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;...
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Essays
Dr. Joshua Wilkey
Jul 22, 20224 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
Mar 14, 20198 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, 20194 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, 201824 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
Jun 28, 201816 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
Jan 24, 20189 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, 201714 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, 20176 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
May 16, 20179 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, 201711 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, 20179 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, 20177 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, 20176 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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