A R T S + C U LT U R E
Telling Your Own Story BY TINA V. BRYSON
R
ising out of the mountains of Appalachia, in the farthest part of Eastern Kentucky before you hit West Virginia, is the University of Pikeville (UPIKE). Its president, Dr. Burton Webb, lives by the university’s commitment to “create intellectual, cultural, and economic opportunities for Appalachia,” and in that vein he hosts the podcast, “Appalachia Rising,” to shine a spotlight on innovators in the region. “We are at a moment in time where Appalachia has captured the interest of the greater culture in many ways, and that rises from things like the war on poverty and the decline of the coal industry,” Webb said. “There are incredible stories in Appalachia that we wanted to tell about how our collective investment in the region results in Appalachia being able to thrive on its own. Solutions need to come from inside the region rather than being imposed from outside. Ideas need to arise from here if they are going to catch fire here, and that was the idea behind the podcast. How can Appalachia rise? We think it is doing what we need to do on our own.” 32
The Mountain Spirit Spring/Summer 2020
The podcast kicked off in 2019 with the bold proclamation that “it was time for Appalachians to take control of the stories about Appalachia” and twelve episodes later Webb has introduced listeners to stories about creating new career paths in the tech industry for out of work coal miners, providing a new source of sustainable agriculture in Appalachia, and piloting new healthcare initiatives like The Farmacy Program that provides “prescriptions” for fresh produce to combat chronic health problems. “So many people hold the stereotyped view of Appalachia that pervades the national narrative, and yet as I have lived here and my family has deep roots in this area, it isn’t the image that the people here hold,” Webb stated. “We’re trying to help the outside world realize that there are incredibly creative and innovative things taking place here that don’t get the national spotlight shone upon them because they are here, so we’re going to tell our own stories.”
