All language subtitles for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S11E01 West Virginia (1080p x265 10bit Joy)

♪

Oh, yeah, this place
was a-booming.

You couldn't get through
this town down there,

but it's dead now.

We had eight or ten coal mines
shut down at one time.

Come on, everybody in here!
Have a seat! Let's go!

It's the same halftime speech
every single week.

♪

There's so much negativity
surrounding this place

that no one ever focuses
on the positive.

They see us as ignorant
or hillbillies.

Overdose capital
of the East Coast.

There's really more here
than just poverty

and illiteracy and drugs.

There's a lot
of good people here.

When you walk on this field,
you better have tunnel vision.

Don't look left.
Don't look right.

You look at that scoreboard,

and that shit burn in your
heart, you understand me?

We got some ground to make up,

but once we make that
ground up, we'll take off.

Let's go!

♪ I took a walk
through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain
on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good
in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

- ♪ La, la
- ♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

- ♪ Sha la, la, la
- Sha la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la

♪

New York City, where I live.

And it's easy to think,

having lived here
nearly all my life,

that this what America
looks like, thinks like,

that the things that
are important to me

are important to everybody.

That anyplace else
is "out there."

Unthinkable.

Maybe even unknowable.

♪

600 miles away from
Midtown Manhattan

is McDowell County,
West Virginia.

Another America.

In the mind of many
of my fellow New Yorkers,

the heart of God,
guns and Trump country.

The existential enemy.

♪

♪ There is a place
on God's creation ♪

♪ A place of beauty
beyond compare ♪

♪ Some people say
it's almost heaven ♪

♪ Look for me
and you'll find me there ♪

My daddy always told me,
you know,

those tornados and hurricanes,
they can't get to us.

We're way down in these
mountains, down in the holler,

and these mountains protect us.

Here, if you gonna see the sky,
you got to look up.

♪ You can find me
on the highest mountain ♪

♪ You can find me
in the black coal mines ♪

To think about,
much less emphasize,

with somebody who comes from

five generations of coal miners

in a place that looks like this

is, to our enduring shame,
unthinkable.

Why can't these coal miners
get retrained?

Maybe put up solar panels
for a living.

Why would these conservative,
deeply religious people

vote for a thrice married
billionaire New Yorker?

Well, I went to West Virginia
and, you know what, screw you.

Here, in the heart
of every belief system

I've ever mocked
or fought against,

I was welcomed with
open arms by everyone.

I found a place both
heartbreaking and beautiful,

a place that symbolizes
and contains everything wrong

and everything wonderful
and hopeful about America.

The town of Welch,

known in its glory days
as little New York.

♪

Welch is a very rural area.

I mean, it's an hour
away from Walmart,

I mean, if that
tells you anything.

It's a real old, historic
town built in the 1800s.

The American dream in miniature.

A place where generations
of immigrants and dreamers

could work
and lift up their family.

The town of Welch,
when it was booming,

the sidewalks were so crowded

there would be traffic
backed up, like, a mile.

You couldn't find
a place to park.

We had three hospitals,
had the taxicab stand,

had, like, three jewelry stores.

It was just a wonderful place.

The rest of the country
took a lot of money

out of these hills
over the decades,

billions and billions
of dollars,

and when it became cheaper
or more convenient

to pull the coal we needed
to power our electrical grids

and to make our steel elsewhere,

this is what was left behind.

But this is not
a poverty porn show.

Do not pity the people here,

who, despite what you may think,

are not unrealistic
about a return

to the glory days of coal
and better times.

I drank coffee from the time
I could walk.

They put coffee in your bottle,
coffee or wine.

Linda McKinney is a true
daughter of Appalachia.

She raised her children here.

Linda's husband, Bob McKinney,

is a longtime
mine safety inspector.

Now, your family's
originally from Naples?

Is that right? Naples area?
Yes. Yes.

Came here in 1923

trying to strike it rich
in the coal mines.

My mother died when I was five,

so we went to live
with my nonna,

and the first day I was there,

she pulled me up
to a cook stove.

This is the dish
that my nonna cooked

during hunting season
with squirrels.

These aren't squirrels.
This is chicken.

Dinner is a not untypical
expression

of hardscrabble
Appalachian practicality...

Now, I don't measure anything,

so nothing has a recipe here.

- And Neapolitan roots.
- Basil.

Home kitchen gardens,
hunting, and gathering.

This my dad would call
piselles; it's peas.

Ooh, making mama dance.

Now, this is what I'm famous
for in these parts.

Have you ever had
spaghetti pizza?

- Wow.
- No, you haven't.

Don't say you have.

The tomato sauce was made

with Joel's tomatoes
at the food bank.

We harvested those yesterday,

and I made spaghetti sauce.
Wow.

Nearby, Joel runs an organic

hydroponic farm that supplies
the local school system.

The people here are very good.

They'd give you the shirt
off their back,

come together in times
of tragedy or anything.

Christian values mean
something here.

They're practiced
on the street and in the home.

Most of you have all got
your potatoes, right?

Linda runs Five Loaves
and Two Fishes,

a food bank that holds
many of the lives here

together during tough times.

16,000 people walk through
these doors annually

in a county of 20,000.

