Winchester resident Bill McCann was sent to The Cove Schools residential school in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1962 because he had severe behavioral issues and learning disabilities and required special education that was not available in Kentucky at the time. Today, Bill is a playwright, a member of the Dramatists Guild, a poet, an essayist, and a contributor to WinCity Voices, among many other things. 

In this episode, Voices of Winchester host Pete Koutoulas talks with Bill about his new book, Yearnings: A Memoir in Prose & Poetry, and about Bill's experiences at The Cove School. The book is available at Arts on Main in Winchester, online at www.cyberwit.net, and in other bookstores, as well as at the Clark County Public Library. 

On July 8, 2025, Bill will be at the Gateway Regional Arts Center in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, from 6:30 to 8 PM to officially launch his memoir. 

Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. is an accomplished educator, author, and advocate. He was named the 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year for his work teaching French and English at Montgomery County High School. He later left his teaching position, citing discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals.

He has since become a prominent advocate for equality, testifying before the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in 2022. He is a board member of the Kentucky Youth Law Project. He works at the University of Kentucky and continues to inspire through his writing, public speaking, and advocacy.

He is also a published poet, with his collection Gay Poems for Red States receiving critical acclaim and multiple awards.

Willie is well-known in Winchester, having spoken at the former Wildcat Willie’s Distillery, now known as Regeneration Distillery, and was the headline speaker at the 2023 Voices of Winchester storytelling event at Leeds Center for the Arts.

Willie’s advocacy for Kentucky’s young people, particularly LGBTQ+ youth, involves counseling, lobbying the state legislature, and keeping abreast of legal issues surrounding the community.

He recently sat down with our Lisa Bush to talk about his work and his heart for struggling queer youth.

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About WinCity Voices

WinCity Voices (WCV) is sharing the voices of Winchester one story at a time. We are all about connection, conversation, and community. Launched in November 2021 as WinCity News & Views and rebooted in October 2022, we are a group of volunteers who love creating engaging content in all its forms. Our work consists mostly of short stories about ideas, happenings, people, places, and more. We also feature fiction and art of all kinds. 

Our Mission

WinCity Voices believes storytelling in all of its forms — the visual, the written, the spoken — is vital to meaningful change. Our storytellers provoke thought, promote happenings, and provide entertainment. Our mission is to celebrate creativity, foster informed conversation, and inspire the people of Winchester and beyond to build connection and community.

Our Vision 

We envision a community where diversity is celebrated and all are welcomed, inspired, and empowered to become active participants in the social and civic life of Winchester and beyond.

Links

Website: https://www.wincityvoices.org/

Winchester resident, teacher, and business owner Jeffery Hale is no stranger to contradictions. Unlike many gay people, who have eschewed religion, Jeffery fully embraces his Christianity—although his practice differs significantly from the dominant form that seems to get all the air in today’s America.

Jeffery describes himself as “a simple man trying to live in God’s love.” Yet his relationship with God and his personal spiritual practice are anything but conventional. He has found a way to ignore the often homophobic attitudes of many evangelicals while retaining his love for “Spirit”—his personal name for the Christian Trinity (God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit).

Last week, Lisa Bush sat down with Jeffery in the cozy confines of Mason on Main, the downtown shop Jeffery runs with his husband, Mason Rhodus. In a revealing and intimate 30-minute video for The Voices of Winchester Podcast, Lisa and Jeffery explore the many facets of his roots in Eastern Kentucky up to the present day.

This episode is the second installment of a three-part series of interviews Lisa is doing for us exploring the lives of three very different LGBTQ+ people in Central Kentucky.

WinCity Voices (WCV) is sharing the voices of Winchester, one story at a time. We are all about connection, conversation, and community. We are a group of volunteers who love creating engaging content in all its forms. Our work consists mostly of short stories about ideas, happenings, people, places, and more. We also feature fiction and art of all kinds. 

WinCity Voices believes storytelling in all of its forms — the visual, the written, the spoken — is vital to meaningful change. Our storytellers provoke thought, promote happenings, and provide entertainment. Our mission is to celebrate creativity, foster informed conversation, and inspire the people of Winchester and beyond to build connection and community. We envision a community where diversity is celebrated and all are welcomed, inspired, and empowered to become active participants in the social and civic life of Winchester and beyond.

Website: https://www.wincityvoices.org/

A brief announcement about our YouTube channel and upcoming podcasts. 

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

Winchester resident, teacher, and business owner Jeffery Hale is no stranger to contradictions. Unlike many gay people, who have eschewed religion, Jeffery fully embraces his Christianity—although his practice differs significantly from the dominant form that seems to get all the air in today’s America.

Jeffery describes himself as “a simple man trying to live in God’s love.” Yet his relationship with God and his personal spiritual practice are anything but conventional. He has found a way to ignore the often-homophobic attitudes of many evangelicals while retaining his love for “Spirit”—his personal name for the Christian Trinity (God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.)

This episode is the second installment of a three-part series of interviews Lisa is doing for us exploring the lives of three very different LGBTQ+ people in Central Kentucky.

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

Gerica Horn is a vivacious and lovely woman. She is a hairstylist in east-central Kentucky with an open and outgoing personality. Yet Gerica was born a boy named Rodney. Join us as guest host Lisa Bush chats with her friend about what it was like growing up "different" and living her adult life as a transgender woman. This episode contains explicit material and is intended for mature audiences.

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

Lisa Bush is a writer and community activist who has launched a new project in Winchester, Kentucky -- All Voices Reading Room. Host Pete Koutoulas chats with Lisa about her new project, as well as some upcoming podcasts that Lisa will be hosting for us, featuring three members of the local LGBTQ+ community.

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

Lisa Bush has lived in Clark County her entire life. She calls herself a “vintage resident” of Winchester, having been born in the historic Guerrant Clinic, which now houses the Bluegrass Heritage Museum on South Main Street. But her roots run deep in Eastern Kentucky; her family is from Wolfe County — the Red River Gorge area of the Commonwealth.

For her first novel, Lisa Bush didn't just draw upon her knowledge of the land of her ancestors, she delved into a true event that happened in her family’s distant past. This personal connection, along with her deep understanding of the Eastern Kentucky landscape, brings a unique authenticity to her novel, Red Blood, White Ox.

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

In our latest Voices of Winchester podcast, host Pete Koutoulas sat down with Winchester real estate developer Adam Kidd to discuss the past, present, and future of downtown Winchester. 

We talked about saving and restoring historic downtown buildings, the high-side renovation project, the problem of the lack of affordable housing in Winchester, the vision of former city manager Mike Flynn, Adam’s vision of a “fraternity of business owners,” and the announcement of a new venue for live music on Main Street!

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.

When we heard that Winchester residents Brett Cheuvront and Mason Rhodus were planning an event called "The Mrs. Roper Romp," we were quite intrigued! So, we invited the two into our studio to record a short bonus episode of the WinCity Voices Podcast to tell us all about this brand new (hopefully annual) event in downtown Winchester! 

The Voices of Winchester Podcast brings your stories, our stories, & all of the voices of Winchester to your ears.