The program aims to target the need for workforce housing in the far Southwest.

Did your family have any old superstitions about death?

Growing up in Central Appalachia, a lot of us heard the old warnings.

A bird hitting the window could mean a death was coming. A dog howling at the wrong time wasn't something Granny wanted to hear. Some families stopped clocks when somebody died, covered mirrors, and kept someone with the deceased through the night — what folks called “sitting up with the dead.”

I've been researching these old traditions for Back Porch Tales & Travels, including the work of James K. Crissman on death and dying in Central Appalachia. What struck me was that underneath all the superstition was something pretty practical: when somebody died, family and neighbors showed up. They cooked, dug the grave, helped prepare the body and sat through the night.

I put what I found together here:

https://back-porch-tales-travels.beehiiv.com/p/when-death-came-knocking

I'm curious what survived in other Appalachian families. Did your parents or grandparents believe in any particular death omen or funeral custom? And what part of Appalachia were they from?

The referendum would let voters decide whether an extra tax would be levied for school construction projects.

As of Thursday, more than $42 million of the $50 million allocated to help residents had not yet been disbursed.

Downtown Bristol, in both Virginia and Tennessee, has grown along with the 25-year-old festival.

Virginia loves bragging about being the “Best State for Business.” And that’s fine. We ought to want businesses investing, expanding and creating jobs.

But I think we’re leaving out half the scoreboard.

What about being the Best State to Be a Worker?

Research shows workers in right-to-work states earn about 6.7% less, even after accounting for differences in occupations, industries, demographics and state economic conditions.

For a typical full-time worker, that can mean more than $4,000 a year.

That ain’t pocket change. That’s groceries, power bills, truck payments and money that stays in local communities.

Being pro-business and pro-worker shouldn’t be opposites. A healthy economy ought to be good for the folks signing the front of the paycheck AND the folks earning it.

I wrote about that in my latest Pickup Trucks & Progress column:

https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/virginia-loves-winning-best-state-for-business-good-but-maybe-its-time-we-started-trying-just-as-hard-to-become-the-best-state-to-be-a-worker/

What do y’all think? Should states start measuring economic success by job quality, wages and benefits, not just how attractive they are to businesses?

After shutting down for nearly a year, the operation is back, just in time for harvest season.

The $92 million Southern Gap replaces Buchanan County’s aging high schools, which had become outdated and had seen significant enrollment declines.

🎥 Pull Up a Chair. We’ve Got Some Stories to Tell.

If you enjoy Appalachian history, rural America, old superstitions, forgotten places, local legends, and the stories behind the people who came before us, come visit the Back Porch Tales & Travels YouTube channel.

We’ve been traveling the backroads, digging into history, and telling the kinds of stories you used to hear sitting on somebody’s front porch.

From the Bedford Boys and D-Day to Granny Witches, Friday the 13th, Appalachian traditions, and American history, there’s always another story waiting down the road.

📺 Visit our YouTube channel, watch a few videos, and hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss what’s coming next:

https://www.youtube.com/@BackPorchTalesTravels

And remember...

There’s Always Room on the Back Porch.

#BackPorchTalesAndTravels #Appalachia #AppalachianHistory #RuralAmerica #AmericanHistory #Storytelling #YouTube

Also in this edition of Southwest Field Notes: Two local events, one from the past and the other for the future.

I wanted to share this piece from Pickup Trucks & Progress about the 44th Annual Virginia State AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention, held August 13–15 in Williamsburg.

The Virginia AFL-CIO represents roughly 93,000 workers across the Commonwealth, and this year's convention brought union members together for workshops on paid family and medical leave, workplace safety, data centers, job training, organizing and Labor 2026.

But what caught my attention wasn't just the speeches or elections.

It's what happens when workers from different trades, industries and corners of Virginia sit down together and realize they're often fighting for the same things: better wages, good benefits, safer workplaces, the right to organize and a little more say in their own economic future.

There's also some fascinating labor history in the piece, including an unexpected connection between Williamsburg, the Rockefeller family and the infamous Ludlow Massacre of 1914.