Gracious God, we just
thank you for this day

that we're able to
give food out again.

This is not a regular give out.

Watch over us. Protect us.

Help us to keep cool heads.

♪

Father, we pray over
the food we're about to eat

for the nourishment of our body.

Just bless it
in the name of Christ.

- Amen.
- Amen.

♪

This is our home.
We love it here.

We're very close to our church.

Everybody knows everybody.

They're all dying now,

but we're still hanging on,
aren't we, honey?

Yeah.

Was there any sizable

Italian-American community
here at some time?

Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

A lot of immigrants from
different countries came here.

- Still? How large?
- No.

We've gone from what,
100,000 to 10,000.

100,000 down to about
10,000-12,000.

In the county itself,
as of the last census, so.

Those are some grim statistics.

Yes, yes.

The coal that came out of
this area built America, right?

Yes.

McDowell County alone was called

a billion-dollar coal field,

and the people that were
in charge at the time

didn't take advantage
of all that money

in case something did happen
to the coal mine.

The cool thing is that West
Virginia's developing

a strong entrepreneur movement

that a lot of people
don't know about.

Like with Joe, he started
a hydroponic growing.

I mean, not blaming others
for their problems,

just trying to solve their own.

A lot of people that's
really doing a lot of good

that we don't hear about.

This is our pumpkin pie cake.

Have you ever had
a pumpkin pie cake?

You probably won't like it,
so we'll take your spot.

We got spoiled. The last
coal mines I worked at, I made-

base salary was $94,000 a year.

I also taught vocational school,

and most of the kids
that I had said,

"Well, I don't need this.

I'm gonna go in the coal
mines."

There's just
an education piece there

now that we're trying to
instill in some of the people

that still have that mentality
that coal was king,

and, you know,
we don't doubt that,

but we try to think outside the
box and look at some other...

Some other opportunities
that might be there.

The job that I have right now

is probably one of
the best jobs around here

other than the few guys
that works at the coal mines.

I operate this school bus.

♪

I mentioned God,
and guns, and Trump.

Get more physical!

Let's go. Run!

- But I forgot another
big one: football.

I was born and raised here.
I've been here all my life.

Played defensive end
for Welch High School.

Graduated there in 1976.

The Mountview Golden Knights
have long carried

the mantle of the town
as perpetual underdogs.

Mostly the children of miners,

many from very difficult
situations at home.

Why you walking? Hurry up!

This week, it's homecoming.

Whistle!

Coach Larry Thomson
has, of late,

imposed some order
and higher academic standards

on the Knights.

There are high hopes.

♪

Lord, thank you for this
food we're about to receive

for the nourishment
of our bodies,

and bless these young men
and these young women

as they cheer
and as they play on the field.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Amen.

Let's go eat, man.

Local boosters put together
a pregame meal

of ribs, baked potatoes,
and chicken.

These kids, you know,
they got long days.

They wake up 4:45 or 5:00,

and they don't leave
off the hill with us

until about 7:00
after practice,

so, no, they go through a lot.

How many generations of coal
in your family?

- At least five.
- Wow.

Coach Mike Anderson
is second in command.

Coal in anybody else's family?
Yeah?

Like, trash man, that's
a real common job in my family.

Don't feel bad; trash men

make more money
than teachers do, Chavo.

Fred "Fatback" Minko,

Micah "Woody" McLaughlin,

and Cole "Chavo" Anderson

are in many ways
typical Mountview players

and students
with the hopes and dreams

of, well, any other
high school students.

Homecoming.
It is.

How big a deal
is football in general,

and this game,
and what you guys do?

You know, a lot of these
kids, they understand

that there's not
a lot of resources here,

and before, you can kind
of feel the dreariness

that kind of lingered
around the community,

but now, you know,
with these boys winning,

with the worth ethic
they're putting in,

you can feel
the support, you know?

Like, we did a few community
outreach programs this summer.

They went down to the park and
they painted, and they feel it.

They feel that sense of pride.

How has this football program
changed your life?

It gives me something to do,
stay out of trouble.

Some of these guys
have changed 100%.

They had no guidance,
no discipline.

They have outside forces
that could be pulling them

into different directions,

and they know how that life
is gonna go for them,

and as a team in here
relying on each other,

their limits
are out of this world.

Now, in the past, you could
get out of high school,

pretty sure that
you were to make big money

in... you know, working in coal.

You don't have that
kind of guarantee now.

What do you see yourself
doing in ten years?

- Journalism.
- Journalism.

I hope in ten years,
I hope to be studying my PhD

and be a mechanical engineer.

- Mechanical engineer.
- Yes, sir.

I'm definitely gonna be
a neuro psychologist.

- Neuro psychologist?
- Yep.

You know, what's tougher,
life or football?

- Life.
- Life, definitely.

There's no halftime in life.

There's no time outs in life.

There's no none of that.

That was a really good answer.

"Love thy brother" is one thing.

That's all well and good,
but these guys want to win.

They need to win,
and everyone will be watching.

♪ I make my home
in mountain people ♪

Why are you dancing with them?

♪ My spirit flowing

♪ Through their veins

♪ My soul will live
with them forever ♪

- One, two, three.
- Family!

