Dispatches from the Country Culture War

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

photography

politics + activism

Shoog McDaniel is Using Boomerang to Capture Rural Queers in Quarantine

McDaniel’s day-to-day life doesn’t necessarily look that different in quarantine. “When I say I’m going out I’m going to walk in the woods, that’s my main jam. It’s a very…

Lauren Parker —

Sep 19, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

society + culture

Chatting With Meg Elison About Investigating Rural Poverty in “Find Layla”

Elison’s latest novel, Find Layla, looks at the realities of poverty and neglect for teens in the age of social media.

Lauren Parker —

Aug 22, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

politics + activism

Southern West Virginia Harm Reduction Gets Creative to Survive the Pandemic

“I can’t speak for all harm reduction efforts, and I think the impacts can be different depending on who you’re doing outreach with or who you are centering, but here…

Lauren Parker —

Jul 25, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

Juniper Moon Folk Arts: Crafters, Activists, and the Glories of Gas Station Food

During Pride month, rural queer owned Juniper Moon Folk Art is doing weekly giveaways to raise funds for black-led organizations and bail funds working in antiracism and prison abolition.

Lauren Parker —

Jun 14, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

Country Queers Documents the Myriad Experiences of Rural LGBTQIA Americans

“Community is a very complicated and roomy word. Rural queer people also have other layers of identity that inform their realities.”

Lauren Parker —

May 9, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

This Queer Ink Maker Is Using Alchemy to Turn Pain and Chaos Into Art

“Ink revolutionized our way of speaking, the ideas of the dead are recorded in ink, the dead speak through ink, it just had this really mystical element to it.”

Lauren Parker —

Apr 11, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

culture

Meet The Queer Activist Teaching Sex Ed to LGBTQ Appalachian Youth

“Bad sex education for queer kids it’s so violent and erasing and makes kids in rural places feel even more isolated.”

Lauren Parker —

Mar 14, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

Raechel Anne Jolie on Class, Gender and Being a Rust Belt Femme

“I’ve come to embrace that ‘lack of decorum’ that I grew up in.”

Lauren Parker —

Feb 8, 2020

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

TruckSlutsMag Is Making Trucks Gay and Reclaiming Rural Queer Culture

“There are gay rednecks, there have always been gay rednecks, and there always will be too.”

Lauren Parker —

Jan 11, 2020

'zines/magazines

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

culture

Wmn Zine: What It Means To Be A “Rural Lesbian”

Wmn Zine, the love letter to lesbians created by Jeanette Spicer, Florencia Alvarado, and Sarah Duell, is the exploring the radical nature of the word “lesbian.”

Lauren Parker —

Dec 14, 2019

Dispatches from the Country Culture War

rural

culture

The Communist Pleasure Activism That’s Helping Erase Medical Debt in Appalachia

A queer company that makes a “fistin’ lube for lovers and others” is partnering with sexual advocacy and harm reduction groups while helping to erase tens of thousands of dollars…

Lauren Parker —

Nov 9, 2019