Short Fuse Podcast #56: Talking Appalachian After the Floods
By Elizabeth Howard
Episode Summary
In July, heavy rains flooded Eastern Kentucky in Appalachia, displacing entire communities, located in the poorest counties in the United States. Then the rain stopped. The press coverage stopped. In this episode of the Short Fuse podcast, Elizabeth Howard talks with Amy D. Clark, PhD, and Jayne Moore Waldrop about Appalachia today through their lens as scholar and writer. Amy is a co-editor with Nancy M. Hayward of the book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community, and Jayne Moore Waldrop is the author of the novel Drowned Town. Both volumes are published by the University Press of Kentucky. (“The Cyclone of Rye Cove” ballad courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways.)
Episode Notes
Amy Clark is a professor of Appalachian and Communication Studies at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, where she is the founding co-director of the Center for Appalachian Studies, and founding director of the Appalachian Writing Project. She is author and co-editor of Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. Her work on Appalachian dialects has appeared in the New York Times and NPR, among other publications. She co-hosts the podcast Southern Salon: Culture and Communication, which includes a new series on Talking Appalachia.
Jayne Moore Waldrop is a western Kentucky native. She is the author of Retracing My Steps, a finalist in the 2018 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Contest, and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems. Waldrop’s work has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Still: The Journal, Appalachian Review, New Madrid Review, Deep South Magazine, New Limestone Review, Women Speak, and other literary journals. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
The University Press of Kentucky has a dual mission — the publication of academic books of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South, and Appalachia. The Press is the statewide nonprofit scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, serving all Kentucky state-sponsored institutions of higher learning as well as six private colleges and Kentucky’s two major historical societies.
The Short Fuse Podcast is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard. Learn more at Elizabeth Howard.
The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication’s over 60 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. Our core belief: that there is a robust readership for arts coverage that believes that culture matters.
Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn and can be reached at alexwatersmusic12@gmail.com with inquiries.
Tagged: Amy D. Clark, and Community, Drowned Town, Eastern Kentucky, Floods, identity, Jayne Moore Waldrop