A tale of two counties and more

First a correction. In yesterday's post, I reported that Pearl, our aging peahen, was killed by a predator. I'm happy to report that, while she was indeed attacked the other night, the Spousal Unit found her intact with a little help from our box Bo. Apparently Pearl, who is pretty much blind, wandered into a creek and couldn't find her way out. So there's that anyway.

The big dog is still dead, alas.

Meanwhile, here's a tale of two counties that sheds a lot of light on the current situation of West Virginia. First, here's a sad tale of meltdown in Boone County in the wake of the collapse of coal. It's so bad that the school system can't afford to buy science books. With just one county between them, the county seat of Fayetteville in Fayette County, another traditional mining area, has rebuilt its economy around outdoor activities. Of course, Boone would have an easier time of it if the New River flowed through it.

Finally, if you just can't get enough of the discussion of Hillbilly Elegy, here's another take by way of Jacobin magazine.

Left behind in rural America

There is some good news about incomes nationally. For the first time since 2015, US households saw a decent bump in incomes. However, as this Vox item shows, incomes actually went down in rural areas.  As one of the most rural states (the others are Maine, Vermont and Mississippi), the outlook isn't too good for West Virginia. But you already knew that.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting review by a WV-born writer about a certain demographic group that is getting a lot of ink these days.

Elegy or requiem?

An unexpected big hit in the book world has been J.R. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which is both a personal memoir and an attempt at diagnosing Appalachian ills. I think it succeeds very well in the former but not so much in the latter. The book was the subject of the latest Front Porch program/podcast. You can listen here. It's also on the menu in the latest Inside Appalachia.

Finally, thanks for the condolences from may people on the passing of Arpad the Magnificent. There's a big hole on the farm where a big white dog isn't.