Kayford Mountain

Before I left for this trip I visited my son. His only perception of Appalachia was formed by a movie, "Dancing Outlaw," which he showed me when he heard that was where I was going. It is a very funny, but damaging movie for those in Appalachia who have moved well beyond this "hillbilly" stereotype (and everyone I have met are more like me than they are the stereotype [if THAT means anything!]).My son and I laughed watching the movie and I vaguely noted where the movie was made.

It was made a few miles from where I am staying. I will be going there today before my flight over the area via Southwings.

But meanwhile, on Saturday I went to Kayford Mountain, a very different case from the case in Mingo County. Kayford is close to the Raleigh and Boone county lines, way up the holler. I found more than I bargained for.

Yes, I found MTR, lots of it. The entire mountain is being chipping away by Massey Energy piece by piece. It is a private holiday retreat for, well, to be honest, for those types I have not yet run into, the hillbillies, as the upper picture reveals. These guys were nice, though a bit cruder than I prefer. By luck and chance I figured out a way to have my picture taken with them. A few obscenities and rude gestures later, it was done. I like to say I found the couzins of Jesco (see the above movie if you are intrigued!)

Kayford Mountain being taken down piece by piece leaving only rubble.

But I also found this mountain that has a large cemetery filled with the remains of people who have lived there over the past century. Larry Gibson is the caretaker of the cemetery and trying to keep this sacred ground from being completely destroyed by Massey. His family and many others were buried there. As it was Memorial day weekend when I was there, people were roaming the graves going from plot to plot talking about those who were buried there, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their demise. These people are real and should be respected as much as any other. To do less is to call them inhuman---and not treating others as you would be treated. There is no shortage of love in the mountains, but it is as if Massey or Arch were here to remove the strongest bond people have.

It isn't enough that they own most of the land and left WV poor, but now they want to take the people's culture, heritage and remains as well. Though the men in the upper photo are much different than I, they aren't hurting anyone, and are enjoying their own company in their own place. In my eyes they are much better men than the heartless people of the coal companies.

Growing old

I must be getting old. No longer among the young. It had to happen sometime, but, just like mom, I don't know when it happened. But I do not think like the people who are moving into the house. They are mostly around Zack's age, and I don't get it. No respect, and a superior attitude wrapped in an ancarchist package. I like anarchy, or at least the idea, but have never felt that most people are ready for it, so we live with much less freedom.



To be sure, they are less consumer oriented (and I am much more so than most people I know my age) but they are, well, can I really say it? Dirty, and smelly. Now to be fair, part of this is what they practice instead of preach. We were all doing an ecological footprint quiz and found that these young people, with their pared down lifestyles were STILL living in a way that required 2 or more earth's if EVERYONE lived as they do. And me? Well, if everyone lived my very modest life (other than geographic travel) we would still need 9 earths.

But they also have a set of ethics, morals and codes very different than mine. They say to do your own dishes, but as the picture shows, they don't do it, and though I have been helping all along with Hillary in this manner, I am not their slave. The attitude is what gets me. Because they live "differently" we all must. Narrow point of view.

It stems from I have been purchasing nice, good, healthy food that was not here for me, for Hillary, for Abe, Benji and Chris---no problem. Pretty much a community, and for me, very progressive. But not enough.

No one asked to bring this dog in the house, and his food. The dog has been outside at camp for the past week.

No, now we have to have signs to tell us how to behave, and then they are not followed. And the signs keep coming. And the food disappearing. Last night 5 people (4 women and 1 transgender??? But I have been told NOT to refer to them in ANY gendered way) moved in and they take, take, take, and give nothing but dirt, dogs and who knows? They have eaten all the good food (brought nothing) left dirty dishes, tied up the phone and bath for hours and had no respect for anyone elses things. Everything is all of a sudden their way, with no asking if it was acceptable. It just is. They are right and everyone one else has no voice. No better than any others- just self-righteous.

I must be getting old. It is time for me to leave.


Making more signs

Meanwhile....i can't help to admire that they believe that life in America CAN be more environmentally sustainable. More sound. i can't help but think, where else are the people who are willing to make America a more healthy place for everyone? Are these people who are bothersome to me, our only hope?

MTR for real

Reclaimed site and current MTR (mountain top removal) site

The reason I originally came to WV was to learn about MTR (Mountain top removal). Instead I became involved in putting the house together for the community that was forming, and to attend various meetings, summits and camps populated largely by Earth Firsters. Quite different than I had planned, but I have learned so much. But I still wanted to do what I came to do. And finally it began on Saturday. I woke up at camp and soon headed out to Mingo and Logan counties, armed with various names and numbers offered to me by Abe. One was someone he had not yet talked to, and he was the person I met, and it was amazing. A visionary who purchased a huge swath of reclaimed land, and went about making it into a working farm. He built his house, originally a country retreat, and ended up liking it so much he moved there. It sits alone on top of the reclaimed MTR site. No trees. He built the house out of what was once on the site before the removal.


