"From Local Concerns to Legislative Action: Turning Grassroots Activism into National Policy"
With Craig Williams, Director, Chemical Weapons Working Group
Co-sponsored by EKU's Center for Kentucky History & Politics and Center for Appalachian Studies

Each year, The Goldman Foundation awards a prize to honor grassroots environmental heroes from each of the world's six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America.  Our guest on March 5th is the 2006 Goldman Prize winner for North America, long-time Madison County resident Craig Williams. 

A cabinetmaker by trade, 59-year-old Craig E. Williams is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who led a remarkable coalition to convince the Pentagon to stop plans to incinerate stockpiles of chemical weapons stored in multiple locations around the United States. Today, 24,000 tons of obsolete chemical weapons agents are stored in the United States.  Williams started his campaign in 1985 after learning that one of nine weapons stockpiles to be burned was at an Army depot in our community. Worried that incineration would put local citizens and their environment at risk, he built a nationwide grassroots coalition — the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) — to demand safe disposal solutions and openness within the Pentagon's program.

Come listen to Craig Williams tell his story and reflect on the intricacies of politics and activism. 

Location: Library, Room 128
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

A new film in progress titled "County Judge"
With Appalshop Filmmaker Robert Salyer
Co-sponsored by EKU's Center for Kentucky History & Politics and Center for Appalachian Studies

Robert Salyer grew up in southwestern Virginia with the eclectic sounds of WMMT-FM, Appalshop's radio station, playing in the background of his childhood. He did not know Appalshop was also an award-winning film and documentary center, only an hour's drive away, in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Founded in 1969 during the national "War on Poverty," Appalshop is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts and education center in the heart of Appalachia that produces original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books. Core to Appalshop's work are media training programs, such as the Appalachian Media Institute (AMI), which is for central Appalachian youth, and the Community Correspondents Corps (CCC), which trains local people of all ages to gather news. Appalshop provides the tools for documenting local stories: equipment, materials, and knowledge of the basics of interviewing, recording, and editing. Both AMI and CCC connect people to the means of media production and build media literacy: "even if their stories don't get on the air, they become less likely to accept whatever they see."    

Robert Salyer's new Appalshop film production, County Judge, focuses on the 2006 election for County Judge-Executive in Letcher County, and examines the history of County politics in Kentucky, the role of the Democratic and Republican parties in the region, and the level of public awareness and involvement in the process. Appalshop filmmakers employ an observational and intimate style, following the campaign and election through close and direct contact with the candidates, magistrates, local power brokers, and county residents. Through the gaze of this immediate and unfolding story, the film engages the audience around issues of civic commitment in local governance and investigates the increasing influence of corporate and private interests in political races.

Location: Library, Room 128
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Excerpts from KET documentary Time on the River
With Renowned Author & Virtual Boat Captain Gurney Norman

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Norman wrote and narrated three one-hour television documentary programs concerning Kentucky history, landscape and culture.  One of these, "Time On The River", explores the Kentucky River Valley. Gurney will use excerpts to discuss the state of the river and its importance for all Kentuckians.

Gurney joined the English Department at the University of Kentucky as a professor in 1979.  He is the author/co-author of several books, including Divine Rights Trip (novel), Kinfolks (short stories), and Back Talk: Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes (collection of readings).   Norman and his wife, Nyoka Hawkins, founded Old Cove Press, a regional literary press, in 1999.  Old Cove Press' first book was Affrilachia, a book of poems by Frank X Walker.

Soup and corn bread supper is included. Music by: Carl Hatmaker. This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by March 24th as space is limited. Call 859-622-3065 or 859-622-1622 or email kyriverkeeper@eku.edu.

Location: Center for Appalachian Studies, 300 Summit Street, Richmond, KY
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Unions & Activism: Hospital Workers on Strike
With John Hennen, Professor of History, Morehead State University
Co-sponsored by EKU's Center for Kentucky History & Politics and Center for Appalachian Studies

After negotiations over a new contract with Appalachian Regional Healthcare broke down, more than 750 nurses at nine hospitals in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia dropped their stethoscopes and walked out on October 1, 2007.  Despite further efforts to bring the not-for-profit hospital chain back to the bargaining table, nurses began a remarkable strike.  Come listen to historian John Hennen discuss his research on activism in the health care industry in Appalachia.  

Location: Library, Room 128
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

"Mountain Women Rising"
Co-sponsored by Women & Gender Studies and EKU's Center for Appalachian Studies

The Appalachian Women's Alliance is a network of women and girls in Appalachian communities who are raising consciousness and self-esteem, sharing leadership and power, developing a collective analysis, creating a common vision, and taking collective action.  

Together, we are working for economic justice, human rights and dignity, safety for women and children, and the preservation of our Appalachian mountains, culture, and communities.
Our Appalachian Women's Journal and newsletter allow Appalachian women to speak to one another and to the rest of the world in our own words.
Our Women's Caravan enables women to raise awareness of issues in our own communities and to reach out to others living in isolated areas.
Workshops and Sister Gatherings are safe spaces to work on self-esteem and leadership skills, and to become more educated about the issues affecting our communities, our nation, and our world.
Ironweed and Mountain Women Rising lift up the struggles and triumphs of Appalachian women through poetry and prose, story and song, while educating, challenging, and inspiring participants to move to informed action around the issues we address.  And our Clinchco Center is a model for what we all can accomplish through local organizing and action.

Location: Ferrell Auditorium, Combs Building
Time: 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Fossil Fools: Art, Activism, and Appalachia
With Kristen Baumlier of the Cleveland Art Institute, composer and sound artist Brian Harnetty, and Appalshop filmmaker Tom Hansell

The Fossil Fools combine art installations and performance about the past and future of fossil fuels and energy resources. The group will be in Kentucky working with environmental and sustainable energy groups this April. During this presentation, Kristen Baumlier of the Cleveland Art Institute will present her work using art with grassroots groups who wish to communicate an activism message. Composer and sound artist Brian Harnetty will demonstrate how his music links old songs and stories from the Appalachian Archives at Berea College to contemporary coal mining issues, and Appalshop filmmaker Tom Hansell will present solar powered video displays he has created to educate viewers about the connections between national energy policy and the Appalachian coalfields. After the presentation, the trio will lead a discussion session about how to employ the power of art to transform Appalachian communities.

Location: Library, Room 128
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Ann Pancake is a native of Romney, West Virginia. Her collection of short stories, Given Ground, won the 2000 Bakeless Award and was published in 2001. Other prizes she has received include a Whiting Award, an NEA Grant, a Pushcart Prize, the Glasgow Prize, and creative writing fellowships from the states of Washington, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Her fiction and essays have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Glimmer Train, Virginia Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, and New Stories from the South. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Washington and now teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. Her novel, Strange as This Weather Has Been, about mountaintop removal mining in southern West Virginia, is now available at your local bookstore.

Location: Library, Grand Reading Room
Time: 6:30 p.m.