Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Episodes 17 - 25

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 17
Date: December 13, 2011
Episode Title: ‘Round the Mountain: a regional Appalachian artisan network

Episode Description:
Debby Loggans provides an introduction to 'Round the Mountain, the Southwest Virginia Artisans Network. The dialogue reveals how ‘Round the Mountain links visitors to artisans, farms, galleries, and craft venues across the region. ‘Round the Mountain promotes sustainable economic development of the region's communities by assisting local artisans with marketing, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities. Serving a nineteen-county region, ‘Round the Mountain has created a comprehensive directory of artisans, galleries, craft resources (including artisan schools, organizations and suppliers) and craft events throughout southwest Virginia. An artisan trail network connects Virginia artisan studios, shops, museums, unique restaurants and lodging, to feature locally-made crafts, foods and products of the Earth. ‘Round the Mountain’s juried arts and crafts at Heartwood were included in USA Today’s “10 Great Places to Shop at Craft Galleries” in December 2011.

Guest Bio – Debby Loggans:
Since 2006, Debby Loggans has served as the Programs Coordinator for ‘Round the Mountain: Southwest Virginia’s Artisans Network, where she helped to establish the organization’s Business of Craft Institute. Designed for artisans and artisan venues at all levels of experience, the Business of Craft Institute offers practical and essential information about managing a craft business. Topics include sales, jury tips, marketing, social media, gallery basics, customer service, small business essentials, and craft merchandising. Prior to joining ‘Round the Mountain Debby Loggans gained over a decade of experience as Business Development Manager for People Incorporated of Southwest Virginia. She also worked for more than eleven years as the Office Manager for Bristol Herald Courier newspaper. Her community involvement includes serving in officer positions during her six-year term of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol/Washington County, Virginia.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 18
Date: December 20, 2011
Episode Title: Trains, trains, trains: Transportation models connecting Appalachia and America

Episode Description:
Rees Shearer reports on a grassroots organization, Rail Solution, which was initiated in 2003. He explains why Rail Solution began, in part to stop a Halliburton Corporation super-truckway plan, and how it has evolved after that initial success. He discusses policy work achievements, including a long list of resolutions and endorsements passed by many localities and Virginia General Assembly Members in support of the goals of Rail Solution. He explains how the Rail Solution regional partnerships have evolved into The Steel Interstate national initiative, describing the vision and dynamics behind this national concept. Host Joan Minor shares her delightful train transportation experiences from during the times she lived in Sweden. Rees Shearer responds to queries about the initial capital costs of massively upgrading America’s rail system, build out timelines, and next steps as citizens unite coast-to-coast to advocate for major changes in our entire national transportation system.

Guest Bio – Rees Shearer:
Chairman Rees Shearer founded RAIL Solution in 2003. A graduate of Duke University with a masters degree from ETSU, he is a retired elementary school counselor. His advocacy work was extensive even before he took up the cause of rail in the I-81 Corridor. He served as an Appalachian Volunteer in Kentucky’s Harlan County, as a VISTA Volunteer in northeastern Georgia, and as a community organizer for Churches in Action in southwest Virginia. He organized a handcraft marketing cooperative which still serves members 40 years later. Rees Shearer coordinated the Virginia Ninth District voter registration effort that exceeded its 30,000 new registrants goal. He served as Executive Director of the Coalition of American Electric Consumers from 1981 to 1983, helping to defeat American Electric Power Company’s proposal to create the world’s largest pumped storage dam in rural Brumley Gap, Virginia. Clinch Mountain area is preserved land now. He and his wife Kathy built their passive solar house.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 19
Date: December 27, 2011
Episode Title: Archaeology in Appalachia: Preserving Native American mounds & artifacts

Episode Description:
Alan Crockett explains about his interest in Native American mounds and offers an overview about the local mounds. He reports on the national Archaeological Conservancy preservation program and the significance of the Ely Mound, including his role as the site steward. He also talks about the recent excavation activities at the Carter Robinson Mound conducted by University of Kentucky and funded in part by National Geographic. Alan Crockett further discusses an ideal scenario for bringing Lee County artifacts back to Lee County. The dialogue includes an interesting story related to the Ely Mound and an 1877 excavation led by the Smithsonian Institute working with Harvard and the Peabody Museum. The Archaeological Conservancy has reported that the Ely Mound and the Carter Robinson Mound in Lee County are the only known remaining examples of Mississippian platform mounds in the state of Virginia. The Ely Mound was donated to the Conservancy in 2008 by the estate of Mrs. S.C. Hobbs.

Guest Bio – Alan Crockett:
Rose Hill resident Alan Crockett has spent a career as an educator in the Lee County schools. He has also spent years of volunteer efforts on archaeological historical preservation, leading to an award in 2009 recognizing him as the most outstanding amateur archaeologist in the state. Alan Crockett was honored by the Council of Virginia Archaeologists with the Virginia Sherman Award in January 2009. The award recognizes his outstanding achievements toward recording and protecting Lee County archaeological resources. An archaeologist for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources nominated Alan Crockett for the award. He reported that Alan Crockett has continually worked with Virginia archaeologists to promote public interpretation and protection of archaeological resources and understanding of Lee County archaeology. Alan Crockett was the first person west of Charlottesville to ever receive this state award.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 20
Date: January 3, 2012
Episode Title: Appalachian Winter Wonderland – Tourism Models & Online Visitor Marketing

Episode Description:
Today’s Appalachian Winter Wonderland tour begins with a Winter special in the Town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee at The Olde Mill Inn Bed & Breakfast. This lovely historic 1800’s renovated mill is snuggled in the mountains, next to a soothing year round creek, fed from a spring inside a mountain cave. The creek still moves the Inn’s Fitz Water wheel, once ran by Chief Black Fox and Daniel Boone’s brother and their families for over 100 years before it was moved to Cumberland Gap in the 1940’s. The tour includes a Winter Photo Weekend with a digital photography competition and a Highlands Winter Getaway package offering up to 8 miles of hiking on 3 guided hikes in one weekend, along with good food and nice lodging at scenic Pine Mountain State Resort Park in Kentucky. Through online visitor marketing, the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, and the Digital Library of Appalachia, Appalachians have helped to better define their place and culture and to share that information.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 21
Date: January 24, 2012
Episode Title: Celebrating bluegrass, country & “old time” heritage music alive & thriving today

Episode Description:
Join musician and Executive Director Jack Hinshelwood along The Crooked Road. In 2011, Smithsonian Magazine reported, “The Crooked Road, Virginia’s heritage music trail, winds for some 300 miles through the southwest corner of the state, from the Blue Ridge into deeper Appalachia, home to some of the rawest and most arresting sounds around… multilane highway in some spots and a harrowing slalom course in others.” The Lonely Planet travel guide book named The Crooked Road first among the 5 best USA trips, recommending readers “hightail it to western Virginia for a toe-tappin,’ knee-slappin,’ good time…at “old time” music venues that speckle the landscape between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountain ranges.” A New York Times 2011 travel cover story declared, “If there ever was a place where musical authenticity was born and nurtured, “raised up” as the people around here say, the Crooked Road is it.” The Crooked Road has gone beyond debut to a smashing national delight. It’s a hit!

