Julie Rae Powers’ new book Deep Ruts asks what it means to be a queer person from an Appalachian family with a strong masculine history of coal mining – and to grow up in a place where those two things are incompatible. Deep Ruts shares Julie Rae’s journey of trying to find her place in the world.

On September 24, Julie Rae Powers will join us in a virtual conversation with Southwest Virginia photographer and filmmaker Laura Saunders. Julie Rae and Laura will discuss environmental justice and queerness in Appalachia in the context of her new book Deep Ruts. Julie Rae has family ties to the coal industry and Laura has a deep knowledge of the movement to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Guided by these backgrounds, Julie Rae and Laura will discuss the toll extractive industry takes on people in intimate ways.

We will raffle off one copy of Deep Ruts to a random member of the virtual audience. You can purchase your own copy of Deep Ruts on Julie Rae’s website. If you buy the book before September 15, you can take 10% off with the code “papaw”.

Register here.

This event is part of POWHR’s Community of Practice, a virtual multimedia reflection group to raise awareness and foster relationships for community empowerment on issues such as environmental protection, energy alternatives, the just transition framework, liberatory mindsets, and social justice.

We are hosting our first ever Southwest Virginia People’s Movement Assembly on climate resilience for community members to make collective decisions about what the community needs to face climate change. The event will take place from 11-4 pm on Sunday, September 22 in the Newport Community Center in Newport, VA. Anyone from southwest Virginia is welcome to join.

The People’s Movement Assembly is a tool we can use to make decisions for our community about climate resilience and disaster relief because we have the knowledge we need to do so and big government is failing us. The PMA empowers us to make decisions we all agree on – from preparing support networks for local climate disasters to drafting plans for what our community needs to address climate change. The PMA is a tool to practice accountable movement decision making in healthy, caring community spaces so that we can navigate climate change with more collective strength.

Please fill out this form if you’re interested in hearing more, and attending! https://forms.gle/KsMSP8XZtPckrEBq9 Feel free to fill out the form whether you live in Montgomery and Giles Counties, or not.

Join us at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Blacksburg for an evening with Jonathan Mingle, author of Gaslight: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Fight for America's Energy Future, a chronicle of the efforts of the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley and Allegheny highlands to derail Dominion Energy's Atlantic Coast Pipeline from 2014 - 2020.

Jonathan will discuss the story of methane gas buildout in the US, and the immense future stakes of the energy choices we face today.

This event is part of POWHR’s Community of Practice, a virtual multimedia reflection group to raise awareness and foster relationships for community empowerment on issues such as environmental protection, energy alternatives, the just transition framework, liberatory mindsets, and social justice.

During this Community of Practice, PhD Candidate Maggie Davis will discuss how her sense of home has been impacted by her field research on the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia.

Maggie will describe her own relationship to West Virginia, and discuss how understanding West Virginia and Appalachia as “home” informs her interpretation of field research. As a qualitative sociologist, Maggie goes into the field as a participant observer and conducts interviews. Maggie will share insights into her research and invite questions from the group, including:

– What research questions are important to you, whether in this presentation or not?

– Does a connection to home inform our understanding of our relationship to the fossil fuel industry and to systems of “expertise”? How and why?

– In West Virginia, people often talk about natural gas extraction and infrastructure through the lens of economic opportunity, while also acknowledging environmental and safety risks. Are others finding this in their work? If so, how do others relate to this puzzle, understand it, work around it?

The Community of Practice is a virtual multimedia reflection group to raise awareness and foster relationships for community empowerment on issues such as environmental protection, energy alternatives, the just transition framework, liberatory mindsets, and social justice. This is grown from our former book club but expanded to include other forms of media. We want this to be more creative, encompassing, and dynamic to appeal to a wider audience and engage new people.

We will be partnering with creators when possible to share media (books, graphic novels, poetry, films, etc.) that share stories, context, and strategies to foster discussion and inspire community members to take actions towards a better future.

These meetings and conversations will be held virtually to ensure the most accessibility to our communities.

At the end of a discussion, we will ask “What will you take home with you?”.

“How We Protect Us” is a regular community space organized by POWHR to discuss the safety and environmental concerns of communities on the Mountain Valley Pipeline route and to provide a time for us to come together virtually. On August 1 from 8:00-8:45 pm, we will hear from Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (an opponent of MVP and supporter of our communities), our co-director Russell Chisholm (a directly harmed community member on the MVP route), and others.