♪

♪ Appalachia is my name

♪

You're a badass.

Did you really just say that?

Them boys say West Virginia
girls are gold diggers.

Them boys should know better,
because in West Virginia,

there ain't no gold,
just black, black coal.

And them girls,
them West Virginia girls

don't take no handouts.

They got a living to make,
and stripping is hard work.

♪

West Virginia was settled
by people who were

fleeing persecution,
by homesteaders,

people who just wanted to live
their lives their own way,

but the discovery
of vast coal reserves

and the big business
that grew up around it

changed everything.

Boom, boom.

Them girls shake it.

Boom, boom.

Them girls dance.

♪

Them boys know some
of them West Virginia girls

can't count, so they laugh

and call them names
like crazy, like whore,

just after they take
all their mineral rights.

Boom, boom. She was wrong.

Boom, boom. Forever gone.

Boom, boom.

Them boys,

them girls,

them mountains,

explode.

♪

What is right, what is wrong,

what is mine,

and what gets taken away.

The town of War understands
this dynamic well.

It's a former coal
and timber camp

that has more than
paid its dues.

You can't go wrong
with biscuits and gravy.

Works for me.
Biscuits, gravy,

two eggs up, and a coffee.

I'm a happy man.
Yeah.

The War Café is one of the few

family owned businesses
left in town.

♪

It's an obvious
"New Yorker arrives in town"

first question:
why no cell service?

I've been to the farthest
regions of the Arabian desert.

All I got to do is climb a
dune, I'm gonna get three bars.

I mean, the mountains,
it's hard to get signals

down into each individual
valley.

Nick Mullins is a former
coal miner turned writer,

working in public outreach
trying to help people

transition away
from fossil fuel.

Try calling an ambulance here
and getting out of the county

to the closest hospital.

They don't deliver babies
at the hospital

in this county anymore.

Elaine McMillan Sheldon

is an Oscar nominated
documentary filmmaker,

born and raised in
Southern West Virginia.

If you were describing
this area...

Church going,
it's a great part religious,

gun rights, important.

A lot of people of my ilk,

that's not gonna resonate
at all.

In fact, it sounds threatening.

Right, but both sides
are saying the same thing.

Both sides feel threatened
by each other.

- Right.
- And I would say a majority

of people that live
in this region

want to be left alone.

The traditions of this place,

the things that we value,
whether that be

family, interpersonal
communication,

not having cell phone
technology to distract us,

those type of things
sort of butt up against

America's idea of progress,

and it's why we've always
been looked at

as being backwards.

♪

Being part of the media
but living here

is a really big challenge

because rarely
people like myself

actually are the ones
that control our narrative,

that control our story.

It was always too easy
to come gawk at West Virginia,

to make it the poster child

for whatever the agenda
of the moment was.

Lazy depictions of
stereotypical West Virginians,

hillbillies and hicks
tucked into isolated hollers

to be pitied or made objects
of laughter and derision.

If you Google Appalachia,
to this day,

you're gonna see
dirty faced kids,

barefoot on a front porch,

shaking Lyndon B. Johnson's
hand.

There's a lot more
to Appalachia than that.

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson
declared his War on Poverty.

A good thing, yes?

But the accompanying press
tour portraying people here

as an incapable and bewildered,

helpless mass missed
the basic essential character,

the pride,
and the self-reliant core

of the people here.

That damage is lasting.

When you come in and keep
telling us how poor, fat,

how all these things are,

I think we've all felt it
at some point: shame.

What should people know about
this area that they don't know,

that they're not getting?

Well, I think it's been said,

but it's just not been hit home.

It's just how much that people

in this area
have been exploited.

♪

The land agents who came in

and bought up
all the mineral rights.

The coal and timber companies
that started extracting

and taking everybody's
labor rights.

I can't fight a big
coal company.

It's got too much money.

Politicians from D.C.

that could make a quick
day trip down here

and get a good sound bite.

Who is a miner in this group?
Who is it?

Stand up.
You're all standing up anyway.

- The drug companies.
- 9 million pills

in Kermit, West Virginia
over two years.

One pharmacy, 9 million pills.

One pharmacy in a town
of 372 people.

There's some political
figures that come through

and say that they will
try to get away

from the mono economy of coal.

The great issue confronting
West Virginia in 1960

is economic development.

But by and large,

the industry doesn't
really want that.

Why would they?

If somebody can live here
and make a similar living wage

and not have to risk their life,

then they're not going to.

The other side of this is that
Democrats, they don't take

a lot of time to understand the problems here.

I just want to know
how you can say

you're gonna put a lot
of coal miners out of jobs,

and then come in here
and tell us

how you're gonna be our friend.

I don't think people understand

just how genuine and wonderful

the people are
in these mountains,

people who have just
worked all their lives

and who've sacrificed so much
for their families.

♪

You cannot talk
about West Virginia

without talking about coal,

and coal is
a complex issue here,

tied into the cell tissue and
the family pride of the people

who have worked
in the mines for generations.

♪

Yeah, man, that coal mines
is something else,

you know, boy, you got to take
care of yourself in there.

That fan is blowing about
200,000 cubic feet of air

into the mine... fresh air.