Guest Bio – Jack Hinshelwood:
In August 2010, Jack Hinshelwood moved to Abingdon, Virginia to begin working as the Executive Director of The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail. A former consulting engineer and outstanding musician, Jack Hinshelwood was originally from Shawsville, Virginia. He grew up in Christiansburg and is no stranger to The Crooked Road and its communities. As an award-winning guitarist and fiddler, he has performed at many of The Crooked Road venues and festivals, including the Carter Fold and the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival. Jack Hinshelwood has also performed in the U.S. and Canada with New York Times Best Selling Author Sharyn McCrumb. In addition, he has toured Alaska with the Appalachian and Celtic music group Celtibillies. Prior to his position with The Crooked Road, he worked for more than twenty years as a consulting engineer helping Southwest Virginia communities to meet their infrastructure needs.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 22
Date: January 31, 2012
Episode Title: The Clinch dilemma: 27 endangered mussel species versus 700 vehicles per day

Episode Description:
The show opened with a reflection on the region’s biodiversity, recognized as one of The Last Great Places on Earth by The Nature Conservancy, and part of the six-state Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere, established decades ago by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Current events included the decaying Kyle’s Ford bridge over the Clinch River. When TDOT announced that the bridge would be closed for over a year, public outcry ensued. How could 27 endangered mussel species in the river remain protected, while simultaneously accommodating 700 vehicles of people travelling daily across the river, during a bridge replacement project? Further topics included Heartwood and ‘Round the Mountain hitting the USA Today Top Ten places in the nation to shop for crafts, within 6 months of Heartwood’s opening. Lonely Planet’s newest travel guide placed The Crooked Road first on its “5 of the USA’s Best Trips” list of travel destinations.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 23
Date: February 7, 2012
Episode Title: Appalachia’s On-going War on Poverty + Endless Pride in Heritage = Tourism

Episode Description:
A reflection on the portrayal of the region in the February 1993 issue of National Geographic magazine offered an in-depth visit to the heart of Appalachia. Did the construction of highways and broadband deployment open up the region for development and tourism, or simply better facilitate a mass exodus? Who owns the land and minerals rights in Appalachia and how does that affect development? Beyond just natural resource extraction, what’s next? Can Appalachians better tout their offerings to tourists and lead into a creative economic transformation based on culture, music and the great outdoors? Topics included mist, salamanders, honeysuckle, caves, Native American mounds, frontier tales, the great migration on The Wilderness Road Trail, the Civil War, coal camps and company towns, handmade and homegrown, the Homeplace of America’s Music, centers of art and culture, outdoor recreation, rivers and forests, scenic drives and vistas, and unique restaurants and lodging.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 24
Date: February 14, 2012
Episode Title: Brumley Gap, Hayter’s Gap & the Preservation of Clinch Mountain

Episode Description:
Over three decades ago, Brumley Gap Concerned Citizens and the Coalition of American Electric Consumers began their successful defeat of a 1978 Appalachian Power Company proposal to create the world’s largest pumped storage dam facility in Brumley Gap, Virginia. They sold cakes and quilts, paid for trips to Richmond and D.C., met with federal and state officials, attended shareholders’ meetings, testified before regulatory agencies, conducted a prayer service outside of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and attracted national attention. A leading utility analyst group helped to document that the project was too expensive and unnecessary. After a five-year fight, the power company dropped the proposal. Thirty years later, in 2008, the area became the 4,836-acre Channels State Forest and for the first time in Virginia’s State Forest history, a portion of the forest, the Great Channels of Virginia, also became a Virginia Natural Area Preserve, protecting 720 acres.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 25
Date: February 21, 2012
Episode Title: More Success Stories: Rural Broadband Deployment & Grow Your Own Doctors

Episode Description:
Serving small Southwest Virginia communities deep in the heart of Appalachia, Scott County Telephone Cooperative is recognized for national leadership in rural fiber-to-the-premise broadband deployment. The Cooperative is featured as one of 6 ARRA Broadband Initiatives Program success stories on USDA Rural Development’s website. Broadband applications deep in the heart of Appalachia include establishing and expanding higher education institutions, even in small towns, to provide educational opportunities and alleviate shortages of health care professionals within the region. This “grow your own doctors” approach is building sustainable economic development and providing access to higher education. Topics include the founder of Osteopathic Medicine, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Appalachian School of Law, Appalachian College of Pharmacy, the upcoming Appalachian College of Optometry, and a proposed dental school and medical school.

Episodes 1-16

It's been an adventure already learning some of the facets of being an Internet talk radio show host. I'm enjoying the journey. I have nearly caught up on writing the episode descriptions and guest bios. They will likely be posted on the VoiceAmerica website soon. Meanwhile, I'll copy them into this blog for anyone wandering about in here.
Joan

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode #1
Date: August 2, 2011
Episode Title: Arts, crafts, festivals & heritage

Episode Description:
Sustainable development community models often begin with community arts, crafts, culture, music and heritage celebrations. These festivals can help to nurture a shared sense of place, build pride in heritage, and expand civic engagement. Current ecommerce offers instant access to global markets for artisans, crafters, and musicians. Could future kcommerce offer better global markets for historians, bloggers, and poets? What if the emerging Appalachian knowledge economy could create community knowledge centers as valued community assets? Like festivals, could that also encourage a shared sense of place and pride in heritage? Join the dialogue and tour through Appalachia. We will begin in Blackwater, Virginia with fiber to the home, the Melungeons, and the dulcimer. We will travel the back roads on a barn hopping tour. We will visit down home festivals and even an artisan gateway. Come, get a taste of authentic Appalachia and imagine the emerging Appalachian knowledge economy.