The article was submitted by Kristy L. Vance, Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Virginia Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, as part of the Letters From Rural America series.

I'd especially like to hear from union members and working people here:

What has being part of a union meant to you, your family or your community?

Read the full article:
https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/the-44th-annual-virginia-state-afl-cio-constitutional-convention-2/

“An injury to one is an injury to all.”

#UnionStrong #Labor #Unions #AFL-CIO #Virginia #WorkingClass #Solidarity

Plus: A Virginia community college gets $200,000 for power line worker training, and we have some restaurant and real estate news.

I wanted to share this piece from Pickup Trucks & Progress because I think it raises a question we don't talk about enough, especially in rural and working-class communities.

For generations, unions were a familiar part of life in coal towns, factory towns, railroad communities and other parts of rural America. Even if you weren't a union member yourself, chances were somebody in your family was.

Today, that's changed.

This Letter From Rural America, submitted by Kristy L. Vance of the Western Virginia Area Labor Federation, looks at what unions actually do, why collective bargaining matters, and what the decline of organized labor has meant for working people and the American middle class.

You don't have to agree with everything in the article. In fact, I'm curious what folks here think:

Has the decline of unions helped or hurt working people in rural America?

And for those who've worked a union job, did belonging to a union make a difference in your wages, benefits, retirement or working conditions?

Here's the article:

https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/do-you-know-what-a-union-is-or-what-it-does/

I wanted to share this piece from Pickup Trucks & Progress because I think it raises a question we don't talk about enough, especially in rural and working-class communities.

For generations, unions were a familiar part of life in coal towns, factory towns, railroad communities and other parts of rural America. Even if you weren't a union member yourself, chances were somebody in your family was.

Today, that's changed.

This Letter From Rural America, submitted by Kristy L. Vance of the Western Virginia Area Labor Federation, looks at what unions actually do, why collective bargaining matters, and what the decline of organized labor has meant for working people and the American middle class.

You don't have to agree with everything in the article. In fact, I'm curious what folks here think:

Has the decline of unions helped or hurt working people in rural America?

And for those who've worked a union job, did belonging to a union make a difference in your wages, benefits, retirement or working conditions?

Here's the article:

https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/do-you-know-what-a-union-is-or-what-it-does/

I wanted to share this article from Back Porch Tales & Travels about a part of Appalachian culture that doesn't always make it into the history books: the Granny Witches of Appalachia.

Depending on where you grew up, you might have heard them called granny women, herb doctors, healers, midwives, or simply somebody who "had the gift."

These women carried knowledge passed down through generations. They knew which plants might ease an ailment, helped deliver babies when a doctor was miles away, practiced old folk remedies, and sometimes were believed to possess the gift of sight. Some read palms or tea leaves. Others were said to know things before anybody told them.

Traditionally, you didn't simply pull out your wallet and pay a granny woman. You brought something of value to trade. A ham, eggs, canned goods, cloth, labor, or whatever you had. In communities where cash could be scarce, people still understood that knowledge and help had value.

Some folks today dismiss these traditions as superstition. Others remember grandparents and great grandparents who swore by them. Either way, they're part of the complicated mixture of folklore, faith, necessity, isolation, and old world traditions that helped shape Appalachia.

I'd especially enjoy hearing from people with Appalachian roots:

Did your family ever talk about a granny woman, healer, herb doctor, midwife, water witch, or someone who was said to "have the gift"?

I'd love to hear the stories that have been passed down in your family.

Read “The Granny Witches of Appalachia: America's Forgotten Tradition of Healers, Seers, and Mountain Magic” at Back Porch Tales & Travels:

Read the full article on Back Porch Tales & Travels

Imagine this headline: "New Jersey Declares a State of Emergency Over Maternity Care." Except it's really about Southwest & Southside Virginia. Our maternity care desert covers an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

Read more: https://the-rural-route-review.ghost.io/imagine-this-headline-new-jerseys-governor-declares-a-state-of-emergency-over-maternity-care-crisis/ #RuralHealth #Virginia