You know how people often haven’t seen the attractions near their own homes? I have had family in Western North Carolina all of my life and had never been to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We had to remedy that! This National Park has the dubious honor of...
Read moreMy parents and I made a pilgrimage to two places of deep reflection and crafting of action to further social and economic justice – Highlander Center and the Children’s Defense Fund’s [Alex] Haley Farm, both in east Tennessee. Highlander has been in existence...
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Even though I grew up in the two Carolinas, I haven’t lived here since I left to go to college. I have come to visit consistently, but had still seen relatively little of my home state as an adult. This trip up to Boone and back was a start! Linville Caverns...
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“Spring is springing down here, y’all! As is my southern accent.” – Me on March 1st Daffodils and purple crocuses! Kwanzan Flowering Cherry! Lenten Roses! Red Maple! Yellow...
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Wow, has American history come alive for me on this trip! I keep getting insights about how the natural resources attracted native peoples and their subsistence lives, then colonial settlement and their resource-extraction economies. How the labor forces evolved to...
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