts Dash and Beck get up to.

We tell queer hill-folk histories from the front porch, laying out how growing up in Jellico and Portsmouth shaped who we are and how we love, work, and survive. I talk about the moonshine and bootleggers my family knew, the Big Bertha grocery runs and hoarding underwear and shoes because you never know, and we laugh about ramen abominations and bacon-grease cornbread bowls while admitting some things are darker — addiction, funerals, and folks we couldn’t save. We trade pappy stories and recipes (poke salad, fried groundhog, chili with peanut butter) and gripe about the weirdness of moving someplace with pawn shops missing and Waffle Houses scarce. We get real about Melungeon roots, company-town histories, and how being queer in a place people don’t leave feels both lonely and defiant. We gripe at the folks who cosplay redneck while forgetting the union-busting, working-class backbone of the term, and we confess how leaving changed our politics, our families, and our survival strategies. Pull up a chair, grab whatever’s left in the pantry, and listen — we’re telling secrets you probably ain’t heard, with the kind of humor and honesty only two hill kids could manage.

Dash and Beck, (who forgot to introduce themselves in this first episode) the experiences of growing up in a redneck culture, focusing on themes of poverty, resourcefulness, and family dynamics. The speakers share personal stories about their childhoods, including memories of moonshine, food traditions, and the impact of socioeconomic status on their lives. They also delve into cultural identity, particularly the Melungeon heritage, and reflect on the intersection of politics and personal experiences. The discussion highlights the complexities of navigating relationships within families that have differing expectations and values, as well as the lasting effects of trauma and health issues in their communities.

Some highlights:

The conversation highlights the unique setup of a redneck podcast.

Childhood experiences shape perspectives on material scarcity.

Resourcefulness is a key theme in navigating poverty.

Growing up in a food desert impacts adult life.

Family stories about moonshine reveal cultural heritage.

The Melungeon identity is explored in depth.

Expectations from family can create tension and conflict.

Food traditions play a significant role in family dynamics.

Health issues and trauma are common in these narratives.

The intersection of culture and politics is complex and nuanced.

Chapter timestamps:

00:00 Setting the Scene: Podcast Setup and Personal Spaces

00:19 Reflections on Childhood and Material Security

00:39 Navigating Poverty: Micro Economies and Resourcefulness

01:13 Cultural Connections: Food, Family, and Community

01:39 Queer Histories: Identity and Growing Up in Appalachia

02:27 The Impact of Industry: Work and Economic Opportunities

03:10 Health and Welfare: Navigating Medical Needs

04:13 Food Traditions: Appalachian Cuisine and Family Recipes

05:45 Euphemisms and Regional Dialects

06:23 Food Memories and Family Recipes

07:23 Childhood Independence and Self-Sufficiency

09:04 Family Dynamics and Substance Abuse

09:23 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

10:36 Redneck Identity and Cultural Misunderstandings

12:20 Ancestry and Family Histories

Takeaways:

• We share how growing up poor in the holler taught me to hoard shoes, stretch groceries, and hustle cigarette sales to make ends meet.
• I tell stories about family moonshiners, bootleggers, and backyard economies that shaped our queer Appalachian identities and survival instincts.
• We wrestle with trauma, addiction, and loss — how alcoholism, opioids, and hopelessness devastated peers and relatives in my hometown.
• I explain feeling out of place after leaving Jellicoe: the awkwardness of being queer, pursuing education, and distancing from family expectations.
• We compare rural resourcefulness to city safety nets, noting my survival skills don't translate where healthcare and pawn shops operate differently.
• I talk ancestry and Melungeon heritage, explaining complex mixed roots and how history and secrecy shaped our community's identity.
• We laugh about odd foods, cooking hacks, and weird hillbilly meals — but admit they reveal resilience, creativity, and sometimes, embarrassment.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• JCPenney
• Ace Hardware
• Black & Decker
• Walmart
• Family Dollar
• Dollar General
• Waffle House
• Taco Bell
• Wendy's
• Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
• Giovanni's Pizza
• Jim Dandy
• Domino's
• Castleberry's
• Chipotle (Chipotle Mexican Grill)
• Mountain Dew
• Pepsi
• Coca-Cola
• Pantene
• Marlboro
• Ancestry.com
• NASCAR