Guest Bio – Jack Goins:
In his writings, Melungeon researcher Jack Goins has explained that because there were so many theories and ideas about the history of the Melungeons, he decided to try and find out the answers. He sought answers first, straight from the source. He discussed family history with the descendants of people whose parents or great grandparents or ancestors were considered Melungeon. He met with people who lived, or formerly lived in Kyles Ford, Blackwater, Newman Ridge, and Sneedville areas along the Virginia and Tennessee border. His has published two books. His research projects include multiple DNA projects and the Hawkins County archive project. His website explains that tracking down these old pioneer families from the Clinch to their migration starting points and walking on the land where they walked has been a fantastic journey. So come with Jack to the creeks, rivers, courthouses, towns and farms, and learn about the Melungeons, Newman Ridge and the Clinch River Valley.

Guest Bio – Lindy Turner:
Lindy Turner is the Coordinator for Clinch Powell Resource Conservation and Development Council in Tennessee. She is an accomplished sustainable development sparkplug. River Place on the Clinch is a delightful Authentic Appalachian versatile vacation destination. Offering a market, a cafe, a cottage, rental cabins, camping, canoes, funyaks, rafts, tubing, and fishing, River Place on the Clinch focuses on preservation, restoration, and environmental protection in the remote community of Kyles Ford, Tennessee. In addition, The Clinch River Conservation Center and Retreat offers group accommodations and is located in a spacious, beautifully restored Kyles Ford home. The Appalachian Quilt Trail has grown to include over half of Tennessee and has even stretched up into Virginia now. Other council achievements include 3000 students engaged in service learning, 1200 sixth grade students participating in Conservation Camp, and the construction of several affordable homes.

Guest Bio – Nancy Garretson:
Nancy Garretson helped to launch the Abingdon Arts Depot over 20 years ago and continues her studio there today. She became a professional artist/weaver in 1972 when she moved to Southwest Virginia after receiving her master's degree in crafts from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Her commissioned works include many public buildings. Signature Artist for the 2003 Virginia Highlands Festival, she has shown her pieces in numerous Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee galleries and museums. She explains, “Tapestry cloth can be folded, draped, stuffed, or sewn to become three dimensional, and textures that rise up off the surface can be woven in. All of this versatility and potential in a medium allows for expressive possibilities that I have only begun to explore. I find great satisfaction not only in learning and mastering traditional tapestry techniques but in improvising and even inventing techniques. I want to push the medium beyond its traditional form.”

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode #2
Date: August 9, 2011
Episode Title: Eco-tourism, heritage tourism, green buildings, and e-commerce

Episode Description:
Today, broadband Internet has penetrated deep into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Ewing and Blackwater and Hurley have become Silicon Hollers. Could pride in heritage and new ecommerce opportunities encourage and enable our youth to stay here? How do you build tourism entrepreneurs? Can artisans earn a living? How do dulcimers and an outdoor drama draw tourists? The authentic Appalachian sustainable community development tour and dialogue continues. Lindy Turner will welcome us in Kyles Ford at River Place on the Clinch. Terry Lewis will gather us with dulcimer players in Cumberland Gap. We will visit green buildings along the Wilderness Road on our way to Big Stone Gap, where we will celebrate The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama with Barbara Polly. Then back in Abingdon, Todd Christensen will broaden our imaginations at Heartwood. What could change the national perception of Appalachia? What could the emerging Appalachian knowledge economy become?

Guest Bio – Lindy Turner: returning guest

Guest Bio – Terry Lewis:
Terry Lewis has been a dulcimer player for over 25 years and past President of the North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Association. Upon moving to southwest Virginia, Terry and his wife Pam became two of the four Rose Hill Dulcimer Club founding members. The club launched in 2005 and soon became the Wilderness Road Dulcimer Club. Under the leadership of Terry and Pam Lewis, the club has grown and performed at many regional events, such as the Cumberland Mountain Fall Festival. Activities have expanded to include an annual Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering in the Wilderness Road Campground in Gibson Station, Virginia, in the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The 5th annual gathering was held in 2011. Over 100 dulcimer players attend the event, mostly arriving in RVs. Some stay for one weekend and many stay for two weeks. Free workshops are offered throughout the event. Evenings are filled with concerts at the campground amphitheatre and late night campfire jam sessions.

Guest Bio – Barbara Polly:
Barbara Polly’s contribution to the Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama began during its first season in 1964, when she performed the role as leading actress. She has provided continual leadership, serving in various roles and positions over the years, including Artistic Director, General Manager, and Producer. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is the longest continually running outdoor drama in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1994, it became the official Outdoor Drama of Virginia. This timeless drama offers exciting entertainment and an accurate accounting of the story made famous by author John Fox, Jr. Published in 1908, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became a top ten best-selling novel. The drama depicts the effect that the discovery of coal in the Appalachian Mountains had on the people of this beautiful mountain region. Barbara Polly explains, “The outside world crashed in upon their secure simple lives in a dramatic way that changed them forever.”

Guest Bio – Todd Christiansen:
Todd Christensen leads Southwest Virginia’s Heartwood project, which includes three objectives: attract high-tech business development and high-end entrepreneurs through good quality of life, promote Southwest Virginia as a place to live, and attract visitors. Opened in 2011 along I-81 in Abingdon, the Heartwood center is a physical gateway to the region and its website offers an online gateway. Heartwood has branded a 19-county region as a unified destination that's synonymous with music, traditional arts and a unique cultural heritage. "The things we're really focused on are quality of life, sense of place, community development," Christensen said. "Every town in Southwest Virginia is or will be going through a revitalization process to become a cultural center as opposed to a goods and services center. While citizens begin to grasp the cultural changes inevitable with wholesale economic transformation, the region can continue to build upon its cultural heritage and history.”

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode #3
Date: August 16, 2011
Episode Title: The Innovative System, Civilization Progression & Knowledge Economy

Episode Description:
Appalachian innovators have created numerous significant sustainable community models for local and regional development. One exceptional Appalachian researcher and innovator, Robert Short, has constructed an innovative system which could offer key solutions to present day global challenges and mechanize a global transition to the knowledge economy. Dedicated to peace and prosperity through sustainable global development, Robert will discuss the three parts that make up his innovative system as being technology, models, and value theory. Robert will explain how his discovery provides an innovative system as defined by the World Bank for a country to participate in the knowledge economy. Robert will further discuss how this innovation could play a key role in civilization progression, the knowledge economy, national IT policies, and World Bank policy.

