the trail of tears

As you know, I became afraid to talk about stuff at work in this context after that article about the intern who got fired for blogging. I just can't help myself this time. This is me *extending arms wide out* throwing caution to the wind.

Over the last week I have seen a lot of personally, professionally, politically passionate people come under attack basically for exercising their rights as American citizens.

It all started last Tuesday when we discovered that a trail-paving project, which had been voted down, had started anyway in a surreptious fashion. Folks were understandably outraged. A few people I know were involved in discussion for peaceful ways to protest, and they, along with other citizens who don't work here, decided that they would have a picnic on the trail. You really can't get much milder than that.

Then this article was published yesterday with the lead line "Legislator defends paving trail: blames Appalshop - 'They are a bunch of old hippies, and they're the worst plague that's ever been in eastern Kentucky. I challenge them to tell me one positive thing they've done for us.'"
http://www.harlandaily.com/articles/2006/06/19/news/local_news/news9772.txt

Thankfully, as far as I can tell, most of the community and the media understand this to be an unfounded attack, as this is not an organizational action, but rather a few concerned citizens working on their own time and, in fact, through a different group:
http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?s=5050583

I am amazed and astounded by this situation on so many levels. First and foremost, as I've only been living in Kentucky for less than a month, it's very hard for me to understand and appreciate the various levels of personal relationships, politics, and history that would have led up to this point. I can tell you this though, old hippies or not (and trust me, I'll claim to be one in solidarity if not one in actuality), the people I work with here are the exact opposite of everything this politician has accused them of.

When he says that they strive to maintain stereotypes of Appalachia, in fact they empower, uplift, bring to light, and celebrate the truth of Appalachia, while mining the depths of its lies. When he says that they want to keep the region economically oppressed in order to seek funding, in fact, as I understand it, this man has done his best to cut Appalshop's funding.

(6/29) After a week of quiet, here's another editorial that just came out...http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606280489

There's something about this local situation that has echoes of familiarity in the national debate: the ability to turn on the cooker and the fan, pour in the fine grains of truth's opposite, and spin them out into long, sugary threads that are gathered, and repackaged into cotton candy--something that looks fun, but is really quite bad for you.

So, stand with me, friends, let your glass eye roll to the back of your head while shaking your fists, and yell out across the mountains..."Constant vigilance!"

what the hail?

I actually wrote this post on Mon., but the darn thing flipped out on me. I lost what I had written, and it took me this long to get up the energy to re-write. I hope I can remember most of it...

I went home this weekend and got the opportunity to fellowship with much extended family. We ate a huge feast on Sunday, which precipitated in me returning to Kentucky with armloads of little tupperware dishes full of leftovers. I haven't cooked a meal yet this week!

This trip was facilitated by the fact that my new roommate, B., was going to a town near my parents for a wedding, so I was able to hitch a ride for half a tank of gas.

On our way back Sunday p.m., B. and I were enjoying a lovely ride, quietly singing along to Gillian Welch and the Indigo Girls.

As we topped a hill in Kingsport, a giant, dark, ominous stormcloud was hovering over the mountains of Virginia into which we were about to drive.

By the time we reached Big Stone Gap, we had to pull over to the side of the road because pea-sized hail was pelting the car and covering the road. The temperature dropped from 80 to 56 in just a few minutes.

I have never been a big fan of the thunder-boomers. When I was 11, my music teacher's husband was killed on a golf course with 3 other men. Seems a tree is not the place to seek shelter in a thunderstorm. Especially if you're wearing metal cleats.

After that, I became obsessed with the seeming randomness of lightning. Or perhaps the lack of randomness. It makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up with the feeling that my kharma is going to make me a likely candidate for the next strike.

But what I really wanted to say was...Does anyone else think that storms have become more violent in the past few years? I can only remember a few times in my childhood when it hailed. Now it seems I hear about hail at my parents' house every other week.

Is it global warming? Or am I just paying closer attention to the weather report than I used to?

acupacupacupacupacup

Today marks my fifth day without coffee.

For those of you who know me very well, especially in my daily living habits, you know that this is quite an accomplishment for me. I'm having one cup of tea per day, so I'm not weaned off the caffeine-bean-related beverages entirely. Yet.

The big test came yesterday morning. I awoke to the smell of brewing coffee. Hazelnut no less. I walked into the kitchen to the site of my roommate pouring a cup for herself and she had the urn perched over a second cup.

