Dear Friends,

The film is completed and put to bed.  The Cherokee and conservationist panelists are confirmed and excited about participating.  Apple Country String Band and Annie Wenz are tuning up and raring to go.  There’s one thing that’s missing. YOU.

I don’t know how many more films are in me, so I treat each one as a precious treasure that may or may not come again. It’s an arduous, painful process that I feel privileged and honored to share with you.  With each new film, another piece of the Appalachian jigsaw puzzle is exposed.  Another thread weaved back into the fabric of time honored tradition.

I think we have a unique and multi-faceted program lined up for you on September 19.  It’s a story of living with nature. Of an intriguing and mysterious plant that dominated our local ecosystem until our passion to outstrip natural resources made us forget that nature had a thing or two to teach us. It was when we stopped listening, that our land began to change. And not for the better.  It’s also a story about a people who lived with nature as a partner, who harnessed this magical plant and made it sing for them by weaving their lives alongside it.  Not to defeat it, but to share their world together with it. And those people continue to stand as emulative examples today.

With Helene still in our rearview mirror, how do we learn and grow and prosper by remembering.  By learning. By sharing. And celebrating.  How do we employ native and nature’s wisdom to help us solve today’s issues?  Is infinite growth possible on a planet with finite resources?  Hopefully, with Raising Cane, we can begin a desperately needed conversation about taking steps in the right direction. .