Guest Bio – Robert Short:
Robert Short is a modern day scroll raider. Through his research, Robert has discovered a technology that was utilized thousands of years ago and could play a significant role in today’s knowledge economy and civilization progression. His research involves asymptotic analysis, hyper-dimensional tesseract, mathematical phenomenology, non-paradoxical continuum, quantum strings, incompleteness theory, and value theory assessment. Could his proposed Axiological system revision accommodate content dissemination for rapid deployment of Web 3.0 and Web 4.0 innovations? Could Robert’s innovation enable the rapid deployment of executive and administrative systems for good governance, education, healthcare, judicial, transportation, and free market commerce?

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 4
Date: August 23, 2011
Episode Title: Trails, trails, trails – driving tours, hiking, biking, horses & ATVs

Episode Description:
In Appalachia, music is still part of the culture and lifestyle. Today, music trails and hiking trails intersect in small mountain towns. Likewise, spending time in the woods and along the rivers has not gone out of style. From the Appalachian Trail to the Cumberland Gap, many of the trails in the Appalachian Mountains are nationally recognized. Some of the trails predate the settlers, like the Warriors Path, known today as the Daniel Boone Wilderness Road Trail. Trails include driving tours, such as The Crooked Road and the Coal Heritage Trail, with online maps and enticing virtual tours. Multiuse and ATV trails, such as The Spearhead Trails system, are expanding in the heart of Appalachia. Some trails, like The Virginia Creeper Trail, began as foot trails, then became train tracks, then reverted back to multiuse trails open to hikers, bikers, and equestrians. Guests Dr. Ed Davis and Eugene McClellan discuss how small communities are promoting trails, trails, trails.

Guest Bio – Dr. Ed Davis:
Dr. Ed Davis has coauthored two books. The first book is The Virginia Creeper Trail Companion and the second book is An Oral History of Konnarock, Virginia. He speaks Spanish. He has traveled to several countries on field research, and supports sustainability projects in Virginia. His research interests include the origin and diffusion of collard greens as a cultural tradition in the U.S. South. Dr. Ed Davis was appointed by the Governor to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Virginias Natural Resources from 2007 to 2013. He also serves as the Treasurer for the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, which works to restore the Clinch, the Powell, and the Holston Rivers. Dr. Ed Davis joined the faculty at Emory and Henry College in 1991, where he teaches geography and environmental studies. He and his students map environmental change. In 2009, Dr. Ed Davis won the Appalachian Center for Community Service Hope Award for community service engagement.

Guest Bio – Eugene McClellan:
Eugene McClellan serves on the Southwest Virginia Recreational Authority’s Executive Board. He represents Scott County. The Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2008 to form the Southwest Virginia Recreational Authority for developing a multiuse public trail system to stretch across the seven county coalfields region. The initiative is called the Spearhead Trails system. Eugene McClellan also serves on the board of directors of the Scott County Regional Horse Association. The Scott County Regional Horse Association is a nonprofit organization promoting and encouraging the horse industry in Scott County and the surrounding region. The association offers community activities and educational youth programs. The Association was established in 2004 and has developed the popular Scott County Horse Park facility for horse shows and similar events. Eugene McClellan is a resident of Gate City, Virginia.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 5
Date: August 30, 2011
Episode Title: An Axiology institute, training rural health professionals, and an innovative system

Episode Description:
Dr. David and Vera Mefford introduce Axiology, value theory, measuring good and goodness, and The Robert S. Hartman Institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. They also introduce Axces-Solutions axiological assessments used globally by corporations and sports teams for recruiting, coaching and leadership development. Dr. Michael Fallacaro of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond reports on a distance learning model for training rural nurses in Appalachia to become nurse anesthetists who remain in the region. He describes a model with the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, using two way synchronous televideo systems and rural clinical rotations. Robert Short discusses an innovative system connecting technology, education, value theory, and distance learning. Topics include Web 3.0, a unified working method, knowledge creation and management, and building a knowledge economy. Could Appalachian innovation lead to a sustainable globe?

Guest Bio – Dr. Michael D. Fallacaro:
Led by Chairman Dr. Michael D. Fallacaro, Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Nurse Anesthesia has ranked as the No. 1 graduate nurse anesthesia program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report each year since 2003. In 2004, the Department began a program with the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon to increase the preparation and number of certified registered nurse anesthetists working in Appalachian communities, by using two way synchronous videoconferencing, desktop sharing, satellite downlinks, web based lessons, webcasting, online archiving, face to face instruction, a human patient simulator laboratory, and rural clinical sites. Every student from the first three graduating classes was recruited from a rural area, educated in that same area, passed the national certification examination, and accepted employment in rural Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina. In 2009, VCU replicated the Abingdon model with Carilion Clinic in Roanoke.

Guest Bio – Dr. David Mefford:
A Morristown, Tennessee native, Dr. David Mefford has 40 years of experience in Axiology, the science of value. He completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of Tennessee, where he began his career as a student assistant to Professor Robert S. Hartman, whose discovery of a logic-based frame of reference for qualities led to the science of value and the Hartman Value Profile. Dr. David Mefford has helped create a series of values-based personality instruments known as Values Usage Exercises and the Personal Talent Skills Inventory, a parallel form of the Hartman Value Profile used for selection and coaching in 50 countries of the world. He is co-founder of the Robert S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology at UT and co-chairman of AXCES-Solutions, providing axiological science applications for selection, coaching, and development, ranging from targeted sports profiles to specific business profiles, such as ethics. He is married to Vera Mefford.

Guest Bio – Vera Mefford:
Vera Mefford earned a Masters Degree from Schiller University in Heidelberg, Germany. She has served as a business consultant for over 25 years and has developed and marketed axiological products and services for human resources, advertising and corporate development. Clients have included Chase Manhattan, Oak Ridge National Lab, ALCOA Aluminum, State Farm, and Cellular One. She has trained business affiliates in advanced Axiology, conducted teleconferences for coaching networks, and developed values based assessments for sports, fitness, business, finance, sales, leadership and hospitality. Vera Mefford is a board member of the Robert S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology at the University of Tennessee. She is co-chairman of AXCES-Solutions, providing axiological science applications for selection, coaching, and development, ranging from targeted sports profiles, such as golf, to specific business profiles, such as sales. She is married to Dr. David Mefford.

