We argue that it's time for appalachian nonprofits to go the way of the dinosaurs and chimney sweeps. That's how this idiom works right

We argue that it's time for appalachian nonprofits to go the way of the dinosaurs and chimney sweeps. That's how this idiom works right

Appalachia: exceptional or nah? We attempt to tackle this burning question, along with providing some analysis on the recent loss of coal baron Don Blankenship and what it ~means~. But before we get started on all that, we take a little dive into our local newspaper's most famous segment: Speak Your Piece.

New premium Patreon episode up: https://www.patreon.com/posts/alan-smithee-18640298

On our 50th episode, we're joined by journalist Sylvia Ryerson and Eastern Kentucky University professor Judah Schept, to discuss the federal prison that has been slated for construction in our home of Letcher County, Kentucky. We also talk about rural prison expansion and the carceral state more generally, and about how prisons are sold as economic development for deindustrialized regions.

Check out their recent article here: http://bostonreview.net/law-justice/sylvia-ryerson-judah-schept-building-prisons-appalachia

And check out Sylvia's Restorative Radio project here: http://www.restorativeradio.org/audio-postcards-2/

Tanya regales us with stories of her travels. Tarence has a good new TV show. Tom's not touching any of it.

Take a trip with us to the Hazard Pavilion, where we discuss the police state, creative placemaking, and our new reality TV show called Pimp My Side by Side

Today we're joined by Claire Lobenfeld and Jonny Coleman of NOlympics LA, a campaign launched by members of the Los Angeles chapter of Democratic Socialists of America to stop the 2028 Olympics games from coming to Los Angeles. We talk about how large shiny development projects get forced onto small tax bases in order to squeeze as much money out of constituents as possible. We also talk about how Little Giants should be interpreted as a product and statement of the proletariat.

We're unlocking this week's premium Patreon episode, after technical difficulties thwarted our plan to release a new free episode this week. We're really sorry about that, we're trying our best, please don't be mad at us!! We'll have a new episode to you by the end of the weekend.

This is still a good episode though, mostly because we discover that Tom has some serious acting chops.

This week we're joined by Tyler Mahan Coe of Cocaine and Rhinestones, a podcast about the history of country music. We talk about some popular songs, such as Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" and Loretta Lynn's "The Pill," as well as other miscellaneous country music stuff.

The song at the end of this episode is "Winter's End" by Michael Howard.