Chilhowee Camping, Day 1
Early this afternoon, JD and I set out for the Chilhowee Recreation Area in the Cherokee National Forest. Chilhowee is near the Ocoee...
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Essays
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jun 12
- 5 min
This Land is Your Land, Buddy
This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York island, From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jul 22, 2022
- 4 min
Three Years Gone
July 4th marked three years since I last wrote an essay for my website. In those three years, I watched our son JD grow, celebrated...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jul 4, 2019
- 7 min
Celebrate this weekend, but repent, too.
In our zeal for collective celebration of independence, we almost always neglect to acknowledge the parts of our history that are not...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Mar 14, 2019
- 8 min
Poor great dads can't do this.
Some daddies can take better care of their babies than others because some daddies aren't poor and some are. I can tell already that...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jan 18, 2019
- 4 min
Finding My Way Back Home
Growing up, I lived in a whole lot of different houses, but I never really lived in a home. There was one place, however, that always...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Oct 18, 2018
- 24 min
A White Trash Manifesto
"I believe those dogs belong at that trailer up Beck Branch. The one with the goat tied up out front and the Confederate flag in the...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Oct 15, 2018
- 9 min
On Gender and Impending Fatherhood
Gender is a social construct. I don't consider that statement to be political in nature. It is rooted in empirical research and...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jun 28, 2018
- 16 min
I Remember the Day I Became My Mother's Keeper
Last week, on the second anniversary of my mother's death, I took some time to think about the special bond we shared. I have often said...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jun 19, 2018
- 7 min
Jesus Wouldn't Put Children in Cages
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He called a child, whom he put among...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jan 24, 2018
- 9 min
The White Trashification of the Opioid Epidemic
Drug addiction is an issue that continues to draw clear geographic, political, and class distinctions in the US. Since the opioid...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Oct 31, 2017
- 14 min
Appalachia Needs a Reformation
Jesus wouldn’t recognize the brand of fundamentalist Christianity being practiced today in a whole lot of Appalachian churches. Growing...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Sep 24, 2017
- 6 min
Ticonderoga Pencils and Poverty
When I was a kid, I didn’t get Ticonderoga pencils very often. The reality is that my mom usually couldn’t afford Ticonderoga pencils....
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Jun 28, 2017
- 7 min
Poverty, Privilege, and the Dead American Dream
Once upon a time, I believed in the American Dream. In fact, I once believed myself to be living proof that it existed. I bought into the...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- May 30, 2017
- 15 min
Big Pharma Profits from our Heartbreak
My grandmother is a drug addict. She still refuses to admit it even though most everyone around her knows that her dependence on opioid...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- May 16, 2017
- 9 min
Being Poor Ain't Cheap
Poor people are cash cows. It makes no sense, really. One would think that poor people, by virtue of being poor, would not be profitable...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- May 10, 2017
- 11 min
My Mother Wasn't Trash
My mother died the day she turned 55. This Sunday will be my first Mother's Day without her, but nearly a year after she died, I still...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- May 8, 2017
- 9 min
Distilling Poverty in Coal Country
In Appalachia, our biggest export is people. I have heard that all my life. I continue to hear it from small-town politicians concerned...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- May 5, 2017
- 7 min
Blessed are the White Trash
I grew up poor. Often, when one reads memoirs or oral histories from folks who grew up where I did -- that is, in Appalachia, or in the...
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
- Apr 27, 2017
- 6 min
What/Where/Who is Appalachia?
Appalachia is a place. It is defined on maps, even when competing mapmakers disagree about its boundaries. It is also a culture, even...
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