Shadowing Practice: Inside America’s Poorest Region Everyone Forgot - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We are about to enter America's poorest and most forgotten county.
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In one of the more mysterious parts of America, Appalachia.
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How does a county go from being one of the wealthiest in America...
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They call it the town of millionaires.
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They were getting so rich off of this stuff.
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...to one of the poorest regions in the entire country.
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Something so creepy about it.
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We don't have a bank, we don't have a doctor, we don't have nothing.
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Abandoned buildings, forgotten tragedies, and unsolved mysteries are all that's left behind.
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Scattered throughout the Appalachian Mountains are communities that once powered America's coal industry.
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For generations, coal brought jobs, wealth, and entire towns to life.
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But as mining declined and industries disappeared, many of these communities entered a long economic decline.
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In some of these towns, the population has fallen by more than 82% over the last 70 years.
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Which leaves us wondering, who are the people who decided to stay?
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And what does life look like in a place that almost everyone abandoned?
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Over the next three days, we'll be driving through McDowell County, West Virginia, following the Coal Heritage Road that passes through some of the region's poorest and most forgotten coal mining towns,
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with our final destination being the town of Welch.
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Along the way, our main goal is to meet the people who still call these places home.
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Find a local willing to take us on an adventure to show us what life here is really like.
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You can't get no further in the country than where you're at.
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But Dow County is an area that is forgotten about.
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But we also approach with caution, because we've been warned that these mountains weren't always welcoming to outsiders.
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Welcome to our mysterious journey across America's forgotten region.
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Back to West Virginia we go.
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Our journey began by flying to the outskirts of West Virginia, where we'd be meeting up with a very special guest joining us this trip.
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Thank you, thank you.
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Oh, I see her.
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Yes!
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Oh, yes!
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How are you?
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Reunited!
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Good to see you again.
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How long has it been?
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Two years.
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Almost two years.
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I'm really excited.
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I'm really excited.
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I'm really excited to talk about all these things.
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Yeah.
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Because they mean a lot to me.
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We spontaneously met Kate in 2024 during another episode we shot here in West Virginia.
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Kate's music career kicked off big time after we made the video with her
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and thousands of Yesteri subscribers came to her support.
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Now she's touring, opening for one of the biggest country artists in the world, Zach Bryan.
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Thank you.
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Oh, core is off!
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Nice to meet you as well.
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Yeah, we are the four Avengers that are going not only deep into America, but deep, deep.
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With our team assembled and lots of questions, it was time to head deep into the mountains of West Virginia, where few visitors ever go.
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As we neared McDowell County, we stumbled into an abandoned high school.
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It was our first sign along the way of the region's decline.
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This is extremely creepy.
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It's an abandoned high school.
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We haven't even entered the main area.
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People are looking at us weird.
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There's an old man there that we waved to and he did not wave back at all.
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Abandoned schools just like the one we found in Japan.
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There's something so creepy about it.
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As we kept on driving, we stumbled upon something we did not expect to find.
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We're in a town called Bramall
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that was once the home of all of the owners of the coal mines in the area.
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And you can tell the houses here are incredibly nice.
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They're beautiful.
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This feels very wealthy and we are just at the edge of McDowell County.
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Ironically, the first time we visited in one of America's poorest regions was once known as the town of millionaires.
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This used to be, back in 1910, this used to be ran by all the coal miners, all the houses.
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The owners of the coal mines lived here, so they would call themselves the millionaires because they had a lot of money back then.
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This used to be one of the richest towns in the state.
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During the coal boom, many of the industry's wealthiest executives built lavish mansions that still line the streets today.
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But while Bramwell prospered, many of the neighboring towns were home to the miners themselves.
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And that's where we were told the scars of the region's economic decline are far more visible.
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I mean, it's beautiful, right, to see a town like this.
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But then to learn about the history, we were confused by why it was so pristine.
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We were like, this is one of the most beautiful small towns I've ever seen.
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We ended up on a little road with a lot of abandoned houses.
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The area is beautiful. So beautiful.
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It's so peaceful.
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There was a man sitting here on the right side, honey.
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Howdy, sir.
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How are you?
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Doing good.
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Very nice place.
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We are from Sweden.
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He's gonna be so confused.