When you go in that mine,
you don't know

whether you're gonna live
to see the outside again.

♪

Today we're going
about 5,000 feet.

5,000 feet deep?

Yeah, oh, yeah.

It's a little
bumpy ride in places.

Pat Graham is the foreman

at the Pay Car mine in Kimball.

Watch your head.

♪

This particular mine
is a metallurgical break hole.

- So this is full of steel?
- Yes.

The average wage of a miner
is 60% greater

than the average wage of all
laborers in the United States.

- Wow.
- That's pretty phenomenal.

It's easy to see why people
in McDowell County

want mining jobs.

♪

I was staying in a town
nearby, Welch.

There's no bar.

Wow.

Heavenly Father, we'd like
to gather here to thank you

for this opportunity
to support our families.

Please watch after us
and keep us safe

while we're underground
working. Amen.

Amen.

♪

- What do you got?
- Bear meat and chicken.

Oh, damn.

I may just put my sandwich
back here

if you got bear meat.

♪

That's delicious.

Do you think the country
as a whole,

do you think they understand

the coal business at all,
what coal mining's about?

- No.
- No.

They don't really
understand at all.

When you travel
from New York to here,

whether you're on a boat,
plane, train,

or in the sky
or driving on a car,

it's because of a mine.

Mining causes damage
to the environment.

Of this there is no doubt,

but what cannot be grown
must be mined.

There ain't no cell phones,
for instance,

without mines somewhere.

Does anybody think
it's gonna come back big time,

like 30 years ago or...

My personal opinion,
every time a Republican

is in there, it goes up.

This used to be a solidly
democratic state.

What do you think
made Trump attractive:

a city slicker,
three times married?

- That's easy for me.
- Yeah.

Hillary shows up here,
and she openly said

she's gonna put a lot
of coal miners out of work.

Wrong answer.

How many kids you got?

- I got three.
- Three?

- Six.
- Four.

If you saw your kids
had other options,

would you recommend that
they join the family business?

- No, sir, no.
- You would say no.

I would about guarantee
if everybody here,

their dad who worked
in the coal mines

probably told their son,
"Don't go into the coal mines."

- That's what I was told.
- That's what I told mine.

- Yeah.
- I mean, you're gonna

tell them, "No, don't do it,"

but you know, if they do,
you're gonna be proud.

I'm proud.

From the stickers
we put on our buckets,

from the stickers
we put on our hats,

to my coffee mug there,
passed down.

I don't mess that thing up,
my son goes into the mines,

that's gonna be his.

When and if you retire,
what would you like to do?

Where would you like to go?

♪

♪ I'm a stone's
throw from the mill ♪

♪ And I'm a good walk
to the river ♪

♪ But my working day is over

♪ We'll go swim
our cares away ♪

It's so easy from afar
to say that coal's time here

has come and gone,

that we should let the miners
move, find some other work.

What other work?

This state's biggest employer
is now Walmart.

♪ I've seen my share
of trouble ♪

♪ And I've held
my weight in shame ♪

♪ But I'm baptized
in your name ♪

♪ Lovely Lady May

Whatever your views,
respect these people,

what they do
and what they've paid.

Ladies and gentlemen...

♪

Ready, set, go!

♪

♪ Early in the morning
when the sun does rise ♪

♪

♪ Laying in the bed
with bloodshot eyes ♪

♪

♪ Run me ragged
but I don't fret ♪

♪

♪ Cause there ain't been one
slow me down none yet ♪

♪ Get me drinking
that moonshine ♪

♪ Get me higher
than the grocery bill ♪

♪ Take my troubles
to the high wall ♪

♪ Throw them in the river
and get your fill ♪

♪ Lord it's a mighty
hard living ♪

♪ But it's damn good feeling
to run these roads ♪

So these things have to be
durable, to say the least?

I mean, you're pounding
the hell out of them.

They're actually built
to be indestructible.

- Indestructible.
- Yeah, that's the plan.

♪

Yeah!

Well, I guess we broke it.

This bat-shit crazy, vertical,

Mad Max drag race
come demolition derby

is called rock bouncing.

Keep my neck from
bouncing around too much?

Yeah, and what they're
actually designed for

is major collisions,

and it keeps your head
from tearing off your body.

Adam Ringer is a native son,
jack of many trades,

and a man who's all too happy

to spend the day
trashing some hills

just to show me a good time.

♪ Get me drinking
that moonshine ♪

♪ Get me higher
than the grocery bill ♪

♪ Lord it's a mighty hard
living ♪

♪ But a damn good feeling
to run these roads ♪

♪

- So that was pretty badass.
- Yeah.

♪

♪

All right, you got your
frog legs, turtle patties.

Eric Williams
is a hunter and trapper

who caught most of this meal

wading waist deep
in the swamp on his property.

- You ever ate snapping turtle?
- Oh, I'm definite...

I'm not missing that.

Small mouth bass, catfish,
barbecued and fried.

Wow, what a spread.

♪

Trail riding ATVs, off-roading,

and the supporting industries

are an up-and-coming play
for tourism in this state.

There are thousands
of miles of trails

running through the hills
in places like this.

