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Life in rural area essay
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"You know you're from Kentucky if your house is mobile and your three cars aren't" This is a joke my younger brother recited to me when I returned to my Yankee home from the University of Kentucky for Thanksgiving break. He went on to ask, "If a Kentucky couple gets divorced are they still brother and sister?" The lists of redneck jokes surrounding Kentucky stereotypes are endless. Many people get a good laugh out of the jokes, but they don't realize that they are portraying a crude message about all Kentucky folk. More so than any other state, Kentucky is labeled and illustrated as redneck and poor. Much of this may stem from many of the small towns in Kentucky and in the Appalachian area. However, Appalachia has been misunderstood and misrepresented: "Appalachia has long been characterized as a region of feuds, moonshine stills, mine wars, environmental destruction, joblessness and hopelessness" (Billings cover). Although Appalachia tends to be a very poor region, they are very rich in family values and respect for life.
It was a few days before I left for school and my best friend, Kate, was throwing a good-bye party for our group of friends. I was so excited for this bash seeing that it would be the last time our group would be together for a while. It was a time for all of us to move on and embark upon futures that held so much for all of us, and to say farewell to the people and memories that had shaped us.
Kate's family had rented out a ballroom in a neighborhood country club, and we intended to dance the night away. As I approached the scene, disco lights streamed through the large windows and ran all over the lawn. Music enveloped the parking lot as my adrenaline began to elevate. I sauntered in, waving to my friend...
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...ia struggle to over come these labels that burden them and that their jokes simply add to the pain. "Stereotypes are attacks upon the human spirit. They find their mark and no good comes of it" (Billings 160). Everybody I have met here, regardless of where they are from are just the same as everybody I have ever known. They are just trying to make it through and trying their best to follow their hearts and dreams.
Works Cited
Billings, Norman, Ledford. Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1990.
Beaver, Patricia. Rural Community in the Appalachian South. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1981.
Murray, Kenneth. Down to Earth People of Appalachia. Boone: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1974.
Norman, Gurney. Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories. Frankfort: Gnomon Press, 1977.
Dr. James and Freda Klotter are both noted educators in the state of Kentucky. Dr. Klotter is the Kentucky state historian and professor of history at Georgetown College while his wife is an educational consultant with the Kentucky Collaborative for Teaching and Learning, with many years of experience in the classroom. They outline major influences and developments of the frontier to statehood, Civil War, post-Civil War, and modern times. Throughout the book, anecdotes of the lives of well-known and anonymous Kentuckians to shed light on economic, social, and cultural subjects. A Concise History of Kentucky will be useful to many readers wishing to learn more about the state.
“Burning Bright: The Language and Storytelling of Appalachia and the Poetry and Prose of Ron Rash.” Shepard University. 2011. The.
Small towns, quaint and charming, ideally picturesque for a small family to grow up in with a white picket fence paired up with the mother, father and the 2.5 children. What happens when that serene local town, exuberantly bustling with business, progressively loses the aspects that kept it alive? The youth, boisterous and effervescent, grew up surrounded by the local businesses, schools and practices, but as the years wear on, living in that small town years down the road slowly grew to be less appealing. In The Heartland and the Rural Youth Exodus by Patrick J. Carr and Maria Kefalas equally argue that “small towns play an unwitting part in their own decline (Carr and Kefalas 33) when they forget to remember the “untapped resource of the
This book was written by Margaret Carrington (1831-1870), the wife of the Commanding Officer Colonel Henry B. Carrington, at Fort Philip Kearny. This novel was written from her own journal about her time spent traveling to the outpost up to her return to Fort Laramie. The book reads initially as a guide to prospective travelers on the Virginia City road, and finishes in the same fashion. In between are her first hand accounts of the troubles experienced at Fort Kearny between eighteen sixty-six and eighteen sixty-seven. The years are significant because miners were responding to the news that gold had been discovered in Montana. The resulting influx of prospectors forced the United States government to deal with the Sioux Indians in order to protect its citizens along the fore mentioned trail.