Things were going well. He started an orchard with peaches and apples, a vineyard that produced grapes with 29% sugar, and a cow calf operation on the reclaimed grass which he created the topsoil for. And the trouble began. Arch Coal purchased the company he was originally working with, and they did not reclaim the land to any extent that it could be used, and drove their trucks over his land without paying him any wheelage fees. He couldn't use over half of his land because of the poor shape it was in, and the constant trucks driving over the land. He goes to court next week against Arch Coal.

The grasses grown on properly reclaimed land.

rubble filled reclamation with no topsoil, left by Arch Coal.

happy birthdays

It was Hillary's birthday on Friday. She acted as if she wanted no one to know, but both Grove and I knew different. Grove made her a cake (surprise!) and I went out and bot a few little things for a birthday bag, and got her a card for the "team" to sign. And therein was the problem.

What card should I get when a hundred Earth Firster vegan, alternative energy, genderless, non-corporate types were going to sign it? Since I did not have the time or materials to make a card (which, I must admit, I would usually do) I went to the CVS in Athens and bot a card. A corporate card: with Dilbert. Putting down teams in the corporate world. I thought it was funny, but would they? Was I walking in a quagmire? Would they sign? All these thoughts went thru my head. I am not a part of their culture, and did not know if they would accept my offering of caring, extended to them for Hillary.

I took a chance.

Not one of them demurred for a moment. They thought it was very cool, and she "rocked" and that it was a great idea to have a community card. Everyone of the 100 participants signed. Whew!

Health alert

"Occupational rhinitis is the episodic work-related occurrence of sneezing, nasal discharge and nasal obstruction due to natural or synthetic causes according to Raymond G. Slavin, M.D., Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, including:

> Annoyance - perfumes, detergents
> Irritative - talc, coal dust
> Allergic - high and low molecular weight substances
> Corrosive - ammonia, chlorine

"Occupational rhinitis is often neglected because its appearance is not as dramatic as occupational asthma. However, it has a profound effect on the worker and can result in performance deficits, reduced productivity and psychosocial problems. Environmental controls and preventive pharmacotherapy are often needed for proper management of symptoms..."

I presume no one wants to see the number of soiled tissues I have used over the past 24 hours. I DO have an amazing story to tell. The time has not been wasted, BUT, the cost is health related.

I can't stop sneezing. I have an allergy due to the environment. I have never had allergies before. One night I woke up from a dead sleep with a full on nose bleed, and now I can't stop sneezing and blowing my nose with a constant drip. And it is not just me. Hillary has been suffering from breathing issues. She keeps saying she feels like she has a bone in her throat. I have no cold. She has no sore throat.

We are two people who have not lived their lives in the coal fields, and now the new arrivals are affected. I have been up since 3A. I could use more sleep, but just keep sneezing and tending to the runny nose.

D&D

For more info on D&D go to: http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm

And so I am talking to Groover, the cook at Mountain Justice Summer camp, and ask him where he got a lot of the food. I knew that much of it had been purchased at coops and produce stands, as I had participated in that part, but there are over 100 people and sooo much food! He said D&D.

Well, from a Dean and Deloca explanatory background, I am going there in my head, but no, I was very wrong. This is Earth First! and my intro to dumpster diving.

I have to admit that this term I knew. I had read some articles about these young people, once again looking at the waste of America. Diving into dumpsters to show what we throw away, and they retrieving it to eat. And here I was. Now, to be honest, I trust Groover, and he said that much of the D&D food that was brought was unusable, and so he accepted it graciously, and then.....(when backs were turned)



But here in the pantry were many of the thrown away food of America, and we were eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I even asked Groover the night before about the really good bread we had with dinner. D&D. complementing the chef on trash food.

small window of time

I have only a moment before i disappear into non-cyberless space.
These two pics though, tell it all about camp.

Cleaning up

We hooked up the washing machine, but have no dryer. It has rained just about every day in the last week.

We are cleaning up now and leaving for camp for most of the next week. I don't think we will have access there, but one never knows. This may be the last post for a while...

Cleaning up in the house, and trying to get clothes clean, and body too. With only one bathroom, and the shower placed in a awkward place it isn't always easy to stay real clean, especially with the in and out communal living. But I can't complain, I have still be able to have my own room AND an air mattress. The coming week will probably be rougher...

