The Appalachian Retelling Project

NEW POST! Last July, we hosted our first in-person storytelling workshop at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, KY, where attendees shared stories of their experience with Appalachian culture. Read participants’ conversations and listen to some of the stories shared at the link in bio.

NEW POST! Last July, we hosted our first in-person storytelling workshop at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, KY, where attendees shared stories of their experience with Appalachian culture. Read participants' conversations and listen to some of the stories shared at the link below.

Reflections from the First-Ever Appalachian Retelling Storytelling Workshop Photographs courtesy of Roger Strunk.On July 8, 2023, a small group of people from around Eastern Kentucky gathered at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, KY for The Appalachian Retelling Project’s first-ever storytelling workshop. The theme of the event, broadly, was Appalachian culture. Pa...

In January 2022, I traveled to Fleming County High School to see how they were rethinking what a successful high school education could look like. For a thousand reasons I won't get into here, I'm just finishing editing this video over 2 years later. A huge thank you to principal Austin Hart for showing me around and for his tremendous patience since then!

---

A high school in Fleming County, KY is taking an unconventional approach to education. At Fleming County High School, students have the option to focus on both college and career-ready education pathways, acquiring hands-on experience in welding, automotive repair, nursing, farming, and more. Combining career-readiness with traditional education in math, English, and science, test scores are higher than ever and students say they feel prepared for the life they want after graduation.

Watch the video at the link below!

www.theappalachianretellingproject.com

Check out our creator Elon Justice’s interview with the Story Made podcast! She talks Appalachian stereotypes, the inspiration behind this project, and her own experience navigating perceptions of Appalachia in and out of the region.

New Episode ‼️🎧 Our conversation this week is with Elon Justice - filmmaker, writer, creator of the and child of Pikeville, Kentucky.

"Challenging the narrative of Appalachia - one story at a time." Raised in Eastern Kentucky, Elon heard stories from her family that taught her who she is and where she comes from - and to be proud of it. But she also saw firsthand how negative, steretypical images of her home had the power to cause harm to the people and places she loved. So she decided to do something to change that.

Rooted in co-creation, the Appalachian Retelling Project shares stories that lift unheard voices and give an honest glance into what it means to be from the mountains. The people of Appalachia are tired of others talking about who they are, so this is a space for them to talk back. "Mountains stories, on our own terms" - as they should be told.

In this episode, Elon talks about growing up in Pikeville, the influence of her family, her first recollections of Appalachian stereotypes, moving away for college, her wild and powerful journey to the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), why she started the retelling project, co-creation and community-based storytelling, and much more. I hope you listen!

Location: BitSource on Hambley Ave. in Pikeville, KY.

Links in bio to listen. Please share and subscribe to our podcast! 🙏🏼

NEW ESSAY! In our final student submission, Letcher Central senior Callie Creech sums up this series perfectly: Stories bring us together. Check out her essay (and her awesome original artwork!) on the importance of storytelling in her own life as an Appalachian at the link below!

That’s a wrap on this series - a huge thank you to all the students who shared their stories! If you are a high school or college educator who’s interested in working together on a series like this, our DMs are open 🤓

Student Submission: Stories Bring Us Together "Stories Bring Us Together" by Callie Creech. Growing up in Appalachia means growing up being told hundreds of folk tales and stories in hundreds of different forms. As a child the things I remember most are creative plays, stories in the form of music, and competitions where Appalachians would put....

New video! In this week’s student submission, Letcher Central junior Rebekah McAuley and senior Abigail McDougal explore the ways that Appalachian people have historically and continue to make use of the natural resources around them.

Watch their video “Within the Mountains” at the link below!

Student Submission: Within the Mountains Produced by Rebekah McAuley and Abigail McDougal. “Within the Mountains" highlights ways that Appalachian people have historically and continue to make use of the natural resources around them. Rebekah McAuley is a junior at Letcher County Central High School in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Rebekah spent...