Picking Appals: 4 down, 4 to go

I can't believe I'm halfway done here. And I've only posted once. How unacceptable.

A few quick things, some pictures, and I promise more posts from here on out.

Since we last spoke, I've been quite busy here in Whitesburg:

My 'real' boss, Nick Szuberla, arrived a couple weeks ago, and Julia, my less real (?) boss, left on Friday to go to a program in California for a month or so. So things are a little different around the office. We're working on a couple really cool projects. We ordered a bunch of Flipcams which we're going to send out to Thousand Kites contacts around the country to make a sort of collective criminal justice documentary network. I'm doing a bit of video work, a bit of graphic and web design, a bit of database management, and a lot of conceptual and logistical work to figure everything out.

We're also going to do a short, guerilla-style documentary about a town nearby that's been severely impacted by coal mining and trucking in the area. Nick and I are planning an overnight trip sometime this week to shoot, edit, and distribute a video piece for a group working on the issue. I'm really excited and will be sure to update.

Since Julia's gone, starting tonight I'll be doing the weekly Holler to the Hood radio show all by my lonesome. That's right, I'm going to be on the air, spinning tunes and taking calls, with little-to-no radio experience. In all seriousness, it should be a lot of fun, though I am a little nervous. Remember to tune in, music from 7-9, calls from 9-10 (ET), WMMTfm.org.

The Cowan Creek music school didn't work out for me, but it was a lot of fun hearing Stella practicing the banjo throughout the week and performing at the end. She's actually pretty good, and is continuing to take lessons till she leaves. I'm working on getting hold of a fiddle, because I've arranged for a few lessons from a former Appalshop intern (a Wesleyan University student) who's also spending the summer here, and is an incredible fiddler.

We've gone on a few trips in the past couple weeks. We did Lexington one weekend - walking around, talking to the locals, perusing antique and thrift stores, cool coffee shop, gorgeous movie theater (but terrible movie - Easy Virtue), and fancy Indian dinner - and just yesterday went to Asheville, NC, which was a lot of fun, similar laidback walking around and eating/window-shopping itinerary. We had planned to go to Cumberland Gap, one of the few places in the world you can see a moonbow, for a camping/paddling trip, but Scattered Thunderstorms suggested Asheville as an alternative adventure, and we accepted.

We also recently climbed nearby Pine Mountain, first to a waterfall and a couple days later the full hike to the top. As with a lot of our activities around here, a few other Appalshop interns/employees came along as well.

Check out the pics, and I'll be sure to post more frequently in the weeks to come, and get some more pictures up soon. Adios!