|
|
Article: Appalachian subculture.(Essay)
- Article from:
- The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
APPALACHIA HAS a bad reputation, especially West Virginia, the only state whose borders lie entirely within anyone's definition of the Appalachian Mountains. Moonshine swillers and feuding hicks--these are the images that most people hold. "Hillbillies," despite today's politically correct climate, are still regular objects of mockery. City dwellers have been alternately romanticizing and demonizing country dwellers since Greek and Roman times, and American popular culture's relation to Appalachia is our version of it.
Several summers ago, some friends and I walked into a Mexican restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The young man who escorted us to our table, ...