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Denise Giardina on Coal Towns

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Author Denise Giardina discusses coal towns, from West Virginia: A Film History (0:58)

Denise Giardina: "When I was 13, the coal company that my father worked for was sold, and my father lost his job, and we lost our house and had to move. Many people move from one job to another, but they can always go back to where they grew up often and point to where they grew up and say, 'Well, this is the old neighborhood.' When I go back, there's a field where my town was. There's a field of weeds and nothing left. When I go to see the old movie theater, it's not there anymore. Any of the places I used to hang out, the swimming pool I used to go to is now a hole in the ground. There's nothing left. I don't think I've ever quite gotten over that, and I think that's probably true for a lot of people. It's like being a refugee in your own state."

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  • Company: West Virginia Humanities Council
  • Filmmaker: Mark Samels
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