DOCUMENT RESUME ED :35 168 RC 017 356 AUTHOR Arnow, Pat, Ed. TITLE Perceptions and Prescr'ptions in Appalachia. INSTITUTION East Tennessee State Univ., Johnson City. Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. REPORT NO ISSN-0896-2693 PUB DATE 88 NOTE 45p. AVAILABLE FROM Now and Then, CASS, East Tennessee State University, Box 19180A, Johnson City, TN 37614-0002 ($2.50). PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022) -- Creative Worxs (Literature,Drama,Fine Arts) (030)-- Historical Materials (060) JOURNAL CIT Now Pnd Then; v3 n5 Fall 1988 EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Community Action; Community Programs; Federal Programs; Interviews; Personal Narratives; Poetry; Poverty; Self Help Programs IDENTIFIERS *Appalachia; Appalachian Literature; Appalachian People; Appalachian Studies; Rural Culture; *War on Poverty ABSTRACT This journal theme issue focuses on Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty in Appalachia, launched in 1964. Articlesdiscuss the War on Poverty, the people involved, how it succeeded,and how it ultimately failed. One article examines the role of theCouncil of the Southern Mountains, established in 1913. Federalofficials used the council's reputation to facilitate communicationsbetween the Office of Economic Opportunity (0E0) and local Community Action Programs. Council members held OE0 at least partly responsiblefor shortcomings of the anti-poverty effort and found itdifficult to square 0E0's approach with local realities. During the late 1960sthe council underwent radical transformation. Federal relationscooled and money dried up. Since that time, it has been reconstructedand survives as a promoter of ideas and grassroots Appalachianprograms. The magazine includes reprinted news articles aboutthe War on Poverty and profiles former council members. A separatearticle profiles David Whisnant, author and leader of theAppalachian Studies movement. Another profile looks at the life of Sister MarieUbinger, a worker for social change in Kentucky. "Early Days at Keno"consists of excerpts from the diary kept by novelist HarrietteSimpson Arnow when she taught in Appalachian Kentucky in 1939.Another reminiscence reflects on government notions of proper nutrition forschoolchildren during the past few decades. The document alsoincludes poetry, music, three book reviews, and excerpts froma play about conditions in mining communities during the early 1930s. (TES) ******************************************************:*************Ex Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** CO" AN " U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office al EMI( ational Pesearrh andImprovement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI Inis dOrument rma s been reproducedas rece.veci 1rpm the pf son or organizabon originating it r Minor changes NIvP been madeio imprOve reproduction duality Pmnts & mew or opinions stated me thms doCu le merit do not necessarily represent official OERI position or POliry . e - "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY .11r tazolio-_ , 41110011111F: 11 10 s 4 %I 1.-:.. :.. ;tia...,,,, , TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES .,,.t. ; .ff-or. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." eii.,5111,4, ... , ill o. 1 All Ape. ,kyo 1 .,W) . A4 . erceptionsan rescriptions in Appalachia with David Whisnant, LoyalJones, Denise Giardina anda special section on the Waron Poverty in Appalachia by John Glen [BESTCOPY AVAILABLE Photo this. p;tge Jamcs. (wd t ; Photo\ ot on I rout itnd back o% el Kcimeth NIuria% BEST COPY AVAILABLE CONTENTS Special feature THE WAR ON POVERTY IN APPALACHIA 4 The Council and the War John Glen looks at a noble casualty. olume 5, Number 3 The Council qf the Southern Mountains. Fail, 1988 Loyal Jones and the Council Pat Arnow talks with one who was at the Editorial Board center of the action. hen Ed Cahhell, Pauline Check. The Newspapers and the War Mar ChiltoNke. ltobert J. Did anybody really know what happened? %larat N1oore. Rita Quillen. Fed Waage Where Are They Now? Robert Gipe finds the veterans of a lost cause. INTERVIEWS STORY Director-Rieliard Blathtein David Whisnant: Editor-Pat Arno\k A Lesson in Commodities Born-Again Appalachian Poetr. rditor-Jo Dot Jackson 31 Jane Woodside 13 NILINie Edit Or-Fd SnOddert Marie Ubinger: ANNociate Editor-Jane WiuidNide REVIEWS Evangalized by the Poor SukeripiionN-Ruln Ilausnian Highlander: Tim Boudreau Support Stali-Caroln Cerrito, 18 No Ordinary School Charles Moore. Beek Sancti ield John M. Glen POETRY Guy L. Whom' Margaret I.iu. Cady, Whale\. John Rambo The Hillbilly Vampire Crum Amy Tipton Gray Lee Maynard Now and Then Nlagazine 'm Just Talkin' Denise Giardina 35 Itt alld I itt ii has heen puhlished three Eleanor Brownfield 17 limes a \ ear \ince I9S4 :enter tor Strawberry Flats Brier, His Bookund Appalachian Studies and Ser\ Ices (CASS). Waite, Darrell Haden 19 His First, Best Country Last lennessee Slate rni \ ersit . CASS is (.ne Letter to Hong Kong Jim Wayne Miller of the state ol Tennessee's centeis for From My 8th-Grade Patt'erliultst 15 \eellence. supportIng artistic. scholarl I .atin Teacher and puhlic \LT\ ice potects in Ilk' relnon. in Alabama, 36 Years Later Old South, New South Suhscriptions are V7.50 per \ ear. (1.00 tor and Gavin Wright institutit Ins and lihranes. When I Had Done It Lorry I). Gosseu Suhnlissions of poetr\. I el lull .;rrl lt:les. Louie Crew personal essa N. Ind pilnitigraphN The Graveyard of Trees CoPCerned 1/4 ith Appalachian lite past and Feud: Hattlelds, McCoys and Social present are \1/4 elconied it acctunpanied b a Malcolm Glass 41 Change in Appalachia addiessed Niarirped ells elope. Altina L. Waller Address correspondence to:Editor,NOV. PLAY Richard Blaustein 38 and Then, Bo \ 191 X0. Vist Clt Preacher With a Horse to Ride 1 N 17614410(12. (an excerpt) These Are Our Voices FastI ennessee State 1..nie: sit!, N I Lill!, Jo Carson 14 The Story of Oak Ridge in accord \1/4 ith the hellet that ethic:mon:II edited by James Overholt mid mein oppolturities should hi DIARY Charles Moo, e 19 a\ adahle to all iligthle {lesson, idiom revard Itt alle. se \. race. reiriuii. lharohal Early Days at Keno ong in or handicap. (an excerpt) MUSIC The \ e pies \et{ ill them: pa.:!es are Harriette Arnim. 28 The More Things Change those ol the aothors and do not necessalth Larry Bledsoe 40 represeill opinions ol Fast 'ferule \Nee Stale IMIN71, erv,11:. in tit the State Boaid ot Revents. Above and beyond \pet vloby the ( 'enter pir dnnik% far hellion dot it me ,,i//a C'auric/I. I. /.51 Stit Ice% I on It line. It hue .1,/verriti/Ii: Appahichian .1ndie% and .Servit.e.. 19SN. ()'/)e//.Cabet S\aernt kilo/nitwit d tan. 1?ei ( ,Ificve 11, ISSN No. (1896 N193 Alin Read,. .50othei n 111;4i/dna% And Thank., Reteoll 1 a ain %lam( obey%Is liv it,i,,i/ /CW(1 V, 26" \ I,Ift int 'Oh Mid A4iie B/(1( k. 1 ..) LCIIIIQmrievIt 1%41% U Creinlit.//)III 0/ Aemm 1.1 .\pec nI (%WC( /it'll% ph/Mil/it: Mc fume,. of Now and Then. Now and Then / I BEST COPYAVAILABLE From the Director From the Editor For more than 130 years. the Southern Appalachians have In our summer issue, "Insiders/Outsiders." we asked been perceived as a land apart from the mainstream of American people if they felt at home here.Did Appalachia provide a civilization. In consequence, its people have been the object of comfortable niche or was it an alien world'? What was it like to missionary and philanthropic efforts ranging from the be a Jewish Appalachian'? Art Italian Appalachian'? Did those establishment of settlement schools and clinics to the declaration whe .e families had come here generations ago feel at home'? of the War on Poverty and the creation of the Appalachian Some of the most interesting writing we have seen came into Regional Commission in the 1960s. our office on the issue. Social activists of various persuasions have taken up the We knew that once we brought up the subject, there was Appalachian cause as their own, prescribing solutions to going to be a lot to say. We planned another issue to explore problems which have proven to be as complex and stubborn as the territory in a deeper and wider sense, to talk about the "in- the people of Appalachia themselves. Sometimes the alliances siderness" or "outs'derness" of the movements and institutions between concerned natives and enthusiastic newcomers to the that have become a part of Appalachian life. region have resulted in genuine improvements in the quality of A piece of the region's recent history. the War on Pov- life.In all too many other cases, idealism has given away to erty'. became the focal point for our "Perceptions and Prescrip- frustration, bitterness and recrimination. Tension and conflict tions issue. We talked to movers and shakers such as David between insiders and outsiders, between labor unionists and Whisnant and Loyal Jones. We also talked to a contemporary industrialists, between advocates of cultural preservation and missionary. Over the years. these people had come to appreciate partisans of radical social and economic reform, are still part of more and more the complexity of the problems facing Ap- the dialectic of the Appalachian Studies movement. palachia. The region and its people are tied up for better or We have attempted to present in the magazine the complex. worse with the larger world's economics, culture and politics. stubborn realities which persist regardless of the shifting What they offered us were some thoughtful discussions.But priorities of policy makers, philanthropists and scholars. unlike political candidates. the people we talked to didn't have Despite all that concerned insiders and outsiders have done to any simple answers. ameliorate the region's problems. a legacy of shame. anger. What we offer in these pages. then. are the words of some violence, deprecation and contentiotpates refuses to he thoughtful people who aren't about to tell us what to do.