- 2 days ago
Dig deep into the proud, often misunderstood culture of West Virginia, as he traverses a 5,000-foot mine, observes the demolition derby-like sport of rock-bouncing and dines on signature Appalachian dishes...
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00:02New York City where I live and it's easy to think having lived here nearly all my
00:07life that this is what America looks like thinks like that the things that
00:12are important to me are important to everybody that every place else is out
00:17there unthinkable maybe even unknowable
00:36600 miles away from Midtown Manhattan is McDowell County West Virginia another
00:43America in the mind of many of my fellow New Yorkers the heart of God guns and
00:49Trump country the existential enemy
00:57there is a place on God's creation a place of beauty beyond compare
01:08some people say it's almost heaven
01:14look for me you'll find me there my daddy always told me you know those
01:21tornadoes and hurricanes they can't get to us we're down in these mountains and
01:25down in the holler and these mountains protect us here if you're gonna see the
01:29sky you gotta look up you can't find me on the highest mountain you can't find me
01:39in the black coal mine to think about much less empathize with somebody who
01:45comes from five generations of coal miners in a place that looks like this is
01:50to our enduring shame unthinkable why can't these coal miners get retrained
01:55maybe put up solar panels for a living why would these conservative deeply
02:00religious people vote for a thrice married billionaire New Yorker well I went to
02:06West Virginia and you know what screw you
02:12here in the heart of every belief system I've ever mocked or fought against I was
02:16welcomed with open arms by everyone I found a place both heartbreaking and
02:22beautiful a place that symbolizes contains everything wrong and everything
02:27wonderful and hopeful about America the town of Welch known in its glory days as
02:37Little New York
02:45well to the very rural area I mean it's an hour away from Walmart I mean if that tells
02:52you anything it's a real old historic town built in 1800s the American dream in
02:58miniature a place where generations of immigrants and dreamers could work and
03:04lift up their family the town of Welch when it was booming the sidewalks were so
03:09crowded they would be traffic backed up like a mile you couldn't find a place to
03:15park we had three hospitals had the taxicab stand had like three jewelry stores it was
03:23just a wonderful place the rest of the country took a lot of money out of these
03:27hills over the decades billions and billions of dollars and when it became
03:32cheaper or more convenient to pull the coal we needed to power our electrical grids
03:37and to make our steel elsewhere this is what was left behind
03:46but this is not a poverty porn show do not pity the people here who despite what you may think
03:52are
03:52not unrealistic about a return to the glory days of coal and better times I drank coffee from the
03:59time I could walk they put coffee in your bottle coffee or wine
04:04Linda McKinney is a true daughter of Appalachia she raised her children here
04:09Linda's husband Bob McKinney is a longtime mine safety inspector now your family originally from
04:15Naples is that right came here in 1923 trying to strike it rich in the coal mines my mother died
04:22when I was five so we went to live with my nonna and the first day I was there she
04:27pulled me up to a
04:27cook stove this is a dish that my nonna cooked during hunting season with squirrels well we these
04:34aren't squirrels this is chicken dinner is a not untypical expression of hard scrabble Appalachian
04:42practicality now I don't measure anything so nothing has a recipe here and Neapolitan roots basil home
04:49kitchen gardens hunting and gathering this is my dad would call peas a Lisa's peace oh make your mama
04:55dance now this is what I'm famous for in these parts have you ever had spaghetti pizza no you don't
05:04say
05:09the tomato sauce was made with Joel's tomato at the food bank we harvested those yesterday and I made
05:15it on spaghetti sauce nearby Joel runs an organic hydroponic farm that supplies the local school
05:21system the people here are very good they give you the shirt off their back come together in times of
05:30tragedy or anything Christian values mean something here they're practiced on the street and in the home
05:37most of you've all got your potatoes right Linda runs five loaves and two fishes the food bank that
05:45holds many of the lives here together during tough times 16,000 people walk through these doors annually
05:51in a county of 20,000 gracious God we just thank you for this day that we're able to give
05:58food out again
05:58this is not a regular give out watchovers protect us help us to keep cool heads father we pray over
06:14the food
06:14we're about to eat for the nurse for body just bless it in the name of Christ I mean this
06:19is our home we love
06:26it here we're very close to our church everybody knows everybody they're all dying now but we're
06:32still hanging on aren't we honey was there any sizable italian-american oh yes a lot of immigrants
06:41from different countries came here so still how large no we've gone from what a hundred thousand
06:46to about ten thousand twelve thousand in the county itself as of the last census those are some grim
06:52statistics yes yes the coal that came out of this area built America yes McDowell County alone was
07:00called a billion dollar coal field and the people that were in charge at the time didn't take advantage
07:06of all that money in case something did happen to the coal mine the cool thing is that West Virginia
