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Together We Read book choice mixes fact with fiction
To the Editor:
Lynn Hotaling’s article in last week’s Herald about Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and the Together We Read project got my attention for a variety of reasons. I’ve been trying to write a play about Kephart for four years now. The major obstacle to completing it boils down to a singular fact: the disparity between the positive and negative qualities of the book and its author.
I have always been especially pleased by Kephart’s extensive catalogue of words and phrases that he collected while living in Swain County. My grandparents and their families in Jackson and Macon used many of them. When I read Kephart I still hear my grandfather say, “I et a bait of greens ‘n’ pone thet give me the mollygrubs.” Other writers have tried, but no one can capture the authentic rhythm of mountain speech better than Kephart.
Like many others, I am mindful of the fact that Kephart is primarily responsible for the fact that we have a Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The latter part of his life was spent in a tireless crusade to halt the devastations to the dwindling wilderness and to acquire federal and private funds to purchase the necessary tracts. Although he did not live to hear the official dedication speeches, Kephart was acknowledged at the ceremony as the driving force behind the park’s creation.
However, Our Southern Highlanders also created an image of Appalachian people that is not altogether positive. Kephart’s “tall, slouching figure in homespun” caught the imagination of the American public. Well aware that it would increase the popularity of his book, Kephart chose to stress “colorful characteristics.” The image that emerges is striking but unfair because it is not representative. Kephart’s mountaineers are a sullen, illiterate breed who have a proclivity for bloodshed, vengeance and moonshine.
I feel that it is important to understand that Kephart’s depictions are not necessarily inaccurate. However, he chooses to dwell on a singular type and exclude all others. Kephart does not describe teachers, merchants or successful farmers in his community for one simple reason. They are not interesting. He ignores the Cherokees, too. After the first edition of Our Southern Highlanders sold out, Kephart revised and expanded the book, adding three chapters which dealt with moonshine, revenuers, feuds and bloodshed (“A Raid on the Sugarlands” is one).
In addition, any native who reads Kephart’s book will find a host of inaccuracies in addition to a generous number of what might be based called “unsupported assumptions.” For example, Kephart asserts that copperheads are rare in Appalachia; ticks rarely bite people and winter snows are generally gone by February. He describes mountain women as “little more than a superior domestic animal.” They are “drudges,” demeaned and ignored by their husbands. Kephart asserts that they stay at home and “never go anywhere without first asking their husband’s consent.” Assuredly, such women exist, but most certainly, I grew up surrounded by plenty of exceptions, including my grandmother.
There are other negative aspects, too. In recent years, a number of writers have commented on the distortions in Kephart’s book.
For example, Jim Casada’s recent article in the magazine Appalachian Living deals with Kephart’s flaws (personal and creative) at length. I also recommend Michael Frome’s book, Strangers in High Places, for an objective evaluation of Kephart and his writing.
Some critics are exceedingly harsh in their judgment, for they hold Kephart responsible for the “hillbilly stereotype‚” that has plagued Appalachian culture for the last century. Of course, there is the other extreme: Those who speak Kephart’s name with reverence, endowing him with a kind of rustic sainthood. Well, I guess I’m not in either camp. I want to see him “warts and all.” For all of his bluster and minor lapses in fact, Kephart praised and celebrated us (Appalachia) to the world that had previously ignored our existence.
Gary Carden
Sylva
Agrees Kerry is different from Bush
To the Editor:
I would like to respond to some inaccuracies in the letter by Deidre Ledford published in the Aug. 5 edition of The Sylva Herald.
First, every investigation of the events surrounding President Bush’s request to Congress to invade Iraq, including the one done by the Congressional 9/11 Commission, has proved that the administration received faulty information that both Congress and Bush acted upon to take us to war. Even Hans Blix himself said, “I don’t think they acted in bad faith.” That would hardly qualify as Bush misleading anyone.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who voted to invade Iraq, even agreed that Bush did not mislead us. Can Ledford provide us with even one credible piece of evidence otherwise?
Second, tax cuts were made across the board with those who paid more taxes obviously receiving a greater dollar cut. I’m hardly rich, but certainly received a valuable decrease in my taxes. Can Ledford supply even one piece of credible evidence that any individual received a cut far out of proportion to their liability?
Last, I fully agree that Kerry represents so much that Bush doesn’t. Kerry says he was an patriotic soldier but defamed all of us veterans after serving only four months in combat. He states he will “fight” terrorists by being nice to them, that he will court other countries’ favor by letting them help decide how America should be protected, that the foul-mouthed Barbra Streisand and the disgusting lyrics of “popular” contemporary bands “(speak to) the hearts of America,” that he has served faithfully in Congress for some 17 years (yet has not had one – not one – significant signed piece of legislation), that he will raise taxes (yet there has never been a major economic gain for America when this has happened).
I can’t see where Bush is failing America in any sense. Can Ledford give us any specific evidence that Kerry has more “strength, morality and principle” than our existing, God-fearing president?
Larry Gardner
Sylva
Ride for Kids will help children with brain cancer
To the Editor:
It is time once again for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s annual Ride for Kids event in Asheville on Saturday, Aug. 29. These events are sponsored all over the United States by Honda Riders Clubs of America to raise money to find a cause and cure for pediatric brain tumors.
Pediatric brain tumors are the No. 1 leading cause of childhood cancer deaths. Each year federal funding is decreased, so it is up to individuals and organizations such as the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation to raise the money necessary to find a cause and cure for this terrible disease.
Some may think, “This wouldn’t happen to my family,” or “This is only something that happens to others,” but our family is living proof that it can happen to you or someone you love. In March of 2000, our son Ryver was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In that same year he underwent two major surgeries, followed by 15 months of chemotherapy. He is now in remission, and we pray every day that he will always be in remission.
Cancer will somehow affect us all in some way in our lifetimes. That’s why this Ride for Kids is so important to our family and to the thousands of other families and children who are affected by this terrible disease.
Those interested in entering the ride as an individual or as a bike club should see www.rideforkids.org or call the foundation’s Asheville office at 1-800-253-6530. Bike clubs interested in doing a fund-raiser for the event should also call that number.
The ride will start from Biltmore Square Mall at 8:45 a.m., rain or shine. Any type of bike – Harleys, Hondas, BMW, streetbikes, etc. – can be entered, not just Hondas.
Angela Gunter
Cherokee |