Anybody with any off-road
vehicle can come:

dirt bikes, four wheelers,
mega trucks.

King Knob Motorsports Park,

owned by Mike Hanson
and Amber Williams.

Do they have to sign
a release before they come on?

- They do.
- Yeah, that's smart.

Yeah.

We actually climb stuff
that's vertical.

- Straight up?
- Yep.

Yeah, this race this weekend,
the last 30 feet of the hill,

the second hill,
was actually vertical.

You had to hit it
with enough momentum

to skip up over it
and land on top.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

That's why you got to have
a lot of horsepower.

But too much power can get you

in a lot of trouble also.
Oh, really?

- Oh, yeah.
- Exactly right.

Horsepower's not always
the key to success,

but it's always a lot of fun.

Hopefully, you can come back
and try the Barbie Jeep thing.

♪

Guns are a fact
of life around here.

Whether as a means
to defend your isolated home,

get yourself dinner when

there's no place else to get it,

or just for the fun
of shooting stuff,

the feeling that gun ownership
is an absolute right,

immutable and non-negotiable,
runs deep here.

Everybody's backyard
look like this?

- Uh...
- Ours does.

Justin and Ashley McMillion

are the nice couple next door...

If unusually heavily armed.

Yeah!

Our muzzle brakes
are the only kind

that actually reduce recoil,

muzzle rise, and flash.

They own JMac Customs,
a home business that designs

and builds custom
weapons and parts.

So this keeps you on target
and makes sure

that you're safe
while you're shooting.

You put the mag in.

- Safety off.
- Safety off.

You got it.
All right.

Three, two, one.

Now, to be clear,

these are fully automatic
firearms.

They cannot be purchased
legally by individuals

anywhere,

but as they're in the business,

these guys could apply
for special,

highly vetted ATF licenses

for purposes of product
development and testing.

That was just really...
That was a lot of fun.

I'm a child.
What can I say?

Who wants to blow up pumpkins?

Just mixed up
a binary explosive.

♪

Some are small,
and some are big.

You only know
when you shoot it, so.

Ooh, a surprise!
I love surprises.

Three, two, one.

Whatever you feel about gun
rights or access to weapons,

there is an undeniable,

visceral thrill
to blowing shit up.

People who like guns
like them for a reason.

That's a whole lot of America
right there.

Yeah, not mine.

♪

Venison or beef,
with or without cheese.

- Venison and cheese.
- Yeah.

- Wow, a nice selection.
- The only way to go.

That's what I'll have.

Heavenly Father,
we bow in your presence.

We just thank you for this day,

and most of all,
we just thank you

for the liberties and freedoms

that our country provides

and you have provided.

- Amen.
- Amen.

So everybody born
and bred here, or...

- Lisa's from California.
- Mm-hmm.

So when you came here,
that was the first time

you shot a gun, wasn't it?
Yeah.

Show him your arm.

Yeah, show him your tat.
She got an AK tat.

AK tattooed on her arm.

I lived in Canada
for a long time.

Stayed in England
for quite a while.

Sweden for quite a while.

No matter how long I'm gone,
I always come back.

You can't just load the Jeep up
with a bunch of guns

and stay out there
for seven days and, you know...

You can't really do
that anywhere else.

That's probably one of
the greatest things

about West Virginia.

You know, we can enjoy
whatever we want to enjoy.

I'm not trying to force
my opinions on anybody else.

That being said,
we will defend ours.

- Yeah.
- I was guessing.

Yeah.

Look, I grew up
in an environment,

you see somebody at the
supermarket carrying a handgun,

that would be cause
for red alert.

Do you think there can be
common ground between somebody

who grew up absolutely
thinking guns are a bad thing?

I say no.

Okay, you're an honest man,
and I appreciate it.

Why do you...

I'm a responsible gun owner.

Why should I be crippled
in what I'm able to do

as far as protecting my family?

Look, I hear you, but there's
a fair number of people

in this world who are just,
you know,

too dumb to pour piss
out of a boot.

You know, 90-year-old
drivers in Florida,

they still got their license,
but should they be driving?

- Right.
- A few years ago,

my father was involved
in a shooting

at his pharmacy
that he works at.

A man came in.
He had a weapon.

My dad conceal carries.

He has a license
to conceal carry.

He drew his weapon and fired.

If they take guns away
from law-abiding citizens,

then it's just gonna be
the criminals that have it.

It should be pointed out...

It has to be pointed out,
faced head-on...

That shortly after
we filmed here,

a gunman in Las Vegas,
with a perfectly legal weapon,

fired off 1,100 rounds
in ten minutes,

wounding 422 people
and killing 58.

Shortly after that, 17 students

were murdered
in Parkland, Florida,

with a legally purchased
semi-automatic rifle,

and the list goes on,
with victims of mass shootings

that have happened
since this conversation

measured in the hundreds,

so there is that
to think about too.

I don't know whether
the founding fathers

anticipated
the kind of firepower

that we played with today.

We live in a different world.

There are the nice people who
live next door who like guns,

and, unfortunately, there seem
to be a whole lot of people

who aren't nice at all.

Get behind cover!

- Oh, my God, oh, my God!
- Go back, go back!

One would hope there is
at least some middle ground.

