From the Editor

Greetings and welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. I'd like to thank associate editor Christopher L. Leadingham, managing editor Mary K. Thomas, assistant managing editor Ann E. Bryant, book review editor Carson E. Benn, and media review editor Matthew R. Sparks for their work on this issue! We are also very happy to welcome Dr. Cicero Fain to the editorial board of the journal.This spring's issue brings together historical and forward-looking works focusing on questions about the health of people and places in Appalachia. These questions include how mining has affected the health of women in coal mining communities, the ways in which human settlements leave traces on the land through burial practices, and how New Deal era policies contributed to a model of sustainability that can still be informative in today's context. Looking to the future, this issue raises questions about the role of natural gas in school funding, how mountain communities can best assess their quality of life to promote economic development, and how women farmers are experiencing the effects of climate change in rural Kentucky.We start off with an article from Chloe A. Yates and Amy Sorensen entitled “The Health of Coal Miners’ Wives: A Historical Analysis.” This historical study compares the relatively unexplored territory of non-mining women's health in coal mining communities. How has mining affected the life expectancy and health of the women responsible for the reproductive labor sustaining coal communities? Their findings indicate that non-miner women suffer secondary exposures that negatively affect their health. In the context of a resurgence of black lung disease among miners, this research signals that the dangers of coal mining extend beyond the workplace.In “The Deathscape of Settler Colonialism: Remembrance and Erasure through Cemeteries and Graveyards in the Upper Monongahela Valley,” Travis Stimeling and Mary L. Linscheid explore the evidence provided by cemeteries to follow traces of the presences and absences of white settler, Black, and Indigenous people through the remains of burial plantings of yucca and cedar as well as stone markers. The authors argue that these cemeteries contribute to the erasure of Indigenous and Black histories in the area while encoding settler histories in the land.In “Sustainable Arthurdale: A Reevaluation of a 1930s Planned Community,” Greg Galford, Lisa Tucker, and Lou Martin assess the long-term effects of the planned self-reliant community in Preston County, West Virginia, that was created during the Great Depression, partially as a response to the deplorable conditions experienced in the dilapidated coal camps of the region. In reaction to this federal planning of a self-sustaining community, Arthurdale was judged as a failure, in light of the mineral boom in West Virginia. In this article, the authors reassess this conclusion, based on a study of current residents’ satisfaction with the community and in the context of the continued need for models of sustainability in the contemporary era.Jacqueline Yahn looks into the future health of communities in “Schoolhouses above the Rock: The Shale Gas Rush and School Funding in Appalachian Ohio.” This article examines how the shale gas rush is reshaping public school funding. In the context of the US school funding structure and the resource dependency of mineral-rich Appalachian counties, the author finds that the role of natural gas in public school funding risks further entrenching a path of dependency on extractive industry in Appalachian Ohio.In “Measuring Resident Quality of Life in Appalachian Mountain Towns: A Case Study and Proposed Methodology,” John M. McGrath and Skip Glenn assess the utility of the “Roanoke model” quality of life measures for policymakers and other stakeholders. This quality of life measure includes environmental and social factors along with the cost of living, to compare and market mountain locations for their natural amenities as well as target areas of improvement to encourage economic development.Finally, this issue includes a research note entitled “Demeter's Resilience: Exploring the Farming Experience of Appalachian Kentucky Female Farmers in the Age of Climate Change,” by Lindsey Windland, that takes on the topic of women farmers and their impressions of climate change. Farmers are a rich source of knowledge about the effects of climate processes on agriculture, but the perspectives of women farmers are often ignored. This exploratory study takes steps to correct this through interviews with six women farmers.This issue also includes a selection of book and media reviews. They include the book Living on the Edge: When Hard Times Become a Way of Life by Celine-Marie Pascale, reviewed by Gabe Schwartzman; Inside Appalachia, a podcast, hosted by Mason Adams, reviewed by Scott Sikes; Trash Trout Motion Picture Show, reviewed by Anne Ward; and the Carter Family Fold Memorial Music Center, reviewed by Lora E. Smith.