For belly dancer Ellie Olin, Athens is a place to express herself through Middle Eastern dance. Olin is one of two belly dancers who take turns entertaining the Saturday-night dinner crowd at Restaurant Salaam in Athens.

Helping to keep agriculture alive in Athens, Paul Cline believes in the power of bees. For Cline, the mixture of patience, care and passion has been the necessity to keep his hives, and ultimately Athens, alive and well.

The Athens area is full of forward-thinking people: folks who break the mold or do things one wouldn’t expect. These progressive individuals, presented through portraits, challenge popular notions of Appalachia.

Miguel Evanosky, guitarist and songwriter for the band "Spooktober", grew up on a farm in Hinton, West Virginia, and began playing guitar in his early teens. Recently relocating to Athens for "excitement," Ebanosky lives in a backyard tent and shops for his clothing in "reuse dumpsters."