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How you doing?
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Good.
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How y'all doing today?
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Good.
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Good, sir.
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That's great.
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We're just exploring a little bit.
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Oh, okay.
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Ain't got a problem with that.
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Yeah.
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What are you doing here?
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Do you have a garage here or something?
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We do a mining equipment.
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Mining equipment.
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Okay, cool, yeah.
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So, so mining's still going on.
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I heard mining been reducing and stuff, but it's still...
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It's been reduced a whole lot, but it's still going on a little bit.
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I've been living this area all my life.
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I felt a change in my job status probably when Trump went in.
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When he stopped stuff from going to China, that messed us up.
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The coal business, that messed us up.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So to here, sir.
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So to here, yeah.
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Everything's kind of going down.
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The work is going down, but the prices are going up.
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Yeah, yeah.
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What's your name?
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My name is Claren Johnson.
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Nice to meet you, sir.
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Nice to meet you.
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Yeah, nice to meet you, sir.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Alright, y'all have a nice day.
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Thank you so much.
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And keep that smile going, Clarence.
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Okay, I sure will.
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Gosh, these people are nice.
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They're really nice.
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We're all nice here, I'd say.
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I think in areas like this where it's kind of hard to stay here, you gotta really want to stay here.
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You know, we make do and we help each other out a lot of times.
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Leaving Bramble behind, we crossed into Pocahontas, a town where life looked very different.
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While coal executives lived in luxury just down the road, communities like this were built around the miners whose labor made that wealth possible.
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When the industry disappeared, these were the towns left to bear the consequences.
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This is the city where the miners lived.
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This behind us is the old Opera House.
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One of these is the Opera House and one of them looks like City Hall, 1895.
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Opera House, upstairs, 1895.
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The first theater in this region.
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The latest Broadway shows, operettas and vaudeville acts played here in the early days.
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Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of people left in this town.
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Yeah, it's a beautiful town.
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Yeah.
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How many people still live in this town?
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Do you know?
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No, not many.
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No. We don't have a bank, we don't have a doctor, we don't have nothing.
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What happened to the mine?
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It blew up and they buried them up here in this cemetery.
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Did you see this cemetery when you came in?
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How many people?
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It was 113, 114.
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Oh, that's a lot.
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And what's made you want to stay in this area?
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Because I was raised in this area and I'm gonna stay here till I die.
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It's also nice to meet you, Debbie.
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Thank you.
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I'll see you.
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Bye bye.
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Everyone we're meeting is so friendly.
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Yeah, she's really nice.
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We just entered in MacDowell County.
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This is said to be one of the most poorest region in America. Is this still open?
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I like it.
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There's not too much going on here, but we haven't seen a single human being here yet.
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That's it?
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Oh, yeah, we're staying in this town tonight.
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This is the only place we could find a place to stay.
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There are zero hotels, zero.
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The closest hotel is an hour away.
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It's here, Sam's guest house.
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Train's coming now?
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Oh, train is coming.
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Yeah.
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Lights.
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Wow, sh.
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After a first day of exploration, we couldn't find any hotels with any rooms available in the area.
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So we were not quite sure what to expect once we arrived at the only place we were able to book.
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Hey.
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I think this is our house.
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Welcome to our home.
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This is haunted.
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No, just kidding, joking, joking.
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The description was there are three bedrooms upstairs, one bedroom in the basement.
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I'm nose goes I don't want that one.
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Yeah, neither do I.
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Neither do I.
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Corey?
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What?
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I didn't know we were doing nothing.
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Holy, holy.
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I'm a little scared.
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I'm a bit scared as well.
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No, I love this.
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This is cute.
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Oh my gosh.
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Night, night, Corey.
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We'll see ya.
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What?
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Lock it, lock it.
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Watch your head.
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No waves at the bathroom.
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Oh my god, this looks like a freaking slaughterhouse.
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They said it's a little different.
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Wait, where's the bathroom?
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It's in here.
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This is always the beginning of a horror movie.
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Always like this.
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Four friends traveling, we rented a place, Oh, joking a bit.
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Joking.
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With the lack of a town center, it turned out to be a lot harder to meet people than we'd expected.
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But today, our goal was a lot more ambitious.
