Caitlin Tan
Caitlin Tan is working as Inside Appalachia’s folklife reporter, as part of a Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies grant. The goal of her reporting is to help engage a new generation in Appalachian folklife and culture.
Caitlin comes from a rural mountain town in Western Wyoming. She grew up ski racing, showing her horses in 4-H and moving cows in the high mountain deserts. It was in this town she discovered her love for journalism. Caitlin’s career began in print, interning for the local newspaper. She went on to write and eventually worked as news editor at the Branding Iron newspaper, part of the University of Wyoming, where she later graduated with a B.A. in journalism.
Although she was always an avid listener to NPR, she found her love for public radio journalism as an intern with Wyoming Public Media. After, Caitlin spent a whirlwind summer as a fisheries reporter in Bristol Bay, Alaska - international sockeye salmon capital - working for KDLG, the local NPR affiliate station. She was a solo-correspondent based in Naknek - a Native village of 500 people - where she climbed on commercial fishing boats and trudged the rainy, muddy beaches to find the fishing scoop.
This job helped her land a producing internship, and later a job as news assistant for NPR’s All Things Considered in D.C. She worked closely with the entire team - helping to produce everything from a manicly decorated Christmas house to live interviews with U.S. senators to an exclusive interview with fashion designer Alexander Wang.
All along, Caitlin always knew she wanted to return to feature reporting in a rural area. As shown from her fisheries reporting, she loves to immerse herself in new cultures. So when the Inside Appalachia folklife position opened up she jumped at the opportunity. Caitlin, her boyfriend, and two rescue Border Collies up and moved to Morgantown, WV. As someone who grew up in a rural area, Caitlin understands the value and heritage of tradition and craftsmanship in a culture. She’s very eager to further her knowledge, as well as engage and report on folklife in Appalachia.
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A Wyoming man displayed a wolf he captured in a local bar. When videos leaked on social media threats of violence against quickly followed and the whole state is feeling a black eye.
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A French dogsledding team is so committed to competing in an annual week long race in Wyoming and Idaho that they moved to the Cowboy state to train.
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Last winter in Wyoming was so harsh that tens of thousands of deer and antelope perished. This season, thousands of hunters are voluntarily sitting out to give the herds time to recover.
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Federal oil and gas drilling lease sales on public land resumed in June — the first since President Biden took office. His administration had paused quarterly sales because of environmental concerns.
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Appalachia has had hundreds of years of connection to Wales -- people have been immigrating back-and-forth between the two regions since the late 1600s. Our Inside Appalachia team has continued this through its Folkways program, by connecting teenage students in both Wales and West Virginia. -
The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the economy across much of the world and the country, including West Virginia. But, economists are hopeful for recovery with the rollout of the vaccine, pointing to early signs of a rebound across several sectors and a prediction for full recovery to pre-pandemic levels next year. -
This year millions of cicadas emerged for their once-in-17-years mating season in West Virginia. The insect phenomenon inspired one state artist, who uses cicadas in her artwork. -
A group of West Virginia doctors is asking the state attorney general to withdraw support for a federal lawsuit that seeks to throw out the Affordable... -
This story was updated on 8/27/20. If you look up into the sky, you might see low-flying planes over the mountains dropping brown pellets for the next... -
Federal grants of about $10 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce were awarded to four West Virginia projects Monday to help with infrastructure...
