Learning life lessons in Appalachia

[theHandpuppet]

Interesting article... would like to have read much more.

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20140504/NEWS/140509975?p=1&tc=pg
The Gadsden Times
Published: Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 6:01 a.m.
Learning life lessons in Appalachia
By Jimmy Smothers
Times Sports Editor Emeritus

One day Marilyn Sue Marshall was walking down the hall at a rural school where she taught speech-language pathology to children in the Appalachian Mountains. One of the students stopped her and asked, “Are you from New York City?”

That was a dozen plus eight years ago, and the only thing Miss Marshall remembers about him is that he seemed different from the other young boys.

“He seemed more educated, like he would not end up in that backwoods area of the mountain,” the teacher remembered. “He wasn’t in any of my classes and I really think he said that to me because I had a mouthful of teeth, a big hairdo and wore bright red lipstick.

“Everywhere I went in that little community and on that part of the mountain, people would ask who I was and where I was from,” she said. “Even the cashier at the gas station asked me when I first arrived if I was that lady from TV doing a story on someone. When I’d go down to the foot of the mountain people would say, ‘Y’all must be th’ new speech teacher; where y’all from?’ I must have looked as foreign as I sounded to them.... MORE

[get the red out]

1. Can't get past it

I can never get anything but irreverent about the lauded experiences of people who spend months or a year or two in Appalachia. Theirs are the descriptions people use to "appreciate the wonderful but impoverished people" there.

I grew up middle-class in Appalachia since my Dad worked for a coal company. He was a master electrician and at that time could have found work anywhere and I've always begrudged the fact that when I was three they left civilized Ohio to return "home" to the mountains because they thought growing up there would be better for me. It wasn't. The isolated society, entrenched social norms, and archaic views were suffocating and harmful.

The desire to always be "home" makes poverty dig in its heels as the coal companies mine out and move on, leaving the people in their broken down cars sporting black oval "Friends of Coal" bumper stickers. People either get drugs or religion, sometimes both. They vote against their own interests because of fear of outsiders. What's not to love about these folks?

I have gotten in a lot of trouble for expressing how I see Appalachia from people who revel in the fact that their privileged asses spent a month or two in this "wonderful down to earth culture". I have a privileged ass myself, but I lived there for 18 years. Appalachia is a place to escape, it cannot be considered a success until there isn't anyone left who calls those forsaken hills home. Just my intensely nasty, prejudiced opinion.

[theHandpuppet]

2. I appreciate your honesty

I'm also sure there are plenty of born-and-bred folks who share your perspective. There is no single Appalachian voice but many, each bringing their own experience to the dialogue. Please feel free to participate here and if you have any ideas as to how the political winds can be made to turn, I for one would welcome them.