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To go deep into the West Virginian culture, we wanted to find a stranger to take us on an authentic local adventure.
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But for that to happen, we'll have to find one of the few people still living in this region.
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The first thing we see when we come out here is just a whole street of abandoned stores.
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This one looks very closed, right?
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What do we think?
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I could go try the door.
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Oh no!
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Oh no!
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Bummer.
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This is so eerie.
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Pretty sad to know that this town or these towns has been falling apart for quite many years.
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We still haven't met a local in McDowell County that we've spoken to for more than a minute.
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I think it's gonna be hard.
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Anytime we have a chance, we just have to stop every time now.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
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We're going to seek some discomfort.
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All it takes is a yes.
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Today is actually the launch of our 10 million Dreamers drop for Seek Discomfort.
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Yes!
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We've got these brand new t-shirts.
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They're much more durable, much thicker material.
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We also reopened a warehouse in Europe, which means that shipping is way cheaper for people buying from Europe.
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And every single day that this drop is out, we're picking one person who's gonna get to go on a trip to Cappadocia.
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Ten people will go to a trip to Cappadocia in Turkey, one of the most beautiful places that we've ever filmed in.
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And we have 10% off all of our best sellers and a bunch of new designs like this one, All It Takes Is A Yes.
234
We've been rebuilding Seek Discomfort from the ground up and we have new designs.
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Everything feels better.
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I love the quality.
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The quality is significantly improved.
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So if you ever thought about buying from SeekDiscomfort.com, today's the day.
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Join a bunch of other seekers on a trip to Cappadocia and support us to continue on with this wild journey, telling stories that very few other people will go as far as us to tell.
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On that note, let's keep exploring.
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We'll talk about it more.
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We'll talk about it more.
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I think this is an abandoned mine here.
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This is a big one.
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Feels like being inside of a movie.
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Movie set.
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Wow, look at how massive this place is.
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What do you think about all this?
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I really wish I could go walk around, but I think my mom would get mad at me.
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She'd be like, you can't walk on all that rusty stuff!
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It's strange to look at this equipment.
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I mean, I can't even imagine how much this cost.
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and then for it just all to stand here frozen in time.
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Probably tens of millions of dollars worth.
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Can't even imagine what it must have been like at its height.
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We're just gonna have to be...
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Oh!
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Train is coming!
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Wow, look!
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Is it transporting coal?
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Oh wow, it is, it is, yeah.
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This is insane.
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We're in an abandoned coal mining plant.
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And this is the train transporting coal.
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So there still are some that are active, right?
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Not all of them are closed.
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Yeah, the industry is still going.
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It's dwindling.
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There are way less jobs.
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It couldn't support the economy that it used to have.
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But there's still.. there's still working.
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Wow, it's a very surreal moment.
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Standing here at the crossroads of past and future.
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Originally in the mid-1800s, there were like 6,000 people living in McDowell County.
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In its peak, there was like 98,000 people who lived here around the 1950s.
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Now there's about 16,000 people.
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90% decline.
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Yes.
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This used to be like a booming place.
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There were theaters and families and people still came here thinking that they could make a good life for themselves.
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And most of them have left.
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But really, it was like a police state.
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It was like a country within a country.
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They would bring in these miners, but they wouldn't really treat them like human beings.
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They were just used to fuel this industry that was in some view necessary to the nation at the time.
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It was fueling the industrial revolution, it was fueling the automobile industry, it was fueling the navy, the military, everything.
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So these wealthy people who lived out of state are making
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all this money off the backs of all the people who lived here.
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But most of the time they were so in debt to the company stores.
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The company stores owned everything.
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They owned the churches, they owned the schools, they owned the houses, they owned all the gear that the miners had to buy to even do their job here.
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And they owned the food.
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So typically if you lived in West Virginia, you get everything in your life from the company store and you were in debt to them forever.
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But in West Virginia, they didn't even really see their pay.
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It was company credits. So...
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Company credits?
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Yes.
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So you didn't get money, you just got...
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Company credits.
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Oh, sh.
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That you could spend at the store that they owned?
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At the company store that they owned.
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Do we believe we will find people now?
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100%.
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I believe it.
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100%.
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Okay.
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We just have to stop at every chance we get and see who's gonna be interesting to talk to us.
