Sunday, March 7, 2010

March 3 - Day 3

Today was our visit to the Appalshop here in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Appalshop started as an organization for high school students. Today, Appalshop is a non-profit organization producing original films, video, theater, music and spoken word recordings supporting the community and issues, mostly involving mining, which has been a part of Appalachia’s culture for years. Appalshop’s ultimate goal is to enrich education through media.


During our visit today, we toured Appalshop with Robert Salyer and were described all the jobs that went on there. Most of these people were film makers. We saw the archives of Appalshop’s films and got to see up close what it was like to make, edit, and watch a film. After that, we got a taste of the films that were created there. One that we watched was called “sludge”. This film described the sludge spill that happened in 2000 in eastern Kentucky. The last thing we got to do was appear on Appalshop radio with Wiley Coyote where we got the opportunity to talk about things and stuff (like our trip and our school). Now, at 9: 13 pm we are enjoying the hilarity of Nimrod Workman (an Appalshop film from the ‘70s about a funny old dude).

When we got back to the community center where we are staying, we met Nell, a woman who had been cooking for the potluck all day. The food was interesting and traditional, including Salad with bacon grease, pinto bean soup, cornbread, and red velvet cake. And of course, how could we survive without Ale81 (Kentucky ginger ale) and many moon pies. You know; things and stuff.

Ariel Lindeman

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