Guest Bio – Robert Short: returning guest
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Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 6
Date: September 6, 2011
Episode Title: Knowledge centers, The New Zealand Project & knowledge economy institutes

Episode Description:
Today, we will explore how successful Appalachian economic development models play an essential role in the creation of knowledge centers as part of the global transition to the knowledge economy. We will learn how Appalachia again leads the way of the modern day frontiersman in forging this new brave world with advancements in engineering, science, and medicine. Our guest today is Shaam Rodrigo who will discuss how his New Zealand Project can function as community sized hubs that have floors dedicated to computer and communication systems, research and academic areas, medical and science labs, and agricultural production models. In collaboration with Appalachian Innovator Robert Short and the Innovative System, they have prepared the New Zealand Project to become potential models serving as knowledge capitals for participating countries of the knowledge economy.

Guest Bio – Shaam Rodrigo:
Shaam Rodrigo is an award-winning designer with over 15 years experience as an art and creative design director for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Shaam’s passion is esoteric research dating back to the cradle of civilization. Shaam is highly recognized as the founder of the New Zealand Project and as a global leader in the creation of sustainable city sized mega structures. Shaam identifies his sustainable community goals as a fit to the World Bank’s Institutional Regime that is required for a country to establish a knowledge economy. Shaam was a long time supporter and member of the Planetary Society and is currently a proponent of a sustainable world and a type one civilization progression.

Guest Bio – Robert Short: returning guest

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 7
Date: September 13, 2011
Episode Title: Rural media, museums, libraries & emerging community knowledge center models

Episode Description:
The topic for today is rural media, museums, libraries & emerging community knowledge center models. We are looking at what role they play and visiting a few models. Media, museums, and libraries all play a significant role in preserving and celebrating our heritage. They help to provide access to information and facilitate life-long learning. In many ways these models in media, museums, and libraries work to gather or even create information and knowledge. They also help to sort the information in some meaningful way that provides easy access to it. Rich Kirby of Appalshop and WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky reports on the successes behind WMMT radio, The Voice of the Hillbilly Nation. Dee Davis of The Center for Rural Strategies, The National Rural Assembly, and The Daily Yonder online rural news outlet discusses rural media models using the Internet. Jeanne Zavada of the Gray Fossil Museum reports on local natural history going back millions of years.

Guest Bio – Rich Kirby:
Fiddler Rich Kirby had performed traditional Appalachian music and stories across the region and nationally for 20 years before coming to WMMT in Whitesburg, KY in 1990. He was involved in documentation and recording of older musicians and did work with traditional music in schools, in Appalachia and other parts of the country. He was the music director of Appalshop’s Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival for three years. In 1989, he produced a 13-hour radio series on music in South Africa which was distributed nationally. His recordings for June Appal record label include National Heritage Award winners Lily May Ledford and Wade Mainer. In 1997, he produced a 13-part series of music from the Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival which was redistributed nationally in 2001. His radio series, A Fiddle Runs Through It, profiled the young musicians carrying on Appalachia’s music traditions and the older musicians they learned from, and aired on more than 130 public radio stations in 2003.

Guest Bio – Dee Davis:
Dee Davis is President and founder of the Center for Rural Strategies. The Center for Rural Strategies manages the activities of the National Rural Assembly, a coalition made up of over 400 organizations and individuals from 47 states working at local, regional, and national levels to build more opportunity and better policy for rural communities across the country. The center also publishes The Daily Yonder, an online rural news source with commentary, reports from rural correspondents, and updates from the best rural bloggers. Dee Davis is the former executive producer of Appalshop Films/Headwaters Television. While Dee Davis was at Appalshop, the organization produced more than 50 documentary films and videos, including On Our Own Land, which received an Alfred A. Dupont Columbia University Award for journalism excellence. Dee Davis is a member of the national advisory board of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

Guest Bio – Jeanne Zavada:
Jeanne Zavada is the Director of the East Tennessee State University and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum and Visitor Center, commonly referred to as the Gray Fossil Museum. The museum introduces visitors to the 5-million year old Gray Fossil Site, discovered in 2000 by TDOT highway crews. The museum offers tours of an ongoing fossil dig, interactive exhibits, and education programs for people of all ages. The museum also features temporary traveling exhibits that change three times a year. This is the site of the largest fossil find in North America. Students serve as tour guides and are on hand to answer questions and take visitors on a guided tour of the facility. The museum is divided into two levels. The lower floor houses exhibits while the upper floor is the working lab. Large glass windows allow visitors to peer inside the lab while work is going. Eleven years after its discovery, the Gray Fossil Site continues to produce significant finds.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 8
Date: September 20, 2011
Episode Title: Farm to Table in Appalachia – Food and the Environment

Episode Description:
Anthony Flaccavento discusses the achievements and models established through the non-profit organization, Appalachian Sustainable Development, and an earlier organization, the Coalition for Jobs and the Environment, both serving portions of Virginia and Tennessee while connecting residents, food and the environment. Topics include regional organic grower networks, distribution, and value-added marketing. He reports on his role with a United Nations Education Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) project, including authoring a chapter for their book. He also reports on his consulting services through SCALE, Sequestering Carbon and Accelerating Local Economies. A certified organic farmer for 15 years, he also adds some insight into how Abingdon, Virginia built the best small town farmers’ market in America. In addition, Martha Combs, owner of Festive Celebrations in Abingdon, Virginia, shares fun tips for planning eco-friendly, green events and serving locally-grown foods.

Guest Bio – Anthony Flaccavento:
Anthony Flaccavento earned a BS degree in Agriculture and Environmental Science and a masters degree in Economic and Social Development. His hands-on experience spans 24 years in community development and 15 years in sustainable economic development in Appalachia. He built a nationally-recognized, entrepreneurial non-profit, Appalachian Sustainable Development, which provides a model for asset-based, sustainable economic development. He was selected as a 2004 Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World awardee and a 2007 Kellogg National Food and Society Policy Fellow. He has designed, organized and built integrated value chains in organic and sustainable foods and sustainable forest products. He has been a certified organic farmer for over 15 years and raises nearly 50 types of fruits and vegetables. He provides consulting, speaking, writing and analysis services through his home-based business, SCALE. The mission of SCALE is to Sequester Carbon and Accelerate Local Economies.

Guest Bio – Martha Combs:
Martha Combs, the owner of Festive Celebrations, grew up surrounded by entertaining and gatherings of all sorts. After years of giving fun theme parties for her friends, Martha Combs decided she wanted to help others to better plan and provide more fun, entertaining, interactive parties and events. She started Festive Celebrations in order to do just that. Festive Celebrations talented staff members help to plan and design parties or events, coupling the host’s ideas with the staff’s experience, resulting in a wonderfully unforgettable event. Magical Mystery Parties is a division of Festive Celebrations dedicated to murder mystery parties and scavenger hunts. Magical Mystery Parties is all about fun and games. When was the last time you had fun figuring out who murdered a fellow dinner party guest or undertaking the quest of a team scavenger hunt?