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Let's do it.
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Literally every building here was abandoned.
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We go past medical clinics and there's a city hall.
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You can tell there's a plant here.
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That's why I was like, oh, maybe it's still someone here.
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Hello.
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There's some pictures.
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Oh, this is cool.
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Hello!
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Oh, thank you!
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I heard someone.
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Hi!
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How are you doing?
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Good.
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Great!
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How can I help you?
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We're just traveling and exploring the area.
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Excellent.
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And yeah, we're just curious to learn about how it evolved and how it changed, and there's all these abandoned buildings.
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Keystone is probably on the negative side and the positive, but initially the whole thing is the mining.
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Thomas texted me to come so walking in here now.
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This is our other friend who is with us.
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Also from Sweden.
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What's your name?
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Holly.
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Holly.
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I'm Kate.
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It's a nice name.
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Kate, nice to meet you.
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Thomas, nice to meet you.
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Hi, I'm Stefan.
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Hi Stefan.
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So what is your responsibility here in this town?
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I was born and raised here and I went and worked in New York at the UN.
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And then after I retired, I decided to come back and try to get Keystone back into a natural state.
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Well, a better state than what was left.
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So I came back to come in as a mayor, recorder, whatever.
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Just call me.
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I don't do titles.
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I work for Keystone.
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You're a mayor.
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I work for Keystone.
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You are being humble.
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You are being humble.
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No, no, I work for Keystone.
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I don't believe in titles.
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My father worked in the mine, and my grandfather worked in the mine.
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They worked extremely hard, they worked a lot of long hours, pretty much working on their knees, but it was hard work.
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And actually my father died in the mines.
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Why do you choose to like be here and stay here?
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I didn't like what I saw of it going down and the reputation that they were trying to make of it.
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It's like I said, seeing all the negative, but not acknowledging the positive bothered me.
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I don't like that.
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I wanted it to come out.
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If it has to go down, go down positive.
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Don't go down with that negativeness and nothing good about it.
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I love nature.
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That's why I love West Virginia.
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Yeah.
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Because of nature and just to be able to sit on my porch
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and drink a cup of coffee and watch the sunset over the mountain.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Can't beat it.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Nothing better, nothing better.
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What do you wish the rest of America understood about this place? that we survive.
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Incorporate the negative to never repeat it, and incorporate the positive to enhance and grow with it.
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We've been looking for someone like you to speak to.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much.
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I appreciate y'all coming in.
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Wonderful meeting all of us.
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She was so nice.
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I love her.
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She's my kind of lady.
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She's never done.
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She's always working.
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There's always something worth working for, and there's always hope.
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As we continue driving through these empty streets, We finally spotted an interesting looking local we thought it would be worth talking to.
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Maybe it's a tough one.
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We're gonna start the road.
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Stefan, I don't want to bother you guys but we're from Buffalo and I'm from Sweden so far away from home.
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Yes sir.
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Yes sir.
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We're just exploring the area, we're driving through US and we love just making friends with people and but we won't bother you but...
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How are you good?
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Yeah yeah yeah.
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Nice to meet you.
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Yeah you too sir.
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Yeah yeah yeah.
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Hi, what's up?
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Glad to meet you.
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I'm Stefan.
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Alright, my name's Donald.
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Donald?
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Yeah.
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Corey.
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Alright.
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Pleasure, man.
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Yeah.
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Thank you for the warm welcome.
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I'm just hating that you're in this area.
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You know what I mean?
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What's the best part with this county and what's the most challenging part?
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I want to tell you what's the best part about this county.
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I would go to Burwyn Lake, the scenery of the mountains, but you'd be in it.
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If I was able to take him and go with you, I would show you around.
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But I'm just able.
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You mean it's walking and stuff?
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Thomas, how are you doing?
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Nice to meet you.
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We got a full car.
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But you're in a good place.
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I mean, really you are.
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I'm glad to see you all here.
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You've got a real good accent.
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I mean, to speak English, you've got a good accent.
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I needed that.
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I've been speaking with English on this trip.
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When I go to bed tonight and hug my pillow, I'm gonna think about you in that comment.
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You need a picture?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Too much information, man.
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McDowell County is nice.
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Do you like living here?
