This probably reflects the media echo chamber I’ve built around myself more than the zeitgeist at-large, but I’ve noticed a lot of buzz about extractive capitalism recently, and particularly its legacy in Appalachia. For me, this cycle started earlier this month with an episode of WNYC’s podcast, “Dolly Parton’s America.” In it, host Jad Abumrad and producer Shima Oliaee talk to Dr. Lynn Sacco, who teaches the University of Tennessee Knoxville class that inspired the name of the podcast. The episode covers a lot of ground, including a range of takes on Dolly from current UT Knoxville history students. It’s…

I’m bad at being ceremonious around milestones. There are a lot of reasons for it that I’m aware of, and probably more that I’m not. Of the reasons I do know, I think my biggest handicap to developing a healthy relationship to milestones is a lack of anticipation. Despite being a seasoned time traveler to the future thanks to my anxiety disorder, one of my superpowers is preemptively convincing myself I’m out of contention for many of the most basic rites in a human life. So, I always operate on the assumption that even a mundane milestone—say, living to the…