07:12is
07:13developing a strong entrepreneur movement that a lot of people don't know about like with Joey he started
07:20hydroponic growing I mean not blaming others for their problems just trying to solve their own a lot
07:25of people that's really doing a lot of good that we don't hear about this is our pumpkin pie cake
07:31you
07:31ever had a pumpkin pie cake you probably won't like it so we'll take your spot we got spoiled the
07:38last coal
07:39mines I worked at I made base salary was ninety four thousand dollars a year I also taught vocational
07:46school and most of the kids that I had said well I don't need this I'm gonna go in the
07:50coal mine there's
07:51just an education piece there now that we're trying to instill in some of the people that still have
07:55that mentality that coal was coal was king and you know we don't we don't doubt that but we we
08:01try to
08:02think outside the box and look at some other some other opportunities that might be there
08:09the job that I have right now it's probably one of the best jobs around here other than the few
08:13guys that works at the coal mines I'll break the school bus I mentioned God and guns and Trump
08:27get more physical let's go run but I forgot another big one football I was born and raised
08:36there I've been here all my life played defensive end for Welch High School graduated there in 1976
08:40the Mount View Golden Knights have long carried the mantle of the town as perpetual underdogs mostly the
08:47children of minors many from very difficult situations at home why are you walking hurry up
08:53this week it's homecoming coach Larry Thompson has of late imposed some order and higher academic
09:00standards on the night there are high hopes Lord thank you for this food we're about to receive for
09:07the nourishment of our bodies and bless these young men and these young women as they cheer and as they
09:11play on the field Jesus name I pray amen local boosters put together a pregame deal of ribs baked potatoes
09:21and chicken this kids you know they got long days they wake up 4 45 5 o'clock and they
09:27don't leave off
09:27the hill with us till about seven o'clock after practice so you know they go through a lot how
09:32many
09:32generations of coal in your family at least five Wow coach Mike Anderson is second in command Cole and
09:44that's a really common job my family don't feel bad trash me to make more money than teachers new
09:49child Fred Fatback Minko Micah Woogie McLaughlin and Cole Chavo Anderson are in many ways typical Mount View
09:58players and students with the hopes and dreams of well any other high school students homecoming it is
10:04how big a deal is football in general and this game and what you guys do a lot of these
10:11kids they
10:11understand that there's not a lot of resources here before you can kind of feel that the dreariness that
10:16kind of lingered around the community but now you know what these boys went in the work ethic they're
10:20putting in you can feel the support you know like we did a few community outreach programs this summer
10:25they went down to the park and they painted and they feel that they feel that sense of pride
10:28how's this football program change your life it give me something to do stay out of trouble some of
10:34these guys have changed 100 percent they had no guidance no discipline they have outside forces
10:40that could be pulling them into different directions and they know how that life is going to go for them
10:46and as a team in here relying on each other their limits are out of this world
10:54in the past you could get in high school pretty sure that you were to make big money and you
10:59know
10:59working in coal you don't have that kind of guarantee now what do you see yourself doing in 10 years
11:05journalism journalism I hope in 10 years I hope to be studying my PhD and be a mechanical engineer
11:11mechanical engineer yes sir I'm definitely going to be a neuropsychologist neuropsychologist
11:16yeah what's tougher life life or football life life definitely there's no halftime in life
11:23there's no timeouts in life there's no none of that that was a really good answer
11:30love thy brother is one thing that's all well and good but these guys want to win
11:35they need to win and everyone will be watching
11:38are you dancing with them
11:44I fear it flowing to the rain my soul
11:51keep counting on me one two three
11:53say it lay
11:53forever
11:57Appalachia is my name
12:27I fear that I have to do that
12:35them boys say West Virginia girls are gold diggers
12:40them boys should know better cause in West Virginia there ain't no gold just black black coal
12:53and them girls them West Virginia girls don't take no handouts they got a living to make
13:00and stripping is hard work
13:04West Virginia was settled by people who were fleeing persecution
13:09by homesteaders people who just wanted to live their lives their own way
13:14but the discovery of vast coal reserves and the big business that grew up around it changed everything
13:21boom boom
13:23them girls shake it
13:26boom boom
13:28them girls dance
13:31them boys know some of them West Virginia girls can't count
13:35so they laugh and call their names like crazy like whore
13:39just after they take all their mineral rights
13:42boom boom
13:45she was wrong
13:47boom boom
13:48forever gone
13:50boom boom
13:53them boys
13:55them girls
13:58them mountains
14:01explode
14:22what is right
14:24what is wrong
14:25what is mine
14:26and what gets taken away
14:29the town of war understands this dynamic well
14:32it's a former coal and timber camp that has more than paid its dues
14:36can't go wrong with biscuits and gravy
