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Denise Giardina: When I was thirteen, the coal company that my father worked for was sold and my father lost his job. We lost our house and had to move. Many people move from one job to another, but they can always go back to where they grew up often and point to where they grew up and say well, this is the old neighborhood.

When I go back, there’s a field where my town was. There’s a field of weeds and nothing left. When I go to see the old movie theater, it’s not there any more. Any of the places I used to hang out, the swimming pool I used to go to is now a hole in the ground. There’s nothing left. I don’t think I’ve ever quite gotten over that, and I think that’s probably true for a lot of people. It’s like being a refugee in your own state.