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It was hard being a pioneer in the wilds of what would become Kentucky. Try doing it as a mother of ten. We hear about the legacy of Rebecca Boone from novelist Patricia Hudson | A pioneer of glass ceiling breakage is profiled in a new book about former Kentucky First Lady Phyllis George | Did you know about the “Slaw Line” of hot dog lovin’ West Virginia? Part of the “visionary folklore” offered up by folklorist Emily Hilliard | Writing plays with the pros: a Centre College partnership with the The Farm, a Brooklyn-based playwright incubator | Green Room Exchange gets creative to raise funds for more performances by international artists

This week on Eastern Standard:Efforts to maintain and support connections between incarcerated parents and their children have produced positive outcomes benefitting the child, the jail, and the community. We talk with Tara Grieshop-Goodwin of Kentucky Youth Advocates and Wendi Hall, program director, Save the Children - Perry County. | We hear about a trio of Disaster Assistance Grants for Eastern Kentucky arts organizations, school arts programs and individual working artists impacted by the July flooding | A look at designing safe and secure schools | And former Kentucky Poet Laureate Jeff Worley discusses his new book and why he found himself writing an overheard comment on a banana peel.

Real and immediate need lingers in areas of eastern Kentucky hit hard by the July flash flood - Breathitt, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, in particular. What is needed and how to contribute leads this week’s edition | K-12 educators across the Commonwealth are in training to teach about the holocaust in response to a mandate passed by the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly | A new online map connects Kentucky startups with angel investors | The Bach Christmas Oratorio, rarely performed in the region, is coming to Lexington complete with the accompaniment of authentic baroque instruments | The United States v Fear is the title of our latest ten minute radio play written by and featuring Patrick Mitchell along with Emmanuel Thurman, LeTicia Williams Preacly and Joe Ferrell with sound design by Neil Kesterson.

Announcement of RISE, a special series documenting the complex impact of the July 28, 2022 flash flood on the present realities and future of eastern Kentucky. | Working to reverse a shortage of teachers in Kentucky classrooms: outgoing UK Dean of Education Julian Vasquez Heilig, guest of education series host Brigitte Blom | The Lexington City Council takes up the debate over a proposed Tenants Bill of Rights | How stackable solar power credits may make a difference for coalfields communities | Author Georgia Green Stamper in conversation with Tom Eblen, host of our series on Kentucky writers, about her new book of essays | Yani Vozos of AppaLatin and the Corn Maize String Band offers a new anthem for eastern Kentucky.

In this season of giving there is need among flood survivors in eastern Kentucky. And the response is not always what you might imagine. Anya Slepyan has the story of a gift of kindness and warmth from quilters around the country. | Joseph Anthony relocated to Hazard from New York City. He offers a reading of his essay about chopping down his first Kentucky Christmas tree | Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson talks with Tom Eblen about her childhood Christmases in Casey County | Kentucky novelist Silas House talks with Tom Martin about “When She Came to Mercy”, his short story about kindness in a time of need | “Hearing Angel Voices,” an Eastern Standard radio play by A.K. Forbes, about that famous couple for whom there was “no room in the Inn.” | Georgia Green Stamper offers her own childhood recollection of the manger story.

Former Kentucky Poet Laureate, Richard Taylor, author of numerous collections of poetry, two novels, and several books relating to Kentucky history on becoming an inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame. | Emily Cross Gibson on her podcast series about author, social activist and Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College, bell hooks. | Lexington author John Winn Miller transports us to the North Atlantic of WWII with his novel, “The Hunt for the Peggy C.” | A high school theater instructor’s account of returning from the virtual to the classroom teaching/learning experience | And what lured a musician with a resume as long as your arm from New York City to Lexington, Kentucky?

Special Edition of Eastern Standard, presenting "RISE."

RISE is an Eastern Standard documentary series about the July ‘22 flash flood and its lingering aftermath in Eastern Kentucky. Episode Two focuses on a pre-existing housing shortage made far worse by the flood; flood insurance issues; floodplain mapping; leadership exhaustion and stress; and the work of some of the key nonprofit organizations in the region. The episode is capped by a Chris Begley essay about the nature of mountain communities and how this event is forcing difficult change.

Episode three of RISE investigates an increasing frequency of extreme weather events such as the moisture-heavy storm system that stalled above 13 eastern Kentucky counties on the night of July 27, 2023 and intensified well into the morning of the 28th. The resulting flash flood claimed 44 lives and destroyed or severely damaged thousands of homes - homes located outside of officially mapped floodplains. The episode explores the question: are these storms the calling card of climate change?

Episode Four of RISE explores the psychology of crisis and the mental health impacts of the July flood on survivors who lost everything, children, and whole communities destroyed by floodwaters. It also explores the stress and strain on caseworkers and first responders. Although there’s a strong cultural resistance to seeking professional mental health care, there’s also a strong culture of neighbors helping neighbors get by, kindness undeterred by crisis.