#Rural NC

[souplover-69]

driving at night my beloved

[anghraine]

My best friend and I moved in together with his closest friend from his MA program, and while I had met her before (the friend; my bff is a man), we hadn't spent much time together because I've never lived away from the West Coast (and only two years out of the PNW) and she's never lived outside of North Carolina and only briefly visited the PNW once, when she went to Portland last year.

It's been a delight to show her around the PNW and realize we need to explain things that are just sort of omnipresent in our lives. The bff and I were casually griping with each other about having to run an errand to Trader Joe's at an inconvenient hour, and were telling her, "it's okay, you can stay in the car and avoid the people if you want" and she was like "NO I MUST SEE IT, I'VE ONLY HEARD OF THEM" and nearly ascended to another plane when we showed her around the store.

The bff and I grew up in the same town in NW Washington (him for his first 18 years, me from 9 to 19) and he lived in Bellingham and Seattle for years before he went to NC for grad school (I went to the SF Bay Area for mine, a very different experience). Both of them are hardcore coffee aficionados, but he struggled with the different Coffee Ways of the South, so for the true PNW experience they want to tour various indie coffeeshops next.

Also, she adores Kaidan in Mass Effect and we were like, oh, is your passport up to date? We could take a trip sometime and show you your boyfriend's beloved English Bay. It's very beautiful :)

her: O_O

me: Actually, it's worth going to Vancouver BC for its own sake as well, it's truly spectacular. We used to go all the time as kids.

bff: And Victoria!

her: O_O

[ath0th]

Pics from when I went into town on a cloudy day. Taken w/ 35mm film on my moms old Nikon from the 90's.

[war-in]

My 1975 Headlight Nacelle on a shelf in my Tobacco Barn in Eastern North Carolina. The reflection is from the box my Bushmaster came in. The old switch was for the fog passing lights.

[coldlaugh]

𝚅𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚝.

[powerlineprincess]

River Baptism New Bern, North Carolina. Taken from the UNC Chapel Hill postcard collection.

[alliluyevas]

had a lovely time with my visiting relatives. that being said i'm currently remembering when my other cousin visited last summer and we were looking at the white house and she said "i thought it had a dome". bless her heart.

[mortemcatabasis]

Our landlord is raising our rent by 250$ next month and my mom already works 80 hours so reminder you can give me money

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

I’m still not sure I should have gone to the Herring Festival.

I mean, I know why I always do it. The town has less than 500 people and this is our only event of the year. Since I am so financially trapped here, this was my one time for human interaction type fun until the Greenville Comic Con in August (assuming I can afford it by then). I’d have regretted not going. Dang, though, it has left me feeling so depressed!

It’s a lonely thing when you are on your own. I watched the parade from the front yard, and someone actually stopped, holding up the parade, to ask about Mom. That’s nice, but that was the only reason people wanted to talk to me. I walked up and down the street selling tacky junk, fried food, rides on creepy rickety carnival rides**, and a stage playing country rock and gospel (and the national anthem at least three times, complete with uniformed soldiers). And folks would say “How’s your Mom?” but that would be that for conversation.

Let me just say, I hate that thing where you are talking to someone, and when someone else shows up they just start talking to the other person, ignoring you totally. You are dismissed now that the important person is there. Well, at least royalty would have decency to say “You are dismissed”. These folks just turn away while you are mid sentence and never look at you again. It happened so much today I got so I dreaded it every time I spoke to someone. I finally reached the point I’d sort of sigh and expect it.

I’m not one of them. We all know it. I’ve lived here all my life, but I’m not related to them and I don’t go to any of their churches. I’m not part of any of their clans. Friendly but not friends, I always call it.

I did get to talk to two people. One was a woman selling sea glass jewelry. She wasn’t from around here, and was only there as a favor to someone. The other was my neighbor, but as his parents live in Massachusetts he’s lucky he and his wife didn’t move here a few decades ago. The neighbors never let Pop forget he was from “Mass– a— TWOOOOO-sets”. They both told me so much about themselves that it was rather astonishing. I can talk to people that aren’t from around here.

That said, both of them for in better than me. Heck, when I told my neighbor how I hated feeling trapped here, missing getting to go places, he laughed and said I’d get used to it and told me how nice the place was. People around here are always baffled, and sometimes even offended, by me saying I’m NOT here because I love the town. it’s the greatest place in the world, they say.

Yeah, if you can belong. Right religion, right politics, right interests….