14:38works for me biscuits gravy two eggs up and uh coffee i'm a happy man
14:44the war cafe is one of the few family-owned businesses left in town
14:52it's an obvious new yorker arrives in town first question why no self-service i've been at the
14:58farthest reaches of the arabian desert all i gotta do is climb a dune i'm gonna get three bars
15:03i mean the mountains it's hard to get signals down into each individual valley nick mullins is a
15:08former coal miner turned writer working in public outreach trying to help people transition away from
15:14fossil fuel try calling an ambulance here and getting out of the county to the closest hospital
15:19they don't deliver babies at the hospital in this county anymore
15:22elaine mcmillian sheldon is an oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker born and raised in southern
15:28west virginia if you were describing this area uh church going to great part religious
15:33gun rights important a lot of people of my ilk that's not going to resonate at all in fact
15:38it sounds threatening right but both sides are saying the same thing both sides feel threatened
15:42by each other and i would say a majority of people that live in this region want to be left
15:48alone
15:48the traditions of this place the things that we value whether that be family interpersonal
15:52communication not having cell phone technology to distract us those types of things sort of butt up
15:58against america's idea of progress and it's why we've always been looked at as being backwards
16:12being part of the media but living here is a really big challenge because rarely people like myself
16:19actually are the ones that control our narrative that control our story
16:22look it was always too easy to come gawk at west virginia to make it the poster child for whatever
16:31the agenda of the moment was lazy depictions of stereotypical west virginians
16:39hillbillies and hits tucked into isolated hollers to be pitied or made objects of laughter and derision
16:46if you google appalachia to this day you're gonna see dirty face kids barefoot on a front porch shaking
16:53linda b johnson's hand there's a lot more to appalachia than that
16:58in 1964 linda johnson declared his war on poverty a good thing yes
17:05but the accompanying press tour portraying the people here as an incapable and bewildered helpless mass
17:12miss the basic essential character the pride and the self-reliant core of the people here
17:19that damage is lasting when you come in and keep telling us how poor fat how all these things are
17:25i think we've all felt it at some point shame what should people know about this area that they don't
17:31know that they're not getting well i think it's been said but it's just not been hit home it's just
17:37how much that people in this area have been exploited
17:48the land agents who came in and bought up all the mineral rights
17:54the coal and timber companies that started extracting and taking everybody's labor rights
17:58i can't find a big coal company got too much money politicians from dc they can make a quick day
18:05trip
18:05down here and get a good sound bite who is a miner in this group who is the stand up
18:10they're all standing up anyway the drug companies nine million pills in kermit west virginia over two
18:16years one pharmacy one pharmacy the town of 372 people there's some political figures that come
18:22through and say that they will try to get away from the mono economy of coal the great issue confronting
18:27west virginia in 1960 is economic development but by and large the industry doesn't really want that
18:33why would they if somebody could live here and make a similar living wage and not have to risk
18:37their life then they're not going to the other side of this is that democrats they don't take a lot
18:43of time to understand the problems here i just want to know how you can say you're going to put
18:48a lot
18:48of coal miners out of out of jobs and then come in here and tell us how you're going to
18:53be our friend
18:54i don't think people understand just how genuine and wonderful the people are in these mountains
18:58people who have just worked all their lives and who sacrificed so much for their families
19:08you cannot talk about west virginia without talking about coal and coal is a complex issue here
19:15tied into the cell tissue and family pride of the people who have worked in the mines for generations
19:26and that coal mine is something else you know but you got to take care of yourself in there that
19:31fan
19:32is blowing about 200 000 cubic feet of air into the mine when you go in that mine you know
19:38where you
19:39you're going to get lived to see the outside again
20:01today we're going about 5 000 feet 5 000 feet deep yeah oh yeah
20:11it's a little bumpy ride in places pat graham is the foreman at the pay car mine in kimball
20:24this particular mine is a metallurgical great car so this is for a steel
20:29the average wage of a miner is 60 percent greater than the average wage of all laborers in the united
20:38states that's pretty phenomenal it's easy to see why people in mcdowell county want mining jobs
20:53homes campaign called the rock outΟΞ΅ΟΞΉΞΊation and all wholenessounded boots
20:58Go get me beer and
21:00in theiathora.
21:00Go get beer and head back from the ΠΏΡΠ΅ΠΏ.
21:01Let's go get beer.
21:02What did you ever need?
21:03Did you ever need tooga-
21:06color man?
21:06You would like to gather?
21:08Thanks for all his opportunities to support our families.
21:10Please watch after and keep us safe while we're running around working.
21:13Amen.
21:14Amen.
21:18What do you got?
21:19A little bear meat.
21:21Oh, damn.
21:22I may just put my sandwich back here if you got bear meat.
21:27That's delicious.
