The Rural Route Review

The Day Rev. Jesse Jackson Wore the Miners’ Jacket: An Icon of Civil Rights, A Friend of the Working Person

Jesse wore the jacket, talked the talk, but more importantly, he walked the walk.

Bristol, VA could have their first Black City Council member in its 136 year history.

Called to Serve: The Steady Faith and Public Work of Jackie Nophlin

When Anger Found Its Audience in Rural America

By the early 2000s, when the first oval Friends of Coal stickers appeared on pickup trucks and hard hats, it struck a deep nerve.

Two Christmases

Published in The Neighborly News Magazine

Coal Country Thanksgiving

Published Article in Barn Raiser Magazine

Rural America Knows How Greenland Feels. We Just Don’t Have Its Universal Health Care.

Published Barn Raiser Article

Bridging the Gap: Local Political Engagement in Rural America

Click the YouTube link below to see the full interview and playlist!

THE DAY THE ARMY TRUCKS CAME

Urban people like to ask why rural folks vote the way they do.

Casino Here, Casino There, Casino Everywhere

What changed after the neon lights came on?

Rural America Already Knows How Greenland Feels.

We Just Don’t Get Universal Healthcare.

The United States Military: America’s Largest Democratic Socialism System

Rural America Deserves Jobs That Don’t Give Our Children Cancer

On paper, it always starts the same way.

Why Liberals, People of Color, and LGBTQ Need the Second Amendment More Than Ever!

Across the country, liberals, people of color, and LGBTQ Americans are walking into gun shops, signing up for safety classes, and learning how to responsibly own firearms.

Wrong About Rural: Why White Rural Rage Misses the Mark

On Christmas Eve, the Bees Sing

In the mountains, Christmas Eve has a way of getting quiet on purpose.

Two Christmases

I was fortunate to grow up in rural America with a mountain culture that got to experience two Christmases.

The Ghost of Christmas Lye Soap

If a home wasn’t scrubbed clean by Christmas morning, not company clean but honest clean, then something else showed up after midnight.

The Christmas Apple

That apple wasn’t for pie or kids or company. You gave it away to seal the blessing.

A Shout Out to Our Rural Volunteer EMS Services Everywhere

Looking Back at Farm Safety Before 911

The Great Rural Grift & Why So Many Rural Virginia Democratic Candidates Are Angry

Ask many of the actual rural candidates in Virginia this year. Many didn’t see one dollar of that supposed support.

The Night the Siren Never Sounds

Our rural communities have lost enough.

Press the Advantage

A Rural Blueprint for Every State

Vinegar Pie: Poverty, pride, and how union wages changed a family’s table. #bigstonegap #appalachia

My Great Grandmother lived through years when Thanksgiving pies were made with vinegar because lemons were too expensive. When the UMWA came in and raised wages, she bought lemons for the first time. The story became family history.

Thanksgiving Without Vinegar Pie

The vinegar pie is an old Appalachian answer to a simple problem. Families wanted a dessert that tasted like a lemon pie, but lemons were rare and expensive.

Why Appalachians Ate Chicken and Dumplings on Thanksgiving

A tradition born from hard times that still finds its way to rural tables today