Oh, my God.

♪

They call this
Burning Fork Holler.

What is a holler?

I mean, it's spelled "hollow,"
but it's pronounced "holler."

A holler, to me, is where
everybody is united.

Everybody sticks with
one another

and takes up for one another.

♪

Lola Kline is a single
mother of four children,

and, in many ways, emblematic
of both the difficulties

and inherent strengths
of people around here.

Where do you find them?
In the trees or on the ground?

- Trees.
- Mostly up the trees?

Squirrels are more like-
it's a waiting game.

Find us a place to sit
and watch for movement.

She and her best friend,
LaShawna Huff,

hunt together,
raise kids together,

and do their best to get by
in a changing world

that can get very hard.

We got to keep our eye out,
too, timber rattlers.

They good eating, rattlesnake?

I've never ate one.

I seen a rattlesnake
coming this way,

and I go that way.

When you'd first go hunting,
how old were you?

My grandpa took me
when I was about six.

I just love this place.

Having a bad day, you can
always go up in the mountains.

All that changes.

♪

♪

My mom, she used to cook it
and fix squirrel gravy.

Lola's neighbor's name
may be Drana Lester,

but everybody here
calls her Mom.

58 years.
I was born and raised here.

Do you ever think about leaving?

No.

She often cooks and helps
look after the kids.

Biscuit?
Homemade biscuits.

Homemade gravy.
Fried taters.

Fried potatoes, excellent.

And Lola does her best
to look after her.

That's what people do
in the hollers.

Dear Lord, we come
to you this day.

Thank you for this food
and bless the hands

that fixed this food.

Thank you for each
and every living day. Amen.

Amen, and thank you for
letting us make more friends.

Thank you for having me.

Mmm-mmm. I've been waiting
all day for this.

Are you working on a farm
nearby, is that right?

Yes.

After strip mines are done here,

the land's usually-

I mean, it's just useless.

So we're trying
to make a purpose.

Pumpkins, watermelon.

We're just trying to figure out
what will grow on it.

- So there's life after coal?
- There's life after coal.

For about eight years,
I worked on strip mines.

I could probably get a job now,

but I don't want
to mess up a good thing.

So what do you think
about that squirrel?

- Oh, man, it's good.
- Good, ain't it?

Thank you.

They call it wild
and wonderful West Virginia.

It is.
And your girls are how old?

My girls are nine, eight,
six, and three.

You taught any of them
to shoot yet?

- Yeah, all of them can shoot.
- All of them?

All of them.

They think their mommy's
a big hero too

because she killed that
big buck last year.

Yeah, how big was this thing?

- 250. Weighed 250 pounds.
- Yeah.

You drag that thing out
of the woods yourself?

- Mm-hmm.
- Dress it?

- Yes.
- Cook it?

- Yep.
- We don't rely on nobody.

Yeah, there ain't nothing
I can't do,

and if I don't know
how to do it, I'll learn.

We're not a bunch
of pregnant women,

barefooted with no teeth.

I got all of mine, you see?

What's the best thing about
living in this area,

and what's the...
What's the worst thing?

The best thing
is the people here.

You always got somebody that
has your back, no matter what.

Like, I couldn't
move away from here.

I'd be so sick.
Homesick.

There's probably nobody
in these hollers

that I couldn't go say,

"Hey, I need... I'm hungry.
Would you fix me a sandwich?"

And the worst thing?

See somebody that's on pills,

or drunk,
or out here just fighting.

- What can you do?
- Pray for them.

That's all we can do.

♪ Oh little Liza

♪ Oh little Liza

♪ Little Liza Jane

♪

♪ Tell me how
you want it baby ♪

♪ You know I need you baby

♪ Grant my wishes

♪ Shots off to you
wanna roll with the fellas ♪

♪ Shakin' the ish,
the hips all that ♪

♪ Like that, make it hard
to fight back ♪

For years here,
the base was what was called

a West Virginia Democrat:

hard line
on the second amendment,

religious, but pro-union,

with a record of voting
reliably blue.

Those days are gone.

You know,
I'm a high school dropout.

Military, you know,
I was... I'm a veteran.

There is a smell in the earth
itself here in West Virginia

that, when I was away,
when I was in the army,

that your soul rots away.

It feels like you can't
smell it, or you look up

and you see the sun
all the way set.

Here it disappears around 4:00.

Allen Lardieri is a former
tanker in the U.S. Army

and what he calls
Constitutional Conservative.

He is solidly
pro-Trump Republican,

however distant from
Mr. Trump's New York City

background and gold-plated
lifestyle he may be.

You'll see a lot of parallels
in rural West Virginia

that you see
in the inner cities.

I see a lot of parallels
to places I've been.

School districts
that are starved.

- That's right.
- Opioid addiction.

Teenage pregnancy.

Food deserts, you know,

where there ain't nothing
but fast food.

Exactly. Okay.
Yeah. Where's our Whole Foods?

It's non-existent, sir.

Why would West Virginia
overwhelmingly go for a guy,

Donald Trump, who's never
changed a tire in his life,

who sits on a gold toilet?

Yeah, everybody else
talks around this, whatever.

