Fragments From Floyd

That Andrew would stumble upon Fragments while researching the Appalachians from Great Britain is one of those Googling occurrences that do crop up from time to time. That the searcher would then email and ask if he could call me to talk is much less likely; but he did, and we did.

And that the chap would turn out to be a documentary film producer for the BBC researching the possibility of doing his next film or film series from Appalachia (I was able to instruct him how to say this word correctly to possibly avoid later embarrassment)--well, that was just too very out of the ordinary. We spoke for about a half hour on Saturday, but I must apologize for giving him very little for his telephone investment, I'm afraid.

In the course of the conversation, just to give you an idea of the rambling nature of our chatter, I told him about Eustace Conway (when he asked if there were folks who still hunted and lived off the land the old-fashioned way); I told him about Wendell Berry (as he had asked about those living in close contact with the land and bearing a strong love and attachment for it); I mentioned the storytelling in Jonesboro and Ray Hicks in particular as local "characters."

And we talked a bit about the music. Since he'd done a well-publicized series on the roots of American country music, I'd thought perhaps he was interested next in a documentary on the history of Appalachian music, and Floyd County would be a good place to come and investigate that.

But I think it continues to be wildlife that is his chief focus and interest. The best I could offer on that account was the boring deer, the wild turkey and the occasional bear that wanders into town. I'm afraid we've rather displaced or extirpated what once was a teeming forest of creatures other than tourists.

Oh yes. He asked me about the term "hillbilly" saying that it was still in common usage in his country (to refer to that certain class of inbred toothless mooonshiner that populates these hills, I offered.) I told him this was a stereotype that most of Appalachia was working hard to dispel, even while the media worked hard to keep it around for its marketability as a caricature for people to feel superior to.

We talked some about the mountain poor, and I was able to defend them, for the most part, as folk who did the best with what they had, taking pride in their places, as humble as they might be. We offered him the opportunity for a few days of cultural immersion in the southern mountains should he ever slow down whilst scurrying from photo shoot to interview to taping. Failing that, here's hoping he'll stop by the weblog again from time to time. I was happy to be a brief ambassador for these round-shouldered hills. Nice talking to ya.