(THIS IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE CORRESPONDING CONTENT PILLAR + THE IMAGE ON THE BACKGROUND IS WHAT WE’LL USE IN THE COLLAGE OF ALL PILLARS, FOR ASSOCIATION & RECOGNITION/MAKING A CONNECTION vs JUST A BLOG CATEGORY DESIGNATION:) Features on Appalachian culture, Bluegrass music, Bourbon history, etc. Spotlighting Kentucky authors, filmmakers, and other storytellers. Showcasing oral histories or little-known historical figures with modern relevance.
The fall after I turned 18, I moved from my hometown in Pikeville to the town of Bowling Green for college. The drive was less than five hours, an easy trip down the Cumberland Parkway anytime I needed a weekend at home. But despite being within state lines, and a mere one county outside what the ARC designates as the Appalachian region, something about Bowling Green felt like I had dropped onto a different planet.
The one I noticed the most by far is a trope I’ve come to call Degraded - the idea that Appalachians are primitive, degenerate, and destitute. Sometimes, these images are meant to be funny; others, deadly serious. In all cases, Appalachians are positioned as a society wholly separate from the rest of the world - a group that is other.
Professional Wrestler, WWF/WWE superstar; Head Trainer at OVW; Writer, Director and Producer of OVW’s TV show
“Paddle faster, I hear banjos.”
In the early 2010s, this phrase felt like it was on a t-shirt in every store I walked into. Usually, it was accompanied by stick figures or silhouettes of people in a canoe. Other times the shirt inexplicably featured popular TV characters like Family Guy’s Brian and Stewie. Regardless, the phrase showed up enough that 15-year-old me took notice. And despite never having seen the film these shirts referenced, I could sense that they were mocking someone - someone who kind of felt like me.