The Eagle Never Sleeps: one Kentucky newspaper still screams for press freedom

https://strangersguide.com/articles/the-eagle-never-sleeps/

by samclemens • 2 years ago

143 6 2 years ago

rpmisms• 2 years ago

This is barely an hour from me. Thank you for this. I'm moved by the dedication to free information, especially by my own countrymen in this special place. I think I'll buy a subscription.

daveevad• 2 years ago

It makes my day whenever eastern Kentucky content shows up on here. It's such a contrast to life in the valley and it seems like our homestate might be setup well for remote work going forward, or is that just the eternal optimist in me?

barake• 2 years ago

The Mountain Eagle and Appalshop both have no reason to be as good as they are. Consider supporting both!

milleramp• 2 years ago

What a overly verbose article, I didn't see one link in the article to the actual newspaper. Judge it for yourself: https://www.themountaineagle.com/

jessriedel• 2 years ago

It would be nice to have an abstract to this article.

jclem• 2 years ago

I grew up in the Midwest, and my father, who went to the University of Kentucky, was fraternity brothers with Ben Gish, and so growing up it was a name that I heard often when he’d tell stories from that time. I remember always being aware that a friend of my father had been framed for burning their family newspaper.

I live in New York City, now, and one evening found myself sitting at a bar in Brooklyn where my roommate, the bartender, was closing around 3am (at the time I worked a very late shift at the 24 hour Apple Store). The normal patrons had all gone, and myself, my roommate, and another man I’d never met were locked in having a last couple of beers while my roommate closed up. I had a long conversation with the man I hadn’t met before that eventually turned to where we grew up. It turned out that this man was Ray Gish (also mentioned in this article), the younger brother of Ben. Ray even recognized my father’s name, because Ben had mentioned him before.

Ray invited my roommate (whom he already knew well) and I over to his place for a last drink, and I vividly remember him playing “Street Hassle” by Lou Reed on his record player. It was the first time I’d ever heard that song.

Anyway—wildest coincidence that has ever happened to me. I see and say howdy to Ray every now and then when I find myself in that part of Brooklyn—one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met.

The Eagle Never Sleeps: one Kentucky newspaper still screams for press freedom

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