"Going Viral" and "The Environmental Ethics of Coal Mining"

20 March 2014: I know I've posted before about the terrific opportunities I get living and working in a college town. Last night was no exception. I attended two events sponsored by our Common Reading Program: first, a talk by Eric Waggoner, who wrote this post that went viral on the Elk River spill, and then a panel discussion on the ethics of coal mining. Both were terrific events, making it quite clear that WV needs to stop accepting the devastation that coal companies bring to the environment. I was even lucky enough to have dinner with Waggoner that night. A most excellent evening!

A couple of links...

1) Jason Howard, who I met a couple of years ago when he visited Shepherd, has a new op-ed in the New York Times. A quotation from its closing: "There is no easy resolution to the fraught relationship between the coal industry and the people of Appalachia, many of whom rely on it for jobs even as it poisons their region. But it is imperative that the industry’s leaders and their elected allies lay down their propaganda and engage in an honest, civil dialogue about the issue. The stakes are too high to do otherwise."

2) A very cool Lego installation in Australia. When I was a kid, I would spend hours and hours playing with my Legos. Sometimes, I still miss them. 

3) A Firefly reunion special is in the works! Commence celebrating!

Links...

It's Writer-in-Residence week here at Shepherd and I've got major assignments due in every one of my classes. And my parents are coming this weekend. So long story short, I have just about zero time for anything else, but I did want to just post a few interesting links:

1) Oprah will reunite the cast of The Sound of Music. I love love love this! The Sound of Music is my sentimental favorite movie. I even like reading/grading to the soundtrack. Can't wait!

2) Maybe lots of people knew about this, but somehow yesterday I stumbled across this old (1950) Time magazine article. Kind of mind-boggling to think of Congress policing Hollywood morality. Actually, I am sure plenty self-righteous folks in Congress today would think this is a good idea. By the way, my mom was named after Ingrid Bergman, but she was born before this scandal. I wonder if my grandparents would have made the same decision post-scandal.

3) Lots of folks are talking about this piece: "Tragedy at the Virginia Quarterly Review."

4) Some good people got arrested for non-violent protests against mountain-top removal earlier this week, including Jason Howard, who I met last year when he visited Shepherd with Silas House.(In the photo, Jason is the first person on the left, and Silas is the third.) Thoreau would be proud of them. And so am I.

5) Someone needs to see this movie with me. I'll pay. I'll even buy you popcorn AND candy AND a soda. And I don't even do that for my niece when I take her to the movies. Seriously, this thing looks like so much fun.

6) "When Your Infant is Secretly Famous in Japan." To quote South Park, "Simpsons already did it!"



7) And yeah, this O'Keefe dude is a total douche. And a pervert, too. Loser.

Two quick links: Appalachian writers taking on Big Coal

These are already a bit old, but worth posting:

1) Wendell Berry pulls his personal papers from UK over the University's relationship to the coal industry.

2) Silas House takes on an absurd, infantile, sexist attack on Ashley Judd over MTR.

Seems like a good place to include a Berry poem...how about this one?

"The Peace of Wild Things"

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

(via the Poetry Foundation) 

Hmm...and let's give Silas a shout-out, too: consider buying a copy of The Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume II, featuring a new and very moving short story by House, "Recruiters."

Silas House at Shepherd

September 28 to October 4 marked Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence week here at Shepherd and this year's writer, Silas House, certainly left a positive impression on everyone here. I've been saying for a while now that I am going to get around to writing a long post on House's novels, but there just hasn't been time. I don't think that's just a stall on my part: his stuff is so good that I don't want to rush through it--and I don't think a few blog posts will do him justice. Seriously--he's that good. And don't just ask me--ask anyone who has been lucky enough to read A Parchment of Leaves, Clay's Quilt, or The Coal Tattoo. They are simply amazing books. Silas' texts embody just about everything wonderful about Appalachian literature but also remind me a lot of the Transcendentalist texts of the nineteenth century.

We read Parchment in my English 204 classes and out of 100 students in those three sections, I didn't hear a single "why did we have to read this?" at the end of our discussions. In fact, many students said something like, "I don't like reading [they say this to their English teachers all the time!], but this I really liked."

Anyway, I thought I might just paste in my opening remarks from the "Writing Life" event, held on Wednesday, September 30. (Yes, I was lucky enough to get to introduce Silas, who told me, "You can introduce me anywhere" when I got done. Swoon!) I'll admit that the text reads a bit hokey, but it was the best I could do during that extra busy week.

Welcome to tonight’s Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence event, “The Writing Life” with Silas House. We are in for a treat tonight. First, though, I’d like to thank the Shepherd University Foundation, the Friends of the Shepherdstown Public Library, and the West Virginia Humanities Council for sponsoring this event.

I picked up my first Silas House novel in May of 2008—Memorial Day weekend. The book was A Parchment of Leaves. It was a lovely day—the windows were open, a sweet breeze blew in, birds sang outside. I opened that book in the early afternoon and before I knew it, it has grown dark outside, singing birds replaced by singing crickets. And if you’ve read Parchment, you know how appropriate that setting was. And I read on and on and on. Eventually, I took a break, but got right back to that book the next day and finished it that next night. I was, simply put, captured by this book—moved by it, exhilarated by it, and wanted to read more. Since that time, I will confess: I can’t read enough Silas House and continue to be thrilled by his words.

Last November, I saw Silas read at the South Atlantic Modern Languages Association conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I sat in the back and just listened as he talked about his craft. This is a man who knows what it means to be a writer. Again, we are in for a treat tonight, folks.

At that reading in Louisville, Silas spoke of the best piece of writing advice he’s every received, from the great Appalachian writer James Still: “Discover something new every day.” If you’ve read any of his books, it’s easy to see how closely Silas House has followed this advice, how he makes his readers see the new, the interesting, and the beautiful in the everyday: the way he careful writes of his characters singing, dancing, cooking, or just sitting silently with each other. The way he lovingly creates the landscapes he knows so well. The way he writes about what it means to be alive in the world. Anyone interested in writing—or in reading great writing—will benefit from hearing Silas House talk about his craft and about “The Writing Life.” So it gives me great pleasure to introduce Silas House.

Consider this your introduction to Silas House and pick up one of his books. You will not be disappointed. I picked up a copy of Eli the Good at one of the events and can't wait to get into it. Also on my wish-list, Something's Rising, a collection about mountain-top removal that Silas and some other writers (including Jason Howard, who I also met--he's terrific!) put together.

Some more quick and completely random links...

1) More Jane Austen/science-fiction cross-overs.

2) The sometimes depressing, sometimes hilarious, almost always interesting "F*** My Life" blog.

3) "The Dirty Lie": a website all about the myth of clean coal. This topic will be on my mind a lot more in the coming months as we prepare to host Silas House as our Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence next fall. House is a big opponent of mountain-top removal. (I've been meaning to write a long post on my love for House's books for months now...I'll get to it someday. I promise!)