Shower in the middle of the room, across from the kitchen. We haven't had time or the tools to close it off yet. But at least it works now without huge leaks!

Chaos and Crusties

Crusty with ID protected. Crusties often have pseudonym names, such as Nettle, Honeycomb, Roar or......

...an excuse for crusties and filthy pinko liberals to rant on about the perils of globalisation, the illegality of the Iraq war, and how much they hate Bush....

Crusty: a young person who does not live in a way that society considers normal, typically with untidy or dirty clothes and hair, and no regular job or permanent home

New word for me. As in .....damn tree hugging crusty....
These people are the radicals of the environmentalist movement. They DO show up at rallies such as our NVCD (Non-violent civil disobedience), but they are not necessarily out of control, and certainly not violent---unless the action is oriented that way. But just their appearance can be used by the media as reason to be called "extremists."

I have now lived with some crusties, and they ARE different from me, no doubt, but then, perhaps 35 years ago it may have been the word used for me and my co-horts at the time....dirty hippies.....

I am not learning only what I came down here for, but much more.

"http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#">37.903125-81.540472

It's official

I was told today that I am a low bagger, by others who are the same. I know it is a mark of distinction, but what a way to go! It was the living in the rough that did it.

But of course, the news of the day is the rally. It went as planned. Both Bo and Judy were arrested for trespassing, but, interestingly, the police were very nice and seemed to even side with us in their agreeable nature.


Massey reps were uncooperative and would not see the residents of the valley that they are mining in, not very smart. A lot of local people showed up, and we marched to the gate of the coal plant from Marsh fork elementary. The reason for the rally was to complain about the location of the plant in relation to the school. Kids are getting sick form the coal dust and chemicals, and there is a huge sludge dam right behind the school. I was the back up photographer, but then, the pro photographer's camera did not process the info, and my pictures were the ones used on the web.


Ed Wiley, a Coal river resident whose granddaughter goes to Marsh Fork Elementary school.

Night into day

mmmm, is it by chance that the action starts with the full moon?

It is quiet now and everyone is sleeping. The Massey webcast of the annual meeting will be in 50 minutes. A slow, wet morning. It has rained almost every night for the last week. More rain expected this afternoon, but all is well now.


People sleeping everywhere

The group is here and prepped for the day's activities. So far so good, with 15 people or so and one bathroom. I got up much earlier so that I could actually take a shower, as I somehow didn't have time yesterday.

Low bagging

So now my friends here are low baggers, those who care about the environment and often work within jobs that pay very little, but only because they believe in what they do. I respect that. It is a hard way to go.

Today we went out looking for more goods for the house. There are supposed to be about 15 people in our house now, we have about 7 now, and we have to be ready. Lots still to do. We have had some problems getting money together but finally today in the early afternoon that came through and Goover could buy some of the things he needs to get the kitchen together for the week camp coming up. So we went shopping. Started at the Good will, but it didn't have much and was pretty expensive, so we asked around about a Salvation Army. I had already learned that Salvation army has better prices than Goodwill. A nice lady in the Goodwill told me that there was a Salvation Army store, but she didn't know how to get there. Go out and ask her husband in the green van. I did and we were off to the store. We found it, and a few minutes later, the nice lady and her husband showed up! We found a lot of what we were looking for and we were on our way to our next stop, Walmart. Not liked by us, but not a lot of choices in a town like Beckley.



We went to the Walmart and a few minutes into the odyssey there, we ran into, guess who? Our Salvation/Goodwill friends. Very sweet and nice. We took their picture and introduced ourselves before we continued in our shopping. Stopped off at the McD's and had my picture taken, but no, we didn't get any Big Macs etc.


We ended up spending most of the day in Beckley. Headed home around 5, and found a nice produce stand where we will be buying boxes of produce tomorrow as we start the camp.

but first, tomorrow is the Massey Energy stockholders meeting in NYC, and the first protest outside Marsh Fork elementary. The police have already said they would be meeting us there. Oh boy.....

Summit

Getting shade for the group photo

Spent the weekend at the Mountain summit meeting. Learned about things i never thought i would be learning about, like training for civil disobedience. A whole new world for me, but after reading Lackoff and about framing it is one that is becoming increasingly clear.



When we got back late in the afternoon on Sunday we found Groover sitting doing the WV thing out in front of the building, passing the time of day. But boy had he been working! He fixed up a bunch of things i wasn't able to and reorganized the kitchen, including a really nice spaghetti sauce. Mmmm Good!

Life in the fast lane

Hillary talking on the phone as usual. We have a phone line!

We have it all now. We feel like billionaires. Life is good.