21:29Do you think the country as a whole, do you think they understand
21:31the whole business at all, what coal mining is about?
21:34No, not.
21:35Do you really understand it at all?
21:36When you travel from New York to here,
21:38whether you're on a boat, plane, train, or in the sky, or driving on a car,
21:42it's because of a mine.
21:44Mining causes damage to the environment.
21:47Of this, there is no doubt.
21:49But what cannot be grown must be mined.
21:52There ain't no cell phones, for instance, without mines somewhere.
21:56Does anybody think it's going to come back big time, like 30 years ago?
22:00My personal opinion, every time a Republican's in there, it goes up.
22:06This used to be a solidly Democratic state.
22:09What do you think made Trump attractive?
22:11A city slicker, three times married.
22:14That's easy for me.
22:15Yeah.
22:16Hillary shows up here, and she openly said
22:18she's going to put a lot of coal miners out of work.
22:23Wrong answer.
22:24How many kids you got?
22:26I got three.
22:27Three?
22:27Six.
22:29Hold on.
22:29If you saw your kids have other options, would you recommend that they join the family business?
22:34No, sir.
22:35No.
22:35You would say no.
22:37I'm about guaranteed everybody here, their dad who worked in the coal mines
22:40probably told their son, don't go into the coal mines.
22:43That's what I was told.
22:44That's what I was told.
22:45Yeah.
22:46You're going to tell them, no, don't do it.
22:48You know, if they do, you're going to be proud.
22:50I'm proud.
22:52From the stickers we put on our buckets, from the stickers we put on our hats,
22:55to my coffee mug there, passed down.
22:58I don't mess that thing up, but if my son goes to the mines, that's going to be his.
23:03When and if you retire, what would you like to do?
23:05Where would you like to go?
23:06I don't know where I'm going, but I'd say I'll wait back on the couch for a while.
23:13That we should let the miners move, find some other work.
23:17What other work?
23:18The state's biggest employer is now Walmart.
23:21I've seen my share of trouble, and I've held my weight in shame.
23:28But I'm baptized in your name, lovely lady mate.
23:35Whatever your views, respect these people, what they do, and what they've paid.
24:07Ready, set, go!
24:10Let's go!
24:11Let's go!
24:13Let's go!
24:16Let's go!
24:31Let's go!
24:50Let's go!
24:54Let's go!
24:56Let's go!
24:58Let's go!
25:04Let's go!
25:15Let's go!
25:24Let's go!
25:27Let's go!
25:30Let's go!
25:45Let's go!
25:51Let's go!
25:54Let's go!
25:57Let's go!
26:07Alright, you got your frog legs, turtle patties.
26:11Eric Williams is a hunter and trapper who caught most of this meal wading waist deep in the swamp on
26:17his property.
26:18You ever ate snapping turtles?
26:19Oh, I'm definitely, I'm not missing that.
26:22Smallmouth bass, catfish barbecued and fried.
26:26Wow!
26:26What a spread.
26:30Trail riding, ATVs, off-roading, and the supporting industries are an up-and-coming play for tourism in the state.
26:37There are thousands of miles of trails running through the hills and places like this.
26:42Anybody with any off-road vehicle can come, dirt bikes, four-wheelers, megatrucks.
26:47King Knob Motorsports Park, owned by Mike Hansen and Amber Williams.
26:52Do they have to sign a release before they come on?
26:54They do.
26:54Yeah, that's smart.
26:55Yeah.
26:56We actually climb stuff that's vertical.
26:58Straight up.
26:59Yeah, this race this weekend, the last 30 feet of the hill, the second hill, was actually vertical.
27:04You had to hit it with enough momentum to skip up urban and land on top.
27:07Wow.
27:08That's why you gotta have a lot of horsepower.
27:09But too much power can get you in a lot of trouble also.
27:11Oh, really?
27:12Oh, yeah.
27:12Exactly right.
27:14Horsepower's not always the key to success, but it's always a lot of fun.
27:18Hopefully you can come back and try the Barbie Jeep thing.
27:20Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
27:38Guns are a fact of life around here, whether as a means to defend your isolated home,
27:44get yourself dinner when there's no place else to get it, or just for the fun of shooting stuff.
27:49The feeling that gun ownership is an absolute right, immutable, and non-negotiable runs deep here.
27:56Everybody's backyard look like this?
27:58Ours does.
28:00Justin and Ashley McMillian are the nice couple next door, if unusually heavily armed.
28:09Our muzzle brake is the only kind that actually reduce recoil, muzzle rise, and flash.
28:14They own JMAC Customs, a home business that designs and builds custom weapons and parts.
28:20So this keeps you on target and makes sure that you're safe while you're shooting.
28:23Put the mag in.
28:25Safety off.
28:25Safety off.
28:26You got it.
