DO 157 - Appalachia, Localism, and Storytelling with Farahn Morgan and Jason

In this episode Jason talks with Farahn Morgan about growing up in Appalachia, moving to DC and going to college, moving back home near her family and community, and her work in news, journalism, and how she frames it: storytelling. They dig into the nature of ‘expertise’, culture, folk traditions and how they are exploited, making a living in the modern political economy and the difficulties of doing that while still preserving traditional lifeways, the blessing and curse of the coal industry, the current story she’s working on looking into wildcrafting and how it connects to the Cherokee side of her ancestry, deaths of despair, the importance of choosing to build a home and connect to place despite the currents working against it, the importance of learning from elders, her views on the Foxfire series, book recommendations for understanding Appalachia, and much more. *Note, there is a bonus section at the end where the formal conversation wrapped up but they accidentally didn’t stop recording the more informal discussion, which they both decided to leave in Bio: Farahn is a writer living and working at home in Appalachia. After spending nearly a decade in politics and media in Washington, D.C., she returned to Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky to be close to her family, understand their history and traditions more intimately, and re-establish her connection to the land and herself. She is still learning. Read her words at http://LongRoadHome.substack.com, County Highway, RealClearBooks & Culture, The Washington Examiner, and WrongSpeak.