I'm a hillbilly, a woman, and a poet, and I understood early on that nobody was going to listen to anything I had to say anyway, so I might as well just say what I want to.

- Irene McKinney, Poet Laureate, West Virginia

Labels: Appalachian life, famous appalachians, Irene McKinney, poet laureate, poetry, poets, Quote of the day, West Virginia

It is better to confess ignorance than provide it.
-Homer Hickam, The Coalwood Way

Homer has a new book due out in February 2008 titled Red Helmet, it's about a New York woman who falls in love with a West Virginia coal miner, and between troubles at home and tragedy striking, she must go underground and work the mines herself, donning the red helmet that is the mark of a novice coal miner. I can't wait for it. Check it out.

Labels: Appalachia, coal miner, famous appalachians, Homer Hickam, Quote of the day, red helmet, Rocket Boys, The Coalwood Way, West Virginia

Benita Keller, a West Virginia native and excellent photographer and photojournalist, caught my eye a while back when I was scrolling through a list of photographers and decided to do a little more digging.

I came across her "Trailer & Trash: OR Looking Through Rose Colored Glasses" series, a selection of portraits staged in front of an all-pink set that takes flea market front yard kitsch to a whole new level. Kitsch and myself have been having a love affair for 26 years and counting. I fell in love immediately.

I'm a firm believer that one of the greatest statements you can make is to create a real life stereotypical caricature so extreme that it makes the audience stop and ask themselves exactly why they believe the stereotype is true. The characters in each setting of this series seem to take the trailer trash stereotype to ridiculously epic proportions, but what you end up with is a living pictorial commentary on poverty, prejudice, and sexist ideals.

Benita Keller, you rock my socks. Rock on.

Labels: Appalachia, Appalachian life, benita keller, photography, West Virginia

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
- Booker T. Washington

Labels: Appalachia, booker t washington, famous appalachians, Quote of the day, Virginia, West Virginia