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Well, no. But I have to live here, you know what I mean?
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Because I was born and raised here.
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My place was Orlando, Florida.
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I was down there doing disaster relief.
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FEMA helped out the flood victims and tornadoes and hurricanes and stuff like that.
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Good works are helping people.
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May I ask what happened to your leg?
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Yes sir, you can.
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I had lost my friend brother and he got murdered and it was hard, you know what I mean?
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Because we had never been separated from birth until he was 20 years of age.
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We was never separated.
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A bad part of me and everything joined the bike game.
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I went from being a real nice guy to a, I want to be a hellion.
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You know what I mean?
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I mean, I'm ashamed of it.
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That's just my life, you know what I mean?
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And if I got into a fight, that's what I want because of the hatred that I had.
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And that I had built up.
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And I got into a bar at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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As I was walking out the bar, the man, he got kicked out and he shot.
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The only thing I heard was a bang when I walked out the door.
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I started feeling myself, you know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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And he got to looking and everything and my leg was blowing, you know what I mean?
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So I went to the hospital and they told me, he says, amputation.
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I said, well, it's time to sit back a little bit.
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I couldn't ride the bike no more because I couldn't feel it.
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And it took me a long time before I realized that it's time for me to calm down here.
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And now I am.
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How did you find the strength and the courage to get on the right track again?
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I put my life in the Lord.
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You know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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I really did.
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I still got a little bit of that hatred still there.
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But I know that he can heal all things.
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And I got a little child.
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So she's my stepdaughter.
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Her mother, I made her a promise.
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I said I would continue doing what I'm doing by raising your child, taking care of her, but I'm claiming her as my own.
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You know what I mean?
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I went to the hospital, and she said, I want you to see something.
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And I said, what's that?
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She said, she's got your name, and she's got your twin brother's name.
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Her name is Andy Don, my brother's first name, Andy, hyphen Don, and I want to be here as long as I can.
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It's a racer, you know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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If I pass away tomorrow, I want somebody and everything to know and everything that I've done something good all the time.
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You know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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That it wasn't all in vain.
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I want to do you all right.
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Yeah.
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Appreciate you, brother.
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All of you.
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Thanks.
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That little girl is my, the air I breathe yeah I love y'all man I do
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help me out a whole lot see you tomorrow I'm a valuable yeah we'll drive you know tomorrow oh yeah
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and I'll show you around have a little weenie roast I don't care I'm not gonna let you down
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y'all be careful god bless thank you god bless you too you can never judge a book by its cover.
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You never know who you're gonna end up talking to.
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It was for sure intimidating to walk up to him.
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It's almost like you had to...
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Seek the scum for...
498
And all it takes is a yes!
499
Seek the scum for.com.
500
Get your own stuff.
501
No!
502
Shameless plug.
503
Shameless plug.
504
The next day we headed out to pick up our new friend Don, hoping to learn more about his life and the realities of living in this part of America.
505
Uncle Don good to see you sir.
506
All right, you feeling good.
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Yeah, how's the heart?
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Any dreams about me?
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Don yes, sir, where should I go?
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Well first you gotta go out this driveway.
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Don't you have the best laugh?
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Thank you.
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This right here that you're seeing right now, this used to be an old coal camp.
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People lived in these and everything that worked for the railroad, and if they didn't work for the railroad, they worked in a coal mine.
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That's why most of these houses were built the same.
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When I was a young kid, that's where I lived at.
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My father, he had passed away when he was 60 of black lung, where he had worked 32 years in mine.
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I mean, this is our way of living.
519
You know what I mean?
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It's nasty and dirty.
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I have been on the ground, but I didn't like it.
522
I had a kind of a rough life, but I made it through all the things I went through.
523
Prostate cancer.
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My sister just had passed away two years ago, pancreatic cancer.
525
I mean, I am glad to be here today with you, I mean with all of you.
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I'm telling you, it's a blessing to me.
527
Blessing for us.
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There was a quiet, mutual trust in the car as we drive further and further into the forest.
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Don guiding us where to go, and us, complete strangers, taking him there.
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It felt like we'd both been looking for one another.
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And we all embraced this little adventure with open hearts.
532
Don, this is beautiful.
533
Oh, wow.