Speaking of religion, funny how they make it infuse everything. A stand for a women’s hunting organization had biblical quotes posted. Everything is religion here.

That sure didn’t help me feel I belong. Not a Christian, and if they knew I was agnostic it would probably cause a fuss. I’d be the first to be burned at the stake if they ever get riled enough.

So alone, and too poor to buy anything, I came back to the house. On a whim, I wanted to open my dressing table drawer and go through my old treasures. Unfortunately the drawer was broken, the bottom having come lose from the rest. I spent an hour crawling around trying to get it open from underneath, when in the gap created at the front of the drawer something fell out….

$20!!!!

I know I should have saved it, but it felt like a gift from my past self, the one with family and friends and dreams. She would want me to have some fun.

I took the money back down the street and bought a cheap little bracelet from the woman selling sea glass jewelry and a funnel cake (bagged against the crazy winds). I may not be able to buy friends to hang out with but I can buy a silly piece of jewelry I will never have much opportunity to wear and something that’s all deep fried and sugar dusted. It made the day feel less hollow (and my stomach too full).

But generally, I feel so damned lonely around people. Not in cities where I don’t know anyone, but my local community where I feel like I am SUPPOSED to belong.

Two hours from now the fireworks start. (Doesn’t seem wise with the wind!) I’ll sit on the Burras House porch alone, oohing and ahhing and taking bad photos. I’d rather have company, but I guess fireworks alone is better than no foreworks.

**Disney would have a field day with the giant banners with badly drawn versions of Marvel characters they had at the rides!

[souplover-69]

i miss the roads back home

[sharkface]

I do not think people are understanding that for people in the Carolinas there was no naive and stupid choice to stay in the hurricane instead of evacuating, the Carolinas are regularly hit by hurricanes after they've tanked in severity, no one communicated to them that it was going to get this bad. This isn't "rich people from florida" beach house antics, these are overwhelmingly rural and poor areas full of people with no flood infrastructure, no warning, and nowhere to go. It is impossible to truly toll the death this has caused, hundreds of people are missing, emergency services are having to leave corpses behind because there are so many more living people to deal with. And this is the people who had homes, who had the physical ability to try to escape! Nobody told them this would happen. This is what it looks like to have no emergency weather preparedness, no warning, in terrain that will trap you where you are. This is the mountains we're talking about- All water flows straight into the river valleys where most people live, and seeking higher ground risks you mudslides and rock slides, the ground will fall out from underneath you. This is going to keep happening, and nobody is going to care until it's their problem- And then they're gonna ask why no one is helping.

A lot of places to donate are evangelical groups that will keep more of your money than distribute aid (all while using the disaster to recruit), if you are looking into an org to donate to PLEASE AVOID THESE, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BE HELPFUL IN A DISASTER SCENARIO, ANY OTHER CHARITY IS PREFERABLE, they're rarely helpful to their community under normal circumstances. Seek out individual people in need to send aid directly if you can, I'm positive a lot of gofundmes will be popping up in the near future as cities begin to regain power, otherwise the Red Cross is always taking donations and has historically provided the most relief for natural disaster survivors, you can also donate to United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, an org run by officials in Asheville, which is one of the most immediately endangered areas of western NC and greatly in need of drinkable water.

[bijoumikhawal]

Hurricane Helene Relief Funds

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue operates out of Asheville, which has been hit aggressively by storm and flood damage

The Asheville Survival Program is reaching out. They appear to actually be the ones who use the Cashapp $Streets1de, and they just got put with Appalachian Med for convenience.

Beloved Asheville is reaching out. www.PayPal.me/belovedasheville and venmo.com/beloved-asheville

Homeward Bound helps the homeless in the Asheville/Buncombe area

Theres a fund for smaller rural communities around Asheville. It's close to its goal, but I really wish they'd set it higher considering what people are gonna need. Someone make sure they surpass it!

Charlotte NC is reaching out. Charlotte Mutual Aid: Helene Disaster Relief. CashApp: MutualAid704. Venmo: MutualAid704. Open Collective: Helene.cltfnb.com

Olive Branch Ministry is reaching out from West NC

Josh Griffith is fundraising for his efforts to deliver food in WNC

Breathitt County in Kentucky is fundraising to help NC through the Rousseau Volunteer Fire Department, as well as asking for physical supply donations. Their paypal is jrousseauvfd, put "for NC flood". Jaxon Flower shop in Jackson KY will also take physical donations. They aren't looking for clothes, moreso cleaning supplies and other items.

North Durham Mutual Aid is reaching out.