The major leaks are fixed, power is on, internet and even some furniture. Today we fixed up A room for Hillary so that she has some space. She works from the time she is up to when she is asleep. I have just been back up. Cleaning and cooking, the little housewife.

Me mopping the floor from the leaking faucet.

We are beginning to be normal now. Cleaned out the back room so Hillary has her own space. She didn't know, but with the twin bed brought yesterday (the only REAL bed here) and now sheets and pillow (with a/c) she has a really nice space. I moved into the interior bedroom, also alone, but no window. But we blew up the airbeds and are basically ready for the hordes to come in the next week.

Abe fixing the curtain in Hillary's room.

It is amazing how living in the 21st century we become so dependent on the way we live. Though most of Appalachia is at a minimum in the 20th century (with many right there in the internet age) the past is not that far behind, and in fact many take understandable pride in remembering so many of the ways to live off the land.

Right now, I have a roof over my head. That’s about it. I am now writing this as a word .doc because I have now lost what contact I had with the outside world. No Internet. No electricity, no running water, sleeping on the floor. Just a laptop running on its battery. What next?

I have been doing the Dutch girl thing and filling up our buckets from the neighbor’s hose and carrying it back to the house to use for flushing our toilets, washing the dishes, and general cleaning. A couple of buckets don’t last long, and I am using the old California skills of recycling the water. I wash dishes, rinse and then use the same water to fill the toilet. The other day when I was cleaning the refrig and using cleaners, I couldn’t take a shower after, and the next day I smelled like the cleansers all day. Can’t take a bath or shower. Brushing your teeth, your hair and washing your face become special when you have no running water. You feel really good after accomplishing these daily deeds. But everything takes a major effort, much more than what we, as a society, are used to. A flip of a switch and there is light, or the ability to do so many of the things we can do without it.

So why are we here now? Hillary paid the bills last Friday and we were supposed to come back to utilities. The electric had something to do with a power surge, which, because we weren’t home the company didn’t turn the power on. The water had to do with leaks in the pipes. The pipes froze in the winter and broke. Now, when the water was turned on, there were leaks everywhere. We were actually lucky that Ed was here to catch the problem before our entire first floor was flooded. Water never made it to the second floor because there are so many leaks on the ground floor. Now, at 2P Tuesday, Danny, the handyman for the owner, just came to check it out. The reason I am home today is just so someone is here and things can get fixed. We will see how much PVC pipe will be necessary to fix it all. Right now he is focusing on only the first leak. I think there are many more, but first things first. Just getting water into the building will be a nice start.


We have satellite, but no real TV

Tired

A wise man (my boyfriend) said: No water, no electric, sleeping in the floor, assuming an outhouse, but you have WiFi?

Life is Good!

I thought when I returned her today that this saying was history, but, I was wrong.
I entered the house about 8P and was ready to turn on the lights. No lights. No water. No phone.

Back to the same as before we left. Sleeping on the floor, no water (I have to make a run to the hose a the next door neighbor's tomorrow), no electric. I put away the food we bot, and poured myself a glass of wine.

Life IS good.

Wet and dry

Glass of lemonade

Kentucky is on of those handful of southern states that still have a problem with selling alcohol. So everyone goes to the next county and drinks, and then they have to drive to get home. Sounds smart to me??! When I checked into the hotel I was told that we were in a dry county so if I wanted some wine (which I did) I would have to go to Ashland. He forgot to tell me though that there is nowhere serving of alcohol on Sunday. Jesus could drink the wine in church, but heaven forbid we can have a glass of wine. And I thought Michigan was bad (can't buy alcohol on Sunday before noon--for all those church going types. Give me a break!).

I drove to the Ashland area by way of small roads from Berea. Saw some great barns, and entered into some of Kentucky's coal country, as well as Loretta Lynn's homeplace (coal miners daughter) along route 23 up the eastern edge of Kentucky.

Some more black barns

The reason I came to Berea again (twice in a week!) was to go to a Mountain Justice Summer meeting. Well, I didn't belong there. Everyone else was a leader of a state segment, and I was an unknown with no reason to be there.

So it was black barns. I drove through the area taking pictures, and talking to people asking them one question, "Why are the barns in Kentucky black?" Some people had no idea. People who even owned them..."It was here when we bought the place." Others knew about creosote and preserving the wood (at a cheap price), but little about a connection with tobacco. Some of the barns are definitely not tobacco barns, but others can only be for drying the leaves.
A Kentucky black barn (not repainted recently) with vertical ventilator boards for drying tobacco.