Rednecks have been around for centuries, but what is a redneck? In today’s terminology, redneck is used as an insult towards many southerners. Originally, redneck was used to describe someone who has been outside working all day, and has developed sunburn on their neck. Due to modern day stereotypes, the word redneck has become an insult rather than a way to describe a hard worker. Through research and personal accounts, the history of the word redneck can be examined, the comparison of the “modern day” redneck and the old meaning, and the way it impacts certain groups, can be used to demolish modern day stereotypes. The word redneck should return to its original form and should not be used as an insult toward southerners.
Appalachians have been scrutinized by several outside sources as being inbred, uneducated, wild, violent, drunk, crazy, and the list goes on and on. However, one of the negative stereotypes that tend to stick out more prominently than others is that people in Appalachian folk are crazy, serpent handling, Christians. In order for the people of the Appalachian Mountain region to figure out a way to get over this stereotype and move forward in their quest to be no longer considered “outdated”, they must first break down and fully understand what they are going up against.
One can witness the more attractive face of Southern religion in several areas. Religion was an important part of the lives of the Chandlers and of Black Oak, Arkansas. The center of the Chandler devotion was the Black Oak Baptist Church, and nothing was more important besides the family and the farm than church. “There was more to Sunday church
This conversation actually took place during my first semester of college. However, being quite accustomed to the questions that I am frequently asked about the place I call home, this conversation somehow made me more upset than usual. This conversation made me realize just how blind society can be towards other groups in society. Different stereotypes are placed on groups for various reasons-race, sex, occupations, and geographical locations-just to name a few. The last of these four different classifications is the one that distinguishes me from most of society. Growing up in Appalachia has made me a minority (different from the rest of society), and also plagued me with many stereotypes. Everyone in society has heard the stereotypes. However, I would like to focus on the how's and why's of them. How they came to be. Why society does perceive...
Perdue, Theda, and Michael D. Green. The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents, (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005), 85-86.
Upon searching for someone native to the Appalachian culture, I finally met a young woman by the name of Roselie Mable. Roselie was born March 9, 1935, in Pocahontas county, West Virginia. During my interview I asked her a numerous of questions which ranged from your typical "Where are you from?" "When were you born?" "What was your profession?" Etc. But there was one Question and answer that really sparked my interest. During the interview I asked Mrs. Mable "What brought you away from your home town?" And to my surprise opened up an interesting tale.
To conclude, stereotypes may sometimes appear harmless, but they almost always cause damage of some sort. It can keep a young Latina woman from taking the bus, or humiliate an entire country. It can cause pain, it can cause fights, it can cause wars. It is up to each and every one of us to pay attention to what we are saying, to whom, and to consider the consequences of our actions, and be proud of who you are without lampooning who others are.
As vaudeville grew in the early 1900’s, it was mainly composed of northern performers. However, their example showed southern performers that one could make music playing in public. This realization spawned the first generation of “hillbilly” performers. The term “hillbilly” was popularized in the 1920’s after a musician by the name of Al Hopkins. He told his producer to name his band whatever he liked because they were just a bunch of hillbilly’s from North Carolina and Virginia.
De Rosier, Arthur H. Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville; 1970
There are stereotypes that accompany each state. Californians are stereotyped as surfers. New Yorkers are labeled as rude and always in a hurry. I have lived in the wonderful state of Texas all my life and have heard many different Texas stereotypes over the years. Some stereotypes are somewhat true while, majority of the Texas labels are ridiculous. I will discuss a few of the most popular Texas stereotypes I’ve encountered.
“I swear they were like mobsters. I was hoping they would get off on a lower floor, but no, they just HAD to be on our floor,” said Mom. “I bet they’ll be loud all night.” And she was right. It sounded like a constant party, all night. Once the door opened to their room, I saw what