This man talks just like us,

like how we talk
to each other in the mines.

It ain't pretty.
It's straight talk.

Well, you know, they say
he tells it like it is.

I don't know... I don't
know that that's true.

He says outrageous things.

I guess that's refreshing.
Oh, yeah.

You know, I gave up
on political saviors

a long time ago.

I believe it's naive
to go ahead and say

that I think that there's
gonna be one individual,

especially in government,

that's gonna turn
everything around.

Trump can bring change,
and it's very quite simple.

His offensive, incendiary nature

can send a word out
to these assholes...

I'm sorry... these individuals
that so called represent us

in congress, senate, whatever.

If people get frustrated enough,

they're gonna put somebody
in there that's not like you.

You know, what I hope
that things

have come out of this
is national dialogue.

We have to start talking.
We have to do it.

If he'd stop tweeting
from the toilet at 4:00

in the morning, I'd feel
a lot more comfortable,

you know what I'm saying?
A little impulse control, dude.

♪

These right here,
they're called wood nettle.

They've got a really nice kind
of aromatic quality to them.

♪

With the pawpaws, it's better

if you can kind of,
like, feel them,

see if they're ripe.

America's forgotten fruit:
the pawpaw.

Forgotten when most Americans

stopped going to the forest
for their food,

but in West Virginia,
they were never forgotten.

So that's a pawpaw ice cream
with some candied wildflowers,

and then this is
an old-fashioned vinegar pie.

It's in a class of pies
called desperation pies

that try to create
something like a lemon pie

and you don't have lemon juice.
What do you do?

Put some vinegar
and some nutmeg together

and give it that same
kind of tang.

Appalachia has a rich
and deep culinary culture,

increasingly fetishized,
riffed on,

appropriated for the genteel
tastes of a hipster elite

willing to pay big bucks
for what used to be,

and still is in many cases,
the food of poverty.

We see that ramps are selling
for $30 a pound

in New York City that were
harvested in West Virginia,

and what's West Virginia
seeing from that?

Probably a guy that got
about 2 bucks a pound.

It becomes just another
extractive industry.

- Right.
- Like coal or timber.

And you sort of start
to see that with foods.

That's the story
of West Virginia.

Yeah.

Chef Mike Costello
and partner Amy Dawson

are looking to keep that
culture alive and appreciated

and paying off locally for
the region it originated in.

I also have some buttermilk
poached trout

that we're gonna put on there
with some pickled rhubarb.

Yeah, it'll be good.

They run a traveling kitchen

that brings local ingredients,

Appalachian recipes,

and the stories behind them
around the state.

Lost Creek Farm is their place.

♪

A working farm
they're rebuilding by hand.

♪

And the nucleus
of that effort is the garden.

♪

♪

We have two different varieties

that we're picking today.

The one are the Logan Giants.

This seed is Logan Giant seed,

and they're an heirloom
strain of bean,

and I've had these
seeds for 40 years.

I saved these for 40 years.

This guy down at the end
of the table,

Lou, is in his 90s.

He said it's important
for somebody

to carry on these traditions

and gave me his stock
of heirloom beans this year.

This is what heirloom looks
like outside of Holy Foods.

Bloody Butcher corn,

Fat Horse beans,

Candy Roaster squash,

and Homer Fike's
Yellow Ox Heart tomatoes.

Nice and soft, and it's like
a really sweet green tomato.

These ingredients define
a near-lost time and flavor.

This is an Italian
heirloom beet that

was brought to West Virginia
by an Italian immigrant,

so it's, like,
it's called a Chioggia.

The story of hardship
and resourcefulness.

We've got some sweet corn
chowder.

We're gonna just, like, drizzle
a little bit of this

nettles and wild apples.

Next, we've got these crackers.

They're broken communion wafers.

You know, the way
that Appalachian food

has always worked

is you work with
within your means,

and you create something
pretty special

out of what you have
at your disposal,

and we've kind of suffered
from this in a way.

It created this sort of rush
towards the middle class

and a rush towards
the perception

that we're better than the foods

that we used to have to eat.

- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah, I think we were taught

a lot to be embarrassed

of our, you know,
hillbilly past, you know?

- Oh, absolutely.
- Right.

I remember coming home
from school and my dad

having hog's head
on the kitchen table

making head cheese
and sauce, like,

I'd been mortified if somebody
came over and saw that.

Yeah, a friend of mine's
grandmother once told me,

"You know, we used to make this
because we were poor.

Now we make it
because it's effing good."

- Ooh, what's that?
- This is some

buttermilk fried rabbit,

rabbit that we raise here
on the farm.

Oh, yes.

A little bit of chowchow,
some fresh maple syrup.

♪

Is it gross that we slaughter
rabbits right behind us?

Yeah.

This is some venison
harvested from the woods here.

It's got a wild chicory
root rub to it.

♪

Some chanterelles and sorghum
syrup and some wild pears.

Wow.

Mike and Amy's friends
are a cross section of people

invested in
West Virginia's potential.

Which we've been drinking here,

the young or
the old school cider?

We actually came across
a recipe from 1822

with elderberry and cider,

and it's a native plant here,

so we put a little bit in there
to see what it would do,

and it came out wonderful.