534
Thank you.
535
When I was a young boy, growing up, that's where we would have our family reunion.
536
And you did barbecues together?
537
Yeah.
538
Oh wow.
539
There's nobody else here, Don, it's only us living the dream.
540
That's all we need.
541
Can you see what it says here?
542
Yes, people are a destination.
543
That's us meeting you.
544
Oh wow.
545
This is the destination.
546
Okay, who's ready for a barbecue?
547
Woo!
548
After searching for the heart of this forgotten part of America, I think we found it.
549
So you want to stay here forever?
550
I'll stay right here until I'll probably pass away.
551
I'll do it with you.
552
Thank you.
553
Gracious Heavenly Father, we come here to this day
554
and I thank you Lord for letting us all get together and share your food.
555
In Jesus name I pray.
556
Amen.
557
Amen.
558
Cheers Tom.
559
Cheers.
560
What was happening to your sister?
561
She had pancreatic cancer.
562
She was just a firecracker.
563
What was her name?
564
Jan.
565
Jan Melissa Jenks.
566
And the last time you came to this lake was?
567
Two years ago.
568
And it was with your sister?
569
It was with my sister, with my whole family.
570
She says, I got four stage pancreatic cancer.
571
And there's no cure for it.
572
I said, it's not the ending.
573
You know when the ending is, it's when God says that it is.
574
Everybody here at this table and everything, We got an expiration.
575
But we can't call something that a doctor can look at you and tell you, say, you're going to die.
576
When he calls your name, that's when you're dying.
577
And he didn't call her name.
578
So I was just hoping that I will get to see her another year.
579
Take your time, bud.
580
I just believe with all my heart.
581
We're only hoping that we make it to heaven.
582
And I believe.
583
I believe she had, you know what I mean?
584
I'm sure Jane is up there in heaven.
585
I'm hoping.
586
I'm hoping and praying that she is.
587
Looking down on her brother who is doing so beautifully great.
588
She died at 54 years of age.
589
I think she'd made peace before she passed away.
590
Because she had a loving family that was at her bedside.
591
We met you as complete strangers yesterday.
592
Yes, sir.
593
How come that you trusted us, joined us in a car, went out in the wild?
594
I was sitting there yesterday when you see me sitting on that bench before y'all rolled up.
595
I was sitting there and I'm like, I just need someone.
596
Everyone I can tell you there, I'm a loner.
597
I don't normally put out what I want to put out.
598
Not the little way I feel.
599
I said, Lord, you know all things and just send me someone.
600
Is it for you?
601
I'm just grateful.
602
You know what I mean?
603
Normally I just don't tell everybody about me.
604
I mean, y'all just like family.
605
Yeah, I'll just be honest with you.
606
That's why I said that you are.
607
Uncle Don.
608
I love you too, Don.
609
Love you, man.
610
Can we officially say that you're our Uncle Don?
611
Well, yeah.
612
You all don't look nothing like I do, so I guess I'm the oldest one here.
613
You're never ever alone, Don.
614
I know people are sitting at home now just like rooting for Survivor Don, the Magical Don, the Lover Don.
615
That's the way I want to be now, you know what I mean?
616
Mm-hmm.
617
I've got a purpose now.
618
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
619
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
620
Was blind, but now I see.
621
Yeah, wow.
622
The design.
623
Beautiful design.
624
Thank you.
625
Have you found acceptance today?
626
Yeah, I've found acceptance.
627
And how did you find it?
628
I found it and everything by the offshore night.
629
It's got my mind off and everything else and everything and...
630
That's a blessing to me.
631
Every day, I mean, just like I said, if my young is not around, I'll go crazy.
632
And we happened to come during the time window.
633
And help me.
634
And I mean, y'all was my night shining armor.
635
You were our savior on this trip, so...
636
Well, I appreciate it.
637
The love is mutual.
638
We made the best of it, and we're here.
639
We had a perfect day.
640
We came and we conquered.
641
We're going to be double with the Vikings.
642
Yeah.
643
I'm a Buffalo man.
644
And it's going to be a place in my heart for all of us. For sure.
645
We have this saying that a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.
646
There you go.
647
And we believe that if you go out and broadcast a certain type of energy, you can attract people with similar energy as well.