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 9
Date: September 27, 2011
Episode Title: Civilization progression and launching the knowledge economy

Episode Description:
Dr. David and Vera Mefford discuss their stakeholder position in the launching of the knowledge economy. The Meffords report on the upcoming launch of the Center for Civilization Values at the University of Tennessee and its role in civilization progression. Robert Short discusses his proposed civilization progression and knowledge economy stake-holders consultancy with the World Bank regarding the Program for Results (P4R) Instrument. With Shaam Rodrigo of the New Zealand Project, Robert Short discusses Type One Civilization (T1C) Certified Corridors where research, science, and governance labs can be available to model, finance, and rapidly deploy sustainable development models and Community Knowledge Centers across rural America. The dialogue includes discussion on new T1C energy technology and the innovation resulting from converging value theory with sustainable development models, such as organic food production, education and healthcare.

Guest Bio – Robert Short: returning guest

Guest Bio – Dr. David and Vera Mefford: returning guests

Guest Bio – Shaam Rodrigo: returning guest

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 10
Date: October 4, 2011
Episode Title: Social justice, community service, and civic engagement

Episode Description:
Dr. Stephen L. Fisher offers insight into social justice movements, community service, and civic engagement. He introduces the Appalachian Peace Education Center located in Abingdon, Virginia. He also introduces the Appalachian Community Fund located Knoxville, Tennessee. He discusses the book he edited in 1993, Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change. Dr. Stephen L. Fisher also relates the achievements of the Appalachian Center for Community Service, which he founded at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia. In 2009, Emory & Henry College was honored with the President’s Award, the highest national recognition for commitment to service learning and civic engagement. During the dialogue, Dr. Stephen L. Fisher shares helpful tips for grassroots organizing and enlightening stories from the field.

Guest Bio – Dr. Stephen L. Fisher:
Dr. Stephen L. Fisher is an Appalachian activist, author, teacher, and researcher. He is professor emeritus at Emory & Henry College, where he taught political science and also founded and directed the Appalachian Center for Community Service. He encourages people to envision the world in which they would like to live, and then challenges them to forge that world. He promotes the value of community service and the importance of social justice. In 1994, he received the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award. In 1999, he received the highest teaching honor in the nation, the U.S. Professor of the Year Award by The Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement of Education. In 2012, he co-edited the book Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia, a collection of seventeen original essays by scholars and activists. The book illuminates widely relevant lessons about building coalitions and movements with sufficient strength to challenge corporate-driven globalization.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 11
Date: October 11, 2011
Episode Title: Rural broadband Internet deployment & applications, municipal-owned fiber-to-the-home

Episode Description:
The dialogue with attorney Steven Minor introduces topics and debate around the role of local government and rural fiber-to-the-home broadband Internet deployment. He lives and works in Bristol, Virginia where new legal policy issues surfaced and rose to the U.S. Supreme Court as the local government began to enter the market of deploying broadband. He discusses the arguments presented, the policies debated, and the determinations established by the Court. He explains how the Court’s opinion significantly affected access to fiber-to-the-home in rural areas. Dr. Andrew Cohill discusses building community broadband networks that perform, including rural broadband models for deployment and applications. He reports on the Blacksburg Electronic Village, which was the world’s first Internet-based community broadband project in 1993. He talks about The Wired Road and other groundbreaking open access networks. The dialogue helps to introduce “next-generation networks.”

Guest Bio – Steven Minor:
Attorney Steven Minor is a law partner at Elliott Lawson & Minor, representing plaintiffs and defendants in jury trials and other proceedings in state and federal court in Southwest Virginia and surrounding areas. His practice has centered on a range of federal litigation, particularly civil rights and employment law claims, and diversity cases based on warranty or products liability claims. He has represented in litigation and provided counsel to local governments and small businesses from this area, and has served as local counsel for national and international firms with business or litigation in Southwest Virginia. He has argued appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and appeared in every court in the Western District of Virginia. He earned his B.A. degree from the University of Virginia and his J.D. degree from The College of William and Mary. He won the 2008 Leaders in the Law award by the Virginia Lawyers Weekly and a 2008 Virginia Super Lawyer award.

Guest Bio – Dr. Andrew Cohill:
Dr. Andrew Cohill is the President and CEO of Design Nine. He is a broadband architect with an extensive background in open access broadband network design and planning. He directed the Blacksburg Electronic Village at Virginia Tech from 1993 to 2002, launching the world’s first residential broadband system. By the late nineties, Blacksburg become known as the “most wired community in the world” with more than 87% of the town’s residents using the Internet. Blacksburg became the first local government online, the first school system with broadband in every classroom, the first library with free public broadband access, and offered the first real estate website in the world. Blacksburg businesses launched the first ecommerce applications on the globe. Design Nine works closely with community leaders and economic developers on technology master planning, telecom infrastructure development, and strategies for getting communities connected to the new Knowledge Economy.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 12
Date: October 18, 2011
Episode Title: Clean energy, solar technology, and innovative carbon sequestration models

Episode Description:
Ed Rogers tells us about the launch and successes of the Southwest Virginia Clean Energy Research and Development Center in Abingdon, Virginia. He reports on some of the companies and projects that are working with the energy research center, and how these enterprises help further clean energy technology with marketable products and applications. Dr. David and Vera Mefford provide a report on their involvement with solar energy enterprise and research projects, and relate how their solar interest is enhanced by Tennessee Valley Authority’s policy of buying energy from their consumers. The Meffords also share insight into significant, emerging solar technologies. Shaam Rodrigo introduces some of the clean energy models gathered from around the globe and brought together by The New Zealand Project. His discussion includes an introduction to the Carbon Capturing Concrete model, using carbon sequestration technologies as building materials engineered to reduce carbon footprint.

Guest Bio – Ed Rogers:
Ed Rogers has been the Director of the Clean Energy Research & Development Center in Southwest Virginia since July 2009. In his position, he structures strategic and financial opportunities for early growth-stage energy technology companies to establish and expand their businesses in the region. He is also involved in statewide energy projects. From 2003-2009, he led an animal food technology company he had founded using university-developed intellectual property. He reached a technology transfer agreement with a research university, raised funds, implemented in-house manufacturing, and distributed the product on five continents and in 3,000 Wal-Marts. The company had created one of the “50 Greatest Fishing Lures of All Time” according to Field & Stream magazine in April 2006. A graduate of University of Virginia School of Law, Ed Rogers practiced law for 11 years and worked 1 year in private equity, prior to 2003. He and his wife have two sons and he coaches youth lacrosse.

