E. I. Armstrong
@eiarmstrong.bsky.social
E. I. Armstrong | Writer
Appalachian roots. Razor-edged truth.
Essays on faith, power, survival & the stories we bury.
📍The Ridge and the Railing on Substack
Appalachian roots. Razor-edged truth.
Essays on faith, power, survival & the stories we bury.
📍The Ridge and the Railing on Substack
Just published something heavy on The Ridge and Railing.
It’s about addiction, complicated grief, and what happens when systems leave people behind.
No easy answers. Just truth.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/when-the-system-fails
It’s about addiction, complicated grief, and what happens when systems leave people behind.
No easy answers. Just truth.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/when-the-system-fails
When the System Fails
We Bury Our Own - A brief note: this essay discusses themes of complicated grief, addiction, and mental health.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com
May 25, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Just published something heavy on The Ridge and Railing.
It’s about addiction, complicated grief, and what happens when systems leave people behind.
No easy answers. Just truth.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/when-the-system-fails
It’s about addiction, complicated grief, and what happens when systems leave people behind.
No easy answers. Just truth.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/when-the-system-fails
“Dispatches from the Sacred Grocery” is about finding something sacred in the ordinary, from neon lights and freezer doors to the quiet space between errands.
If it lands, share it.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/dispatches-from-the-sacred-grocery
#writing #Substack #Appalachian #writersofbluesky
If it lands, share it.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/dispatches-from-the-sacred-grocery
#writing #Substack #Appalachian #writersofbluesky
May 20, 2025 at 11:10 AM
“Dispatches from the Sacred Grocery” is about finding something sacred in the ordinary, from neon lights and freezer doors to the quiet space between errands.
If it lands, share it.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/dispatches-from-the-sacred-grocery
#writing #Substack #Appalachian #writersofbluesky
If it lands, share it.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/dispatches-from-the-sacred-grocery
#writing #Substack #Appalachian #writersofbluesky
New post’s up.
Less grief, more grit.
An Appalachian User’s Manual is for anyone who’s ever taken directions like “turn where the Dollar General burned down.”
Not really a manual, but close enough.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/an-appalac...
Less grief, more grit.
An Appalachian User’s Manual is for anyone who’s ever taken directions like “turn where the Dollar General burned down.”
Not really a manual, but close enough.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/an-appalac...
May 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
New post’s up.
Less grief, more grit.
An Appalachian User’s Manual is for anyone who’s ever taken directions like “turn where the Dollar General burned down.”
Not really a manual, but close enough.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/an-appalac...
Less grief, more grit.
An Appalachian User’s Manual is for anyone who’s ever taken directions like “turn where the Dollar General burned down.”
Not really a manual, but close enough.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/an-appalac...
Old buildings are not sacred by default, not when their history is buried under hospitality menus and photo ops.
substack.com/profile/3242...
substack.com/profile/3242...
The Ridge & The Railing on Substack
The loss of any historic structure gives me pause. Architecture holds memory, and memory deserves space. Still, when I read about the fire at Nottoway Plantation, now rebranded as a “resort,” what str...
substack.com
May 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Old buildings are not sacred by default, not when their history is buried under hospitality menus and photo ops.
substack.com/profile/3242...
substack.com/profile/3242...
Where I’m from, we don’t call it trauma. We call it Tuesday.
We wear pain like a badge and call it strength, but silence isn’t strength. It’s survival with a cost.
Wrote about what happens when pride keeps us from healing.
Read here: ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/raised-to-...
We wear pain like a badge and call it strength, but silence isn’t strength. It’s survival with a cost.
Wrote about what happens when pride keeps us from healing.
Read here: ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/raised-to-...
Raised to Endure
Why We Don't Call it Trauma
ridgeandrailing.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Where I’m from, we don’t call it trauma. We call it Tuesday.
We wear pain like a badge and call it strength, but silence isn’t strength. It’s survival with a cost.
Wrote about what happens when pride keeps us from healing.
Read here: ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/raised-to-...
We wear pain like a badge and call it strength, but silence isn’t strength. It’s survival with a cost.
Wrote about what happens when pride keeps us from healing.
Read here: ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/raised-to-...
I live the advice I give.
Yes, I’m tightening down. Cooking what I’ve already got. Turning my home into the slightly feral sanctuary it was always meant to be.
I’ll be writing and will soon introduce y’all to The Briar Gap Testament; part folklore, part reckoning, part “what the hell was that.”
Yes, I’m tightening down. Cooking what I’ve already got. Turning my home into the slightly feral sanctuary it was always meant to be.
I’ll be writing and will soon introduce y’all to The Briar Gap Testament; part folklore, part reckoning, part “what the hell was that.”
How to Eat When the Empire Chokes Itself
A practical guide from someone who grew up on pinto beans and pride
open.substack.com
May 12, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I live the advice I give.
