Ron Howard directed a film that is on Netflix that generates much buzz lately among people I know. The movie, Hillbilly Elegy, is based on a book by the same name . Written by JD Vance, a man who was born and raised in the " hills" of Kentucky.
I'm not bothering to watch the movie.
As someone who was born and raised in the Pittsburgh sub-region of Appalachia, the reviews of the book told me all I need to know. While some may see Vance's story as one of someone pulling himself up by his " bootstraps" I see it as a sad and INACCURATE over-generalization of Appalachian-Americans.
We are NOT all poor White trash. People from there can and do succeed in professional work and business. Many do leave the hills, but others return after some time away.
Not everyone who was raised in Appalachia has or had a drug abuse problem. Yes, the area -- like all areas-- has a problem with drug use among some citizens. To be honest, in the time I've lived in Florida, there seems to be more people I know succumbing to drug addiction. Vance should have explained that the drug use in Appalachia is due mostly to the lack of good blue-collar jobs for people. While I was growing up-- many classmates' fathers worked for steel mills. People with a high school education could work in good jobs and provide enough for a family. For many reasons. steel production ended when I was in high school. My dad is not a former steel mill employee, but his ability to provide for us was affected by the steel mills' closures. the loss of both the coal industry and steel production delivered big hits to the Appalachian region.
Appalachia is more than steel and coal. Pittsburgh has enjoyed a rebirth of sorts, with the medical research industry attracting brainpower to the area. The area of Appalachia in which I grew up in home to universities and colleges of all sizes and stripes.
To be honest, my relationship to the region of my origin is complicated. It is true that some small town /rural Appalachian areas are not diverse. My experience growing up as a minority { Jewish on Mom's side of the family} and the child of liberal hippie parents was daunting. Racial and anti-Semitic slurs were heard on occasion Most of my family and none of my schoolmates understand that being " other" in a uniformly White Christian society was hard. However, growing up interfaith and intercultural in a white-bread culture has gifted me with tenacity.
To be honest, I am glad I left Western Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio. However, that region, and its people, are a part of who I am and who I will become. My childhood growing up playing freely in the woods and not coming home until dark was close to ideal. The woods near my childhood home are still beautiful.
I am Appalachian. Ask me about the area that formed me. Boycott _Hillbilly Elegy_.
Sarah McCarren
11//27/2020
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