Guest Bio – Shaam Rodrigo: returning guest

Guest Bio – Dr. David and Vera Mefford: returning guests

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 13
Date: October 25, 2011
Episode Title: Models, axiological psychology, innovative system & sustainable civilizations

Episode Description: The New Science – Value Theory and Axiological Psychology. The discussion opens with a recap of the first twelve episodes and guests who joined the dialogue. Dr. David and Vera Mefford provide insight into the basis and development of value theory and axiological psychology. The dialogue includes a discussion of concepts presented in Dr. Leon Pomeroy’s book, The New Science of Axiological Psychology. A reviewer posted on Amazon that this book, “will take you on an around-the-world trip that promises to start bridging the yawning gap between natural science and moral philosophy that began 450 years ago.” Robert Short and the Meffords discuss how Axiology connects with the reconstruction of a sustainable civilization and the practical implications for the social sciences and humankind. Robert Short discusses how Axiology is a key component of an innovative system and how these topics connect to the emerging knowledge economy and the development of sustainable civilizations.

Guest Bio – Dr. David and Vera Mefford: returning guests

Guest Bio – Robert Short: returning guest

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 14
Date: November 22, 2011
Episode Title: Three states and a nation: the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park model

Episode Description:
Park Ranger Carol Borneman introduces Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Located at the borders of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the park offers 24,000 acres of stunning scenery and lots of things to do. She explains the mission and role of the park and describes how the collaborative tri-state initiative began. Topics include guided tours in one of the park’s 24 caves and Hensley Settlement tours on an isolated mountaintop. She explains how these state lines bump together with the example of Pinnacle Overlook, where you park in Kentucky, walk a paved, level, one-fourth mile trail into Virginia, and overlook the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. On a clear day at Pinnacle Overlook, you can see The Smokies in North Carolina, a 90-mile view. The dialogue includes hiking trails and regional links. Discussion includes the juried craft cooperative’s gift shop in the visitor’s center, and the park’s Wilderness Road Campground, offering 160 sites in a beautiful wooded setting.

Guest Bio – Carol Borneman:
Carol Borneman is a Park Ranger and Interpretive Guide. She began working for the National Park Service over 28 years ago. She has worked at the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park for 18 years now. She explains, “I like describing Cumberland Gap as this incredible tapestry of cultural, natural and historical resources all woven together, and you really can’t separate one from the other.” She reports, “That’s why this area became a national park, the people here in Appalachia are fiercely proud of their heritage. They understand the significance of the Cumberland Gap. They understand the significance of their culture.” She relates, “I’m from the Midwest. I usually stay at a park for four years before I transfer, but I’ve been here at Cumberland Gap for 18 years, and a lot of that has to do with the warmth of the people in this area. I love the strength of the people, and I am so jealous of the talents of the people in this area when it comes to the arts and crafts.”

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 15
Date: November 29, 2011
Episode Title: Marketing local products & the best small town farmers’ market in America

Episode Description:
Market manager Sarah Cardinale reports on the successes and achievements of the thriving Abingdon Farmers’ Market model. Sarah reports on why the Abingdon Farmers Market is strictly a producer-only market with no re-selling allowed. She describes the market’s vast variety of produce, meat, and crafts. She explains that the farmers’ market model emphasizes that the market is a place where you can connect with your community and socialize. Cooking demonstrations, live music, holiday festivities, and special events encourage people to spend more time at the market and further enjoy the experience. She explains how the growers have extended their season and begun operating the market year-round. Topics include the market’s weekly list serve with over 800 subscribers receiving e-newsletters announcing who will be selling what this week, and further promoting special market events.

Guest Bio – Sarah Cardinale:
Sarah Cardinale manages one of the best small town farmers’ market in America: Virginia’s Abingdon Farmers’ Market. A vendor-driven market operated by its 44 vendors, the Abingdon Farmers’ Market has become the model for many farmers’ markets dotted across the region and nation. The Abingdon Farmers’ Market has also led the collaborative efforts among many markets in the region, establishing the Appalachian Farmers’ Market Association. Sarah Cardinale led the Abingdon Farmers’ Market to become the first farmers’ market in the state of Virginia to enable food stamp recipients to use their EBT card for purchases at the farmers’ market. In partnership with the Virginia Department of Social Services, she then trained 38 other farmers’ markets in how to set-up their EBT card ability. In many respects, Abingdon Farmers’ Market has become a small business incubator for quite a few businesses in the Abingdon area.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy with Joan Minor
Episode # 16
Date: December 6, 2011
Episode Title: The “Fighting Ninth,” sustainable models, and Native American mounds

Episode Description:
The topics began with an introduction to Virginia’s “Fighting Ninth District.” According to the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, “The counties in southwestern Virginia comprising the Ninth District form the only geographical region in the United States known by its congressional district number.” Next, six sustainable community development indicators were reviewed. Then, three sustainable development models launched in the “Fighting Ninth” were presented. The first model presented was ‘Round the Mountain, the Southwest Virginia Artisans Network. The second model focused on trains and transportation in America, including the regional RAIL Solution organization and the national Steel Interstate concept. The third model focused on archaeology and the preservation of Native American Mounds, including an introduction to the Ely Mound and the Carter-Robinson Mound in Lee County, Virginia.

No guests

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Episode 2 coming on August 9th at 9AM EST

Episode Title: Eco-tourism, heritage tourism, green buildings, and e-commerce
Episode Description: Today, broadband Internet has penetrated deep into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Ewing and Blackwater and Hurley have become Silicon Hollers. Could pride in heritage and new ecommerce opportunities encourage and enable our youth to stay here? How do you build tourism entrepreneurs? Can artisans earn a living? How do dulcimers and an outdoor drama draw tourists? The authentic Appalachian sustainable community development tour and dialogue continues. Lindy Turner will welcome us in Kyles Ford at River Place on the Clinch. Terry Lewis will gather us with dulcimer players in Cumberland Gap. We will visit green buildings along the Wilderness Road on our way to Big Stone Gap, where we will celebrate The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama with Barbara Polly. Then back in Abingdon, Todd Christensen will broaden our imaginations at Heartwood. What could change the national perception of Appalachia? What could the emerging Appalachian knowledge economy become?

