Over the next few posts I'm going to kind of decompress and write about some things that I left out. Here are just a few thoughts that I've been having.
1. Most ironic sight: White pick-up trucks covered in black dust with "Friends of Coal" bumper stickers. And I saw at least two.
2. Accents: Why are Americans biased against accents? We enjoy talking about our backgrounds and where our ancestors came from, but the minute someone opens their mouth and out comes a strong accent, we write the person off as being stupid. While using incorrect English along with that accent doesn't add a lot to a person's credibility, and it's important that other people are able to understand you, I see nothing wrong with regional accents. More on this later.
3. Coal: I am firmly against mountain top removal. And I find it hard to believe that people said that Obama was the anti-Christ, when there are men like Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy, in this world. The business practices, especially in relation to hiring and firing, as well as the entire process of surface mining show an utter disregard for the people, land, and culture of Appalachia. The switch from underground to surface mining has left many people jobless. I don't think that we should be dependent on coal for energy, and don't believe the "clean coal" idea, but I also don't think that we should bring a swift end to the entire coal industry. The only idea that I have is to stop doing mountain top removal, put the people who are currently working at MTR sites into work building wind farms or doing underground mining until we can wean ourselves completely off coal.
But I'm just an idealistic enviro, I guess. What I've seen from spending time in Eastern Kentucky is that this issue isn't black and white. You have people who can't drink the water, people who are being fed information that mine-related job loss is caused by "enviros" (to quote Don Blankenship), and people who are completely oblivious. I honestly feel deeply uncomfortable with direct action protests, but I feel even more uncomfortable with violence against these protestors, and the coal companies that break the law. I'm proud of myself, because instead of just jumping to the "coal is evil" conclusion that I feel is pushed upon people at Oberlin, I tried to gain a more informed opinion by reading, watching, and talking with people who are affected by the coal industry every day. Ever since coming to Oberlin I have found myself playing Devil's conservative Advocate because sometimes I feel like there is a lack of debate. I'm sure it's as obnoxious as hell. But this is a topic that I'm glad I questioned. Because now I am much better informed, and hopefully can find a way that I can contribute to help my home state out of this vicious cycle of exploitation.
4. The Pick and Bow after-school program is the greatest. It puts rental instruments in the hands of middle schoolers, gives them kind, patient, funny, and incredibly tolerant instructors who are incidentally excellent musicians. Sure half of the guitar players actually want to play metal or punk. Sure the kids have the attention span of a goldfish and make fart jokes and run around, but they are fascinating. Like the kid that played a few chords and then suggested that we talk out our differences. I learned a lot from trying to help them learn. I have been inspired to practice more and get better at instruments so I can actually teach. Showing people how to play musical instruments is so rewarding.
I also had a blast jamming afterwards with the guys who teach the program. I'm definitely not really good enough at banjo to play it with other people yet, but I was pushed out of my comfort zone and learned a lot from it. I even sang "Mole in the Ground" in my awful, terrible, banjo playing voice in front of people I had known for less than a month. Old time music is powerful.
Darling I love your banjo playing voice!!!!
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