Hello M.,
Please contrast your video with an interview of an Appalachian Scholar or Poet, you can find one at any University around and they actually do exist here in Appalachia. Making videos of impoverished people and labeling them “Appalachian” continues a damaging stereotype here for us that we do not need anymore.
Sincerely,
-T. Byron K.
responded by saying "Please don’t take it personally or get defensive....
other locales are not upset at the worst things going on in their cities, You shouldn’t either unless you’ve got something to hide."
Thanks, M.
and I think I can understand the perspective
of allowing us to view the “soft white underbelly"
on many levels.
I think the difference between Appalachia and San Fran
or LA is that those regions are not defined by an impoverished
caricature for decades on end and Appalachia is not only defined
in this way but has also embraced that notion internally, which is why
it remains a fatalistically lost and wounded culture.
Actually our discussion today has inspired me to produce a new
vehicle for that revisioning process for our region called the
Appalachian Restoration Project. I somehow thought of Paul
on the road to Damascus when I considered asking you to help
me with the effort, and it may be that this is too much to ask now
too, but if you could film one positive and inspired story from the Appalachian region
each time you visit I will share it on our new pages.
Best Wishes,
-T. Byron K.
9/22/2020
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