Opening Guest - Bio:
Lindy Turner is the Coordinator for Clinch Powell Resource Conservation and Development Council in Tennessee. She is an accomplished sustainable development sparkplug. River Place on the Clinch is a delightful Authentic Appalachian versatile vacation destination. Offering a market, a cafe, a cottage, rental cabins, camping, canoes, funyaks, rafts, tubing, and fishing, River Place on the Clinch focuses on preservation, restoration, and environmental protection in the remote community of Kyles Ford, Tennessee. In addition, The Clinch River Conservation Center and Retreat offers group accommodations and is located in a spacious, beautifully restored Kyles Ford home. The Appalachian Quilt Trail has grown to include over half of Tennessee and has even stretched up into Virginia now. Other council achievements include 3000 students engaged in service learning, 1200 sixth grade students participating in Conservation Camp, and the construction of several affordable homes.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Two clicks to hear the first show

You can listen to the radio show broadcast here:

It's 2 clicks away -after you click on the link below, then... on the left, click on "Latest Episode" http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1947/appalachian-knowledge-economy.

It is my first attempt as a newbie UM radio UH talk UM show UH host... The show opens with talk about Blackwater, Virginia and guest Jack Goins, Melungeon reseacher and author. Blackwater, Virginia will be featured again in the next show, which will be broadcast live on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 9AM EST. The first show focused on "Arts, crafts, festivals & heritage" and is available at the link listed above. The second show will focus on "Eco-tourism, heritage tourism, green buildings, e-commerce & k-commerce." To tune in, go to www.voiceamerica.com and click on "Business" on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 9AM.
Joan
www.blackwaterva.org

Friday, July 29, 2011

Episode 1 - Guest List

I am proud to announce the following guests for the first episode of the radio show:

Week 1 - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 6-7am PT (9-10am Eastern time):
THEME: Arts, crafts, festivals & heritage
GUESTS:
9:02am - Jack Goins www.jgoins.com Melungeon Researcher, Rogersville TN – The VA/TN Melungeons
9:18am - Lindy Turner www.vacationaqt.com The Appalachian Quilt Trail, TN/VA – a back roads barn-hopping tour
9:33am – Nancy Garrettson www.abingdonartsdepot.org The Arts Depot, Abingdon VA – artisans, year-round studios
9:48am - Debby Loggans www.roundthemountain.org ‘Round the Mountain, Abingdon VA – artisans and crafts

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Blackwater VA: Melungeons & Fiber-to-the-Home



Blackwater, Virginia is a small Appalachian community near the Clinch River and the border of Virginia and Tennessee. With funding from the USDA Community Connect program and the Virginia Tobacco Commission, Blackwater now has fiber-to-the-home broadband Internet service and free Internet access at the Blackwater Computer & Internet Center.



Here is some interesting (although probably debatable) information about Blackwater's cultural heritage. In certain circles, Blackwater is known for its Melungeon ancestors.

An article reprinted in 1948 talks about “black-water Springs.” The area is known today as Blackwater. There have been many references by various Melungeon researchers over the years to this article. I have copied a portion of the article below and have listed the website where Joanne Pezzullo has posted the article with a helpful introduction.

“It was reprinted from the Knoxville Register September 6, 1848 quoting from the Louisville Examiner. (We are sorry to have lost the name of the southern paper from which this is taken.)



We give to-day another amusing and characteristic sketch from a letter of our intelligent and sprightly correspondent, sojourning at present in one of the seldom-visited nooks hid away in our mountains.



You must know that within ten miles of this owl's nest, there is a watering-place, known hereabouts as 'black-water Springs.' It is situated in a narrow gorge, scarcely half a mile wide, between Powell's Mountain and the Copper Ridge, and is, as you may suppose, almost inaccessible. A hundred men could defend the pass against even a Xerxian army. Now this gorge and the tops and sides of the adjoining mountains are inhabited by a singular species of the human animal called MELUNGENS.



The legend of their history, which they carefully preserve, is this. A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese Adventurers, men and women--who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia, that they might be freed from the restraints and drawbacks imposed on them by any form of government. These people made themselves friendly with the Indians and freed, as they were from every kind of social government, they uprooted all conventional forms of society and lived in a delightful Utopia of their own creation, trampling on the marriage relation, despising all forms of religion, and subsisting upon corn (the only possible product of the soil) and wild game of the woods.



These intermixed with the Indians, and subsequently their descendants (after the advances of the whites into this part of the state) with the negros and the whites, thus forming the present race of Melungens.



They are tall, straight, well- formed people, of a dark copper color, with Circassian features, but wooly heads and other similar appendages of our negro. They are privileged voters in the state in which they live and thus, you will perceive, are accredited citizens of the commonwealth. They are brave, but quarrelsome; and are hospitable and generous to strangers. They have no preachers among them and are almost without any knowledge of a Supreme Being. They are married by the established forms, but husband and wife separate at pleasure, without meeting any reproach or disgrace from their friends. They are remarkably unchaste, and want of chastity on the part of females is no bar to their marrying. They have but little association with their neighbors, carefully preserving their race, or class, or whatever you may call it: and are in every respect, save they are under the state government, a separate and distinct people. Now this is no traveller's story.



They are really what I tell you, without abating or setting down in aught in malice. They are behind their neighbors in the arts. They use oxen instead of horses in their agricultural attempts, and their implements of husbandry are chiefly made by themselves of wood. They are, without exception, poor and ignorant, but apparently happy.”

http://www.historical-melungeons.com/littels.html

Introducing Jack Goins, Guest

Guests for Episode 1 will include Melungeon researcher Jack Goins.


In his writings, Melungeon researcher Jack Goins has explained that because there were so many theories and ideas about the history of the Melungeons, he decided to try and find out the answers. He sought answers first, straight from the source. He discussed family history with the descendants of people whose parents or great grandparents or ancestors were considered Melungeon. He met with people who lived, or formerly lived in Kyles Ford, Blackwater, Newman Ridge, and Sneedville areas along the Virginia and Tennessee border. His has published two books. His research projects include multiple DNA projects and the Hawkins County archive project. His website explains that tracking down these old pioneer families from the Clinch to their migration starting points and walking on the land where they walked has been a fantastic journey. So come with Jack to the creeks, rivers, courthouses, towns and farms, and learn about the Melungeons, Newman Ridge and the Clinch River Valley.

Jack Goins lives in Rogersville, TN. His website is located at www.jgoins.com. He has published two books: “MELUNGEONS, Footprints from the Past” and “Melungeons and Other Pioneer Families.” His research projects include the Melungeon, Goins and Minor DNA projects.