28:27All right.
28:29Three, two, one.
28:34Now, to be clear, these are fully automatic firearms.
28:37They cannot be purchased legally by individuals anywhere.
28:42But as they're in the business, these guys can apply for special highly vetted ATF licenses
28:47for purposes of product development and testing.
28:50That was just really, that was a lot of fun.
28:53To the child, what can I say?
28:55Who wants to blow up pumpkins?
29:01Just mixed up a binary explosive.
29:06Some are small and some are big.
29:08You only know when you shoot it, so.
29:10Oh, a surprise.
29:10I love surprises.
29:13Three, two, one.
29:18Whatever you feel about gun rights or access to weapons, there is an undeniable visceral
29:25thrill to blowing shit up.
29:27People who like guns like them for a reason.
29:31There's a whole lot of America right there.
29:33Yeah.
29:34Not mine.
29:40Two choices, venison or beef, with or without cheese.
29:44Venison and cheese.
29:45Yeah.
29:46Wow.
29:46Nice selection.
29:47That's what I'll have.
29:49Heavenly Father, we bow in your presence.
29:51We just thank you for this day.
29:52And most of all, we just thank you for the liberties and freedoms that our country provides
29:57and you've provided.
29:58Amen.
29:58Amen.
30:00So everybody born and bred here, or?
30:02Lisa's from California.
30:04Mm-hmm.
30:04And so when you came here, that was the first time you ever shot a gun, wasn't it?
30:07Yeah.
30:08Show him your arm.
30:09Yeah.
30:10Show him your tat.
30:11She got an AK tat.
30:14I've lived in Canada for a long time.
30:16I stayed in England for quite a while, Sweden for quite a while.
30:19No matter how long I'm gone, I always come back.
30:21Can't just load the Jeep up with a bunch of guns and stay out there for seven days and,
30:26you know, you can't really do that anywhere else.
30:28That's probably one of the greatest things about West Virginia.
30:31You know, we can enjoy whatever we want to enjoy.
30:34I'm not trying to force my opinions on anybody else.
30:37That being said, we will defend ours.
30:40Yeah.
30:40We will.
30:41I was guessing.
30:42Yeah.
30:44I grew up in an environment.
30:45You see somebody at the supermarket carrying a handgun.
30:49That would be a cause for red alert.
30:53Do you think there can be common ground between somebody who grew up absolutely thinking guns
30:58are a bad thing?
30:59I say no.
30:59Okay, you're an honest man and I appreciate it.
31:03I'm a responsible gun owner.
31:05Why should I be crippled in what I'm able to do as far as protecting my family?
31:10Look, I hear you, but there's a fair number of people in this world who are just, you know,
31:15too dumb to pour piss out of a boot.
31:17You know, 90-year-old drivers in Florida, they still got their license, but should they be driving?
31:23Right.
31:23I mean, a few years ago, my father was involved in a shooting at his pharmacy they works at.
31:28A man came in, he had a weapon.
31:30My dad concealed carries.
31:31He has a license to conceal carry.
31:32He drew his weapon and fired.
31:34If they take guns away from law-abiding citizens, then it's just going to be the criminals that
31:38have it.
31:41It should be pointed out, it has to be pointed out, faced head-on, that shortly after we filmed
31:47here, a gunman in Las Vegas with a perfectly legal weapon fired off 1,100 rounds in 10 minutes,
31:55wounding 422 people and killing 58.
32:00Shortly after that, 17 students were murdered in Parkland, Florida, with a legally purchased
32:06semi-automatic rifle.
32:08And the list goes on, with victims of mass shootings that have happened since this conversation
32:13measured in the hundreds.
32:15So there is that to think about too.
32:17I don't know whether the Founding Fathers anticipated the kind of firepower that we've
32:22been playing with today.
32:23We live in a different world.
32:25There are the nice people who live next door who like guns.
32:29And unfortunately, there seem to be a whole lot of people who aren't nice at all.
32:45One would hope there is at least some middle ground.
32:48Oh my God.
33:06They call this running for collar.
33:09What is a holler?
33:10I mean, it's spelled hollow, but it's pronounced holler.
33:15A holler to me is where everybody is united.
33:21Everybody sticks with one another and takes up for one another.
33:35Lola Klein is a single mother of four children, and in many ways emblematic of both the difficulties
33:40and inherent strengths of people around here.
33:44Where do you find them?
33:45The trees or on the ground?
33:46Trees.
33:47Mostly up the trees?
33:48The squirrels are more like, it's a waiting game.
33:52Find us a place and see it and watch for movement.
33:56She and her best friend, LaShauna Huff, hunt together, raise kids together,
34:01and do their best to get by in a changing world that can get very hard.
34:06We gotta keep our eye out to timber rattlers.