Eastern Kentucky Mutual Aid is also reaching out for funds. There looks like there might be two orgs with similar names, but if so both are helping. There's PayPal.me/ekymutualaid, Venmo - @ekymutualaid, or Cashapp - $ekymutualaid. There's also a Facebook group where individuals are posting requests for aid.

There's a fund for relief in Erwin, Tennessee

Helbender Harm Reduction is collecting physical supplies in Knoxville alongside First Aid Collective Knoxille, whose Cashapp/Venmo is: $firstaidcollectknox. If you're nearby they're looking for clothes, blankets, shelf stable food, rain gear, flashlights, and batteries, which is what most other groups asking for supplies are looking at too.

The TriCities Mutual Aid group is mostly asking for volunteers and supplies in the Tennessee/Virginia area. However, they may shift to donations, and you can reach out to them to see if they would be welcome either way.

Food Not Bombs Tallahassee has a cashapp: $fnbtally2022. They and Mutual Aid Athens are also boosting any community calls for funds, labor, or supplies in various states on their Instagram pages

Taylor County FL is reaching out. Paypal: Mskatonic138@gmail.com and Venmo @Mskatonic138

The Footprint project's Florida team is asking for people to support their response by texting HELENE to 44-321

Since I don't know if the post I made late last night will get traction I'll reiterate that Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a trusted org. You can send funds at the linked site, or via Paypal: MutualAidDisasterRelief@gmail.com Or Venmo: @MutualAidDisasterRelief

Appalachian Med is another trusted org I shared last night. They have Venmo: @AppMedSolid. Put Flood Support in the description

Animal Disaster Relief Coalition is helping people make sure their animals are fed.

A list of Mutual Aid groups can be found here

A friend of mine, Vyn, is asking for help since he'll be out of power for around a week in Southeast GA

Other physical supplies people will be looking for in flood impacted areas include:

bottled water, potentially water filters

personal hygiene items: wipes, camping showers, tampons/pads/other menstrual products, handsanitizer, mosquito spray, laundry detergent, washboards, toilet paper, diapers, and especially any products safe for sensitive skin

medications- ibuprofen, monistat and other meds for yeast infections, cold and cough meds, any diabetic meds that can be safely shared, etc

individually wrapped low or no prep food items, baby formula, and Gatorade

duffel bags, backpacks, heavy duty storage totes and trash bags, 5 gallon buckets, coolers

Fans, dehumidifiers, moisture sensors, generators, gas and gas cans, solar charging items and battery banks, first aid kits

chainsaws, crowbars, hammers, air filters, respirators, 2×4 planks, bleach, roofing nails, heavy duty gloves, and potentially waders.

and board games or other non electric activities for children

Double check if you can before you donate these items to make sure whatever local drive you're headed to wants them and can distribute the more specialized ones where they're needed

And please! Add any funds you know of, especially for South Carolina and North Georgia since I wasn't seeing many funds for those areas! I know South Carolina is in desperate need and there's definitely parts of North Georgia in need too. Atlanta saw some bad flooding so keep an eye for them too!

[cuntwrap--supreme]

It's not even 8:30am and my mom is on some homophobic bullshit about how gay men are inherently disgusting because they always have shit on their dicks that they don't wash off. "Why else do gay men smell like shit?" as if all gay men smell like shit. So I fly the, "Have you ever just considered that some people have pisspoor hygiene?" and she insists it's ALL gay men and they're all disgusting.

So, uh... Fuck this bitch. She says I'm only defending gay men because one of my friends is a gay guy, as if I'm not telling her to shut up because she's clearly being a shithead.

[miamigirlwalking]

Scenes from Rural NC

Scenes from Rural NC

[intheholler]

went on a nice long drive through west virginia today. soooo pretty. i never spent much time there.

it was really nice skitterin through small towns and seeing pride flags hangin on the front doors of businesses in these rural areas. like, more than one. *especially* because WV is one of the most heavily and harmfully stereotyped states in the region

tiny things like this show some things are really changing for the better in appalachia, and i'm tired of people pretendin they ain't just so they got more fuel for their hateful narrative about us.

when i was a teenager i never even saw that kinda thing in comparatively progressive western nc. and now here i was today, windin through the hills of west virginia with rainbows blowing everywhere

keep being loud and unapologetic, y'all. it's working

[powerlineprincess]

A book that always inspired my love for photography, "The Neugents: Close to Home" by David M. Spear, a friend of my father's who photographed this family in rural Madison, NC on Tabacco Road. (my hometown)