648
Right, yeah.
649
It's great.
650
I mean, I feel it and I love it.
651
Y'all brought that out on me yesterday.
652
You know what I mean?
653
That it was alright for me to cry.
654
And I love y'all.
655
I really do.
656
I love y'all.
657
Love you too, Don.
658
Love you too, man.
659
Y'all just, y'all more like family and not friends.
660
It's like y'all's God heaven sent for me.
661
You know what I mean?
662
I really do love you.
663
Love you too, Don.
664
Love you too, Don.
665
Aww.
666
What message would you want to say to people who are going through a hard chapter in their lives?
667
There's light on the other side.
668
Don't give up on yourself.
669
Love yourself and love mankind.
670
Someone else is out there struggling as well as you are. Be strong.
671
Let somebody know what you're going through.
672
Beautiful set, Don.
673
Beautiful set.
674
Beautiful message.
675
Beautiful.
676
Thank you, Don.
677
So much wisdom in your spirit.
678
I appreciate it.
679
After meeting Don and this story being sponsored by ourselves, We decided to take funds out of this drop, all made possible by you,
680
here watching and supporting us with Sea Discomfort and passing it forward to Don.
681
We have a gift of appreciation to give to you.
682
So we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
683
This is the 3200 USD we want to give you in here.
684
You know, do something good with your family and...
685
I love you, man.
686
We love you, man.
687
I'd like to say to y'all, I'm out of here, you know what I mean?
688
We're gonna give you a hug.
689
In a world where so many get left behind, it can feel so hard some days not to give up.
690
But Don's perseverance, despite so many challenges in his life, can be a beacon for all of us to have the courage to keep going.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Inside America’s Poorest Region Everyone Forgot”. This video has 688 sentences and 5410 words to shadow. The speech runs for 35:10. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| abandon verb | /əˈbæn.dən/ | To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. |
| miner noun | /ˈmaɪnə(ɹ)/ | A person who works in a mine. |
| discomfort noun | /dɪsˈkʌmfɚt/ | Mental or bodily distress. |
| joking verb | /ˈd͡ʒoʊkɪŋ/ | Kidding, trying to fool. |
| fueling noun | The act or process by which something is fueled. | |
| pancreatic adjective | /ˌpæŋ.kɹɪˈæ.tɪk/ | Belonging or relating to the pancreas. |
| millionaire noun | /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/ | Somebody whose wealth is at least one million (10⁶) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies). |
| creepy adjective | /ˈkɹipi/ | Moving by creeping along. |
| blessing noun | /ˈblɛs.ɪŋ/ | Some kind of divine or supernatural aid, or reward. |
| shameless adjective | /ˈʃeɪ̯mlɪs/ | Having no shame, no guilt nor remorse over something considered wrong; immodest, brazen; unable to feel disgrace. |
| stumble verb | /ˈstʌmbəl/ | To trip or fall; to walk clumsily. |
| scum noun | /skʌm/ | A layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water). |
| incorporate verb | /ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.eɪt/ | To include (something) as a part. |
| upstairs adverb | /ˌʌpˈstɛɹz/ | Up the stairs; on or to a higher floor or level. |
| holly noun | /ˈhɑli/ | Any of various shrubs or (mostly) small trees, of the genus Ilex, either evergreen or deciduous, used as decoration especially at Christmas. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| pass away verb | To die. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| leave behind verb | To abandon. | |
| put out verb | To blind (eyes). | |
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What are you doing here?
- You mean it's walking and stuff?
- That's just my life, you know what I mean?
- It's a racer, you know what I mean?
- Don't you have the best laugh?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been living · has been falling · We've been rebuilding |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be · used to have |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has fallen · we've been warned · has it been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is forgotten · we've been warned · were told |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 157 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shameless /ˈʃeɪ̯mlɪs/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, amputation /ˌæmpjʊˈteɪʃən/, gracious /ˈɡɹeɪʃəs/, offshore /ɒfˈʃɔː(ɹ)/
- Long words — get the stress right: pancreatic /ˌpæŋ.kɹɪˈæ.tɪk/, millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/, incorporate /ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.eɪt/, cemetery /ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɛɹ.i/, mysterious /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like abandon, miner, discomfort.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.