Yes, I’m tightening down. Cooking what I’ve already got. Turning my home into the slightly feral sanctuary it was always meant to be.
I’ll be writing and will soon introduce y’all to The Briar Gap Testament; part folklore, part reckoning, part “what the hell was that.”
Yes, I’m tightening down. Cooking what I’ve already got. Turning my home into the slightly feral sanctuary it was always meant to be.
I’ll be writing and will soon introduce y’all to The Briar Gap Testament; part folklore, part reckoning, part “what the hell was that.”
New Substack: How to Eat When the Empire Chokes Itself
It’s not doomsday. It’s just dinner.
I wrote a practical guide for staying fed when the system spirals—and I recorded it too.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/how-to-eat...
#AppalachianVoice #PreppingWithoutPanic #SubstackAudio #HowWeEatNow
It’s not doomsday. It’s just dinner.
I wrote a practical guide for staying fed when the system spirals—and I recorded it too.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/how-to-eat...
#AppalachianVoice #PreppingWithoutPanic #SubstackAudio #HowWeEatNow
How to Eat When the Empire Chokes Itself
A practical guide from someone who grew up on pinto beans and pride
ridgeandrailing.substack.com
May 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
New Substack: How to Eat When the Empire Chokes Itself
It’s not doomsday. It’s just dinner.
I wrote a practical guide for staying fed when the system spirals—and I recorded it too.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/how-to-eat...
#AppalachianVoice #PreppingWithoutPanic #SubstackAudio #HowWeEatNow
It’s not doomsday. It’s just dinner.
I wrote a practical guide for staying fed when the system spirals—and I recorded it too.
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/how-to-eat...
#AppalachianVoice #PreppingWithoutPanic #SubstackAudio #HowWeEatNow
Wrestling hard with the idea of a Christian God, mostly because of American evangelicals. Love thy neighbor has turned into love thy neighbor if they check all the right boxes. The next pope might decide it. If he’s hardline conservative, the faith is lost.
A full note on substack - link in bio.
A full note on substack - link in bio.
May 8, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Wrestling hard with the idea of a Christian God, mostly because of American evangelicals. Love thy neighbor has turned into love thy neighbor if they check all the right boxes. The next pope might decide it. If he’s hardline conservative, the faith is lost.
A full note on substack - link in bio.
A full note on substack - link in bio.
Respect makes a damn good disguise.
Some folks do harm in plain sight—and we let them.
New from The Ridge & The Railing:
Too Respected to be Suspected
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/too-respec...
#EIAWrites #AppalachianGothic #SouthernWriting #BlueskyWriters #SubstackEssay
Some folks do harm in plain sight—and we let them.
New from The Ridge & The Railing:
Too Respected to be Suspected
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/too-respec...
#EIAWrites #AppalachianGothic #SouthernWriting #BlueskyWriters #SubstackEssay
May 6, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Respect makes a damn good disguise.
Some folks do harm in plain sight—and we let them.
New from The Ridge & The Railing:
Too Respected to be Suspected
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/too-respec...
#EIAWrites #AppalachianGothic #SouthernWriting #BlueskyWriters #SubstackEssay
Some folks do harm in plain sight—and we let them.
New from The Ridge & The Railing:
Too Respected to be Suspected
ridgeandrailing.substack.com/p/too-respec...
#EIAWrites #AppalachianGothic #SouthernWriting #BlueskyWriters #SubstackEssay
New on The Ridge and the Railing:
Trump posts an AI image of himself as the Pope. It’s not satire. It’s sacrilege in cosplay form.
🔗 [eiarmstrong.substack.com]
#TrumpPope #ReligiousCosplay #FaithNotFakery #ChristianNationalism #TruthWithTeeth #AppalachianVoices #SubstackWriters #CulturalCritique
Trump posts an AI image of himself as the Pope. It’s not satire. It’s sacrilege in cosplay form.
🔗 [eiarmstrong.substack.com]
#TrumpPope #ReligiousCosplay #FaithNotFakery #ChristianNationalism #TruthWithTeeth #AppalachianVoices #SubstackWriters #CulturalCritique
May 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
New on The Ridge and the Railing:
Trump posts an AI image of himself as the Pope. It’s not satire. It’s sacrilege in cosplay form.
🔗 [eiarmstrong.substack.com]
#TrumpPope #ReligiousCosplay #FaithNotFakery #ChristianNationalism #TruthWithTeeth #AppalachianVoices #SubstackWriters #CulturalCritique
Trump posts an AI image of himself as the Pope. It’s not satire. It’s sacrilege in cosplay form.
🔗 [eiarmstrong.substack.com]
#TrumpPope #ReligiousCosplay #FaithNotFakery #ChristianNationalism #TruthWithTeeth #AppalachianVoices #SubstackWriters #CulturalCritique