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Category Archives: Rural issues

Rural communities

Friday, May 15, 2015

Earlier this week, I was asked to attend and shoot photos of a community gathering in northern Stokes County. The people there are concerned about the possible closing of the elementary school there. To them, the school is an important part of their community. To the school board and the county commissioners, the school is […]

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Vintage fire truck

Friday, May 15, 2015

While attending a community event recently in the little Stokes County community of Francisco, I sneaked into the fire station to get photos of their vintage Mack fire truck.

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The people strike back

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

From time to time, when I think it is of general interest, I will post here about what I’m up to as a local political and environmental activist. When I bought land in rural Stokes County, North Carolina, and built the abbey here, I did expect to have some involvement in the county’s civic life. […]

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Fracking video wins award

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Last year, No Fracking in Stokes produced a video, aimed at our rural constituents, to help them see how fracking would threaten their rural lifestyles by turning rural areas into industrial zones. This week, that video won first place and audience favorite at the Sustainability Shorts Film Festival at the University of North Carolina at […]

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A tour of Vade Mecum

Monday, June 9, 2014

Most of the readers of this blog are not from Stokes County, or even from North Carolina, so I need to explain what Vade Mecum is and why people in Stokes County are so concerned about it. A hundred years ago and longer, Stokes County was a tourist destination. People would come into Walnut Cove […]

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No Fracking in Stokes: our new video

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

As regular readers know, I’ve been involved for the last two years with No Fracking in Stokes, a grassroots group fighting fracking in Stokes County and in North Carolina. Our group has released a new video, filmed here in Stokes County (except for the shots of actual fracking in the Marcellus shale area of Pennsylvania). […]

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The rewards of rural life

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A concerned citizen speaks to the Stokes County commissioners. Though I certainly enjoyed my 17 years in San Francisco, rural life is far from boring. One of the good things about backroads places such as Stokes County is that the American system of government operates at a small scale. People know each other. It’s easy […]

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An excellent restoration

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A neighbor out on the paved road recently finished renovating one of his tobacco barns. He used high-quality board and batten siding. The siding was sawed on-site by one of those portable sawmills that I have written about. The trees that went into the siding were trees that he had cut to build a house. […]

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Stokes Stomp

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Click on images for high-res version The Stokes Stomp is Stokes County’s biggest annual party. It happens every September in Danbury. I was there today to work in the No Fracking in Stokes booth and to take some pictures.

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Ken's new article in Salon

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The link is below. My 1,700-mile hike across the XL pipeline: I wanted to learn everything about the environmental battle. I saw a country marked by apathy, and flickers of hope

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