Politics – Snake & Tree

June 2, 2018

New Post for 100 Days in Appalachia

Click here to read my post about the proposed budget cuts to adult education programming and why that sets a terrifying precedent for the next grant renewal cycles.

May 14, 2018

Populism

Good country folk historically hate big business, cops, authority of any kind, and rich folks. What happened? Nothing, really.

April 13, 2018April 13, 2018

Calling Him Hitler

Last week, ICE officials raided a slaughterhouse in East Tennessee to detain nearly 100 workers.

March 11, 2018March 11, 2018

Sometimes, Evil Prevails: Dry County Economics

Liquor money is green as anybody’s.

January 15, 2018June 23, 2018

Swallowing Us Whole: New Regulations on Predatory Lending Felt in Appalachia

Predatory lenders continue to invade rural landscapes. The CFPB tried to regulate them. Congress said no. Here’s why that’s awful.

January 9, 2018January 9, 2018

American Farm Bureau Speech

Thoughts after Trump’s American Farm Bureau Conference speech. Short and sweet? It was lame.

January 3, 2018January 12, 2018

Check out this thing with my name on it in The Baffler!

Upon Senator Doug Jones’ seating, let’s talk about extant Southern progressives.

I’m Rachel, a jaded twenty-something English grad student looking to tell some stories. Currently based in Knoxville, Tennessee, born and bred in rural Alabama. Here you’ll find liberal political tirades, stories, book reviews, and folklore focused in on these lower Southeastern thirteen states.

The title “Snake and Tree” comes from the Alabama proverb that if you hang a dead snake in a tree it’ll bring rain. These stories are the snake. The rain is making peace with this broke South.