34:09They good eating rattlesnake?
34:12I've never eat one.
34:13I see a rattlesnake coming this way, and I go that way.
34:18When did you first go hunting?
34:20How old were you?
34:21My grandpa took me when I was about six.
34:24I just love this place.
34:26Having a bad day, you can always go up in the mountains and it changes.
34:30woo woo woo
34:39woo
34:40woo
34:42woo
34:42woo
35:09My mom, she used to cook it with
35:13Lola's neighbor's name may be Drayma Lester, but everybody here calls her mom.
35:1958 years. I was born and raised here.
35:22You ever think about me? No.
35:26She often cooks and helps look after the kids.
35:28Biscuit. How are my biscuits? How are my gravy?
35:31Fried taters. Fried taters. Excellent.
35:33And Lola does her best to look after her. That's what people do in the hollers.
35:38Dear Lola, we come to you this day. Thank you for this food and bless the hands that fix this
35:43food.
35:44Thank you for each and every living day. Amen.
35:47Amen.
35:48And thank you for letting us make more friends.
35:50Yes.
35:51Thank you for having me.
35:53Mmm, mmm. I've been waiting all day for eggs.
35:56Are you working on a farm nearby, is that right?
35:58Yes. After the strip mines are done here, the land's usually, I mean, it's just useless.
36:03So we're trying to make a purpose. Pumpkins, watermelon, we're just trying to figure out what we'll grow on.
36:10So there's life after coal?
36:12There's life after coal.
36:13Yeah.
36:14For about eight years, I worked on the strip mines.
36:16I could probably get a job now, but I don't want to mess up a good thing.
36:20So what do you think about that squirrel?
36:21Oh man, it's good.
36:22Good ab.
36:24They call it wild and wonderful West Virginia.
36:27It is.
36:29And your girls are how old?
36:30My girls are nine, eight, six, and three.
36:34Thought any of them to shoot yet?
36:36Yeah, all of them.
36:37All of them?
36:37All of them.
36:38They think their mommy's a big hero, too, because she killed that big buck last year.
36:42Yeah?
36:43How big was this thing?
36:44250.
36:45Way 250 pounds.
36:46Yeah, you drag that thing out of the woods yourself?
36:48Mm-hmm.
36:49Dress it?
36:50Yes.
36:50Cook it?
36:51Yep.
36:51We don't rely on nobody.
36:53Yeah, there ain't nothing I can't do, and if I don't know how to do it, I'll learn.
36:56We're not a bunch of pregnant women barefooted with no teeth.
37:00I got all mine, you see?
37:04What's the best thing about living in this area, and what's the worst thing?
37:09The best thing is the people here.
37:12You always want somebody that has your back no matter what.
37:14Like, I couldn't move away from here.
37:16I'm basically sick.
37:18I'm sick.
37:19There's probably nobody in this tallers I couldn't go see.
37:22Hey, I'm hungry.
37:23Would you fix me a sandwich?
37:25And the worst thing?
37:28See somebody that's on pills, or drunk, or out here just fighting.
37:41What can you do?
37:43Pray for him.
37:44That's all he can do.
37:48Oh, little eyes, uh!
37:51Oh, little eyes, uh!
37:54Little eyes, uh, dang.
38:02Oh, little eyes, uh, little eyes, uh, dang.
38:19For years here, the base was what was called a West Virginia Democrat.
38:24Hardline on the Second Amendment, religious, but pro-union, with a record of voting reliably blue.
38:30Those days are gone.
38:33You know, I was a high school dropout. Military, you know, I'm a veteran.
38:38There is a smell on the earth itself here in West Virginia that when I was away, when I was
38:43in the Army, that your soul rots away.
38:46It feels like you can't smell it. Or you look up and you see the sun all the way set.
38:51Here it disappears around 4 o'clock.
38:54Alan Lardieri is a former tanker in the U.S. Army, a what he calls constitutional conservative.
39:00He is solidly pro-Trump Republican, however distant from Mr. Trump's New York City background and gold-plated lifestyle he
39:08may be.
39:09You will see a lot of parallels in rural West Virginia that you see in the inner city.
39:13I see a lot of parallels to places I've been. School districts that are starved.
39:18Opioid addiction. Teenage pregnancy. Food deserts. You know, where ain't nothing but fast food.
39:23Yeah, exactly. Okay, where's our Whole Foods? It's non-existent, sir.
39:28Why would West Virginia overwhelmingly go for a guy, Donald Trump, who's never changed a tire in his life, who
39:37sits on a gold toilet?
39:39Yeah. Everybody else talks around us, whatever. This man talks just like us.
39:44Like how we talk to each other in our minds. It ain't pretty. It's straight talk.
39:48Well, you know, they say he tells it like it is. I don't know that that's true.