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Games — the stupid, brilliant kind we made out of boredom and whatever was lying around — are how we built our own third spaces in the holler and found queer community when there literally weren’t places for us to be. We spun a dumb little wheel on the mic, it landed on “games,” and then we spent an hour confessing to pumpkin-stealing, shopping-cart derbies, potato-gun mishaps, egging teachers’ houses, and the ritual of sneaking into gay bars to breathe for a night. I talk about being the kid who had to learn attraction in a practically Amish home and how the internet and weird school computers were one path in; Beck tells the porn-shop childhood story and how the Stonewall in Huntington ended up saving her. We’re queer Appalachians — leftist rednecks, recovery-poor-class traitors and overeducated poor white trash — so we make our own fun, our own rules, and somehow our dumb games turned into survival and camaraderie. If you want front-porch, sarcastic storytelling that sneaks in social theory about space, queerness, and how you make community out of nothing, welcome: we’ve got a lot to say and even more to laugh at.

Summary

In this episode of Queernecks, hosts Ash and Beck explore their experiences growing up queer in rural environments. They discuss their early interactions with technology, the challenges of navigating queerness in school, and the impact of their upbringing on their understanding of sexuality. The conversation flows into their first crushes, the games they played as kids, and the social spaces they created to connect with others. They also share stories of run-ins with the law, their first jobs, and the creativity that emerged from their rural lives.

Key Takeaways:

The internet served as a reentry point for many.

Early experiences with technology shaped their youth.

Navigating queerness in school was challenging and often stigmatized.

Upbringing significantly impacts one's view of sexuality.

First crushes often came with fear and confusion.

Games and activities were essential for socializing in rural areas.

Cruising was a common social activity among youth.

Run-ins with the law were often humorous and formative.

Jobs provided financial independence and social experiences.

Creativity flourished in rural life due to limited resources.

Chapter Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to the Internet Journey

02:52 Navigating Queerness in a Digital Age

07:15 The Impact of Family on Sexual Identity

12:00 Exploring Queer Spaces and Community

15:55 Reflections on Growing Up Queer

24:17 Adventures and Misadventures: The High School Experience

33:17 Games and Creativity in Rural Life

37:20 Final Thoughts and Looking Ahead

37:58 New Chapter

tags: LGBTQ, queerness, upbringing, sexuality, youth games, social spaces, relationships, creativity, rural life, appalchia

We spin a wheel to choose topics and then completely fail to obey it — because that’s the whole joke. We open with tech nostalgia (AIM, Netscape, AOL discs) and slide into confessions: drunken Wendy’s outs, pizza-prank misdemeanor court, a potato gun that nearly summoned the county sheriff, and the ritual of cruising Chillicothe Street until the cops made rules against us. We brag about being athletes-in-name-only (softball, bowling, basketball), slipping into nerd-dom (AV lab commercials, academic team), and making the most of what we had: midnight bonfires, yard parties under a hard-of-hearing grandpa’s roof, and sneaking into high-school labs to play with the “good toys.” It’s irreverent, honest, and gloriously flawed. This is the promotional, laugh-aloud version of us: queer, Appalachian, and impossible to condense into a logline. We promise snark, grief, and a lot of “remember when we almost went to jail” energy. If you want a front-porch vibe — equal parts snide and sincere, with real talk about coming out, family weirdness, and finding queerness in unlikely places — come sit with us. We’ll spin the wheel again next week and probably ignore it, together.

Takeaways:

• We reminisce about growing up queer in the holler and how we built our own third spaces when none existed.
• I talk about internet nostalgia—AOL discs, AIM, Netscape—showing how online life felt like a secret queer lifeline for us.
• We learned to trade favors, piercings, and drugs in micro-economies because being poor and creative beats being bored and broke.
• I describe the messy politics of coming out in rural schools—assemblies, bullying, and a principal fired for trying to protect us.
• We celebrate how queer bars, softball fields, and bowling alleys became lifelines, even if we had to sneak in underage and awkward.
• I admit our redneck creativity: potato guns, shopping-cart derbies, Walmart dares, and baloney- and egging cars when we were restless.
• We promise to keep spinning our goofy topic wheel, failing gloriously, and inviting listeners into our porch-style, leftist queer confessions.

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