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Author Cynthia Rylant was inspired by the time she spent with her grandparents to write her first book When I Was Young in the Mountains.
This week we re revisiting an episode of
Inside Appalachia that features children s authors in and from our region. We ll hear Cynthia Rylant, who wrote When I Was Young In The Mountains, David Perri, author of Messy Larry, and Bil Lepp reading from his recent children s book The Princess And The Pickup Truck, and Lyn Ford, a professional storyteller and children s educator, telling a story she wrote called The Old Woman and Death. And while these stories were written for children, like many children s stories, these stories have messages for all of us, including grown-ups.
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Friends of KJ Taylor give interviews to the media at the site where he was shot two days prior in Charleston, W.Va. on Friday, April 9, 2021.
Gabriela Hasbun
Anna Sale, author of Let s Talk about Hard Things. She s also the creator and host of Death, Sex & Money, the podcast from WNYC Studios.
West Virginia native Anna Sale is host of the popular podcast “Death, Sex & Money.” It s a podcast that talks about, as she says, “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.” Sale’s new book, “Let’s Talk About Hard Things,” is about having frank conversations about topics that can make us uncomfortable, including relationships and death.
Needle Exchange
A bill was recently introduced in the West Virginia State Legislature that would outlaw some of the state s most effective needle exchange programs. SB 334 was introduced by Senators Eric Tarr and Amy Grady; both are Republicans for District 4, which includes Mason, Jackson, Roane and Putnam counties. SB 334 would create a stricter license application process for harm reduction programs.
Talking about HIV and other needle-borne illnesses can be scary maybe that’s why so many of us don’t talk about it. But what if the stigmas are causing these health crises to worsen?
HIV can spread throughout communities quickly, especially in places where there are high rates of people who use drugs. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that Charleston, West Virginia, has the nation’s most alarming outbreak of HIV. Public health officials have been warning for years that Appalachia is vulnerable to outbreaks of the disease.
WVPB
Vials of Pfizer s coronavirus dose sit on a table at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and exacerbated societal inequities.
Black and Latino populations have suffered higher infection rates. People working low-income jobs are more likely to be considered essential and therefore required to work in-person while others have the luxury of working remotely.
The pandemic has pushed many people who were already living paycheck to paycheck out of work. Despite programs to provide rental and utility relief, some have lost their homes. At one point last summer, 60 percent of people in West Virginia said they were at risk of being homeless, according to a study by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.