39:52He says outrageous things. I guess that's refreshing.
39:55You know, I gave up on political saviors a long time ago.
39:58I'm not going to be naive to go ahead and say that I think that there's going to be one
40:01individual,
40:02especially in government, that's going to turn everything around.
40:04Trump can bring change, and it's very quite simple.
40:07His offensive, incendiary nature can send a word out to these assholes that, I'm sorry,
40:13these individuals that so-called represent us in Congress, Senate, whatever.
40:17If people get frustrated enough, they're going to put somebody in there that's not like you.
40:23You know, what I hope that things can come out of this is national dialogue.
40:27We have to start talking. We have to do it.
40:30If you stop tweeting from the toilet at 4 o'clock in the morning, I feel a lot more comfortable.
40:34You know, it's a little impulse control, dude.
40:37You know, it's a little impulse control.
41:06You know, it's a little bit of quality to them.
41:09With the pawpaws, it's better if you can kind of, like, feel them, see if they're ripe.
41:15America's forgotten fruit, the pawpaw.
41:19Forgotten when most Americans stopped going to the forest for their food.
41:23But in West Virginia, they were never forgotten.
41:26So that's a pawpaw ice cream with some candied wildflowers.
41:30And then this is an old-fashioned vinegar pie.
41:32It's in a class of pies called desperation pies that try to create something like a lemon pie.
41:38And you don't have lemon juice.
41:39What do you do?
41:40Put some vinegar and some nutmeg together and give it that same kind of tang.
41:44Appalachia has a rich and deep culinary culture.
41:48Increasingly fetishized, riffed on, appropriated for the genteel tastes of a hipster elite willing to pay big bucks for what
41:55used to be, and still is in many cases, the food of poverty.
41:59We see that ramps are selling for $30 a pound in New York City that were harvested in West Virginia.
42:05And what's West Virginia seeing from that?
42:07Probably a guy that got about two bucks a pound.
42:11It becomes just another extract of industry, like coal or timber.
42:15And you sort of start to see that.
42:17That's the story of West Virginia.
42:18Yeah.
42:19Chef Mike Costello and partner Amy Dawson are looking to keep that culture alive and appreciated and paying off locally
42:26for the region it originated in.
42:28I also have some buttermilk poached trout that we're going to put on there with some pickled rhubarb.
42:32Yeah, it'll be good.
42:34They run a traveling kitchen that brings local ingredients, Appalachian recipes, and the stories behind them around the state.
42:44Lost Creek Farm is their place.
42:49A working farm they're rebuilding by hand.
42:55And the nucleus of that effort is the garden.
43:07We have two different varieties that we're picking today.
43:10The one are the Logan Giants.
43:12This seed is Logan Giant seeds.
43:15And they're an heirloom strain of bean.
43:17And I've had these seeds for 40 years.
43:19I've saved these for 40 years.
43:21This guy down at the end of the table, Lou, is in his 90s.
43:25He said it's important for somebody to carry on these traditions.
43:28He gave me his stock of heirloom beans this year.
43:31This is what heirloom looks like outside of holy foods.
43:36Bloody butcher corn, fat horse beans, candy roaster squash, and Homer Fike's yellow ox heart tomatoes.
43:44Nice and soft, and it's like a really sweet green tomato.
43:48These ingredients define a near-lost time and flavor.
43:51This is an Italian heirloom beet that was brought to West Virginia by Italian immigrants, so it's like, it's called
43:56a chioggia.
43:57The story of hardship and resourcefulness.
44:00We've got some sweet corn chowder.
44:03We're going to just, like, drizzle a little bit of this nettles and wild apples.
44:09Next, we've got these crackers.
44:11They're broken communion wafers.
44:12You know, the way that Appalachian food has always worked is you work within your means,
44:16and you create something pretty special out of what you have at your disposal.
44:20And we've kind of suffered from this in a way.
44:23It created this sort of rush towards the middle class and a rush towards the perception that we're better than
44:28the foods that we used to have to eat.
44:30Yeah, I think we were taught a lot to be embarrassed of our, you know, hillbilly past, you know?
44:35I remember coming home from school and my dad having hogshead on the kitchen table making head cheese and sals.
44:40Like, I'd have been mortified if somebody came over and saw that.
44:43Yeah, a friend of mine's grandmother once told me, you know, we used to make this because we were poor.
44:47Now we make it because it's effing good.
44:53Oh, what's that?
44:54This is some buttermilk fried rabbit, rabbit that we raise here at the farm.
44:58Oh, yes.
44:58A little bit of a chow chow, some fresh maple syrup.
45:08Is it gross that we slaughter rabbits right behind us?
45:11You got it?
45:15This is some venison harvested in front of the woods here.
45:18It's got a wild chicory root rub to it.
