tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post8370988197197781419..comments2024-03-24T14:37:32.309-04:00Comments on Morning's Minion: "In the Deep Dark Hills of Eastern Kentucky"Morning's Minionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01912356455981434029noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-10892124107860720072017-07-13T14:41:48.671-04:002017-07-13T14:41:48.671-04:00Sue; I remember the roads of West Virginia and the...Sue; I remember the roads of West Virginia and the tiny houses squeezed between a mountain just off the back door and a creek or river roaring past at the edge of the road--mountains looming so steeply that sunlight was almost cut off. I also recall being directed to an eating place in Justice, WV--a railroad station had been converted to serve as a kitchen and dining area--a volunteer group of some sort I think--good home-cooked food, friendly people dishing up--it was the high point of what had been a long day.Morning's Minionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01912356455981434029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-84500192187819928142017-07-12T23:04:36.221-04:002017-07-12T23:04:36.221-04:00You could have been writing about southern West Vi...You could have been writing about southern West Virginia in this post. Sounds so much like it. It's a hard environment, not for the faint of heart. And yet, there is such a fierce love of home among those raised in the mountains. My husband was raised in a coal camp; his stories are both bleak and colorful, happy and angry. In our area of West Virginia there are no mines and I admit I am thankful for that. These hills hold us in their thrall,and only those who have lived here and loved it will understand.Granny Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01129064020727041161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-7469774306335960672017-07-11T14:13:11.789-04:002017-07-11T14:13:11.789-04:00Jocelyn; The area has its natural beauties, albei...Jocelyn; The area has its natural beauties, albeit in the way of a majestically forbidding landscape. There has been some effort in places to reclaim land where strip-mining was practiced. <br />The young man from Hazard mentioned the lethargy that impacts many there--an unwillingness to avail themselves of the better quality education and health services implemented by both gov't and private agencies. Drug use has added to the traditional problems of alcohol. We drove past a complex called 'Red Bird Mission'--an outreach with a school teaching life-style values--a clinic. Would better paying jobs be the answer? What would those jobs be with the coal industry floundering? How many generations might it take to alter the mindset of discouragement? Morning's Minionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01912356455981434029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-78140569127392273612017-07-11T13:05:18.182-04:002017-07-11T13:05:18.182-04:00I read this post with great interest like I do all...I read this post with great interest like I do all your posts. As a school teacher, now retired, several decades back we studied Kentucky and the massive efforts underway there to improve the schools and boost the children's educational outcomes. Hopefully it has had some success. Beautiful country, isn't it though.Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11770193529950365462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-8043575046549682602017-07-11T10:13:22.866-04:002017-07-11T10:13:22.866-04:00Pat; I found this review of 'Hillbilly Elegy&#...Pat; I found this review of 'Hillbilly Elegy' https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/books/review-in-hillbilly-elegy-a-compassionate-analysis-of-the-poor-who-love-trump.html--I suspect it would make for realistic--and depressing--assessment of conditions in Eastern Kentucky. The fact that the book is authored by an 'insider' is significant. At one point in our drive--we had rounded a sharp curve with an old house trailer perched at the edge of the road--Jim mentioned that in spite of coming from working-class backgrounds we can't imagine staying in a situation such as families endure in the poor counties. Morning's Minionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01912356455981434029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-9183277704447971192017-07-11T09:54:15.376-04:002017-07-11T09:54:15.376-04:00This post was fascinating reading. I've never...This post was fascinating reading. I've never been to Kentucky but I love trees and mountains. It reminds me of a popular book, Hillbilly Elegy, which is a memoir of the author growing up in Kentucky and Ohio. I haven't read the book. I always learn something when I read your blog. Pat xxLilly's Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03484364335120267101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-37231235022397920642017-07-11T09:30:19.335-04:002017-07-11T09:30:19.335-04:00Jennie; We spoke recently with a young man who gre...Jennie; We spoke recently with a young man who grew up in Hazard, KY--one of the better known coal-mining areas and one where Jim made frequent machinery deliveries back when coal was a booming industry. He--with a Scottish surname--reminded us that many of the original Appalachian settlers were displaced Highland Scots. As he put it: 'they weren't dismayed by the terrain, the darkness, the poverty--it was they had come from.'Morning's Minionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01912356455981434029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314065896417867122.post-86343664594610314672017-07-11T03:22:46.009-04:002017-07-11T03:22:46.009-04:00Wow! A place really imbued with history. It soun...Wow! A place really imbued with history. It sounds like a different day out, that's for sure. I was fascinated by the words of the song (her family history) and the accompanying photographs - each one having such a story imbued in the image. The Val McDermid book I ama reading at the moment deals with the Scottish coalfields, miners' strikes and scabbing too. Synchronicity.Bovey Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13117332471600275100noreply@blogger.com