You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive ….

Ok – I am going to steer a little off course.  This article isn’t an update on the kids and Bryan but an opinion piece and by opinion, I seriously mean opinion….

A few days ago, I was mindlessly trolling Facebook when I came upon yet another article about how desperately bleak things are in Eastern Kentucky.  Apparently, Clay County is the toughest place in America to live and Leslie County is not far behind. Honestly, this did not surprise me.  Why?  Because every single news item that you see about home is stark and depressing.  Also, the hard and cold numbers didn’t seem too far off.  It made me sad, but of well…

I must say that I have become pretty hardened to such grim reports on my hometown.  As far back as I can remember, the outside media has painted Eastern Kentucky as a place where clueless hillbillies lived in squalor.  That was not my reality, but surely the people that were filmed were not props or actors.  Those people did exist, and such conditions must have been a reality for at least some people.  Still, whatever – if you know who you are and what you are, what other people think of you doesn’t matter.

The numbers didn’t make me angry.  I am a firm believer that defining weaknesses and working your hardest to address the issue is essential for lasting improvement.  I mean really, you only improve if you address the issue at hand.  What got my hillbilly blood boiling was the tone of article, and the offering that people simply leave the region.  I wanted to scream to the author of that article – YOU ARE A JERK!   A SMUG/IGNORANT/(I BETTER NOT SAY WHAT I AM THINKING) JERK!!!!!!!!!  I was also upset with some of my fellow Kentuckians (seemed to concentrate in the Lexington and Louisville areas) that left comments following a recap of the article on the  “Insider Louisville” website- stuff like – “the smart people leave”!  Of note – some of the most disparaging comments that I have ever been told came from people living in those areas so not entirely surprising…  (I love both Louisville and Lexington. We have lots of family and friends in Central KY, and we love and cherish them!   I just don’t like those who look down on their fellow Kentuckians).

You may be saying to yourself, “Ruth, you and Bryan left Eastern KY many years ago and left the state 5 years ago.  Who do you think you are to have an opinion?  You both left home for more education/training/jobs/or whatever just as the  jerk in the article and many commentators suggest”.   My response would be, “Well, yes, but I am NOT a smug/self righoutous punk that thinks she is better than her family and friends that still live in Hyden or any other place in Kentucky.  For that matter, every single day I still feel in my heart that I am a Kentuckian from APPALACHIA!”  Let me emphasis this single point – there aren’t many places where I can do biomedical research at an institution that receives millions of dollars in funding.   Do I think that makes me less of a Kentuckian?  Nope!

Anyway, the fact that some punk makes such a sweeping suggestion about people packing up and moving reveals the ignorance of the writer.  Yes, I said ignorance, because the author simply doesn’t understand what it means to be from Appalachia.  Land is not just dirt.  It is a part of who you are.  It really, really is.  Maybe that alone speaks to our Irish heritage, but it is true.   My parents and my in-laws live on property that has been passed down for several generations.  Place and your good name – it’s central to your identity.  For Bryan and I, it’s tough not being there.   I think we are unique from many in our social circles, because people that grow up in the city or the suburbs don’t have the same connection to land.  Just ask Rachel – she will tell you that her “people” are in Kentucky and that is her real home.  By the way, she moved to Texas when she was 2 and 1/2.  The feeling of love and connection with people and place gives her a deeper purpose.  That’s what I think anyway….

So, New York Times – or anybody that wants to be smug and ignorant about my homeland – whatever!  You are a bunch of stuck up snobs that have no idea what you are writing about.  The sad reality is that you probably don’t care.  You would rather dismiss an entire community and culture because you can’t understand it.  You have no idea how cool it is to walk to the top of a hill and imagine your great-grandfather, your grandfather, your grandmother, and your father all standing in the same spot.  Being able to gaze out onto another beautifully green mountain, looking up at the perfectly blue sky, breathing the clean air, and imagining your own great-grandchildren doing the same is a gift you will never have.  It is one you obviously do not deserve.

6 thoughts on “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive ….

  1. Awesome Ruthie. Right now I would say that Hyden is surely as good a place to live as any city. Love you.

  2. Great article, Ruth. You know, there are different kinds of poverty. The folks who live in the mountains of Appalachia watching the moon rise, actually seeing stars in the sky and who enjoy the green hills and valleys, and yes, the land of their great grandfathers, could possibly believe that those of us who live in the concrete jungles of cities, seeing neither moon nor stars, and who travel sometimes hours to get to and from work…we are the ones who could be living in poverty. Again…there are different kinds of poverty in this world.

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