The Beating Heart of Appalachia
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The beating heart of Appalachia have been so honored to serve as the interim complaining about things. Instead, they act. They director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center invoke the names of Appalachian heroes like Helen I(LJAC) for the last year, and I’m humbled that I Lewis, Mike Mullins, Lee Smith, Bev May, and the was given this opportunity. In August a new director Center’s namesake, Loyal Jones, in their everyday will take the reins and I’m sure that he or she will guide endeavors. the LJAC into the future with grace and purpose. I like to think that the Loyal Jones Appalachian I have learned so much in my short time here Center is right at the heart of the movement to keep but perhaps my most profound lesson was that Appalachian studies alive and well and our students Appalachia is in such good hands with a new here at Berea College are certainly at the forefront of generation of students who care for this region in a honoring and preserving that culture in a wide variety profound way. They have taught me more than I of ways both large and small. could have ever dreamed; truly the greatest blessing of If you are reading this newsletter you’ll find lots being a teacher is the wisdom we gain from our best of news of transition and progress in the world of students. Appalachian Studies here at Berea; you’ll learn about It has been my great privilege to work with these the passing of a remarkable Berea alum who was one students, who have fought for this land and its people of the true leaders in the region; you’ll find out about in a variety of ways: by using art to defend their changes in Brushy Fork; the accomplishments of region, by making signs and marching in the streets to Appalachian Heritage, Grow Appalachia, and our stand up for the place they love, by organizing many Associate Director and Curator, Christopher Miller; different programs to help preserve the ways of learn lessons from two women who have made Appalachia and also to raise awareness about the amazing impacts on the region; and much more. music, writing, nature, food, and dialect of their All the while, however, I hope you will be Homeland. Over the past year the active and reminded of the student leaders who are the real enthusiastic Appalachian Studies students have done movers and shakers of not only the Loyal Jones everything from plant trees to attend to rallies to Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies but are present at conferences at universities. They prove to also the beating heart of this region itself. me everyday that young people don’t just sit around —Silas House, Interim Director SPRING 2012 5 Mike Mullins tribute 7 Leadership change at Brushy Fork Institute A literary light for the region Spring 2012 ppalachian Heritage plays a vital role in Berea APPALACHIAN HERITAGE. Volume 40 • Number 2 College’s daily life and long-term mission. As Berea ACollege’s only scholarly journal, Appalachian LOYAL JONES Heritage reflects an unusual and compelling commitment APPALACHIAN CENTER STAFF to scholarship on the part of an undergraduate institution. Silas House, Director, Appalachian Appalachian Heritage is an outstanding manifestation Center; Associate Professor of Appalachian Studies of the College’s commitment to the Appalachian Region. Publication in the magazine has been a landmark in the George Brosi, Editor, Appalachian Heritage careers of many of the region’s leading writers. David Cooke, Director, Grow Appalachia The journal serves as the public face of Berea and Berea College Appalachian Fund College to legions of people. In 2011, our website Spring Beth Curlin-Weber, Administrative attracted almost 100,000 sessions. Hundreds of libraries and Assistant, Brushy Fork Institute individuals subscribe to Appalachian Heritage. Electronically, articles in Dr. Peter H. Hackbert, Moore Chair in Appalachian Heritage are made available through Project Muse. In 2011 over Management and Entrepreneurship, EPG 10,000 computers accessed and people at over 350 different academic libraries in Jane Higgins, Program Associate, Brushy Fork Institute fifty countries looked at Appalachian Heritage articles through Project Muse. At bell hooks, Distinguished Professor in the beginning of 2012 the magazine’s Facebook page had over 1200 fans. Residence in Appalachian Studies By publishing special issues highlighting African-American and Cherokee Sheila Lyons, Program Associate writing, and by including a diverse group of writers in every issue, Appalachian Christopher Miller, College Curator and Heritage has drawn attention to the diversity of the region in an inimitable Associate Director, Appalachian Center manner. Beginning this year, we plan for each issue to include a conversation Donna Morgan, Director, Brushy Fork with acclaimed author, activist, and cultural commentator bell hooks, further Institute reinforcing this commitment. Our work has placed Berea College in the Lyndsey Mullins, Program Coordinator, vanguard of forces celebrating the contributions of ethnic and cultural minorities. Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Having featured author readings on campus four times a year helps energize Dr. William Turner, Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Studies and student and faculty coursework. In past years, the magazine’s featured authors Regional Ambassador presented to classes in sociology, women’s studies, and education as well as Rodney Wolfenbarger, Associate English. They have also given talks to Entrepreneurship for the Public Good. Director, Brushy Fork Institute The magazine provides a venue—right here on campus—for the submission of scholarly and creative work, and thus builds awareness of publication as a vital Please address all correspondence to: Loyal Jones Appalachian Center component of scholarly endeavor. Berea College, CPO 2166 Appalachian Heritage student workers have significantly augmented their Berea, Ky. 40404 859.985.3140 workplace skills and experience. Having their names on the copyright page of a www.berea.edu/ac beautiful and distinguished magazine has boosted student morale as well as Berea College and the Appalachian Center are competence and qualifications. After graduation, several former student workers committed to the betterment of the peoples of have found full-time employment in the publishing industry. Appalachia. The unique views and perspectives of individual authors in this Newsletter, however, do Overall, Appalachian Heritage has become an invaluable resource for the not necessarily represent the views and policies of College, the community, and the region as a whole. It is recognized as the single Berea College. most important subscription for anyone desiring to stay abreast of regional literature. Berea College can be proud that it is making this important contribution and grateful for how it enhances the visibility and prestige of the College. We hope you will consider subscribing to this fine journal and learning more about the literature and issues of our region. You can find out how to subscribe by visiting us at community.berea.edu/appalachianheritage/ subscribe.html. 2 LOYAL JONES APPALACHIAN CENTER NEWSLETTER The Appalachian- Ukrainian Connection hristopher Miller, our Associate Director and similar to Appalachia. The tallest mountain, Goverla, Curator, recently returned from spending fall is about 6,000 feet. Villages are tucked in green Csemester 2011 in Ukraine. Miller won a valleys. Remote homesteads dot hillsides and are Fulbright Award that allowed him to teach and tucked in hollows. Spring floods are often a research in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. He challenge. There is no coal in the Carpathians, but lived in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, teaching about there are tensions over the extraction of timber and museums and tourism at the Vasyl Stefanyk the development of ski resorts, with land use and Precarpathian National University (PNU). jobs at the center. Subsistence and small farms Much like Berea and Richmond, Kentucky, struggle with the forces of globalization, but are also Ivano-Frankivsk sits on the edge of its adjacent being lifted up by a strong local foods movement. mountain region with a strong connection the Miller’s research focused specifically on the people and communities of the mountains. PNU material culture of the Carpathians. Like Appalachia, serves a population of students who come the Carpathians are rich in traditional crafts, some streaming in on buses and trains every Sunday long preserved by dedicated practitioners. Hand evening and Monday morning, primarily from weaving is alive and well, but the forms and patterns Carpathian villages and towns. Every Friday look little like our Appalachian forms. afternoon the bus stops and trains station stations Woodworking too is practiced. Carpathian are full as many return to their villages. woodworkers are known around the country for The city also serves as a tourist gateway to the wonderful furniture and quality wood building mountains. construction, but the small pieces often chip-carving For his research project Miller explored and inlay techniques that we don’t see much in our comparisons between the Ukrainian Carpathians and region. Quilting is virtually unknown in the American Appalachia. There are similarities on many Carpathians, but heavy woolen “Hutsul” blankets levels. The landscape of the Carpathians is very are an icon. Beyond crafts there can also be found a material culture related to subsistence households, a material culture of resistance to outside cultures trying to assert dominance, and a material culture of religion. Each of these is both similar and different from our Appalachian forms. The function and meaning of these things is also complex. Like in Appalachia, symbolism, nostalgia, stereotyping, economic development, and slippery ideas like tradition all come into play. Miller’s research is still progressing. Over the next few years the LJAC plans for interesting exhibitions and written results to come from this experience. Miller’s Fulbright is just the latest chapter of the LJAC’s connections to the Carpathians and PNY.