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A Cherokee language revival is underway, thanks to the efforts of the Cherokee Nation and their communities in Oklahoma and western North Carolina. The story of Cherokee language history and the work to create Cherokee language schools and immersion communities are told in the award-winning documentary, We Will Speak. I'm talking with one of the directors and Blurry Pictures co-founder, Michael McDermit, about the making of this documentary and what it meant to collaborate with Native speakers and teachers to tell this story. Then, we'll pivot to another project of McDermit's called Strange Devotion, a book of photography and creative prose that tells a different story of resilience in Appalachia's rustbelt.

Audio clips from We Will Speak were included with permission from Michael McDermit
More about Cherokee language schools: Cherokee Nation Education Services
More about McDermit's projects and Blurry Pictures (to purchase a video or educational license:Blurry Pictures (blurry-pictures.com)

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Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

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How do ghosts speak through their artifacts? As we continue the story of the burial ground in the woods, I'm joined by Dr. Angela Washington, my co-researcher and family. We talk about the chilling death portrait that proved to be our starting point, the coverlet supposedly woven by enslaved women linking the land to the folklore, and the surprising things you find when you search old barns. We're talking to ghosts in this episode, so join us as we talk about the kind of genealogical research that rewrites the family narrative. For photos of the artifacts we discuss in the podcast, subscribe to our You Tube channel and check out the community tab or here on our Patreon page, where a paid subscription will give you access to the full story of the burial ground, plus behind the scenes content, early access, and bonus photos/videos.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
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Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

What secrets does a 19th century burial ground hold, when the stones have no words or dates, and family folklore says they belonged to enslaved people?  In this episode, I'm joined by William Isom II of Black in Appalachia, my co-researcher on this burial ground project for the past ten years. For almost two centuries, gravestones with no inscriptions have huddled in the woods on my family's land, covered in graveyard ivy. From a death portrait to a woven coverlet to ground penetrating radar that revealed the remains, we slowly pieced together their story as we asked the questions: Who were they? Is the family story true?  And listen as Will narrates an  incredible discovery.

Join us on Patreon for the full account, an essay narrated by Amy. Previously titled "The Rocks," it garnered honorable mention in 2016's Best American Essays, edited by Jonathon Franzen and won the 2014 Lamar York Prize for Nonfiction.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

Join us in beautiful Ireland where we learn about a town with two names (Londonderry/Derry), an Irishman's take on "hillbilly," familiar words and pronunciations, and a primitive alphabet inspired by trees.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

The sisters remembered her "witchy" looking dolls, but they were forever haunted by that one day when the woodcarver's knife nearly took their mother's life.

In this episode, I retell a chilling story told to me by my great-grandmother and her sisters...one that has given me nightmares. But it's also a story about mental illness, and family, and how we reconsider stories passed down through time from 21st century perspectives. Later in the episode, I'm joined by my cousin, Dr. Angela Washington, as we examine this horror story once passed among the grandchildren,  and consider what really might have happened and why. 

For a photo of the woodcarver, subscribe to our Patreon community or join us over on our YouTube channel.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

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Listen to the voice of John Gregory, a Civil War infantryman writing home from a cold, February campsite in 1862, a year before he would die at Gettysburg. Then, listen to the voice of Cordia Nichols, a woman diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1959 and recovering in the Catawba Sanitorium. John's letter allows us to study his dialect before audio-recording was invented, and Cordia's letter helps us to see (and hear) patterns that were still being spoken almost 100 years later in Virginia. This is just one example of what old documents like letters, journals, recipes, and more can teach us about voice through content analysis.

Thank to Brock Davidson ([email protected]) and Addy Hutchison for lending their voices to these letters.
Gregory's letter comes from the Corpus of Civil War Letters
Cordia's letter was found in an old sewing machine given to me.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

If you've ever found yourself in the position of having to defend your accent or dialect, or if you're an educator who wants to support your students' home voices but you're not sure whether you can do that while teaching standard English, this one is for you. We'll cover three (among many) justifications for Appalachian home voices (as well as others.)
1. It's a legitimate way of speaking a language, and that is backed by research.
2. It can co-exist alongside standard English.
3. Stigma and stereotype fill the void when people do not know the histories or reasons for accent (and dialect in general.)

We'll also cover "sworp" and "watch for deer."

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

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In Part II of my conversation with one of my favorite writers, Pulitzer-winning southern writer and journalist Rick Bragg, he talks about some of the news stories that haunt him. He also gives both teachers and students his best advice for becoming a journalist or novelist...what to do and definitely what not to do.

Rick Bragg is the author of memoirs like Ava's Man, All Over But the Shoutin' , The Best Cook in the World, and The Speckled Pup  that draw on his rural Alabama upbringing and his blue-collar family.  He won a Pulitzer prize in journalism for his work at The New York Times, and now teaches writing at The University of Alabama. He writes monthly columns for Southern Living and Garden and Gun.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

Author Rick Bragg is a true storyteller. Though his work as a Pulitzer-winning journalist at the New York Times took him all over the world, the Alabama native came back home in his memoir writing. His books such as Ava's Man (my favorite), All Over But the Shoutin' (another favorite) The Best Cook in the World (well, they're all my favorites), and the Prince of Frogtown  take you to sharecropping fields, dusty country roads, hot, flavor-filled kitchens, and the cool banks of a river as we get to know his family and the grandfather he never met, but whose shadow looms large. He has even written about his dog in The Speckled Beauty. He has several collections of works, and is a regular contributor to Garden and Gun. Listen to the end of this episode to learn the word "whomp-sided." 
This interview took place in front of a live audience at UVA's College at Wise in 2018, and is re-broadcast with Mr. Bragg's permission. This is Part I of a two-part episode.

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

It's "untelling" what 2024 will bring, but in this episode we'll talk about why you should eat black- eyed peas on New Year's Eve, why you shouldn't do housework on New Year's Day, and why some people refuse to take down their trees until Old Christmas on January 6th. We'll also explore the word "untelling," our first word in 2024.
Have a Happy New Year!

To purchase a 2024 Talking Appalachian Desk Calendar, click here



Research: WV Public Broadcasting, Dictionary of American Regional English, Southern Living website, "Old Christmas" fiddle tune (1937) by Asher Boyd, American Folklife Center

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review us (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support us on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Paypal to support the show: @amyclarkspain
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain