tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1634245888291899253.post1027572186350980322..comments2015-02-02T07:09:16.291-08:00Comments on Down From the Mountain: The Gulnare LetterJohn S. Friendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04239723974976881552noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1634245888291899253.post-18808892744155507732011-12-05T21:04:35.985-08:002011-12-05T21:04:35.985-08:00Thank you for this--it's so much more well-wri...Thank you for this--it's so much more well-written than anything I could hope to put out there. I'm honestly not even sure which audience I'm in--my parents are from Harlan County, my cousins still live there, but I grew up in Lexington. But I spent every summer in the mountains and I identify strongly with the region. I'm not from Cumberland, and I didn't grow up there, but I'm also not entirely from Lexington. I never faced much jerkfacery for it while I was in KY, but when I moved across the country...<br /><br />It's funny. A lot of native Californians are pretty nonjudgmental about it (they know KY for horses and bourbon and are generally geographically challenged). But transplants from other states can get a little vicious. I deal with it better than I used to, though--and these days I wish I hadn't changed my inflections when I was little. The world needs to see and hear more Appalachians with PhDs and JDs (and also Appalachians like my father who don't hold degrees but are still scary-smart). I hate that we face a form of bigotry that is still somehow acceptable.Ψ*Ψhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15089754859676425655noreply@blogger.com