That’s where the single narrative becomes so dangerous. Because people don’t know the history of the region, and they don’t understand its problems. Yet many of those same people have a great number of preconceived notions they aren’t afraid to unleash.
As I sat down to write this book, I was faced with this strange tightrope act: I wanted to write a book about why Appalachia and its people ended up as they have, but I also needed to acknowledge its sometimes brutal and horrible history.
The things that have always sustained me, and carried me through the darkness, and given me a world with color: the writing, and the voices, and the stories. I’ve found my voice in the wilderness. I’ve found other voices in the wilderness.
After two hundreds years, the choice between the do-gooder who ends up stealing you money and the asshole who doesn’t care whether you live or die is pretty simple: I’ll take the asshole every time
We must find a way to create spaces for women where they are free to push and explore the boundaries of what they can do. A note on what I’ve heard this weekend.
We tell ourselves that sports teaches valuable lessons. But what does that actually mean? As the Florence Freedom prepare to host the Frontier League’s Y’All-Star game, author Brad King explores those questions with the independent league baseball players.
Zach, 25, only played baseball for three years. His parents were divorced, and he didn’t really have anyone around to teach him the game. More than a decade later, he bought season tickets to the Pirates. This is why he did that. Follow the book project on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to the CATCH mailing […]
Liam Coghlan, 26, is facing the end of his baseball career after an ACL injury in college. Because of that, he started Diamond and a Dream at The Vandal, an organization that will use baseball to help teach kids about life. Still, I asked went through his head when the doctor’s told him he might […]
John W. Webb III, sixty-eight, loves baseball. I asked him about his favorite childhood memory of baseball, and what he thinks he learned from that moment.
Author Trey Dowell said if he and wife had a child, he’d definitely teach him the game. I asked him why he was so adamant about that (because it’s a sentiment I’ve heard expressed in nearly every interview).
Florence Freedom player Taylor Oldham has a background you don’t normally find in professional baseball: He was home schooled. That means baseball was his Physical Education class. That also meant he wasn’t sure exactly how good he was. Until the first day of Little League tryouts.
Catch isn’t really about baseball. That’s a red herring. A red herring I happen to love, but a red herring none the less. The book is really about something much deeper. The game isn’t just a metaphor for life. It’s the conduit through which fathers teach their sons.