"Good morning. Want a cup?"

How could I have forgotten to tell her of this Herculean feat I was pursuing with such vigor? I stood there, trembling in the doorframe.

"Um, no thanks. I'm off coffee. For now." (Leaving myself a bit of an open door there.) "I think I'll just hop in the shower while you're having breakfast."

I stood in the shower for a long time and thought about the self-control mechanism. I have never had a very strong one. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new era for me.

Today, I sat in a six-hour long executive board meeting where everyone around me seemed to be drinking a gallon of coffee a piece. And still, I resisted. Even though the smell seemed to be actually clinging to my nose hairs and even though it was only 60 degrees in the room.

I'm going home on Friday in the rain again. And all the way home I'll be singing, "I like coffee/I like tea/I like the Java Jive/And it loves me..."

remember the elephant

It's close to the end of my second day of work. The nice thing about starting work on Thursday is that Friday comes quick. I've spent a good deal of time over the last two days interviewing people to get to know them (and hopefully remember their names).

Although we did a lot of riffing, I asked the same five questions of everyone:
1) Where did you grow up/go to school/work before you came to Appalshop?
2) What do you do now? Describe a day, week, or month...
3) What defines a healthy community?
4) Is Appalshop a healthy community?
5) Even if I won't be working directly with your program area, what can I/Development do for you?

This place has 28 full-time employees, so, as you might imagine, it has been a vastly arrayed experience. I've gotten a wide range of answers to many of the questions, sometimes in direct opposition to one another. One of my favorite points of difference...One person said that a healthy community is one where communication and respect are everywhere and the next person said that a healthy community is one where conflict is encouraged and inevitable.

I'm reminded of the story of the five blind men who stumble upon an elephant in the forest. In trying to figure out what they've discovered, one man feels the trunk and declares it a snake, one feels the leg and declares it a tree, etc. I still don't know what my definition of a healthy community is, but I'm glad to be in dialogue with people about it here because these folks have got good heads on their shoulders and they are, as one staff member put it, allergic to bullshit.

It's been a great week, but now I'm about to go home and I'm faced with the "I don't know what to do now" blues. My roommate's gone for the weekend, and in fact most people are either going to a Ralph Stanley festival or another Memorial Day type activity this weekend. I can't afford to/don't want to go anywhere after all the traveling I've been doing of late. It's also raining cats and dogs outside, which doesn't help one's mood or opportunities for moving into the weekend gracefully. I did go around late this afternoon and get some plans going for other times this weekend or else I would invetibly end up like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" by Sunday evening.

It's not like I haven't walked out the door on a Friday before and not had plans for the evening, but somehow in Blacksburg I always had faith I would find something to do or I would enjoy the rest, but in this strange, new place, it's very intimidating. Maybe I'll invent a new parlor game this evening. Or perhaps I'll *gasp* read something for fun?!?

Hope you're all feeling blessed and happy.

Cheers,
Shannon

the timing, the irony

There are so many things I want to write about in this thing. The ideas have been brewing in my since I woke up yesterday morning. But, I don't want to go overboard and I want people to keep reading. So, as I am entering the last half hour of my first day of work, let me just say this...

I shared with a woman who works in my office that I was planning to create this blog. About a half hour after I got it up and running, she said, "Hey, Shannon. There's an article in the New York Times that's perfect for you." (Refer to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/fashion/thursdaystyles/25intern.html?ex=1148702400&en=2c50c10e96f0766a&ei=5087%0A .)

The timing is just too much. Now, I'm all sorts of worried that I'm going to get into trouble, but I'm going to forge ahead because the temptation is just too delicious. And the woman who works in my office actually said that a person is more likely to be punished by being forced to continue to work here rather than being fired.

Thanks to all of you who have signed on so quickly. You be sure to tell me if I say something inappropriate here. ;)

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood. Sadness and Disarray! I didn't make it here with my digital camera. I hope it's in Blacksburg and easily findable because there are so many pictures I want to post here.

water

it's working -- not the water, but the blog

Ann

don't drink the water

test*test*test*

is this thing on?

this is my experimental first post to the blog to see how it's working.

i'll write something real later.

the reason why it's called what it's called is because i have discovered after getting here that one must buy the water that one must drink. so much for coming to the mountains for clean living.