Kin Takahashi was a five-feet-two-inch, 123-pound ball of joyous energy whose fire burned brightly for only thirty-six short years. But Mr. Takahashi shared his energy with all those around him willingly and without hesitation. It could be said that his life was so brief because he gave everything of himself,Continue Reading
Black bears are as Appalachian as moonshine and fiddle music, and most anyone who has lived here has a bear story. In fact, most folks who visit our mountain hollers and trails have a bear story, even if it’s just a chance sighting from the road. They are fascinating animals.Continue Reading
Almost everybody in Appalachia has a home canning story. Whether it’s that jar of pickles that just didn’t keep its crunch, or the homemade apple butter with that heavenly taste, or the month canning went awry when several jars burst, and so forth. And I’d go even further to sayContinue Reading
Earlier this year, Appalachia Bare took a trip to the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. If any of our readers are true crime aficionados, this visit would be worth your while. The museum’s architectural structure is built similar to one of the buildings on Alcatraz Island, andContinue Reading
We’ve all reached the midpoint of 2023, seen moons and days and times pass like a blur or a telling breeze. Together, our readers, subscribers, and contributors, along with all of us at Appalachia Bare, have lived each moment, weathered every hardship, and basked in many joys. Please forgive thisContinue Reading
In February this year, Appalachia Bare attended the Rose Glen Literary Festival in Sevierville, Tennessee. The festival holds creative workshops and is lined wall-to-wall with authors, artists, publishers, and various other vendors in the creative world. One such talented author we met was Jay Reace, whose young adult book LegacyContinue Reading
Last fall, Appalachia Bare had the opportunity to conduct an on-site interview with Wayne Mason, the Compost Supervisor at Knoxville’s University of Tennessee (UTK) Compost Facility.1)Over the winter Wayne took a position with a city in the northeast to set up a municipal compost facility. What an eye-opening experience! WayneContinue Reading
On Friday, March 24th, Appalachia Bare loaded up the laptops, business cards, and tabling equipment, and headed to the Magnolia Campus of Pellissippi State Community College (PSCC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the second Mag Comic Expo. The Expo was organized by our own Science Guru, Grant Mincy, who invited usContinue Reading
You have a story to tell. We all do. Ours is an oral history – told by great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, etc. Consider for a moment how many of our people’s stories will never be known because they were never written or captured in time. Instead, they areContinue Reading
I first met Cassie Watters when I was Local President of United Campus Workers (UCW). In 2011 I hired her to be one of our union Organizers (a decision I count among the best during my terms as president). Since then, I have had the privilege to call her aContinue Reading