You're using only
West Virginia apples?

I am only using
West Virginia apples.

- That can't be cost effective.
- It can and can't be.

Nobody's talking about money
at this table though.

This is another thing for me.

We're often talked about as
being this impoverished state.

We are rich, I mean, as can be,
in food and the things

that we make as a culture
and as a community.

When you're living on the land

and doing what
your ancestors did,

you feel a connection that
you can't get anywhere else.

You know, you look at something

as simple as these pole beans.

It took our community
to save that seed,

and every time we put
food on the plate,

there's a story about the way

that people have always kind of
bound together to survive.

♪

♪

The people around this fire

are looking hopefully
to the future.

They are friends.
They are interdependent.

A community.
An economy.

♪

♪

Lord, bless everybody
that's going to the game.

Bless these young men
and these young women

as they cheer and as they play
on the field.

Lord, guide us
to victory this evening,

keep everybody safe
to and from the game.

In Jesus' name I pray.

- Amen.
- Amen.

♪

It's Friday night.
Homecoming.

The Summers County Bobcats

versus the Mountview
Golden Knights.

- Hey, I love you, man.
- I love you too.

And for the citizens
of Welch and McDowell County,

this is a very big deal, indeed.

♪

Hi.

♪ What so proudly
we hailed ♪

Everybody knows
everybody else's families,

asks after their kids by name.

Mixed couples are common.

There's an easy familiarity
between people here.

The 2017 Mountview High School

Homecoming Queen is...

Bang-bang on three.
One, two, three.

Bang-bang!

Get down!

Get down.

♪

So very much
a West Virginia tradition,

coal mining and the military.

Yeah, here for 10 1/2 years.

Navy, but I've been
around and back.

You've been around
and end up back here.

Back here.

Monica Barner
is a Mountview Alum.

Her husband, Sly, is a coach.

Her sons, Elijah and Eliffe,
are on the team.

Her daughter, Elisa,
is a cheerleader.

So it's personal for her.

Born and raised here,
went to school here.

Wouldn't have it no other way.

A 78-yard run.

- Oh, my.
- Loose pigskin.

Come on, boys,
get your head in the game!

♪

Garnet Edwards Junior
is a former Mountview player

who went on
to play college ball.

In the state of West Virginia,

we got two things
going on for us:

that's church and sports.

Now, if we lose a game, it's
like losing our best friend.

♪

Go, D!

Hey, you got it, you got it!

Stop him, stop him!

- Oh, shucks. Oh.
- Oh.

- Pass is complete.
- Come on, man.

Fourscore.

♪

The Bobcats 20,
the Golden Knights nothing.

♪

Fellas...

I just want you to play hard.

I just want you to play hard
and make smart decisions.

♪

♪ Daddy worked like a mule
mining Pike County coal ♪

♪ He messed up his back
and couldn't work anymore ♪

♪ He said one of these days

♪ You'll get out
of these hills ♪

♪

♪ Daddy I've been trying
I just can't catch a break ♪

♪ There's too much
in this world ♪

♪ I can't seem to shake

♪

- There you go.
- Let's go, let's go!

♪

♪ See the ways
of this world ♪

♪ Will just bring you
to tears ♪

♪ Keep the Lord
in your heart ♪

♪ And you'll have nothing
to fear ♪

♪ Live the best that you can

♪ And don't lie
and don't steal ♪

It's time to turn up a whole
nother level; it's time.

♪ Keep your nose
on the grindstone ♪

♪ And out of the pills

Yeah!

♪ Daddy I've been trying

♪ I just can't catch a break

♪ There's too much in this
world I can't seem to shake ♪

- There you go!
- Touchdown!

Whoa! That's a good move!
Yeah!

♪ But I remember
your words ♪

♪ Lord they bring me chills

♪ Keep your nose
on the grindstone ♪

♪ And out of the pills

♪ Keep your nose
on the grindstone ♪

Clock! Clock's running!

♪

This is the game.

We win or lose on this play.

Let's go, Mountview!

Oh, shit.

♪

♪

Good job, young man!

Good job, coach.
Good job. Yes, sir.

We will win!

♪

You're never gonna
forget this ball game.

Whenever you're in a bind,
you're stuck in a corner,

you know what I'm saying,
fight through it.

Fight your way out of it.

In anything you do in life,

in school, in football,
as long as you've got me,

and these coaches, this
community, that's all you need.

Yeah!

I grew up here.

Got married here. It's home.

Oh, my goodness, there he is!
Oh, I'm so proud of you!

There's more here
than just poverty

and illiteracy and drugs.

There's a lot
of good people here.

We all do care about each other.

So proud, so proud.

What are any of our hopes
and dreams?

A roof over our heads,
some security,

maybe even some happiness
for our children,

the opportunity
to be proud of something,

we all have that in common.

I wish y'all could
come down here and see us soon,

and when y'all do,
I hope y'all enjoy it.

This is America,
and if you can't embrace it,

no matter how bitterly
and fiercely we may disagree,

there is no hope for any of us.

I've been living here 65 years.

I wouldn't trade it for nothing.

I guess I'll be here
till they cut the lights out.

Family on three.
One, two, three.

Family!