What America Eats

Yikes.
I was hungry. Got to Richmond and was hungery. Thought that since Berea was a folk craft center, it would have a good place to eat. Looked up restaurants, only 2. Went there. Walked to the famous one, Boone Tavern, but it looked really stiff, so I decided to try the other, Papaledo's. Went in there and stood in the middle of the restaurant lobby. no one paid attention to me. Kids were running around, and then a waitress walked by with spaghetti, no sauce. Still no one said a word to me, no eyecontact. nothing. Okay.

I went to Boones. At least get a white cloth napkin dinner. got there at 8:15P on a Friday night. Though people were eating in the dining area, I was told they closed at 8. Eight on a Friday night. Swinging.

Drove back to Richmond,exit 87. everything was fast food, but one said it was a grill. Ryan's, how America eats. The parking lot was full.

I walk in and am greeted by a fast food menu on the rear wall. It is one of those buffets, a table for meat, fried veggies (fried okra-imust be entering the south), salads, desserts. The salad was all iceberg...except....one small bowl of spinach. Okay. The meat was really bad. Couldn't eat it. The desserts were mostly pretty gross, but there was some ice cream. And to drink. Well, I wanted a glass of wine, nothing. Okay, lemonade. it was on the menu. But they were out. The people behind me were disappointed to here that too.

Anyway, lots of calories, masses of not very good food. Who knows how much processing it went thru, how many vitamins and minerals, gone.

A environmental ghost town

After driving to Charleston and looking around, I returned to Cheshire, Ohio, the town i had visited before it was sold to AEP in 2003. I had heard it was abandoned and the houses torn down. And so it was. The plant was still spewing, and the houses in the town were gone, though the unincorporated area was still there (a series of signs showed one resident's opposition...they have filed against AEP also).


At the time of the buy out AEP had said they would be using the houses for their employees (not saying that they reason this was happening was that they were being sued for health reasons...all the residents had to sign a health waiver once they accepted the buyout). but it was all gone now. Most of the houses are gone and only the stacks and a few houses remain. It is now, basically, an environmental ghost town.

Cheshire, Ohio in 2003 (look at the pipe and meter at the corner of the gray building)

Cheshire, Ohio 2005 (only the pipe and meter remain)

Heading back to Berea

Today we are heading for a conference for Mountain Justice Summer, in Berea, KY. I had never been there before and wanted to go, and so headed there on my way here--out of my way some 3 or 4 hours, and now I am returning today. Twice in a week! But it will be nice as it is still pretty rough here, though I did sleep well on the couch cushions on the floor last night.

When I was finishing up working Hillary, who is in charge of the local movement, brought me a cold beer (what a luxury! after no electricity in the living quarters--we got an extension cord and hooked up the refrigerator) and some popcorn (also hooked up the electric skillet). Boy that was good. Found out we both like popcorn.

I went to bed around 11, but I think Hillary worked most of the night. I got up early this morning and did some yoga in one of the empty rooms, and prepared to head out. I will stop in Cheshire, Ohio on my way. It was a town I wrote about in an article soon to be out "Environmental ghost towns." The town was purchased by AEP because of all the pollution. I haven't been there since it was abandoned.

May 12, in the field

Today I went out and started to talk to the people in the Coal River Valley. What an experience!
In many ways it Appalachia lives up to its reputation, and in many ways, it is just like the rest of America. I remember when I went to Newfoundland. Where it was very remote, and yet, they had internet, and cable, and were very aware of the rest of the world. So it is in the small steep sided valleys, or at least this one. They talk different, and some are closed to thinking about what is happening to them, how the coal company is determining their lives, and health. Others listen and think about the evidence we offer. There is a 2.8 BILLION gallon sludge pond above a local school. A silo backs up to the school. It deposits both dust and toxic chemicals right on the school. What is the coal company thinking???

The coal companies seem to be the only source of jobs around here. Everyone I met worked at the coal mine,(it is good to bring home $1000 every two weeks, as one young mother said), or had someone in their family who did. Everyone had generations working there. It is everywhere, and yet at the same time, the coal mine is killing the people it is hiring, or at least their children. But the people are tied to the companies. No other jobs. What are they to do?

Anyway, when that was over, I came to our house, which is an old store with a apartment above. It is empty and we have no water or electricity yet, and so we were "borrowing" our water from a neighbor so we could wash things down. Cleaned up things until it got too dark. We have some power in the bottom level (where the store was) and so we gerry-rigged a power cord to give us some electricity upstairs. It reminds me of things I did back when I was 20. That was a long time ago. Some things never change.

"I just know this coal company. There's no end to what they would do to get their way. I'm not trying to scare you, but.....lock your doors." (these were the last words I heard tonight....)