45:23Some chanterelles and sorghum syrup and some wild pears.
45:28Mike and Amy's friends are a cross-section of people invested in West Virginia's potential.
45:33Which one drink in here, the old school cider?
45:36We actually came across a recipe from 1822 with elderberry and cider.
45:41And it's a native plant here.
45:44So we put a little bit in there to see what it would do and it came out wonderful.
45:47You're using only West Virginia apples?
45:50I am only using West Virginia apples.
45:52That can't be cost effective.
45:54It can and can't be.
45:56Nobody's talking about money at this table, though.
46:00This is another thing for me.
46:02We are often talked about as being this impoverished state.
46:05We are rich, I mean, as could be in food and the things that we make as a culture and
46:11as a community.
46:12When you're living on the land and doing what your ancestors did, you feel a connection that you can't get
46:18anywhere else.
46:18You know, you look at something as simple as these pole beans.
46:22It took a community to save that seed.
46:25You know, every time we put food on the plate, there's a story about the way that people have always
46:30kind of bound together to survive.
46:51The people around this fire are looking hopefully to the future.
46:55They are friends, they are interdependent, a community, an economy.
47:03Thank you, everybody.
47:23Lord, bless everybody that's going to the game.
47:25Bless these young men and these young women as they cheer and as they play on the field.
47:30Lord God, it's the victory this evening.
47:32Keep everybody safe.
47:34Two in front of the game.
47:35In Jesus' name I pray.
47:37Amen.
47:40It's Friday night.
47:42Homecoming.
47:43The Summers County Bobcats versus the Mount View Golden Knights.
47:51And for the citizens of Welsh and McDowell County, this is a very big deal indeed.
48:06Everybody knows everybody else's families, asks after their kids by name, mixed couples
48:13are common.
48:15There's an easy familiarity between people here.
48:18The 2017 Mount View High School homecoming queen is...
48:25Bang, bang, one, three, one, two, three.
48:27Bang, bang!
48:28Get there!
48:39So very much West Virginia tradition, coal mining and the military.
48:43Yeah, we were 10 and a half years Navy.
48:45We done been around in back.
48:46You've been around in back here.
48:49Back here.
48:51Back here.
48:52Her husband Sly is a coach her son's Elijah and Aliki are on the team her daughter Alisa is a
49:00cheerleader
49:00So it's personal for her born and raised here went to school here
49:05Wouldn't have another
49:17Oh
49:30Garnet Edwards jr. Who's a former Mount view player who went on to play college ball in this state?
49:36West Virginia we got two things going on for us as a church in sports now if we lose a
49:42game is like losing our best friend
50:06Well it comes the end of your first chance of broadcast 20 to go tonight's nothing
50:19Fellas
50:25Just want you to play hard
50:28Just want you to play hard make smart decisions
50:38Let's go
50:39Daddy work like a mule mining by county coal
50:44They messed up his back and couldn't work anymore
50:48He said one of these days you'll get out of these hills
50:57Daddy I've been trying I just can't catch a break
51:01I think there's too much in this world
51:03I can't see you say
51:05The more funds are the return to the next stop
51:14Let's go
51:19Let's go
51:30Let's go
51:50Let's go
51:54Let's go
51:57There you go! Touchdown!
51:59Hello! Let's go!
52:01But I remember your words,
52:03Lord, you bring me chills.
52:06Let's go!
52:09Let's go!
52:10Keep your nose on the brownstone
52:13Hold on up!
52:15Let's go!
52:20This is the game!
52:23We win or lose on this play!
52:25Let's go!
52:30Oh, shit!
52:59Oh, shit!
53:03Oh, shit!
53:12Oh, shit!
53:17Oh, shit!
53:19Oh, shit!
53:24Good job, man!
53:25Good job, man!
53:48Good job!
53:49Community, that's all you need!
53:54I grew up here, got married here.
53:58It's home.
53:59Oh, my goodness! There he is!
54:00Oh, I'm so proud of you!
54:02There's more here than just poverty and literacy and drugs.
54:06There's a lot of good people here.
54:08We all do care about you.
54:10So proud, so proud.
54:12What are any of our hopes and dreams?
54:14A roof over our heads,
54:16some security,
54:17maybe even some happiness for our children.
54:20The opportunity to be proud of something.
54:23We all have that in common.
54:24I wish y'all could come down here and see us,
54:27and when y'all do, I hope y'all enjoy it.
54:30This is America.
54:32And if you can't embrace it,
54:34no matter how bitterly and fiercely we may disagree,
54:38there is no hope for any of us.
54:41I've been living here 65 years,
54:43and I wouldn't trade it for nothing.
54:45I guess I'll be here till they cut the lights out.
54:48Manly on three!
54:49One, two, three!
54:50Get out of here!