We Are Allstudents, We Are Allteachers
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We are all students, we are all teachers e are all students. Right now I’m of Hollow (hollowdocumentary.com), an interactive learning what Appalachia looks like documentary and community participatory project that Wfrom the perspective of Berea, which she produced. Hollow is about McDowell County, one rests on the bluegrass cusp of eastern Kentucky. of the hardest hit boom-and-bust coal counties in West The pieces in this issue of our newsletter are about Virginia, that uses cutting-edge web technology to learning too, about ways to sustain it, about ways render “a hybrid community participatory project and to share it, about ways to act on it. interactive documentary where content is created 'for Recently I was contacted by Alexandra Bradner, the community, by the community.’” an old friend who was writing to ask my thoughts on So here are a few of my answers to Alexandra’s “the challenges for poets, filmmakers, writers, question about challenges that media makers face in playwrights, etc., in representing Appalachian regions representing Appalachia. As with any representation, and their populations.” Alexandra had written an the goal is to see and say what is there. The difficulty excellent critique of MTV’s Buckwild (a “reality” TV is selecting a particular something or someone to show about young adults living in Sissonville, WV) represent an idea, or group of people, or place—in that appeared in the online magazine Salon, and she this case, Appalachia. Reality is much more complex had been approached by the New York Times and varied than any single representation could hope Magazine about broadening that vision. to catch. Then there is the hurdle of what we have The Times was interested because on West been told is there and what other people expect to Virginia’s 150th birthday this summer, they ran an see, both of which serve as assumptions as to what Op-Doc called “West Virginia Still Home” by should be versus what might be. Elaine McMillion, featuring some of the participants turn to page 4 SUMMER 2013 2 The David School 6 Appalachian Heritage 40th Anniversary The David Summer 2013 working out Volume 41 • Number 2 by Diantha E. Daniels LOYAL JONES Special to the LJAC Newsletter APPALACHIAN CENTER STAFF Chris Green, Director, Appalachian Center; n my role as Principal of The David School (TDS), a tiny day high Associate Professor of Appalachian Studies school for at risk students in Floyd County, I share a short George Brosi, Editor, Appalachian Heritage Ireflection each morning with our students and staff. A few months David Cooke, Director, Grow Appalachia after I’d come to the school, I learned one of our new students had and Berea College Appalachian Fund moved in with his papaw because his mom was in jail for dealing Beth Curlin-Weber, Administrative drugs. That day, I shared the following: “The true measure of a Assistant, Brushy Fork Institute person’s character is how they respond to Plan B.” Dr. Peter H. Hackbert, Moore Chair in Management and Entrepreneurship; Director, I went on to talk about those of us who—like me—are planners by Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) nature. I shared how I’d learned that, while setting goals and being Silas House, NEH Chair in Appalachian organized are great skills, it’s even more important to have the tenacity Studies to pick ourselves back up again when life turns upside down, and to bell hooks, Distinguished Professor in have the humility to “reinvent” ourselves when what we thought was Residence in Appalachian Studies going to happen unfolds instead in another way. In other words, Plan Sheila Lyons, Program Associate B. Or, more poetically, a “new beginning.” Christopher Miller, College Curator and Associate Director, Appalachian Center Since 1974, TDS has offered a “new beginning” to hundreds of young people. Our average student enrolls at age 16, with reading and Donna Morgan, Director, Brushy Fork Institute math levels around 5th or 6th grade. We’re usually the student’s Lyndsey Mullins, Program Coordinator, EPG second, if not the third or fourth attempt, to find a successful high Mark Nigro, Program Associate, Brushy school program. The two full-time staff and five volunteers who serve Fork Institute during the school year wear many hats: we teach, but we also drive the Mark Walden, Assistant Director, Grow bus, maintain the building and grounds, and prepare lunch. Most of Appalachia all, since the adults with whom our students live are often under- Rodney Wolfenbarger, Associate educated and over-extended, we are mentors and surrogate parents. Director, Brushy Fork Institute That means that, in addition to teaching, we build relationships with Please address all correspondence to: our students and do anything we can to keep them in school long Loyal Jones Appalachian Center enough to graduate and go on to a meaningful post-secondary program Berea College, CPO 2166 Berea, Ky. 40404 or sustainable work. 859.985.3140 | www.berea.edu/ac Students take classes in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Berea College and the Appalachian Center are Wood Shop. They’re also active in the Grow Appalachia program committed to the betterment of the peoples of Appalachia. The unique views and perspectives of (administered by Berea College), a perfect fit for their hands-on learning individual authors in this newsletter, however, do style and our school’s emphasis on “Learning While Serving.” Classes not necessarily represent the views and policies of Berea College. are small; goals are specific; each small success is celebrated. In a program that combines a nurturing environment with an equal measure of tough love, we help turn lives around. It’s hard, but joyous, work. Let me tell you more about “Bob” (not his real name), the student I mentioned at the beginning. His mom was 17 and a high school dropout when he was born. As long as he can remember, his mom has “done a lot of drugs,” but she loves her son as well as she’s able when 2 LOYAL JONES APPALACHIAN CENTER NEWSLETTER School: ‘Plan B’ The David School she’s clean. He has a dad he sees occasionally, but like some English classes, I was being interviewed about whether many of our students, his papaw is the most stable adult I thought the school would survive. For the next month, we in his life other than—and just as important as—TDS ran the school on petty cash and the generous help of others. staff. Still, in May 2012, while the director was under a restraining When Bob enrolled in January 2012, he’d acquired, order and a sheriff’s car patrolled the highway by the school, with barely passing grades, only a third of the credits we celebrated the graduation of two seniors. Two days needed to graduate, math skills below pre-Algebra, and later—as the man whom I’d admired and had hired me nine had missed one day out of every six. His self esteem was months earlier sat in the audience—I was in the witness so low that when he figured out the TDS birthday stand at the Floyd County Circuit Court as chief witness for tradition was that a student comes forward to stand by the Attorney General’s Office. He and his one remaining me and be sung to by the whole school, he cut class that board member were immediately terminated by court order. day rather than be the center of attention. The new court-appointed board and I met immediately This past April, Bob quietly stood up beside me and to start to save the school. This past year has been as rugged celebrated his 18th birthday. We also serenaded him as you can imagine; four days out of seven, I think (like many when he earned his provisional driver’s license. He’s of our students, I suspect) it’s just too hard. But—slowly, been working his tail off in math, especially, but he’s slowly—we’re making it. We graduated three more seniors also buckled down in English—where, it turns out, he this past May. One is the first in his family ever to graduate has gifts as a writer. He also loves music, and one of our high school. All three will be the first in their families to go to teachers taught him to play the guitar. He had all A’s college. With the help and support of so many (like Berea and B’s this past year and never misses school. He College), we are navigating our own Plan B. thinks, after he graduates next year, that he’d like to go Tenacity and humility. The hard stuff of any “new to the community college in electrical engineering. Will beginning.” What a privilege to hone those skills in myself he make it? I don’t know. But I do know the seeds for each day amidst the shining his success have been planted in him. examples of our students at At The David School, we’ve also been forced into a The David School! “new beginning” this past year as an organization. Exactly eight months after I came onboard, troubling things I’d noticed came to a head, and news of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office investigation of our founding executive director hit the media. Suddenly, instead of quietly functioning as principal and teaching Diantha Daniels with her 2013 graduates. LOYAL JONES APPALACHIAN CENTER NEWSLETTER 3 Still time to think Former coal miner’s journey to Berea continues Editor’s Note: the following is the second installment of a could only liken to the many somber walks I’ve made to two-part article.