"A Picture From Life's Other Side: Appalachian Poems" by Bob Henry Baber

At times when I am in a book buying mood, I will often stray into other books I had not set out to search for and buy one or two I had not foreseen. Although, I had not planned to buy this book, I had been aware of its existence virtually since the day it was published. I was recently searching for a book or two which had roots in the Southern Appalachian Circuit of Antioch College, especially one or two which had been published by individuals such as Gail Amburgey, Pauletta Hansel, P. J. Laska, and Robert "Bob" Snyder. I found a copy of this book by Bob Henry Baber who had also been a student at the Southern Appalachian Circuit and decided to buy it. It has been relatively rare to find it on the typical used book websites such as Abe Books and Alibris from which I have bought hundreds of books over the years. Amazingly the copy I found was also in near perfect condition and signed with a generic signature. Bob Henry Baber self published this book in 1994. The title is taken from the music of Hank Williams and his song by the same name. Several of the poems had been previously published in small journals around the country including "Appalachian Heritage", "Appalachian Journal", and "Cold Mountain Review". Many of the poems are rooted in the coal mining industry as is a great deal of Appalachian writing. Some such as "Let Me Hide Myself In Thee" are comments on or reflections of the sometimes fundamentalist religion of much of Central and Southern Appalachia, Others of the poems such as "Taking Title" are strong examples of the Appalachian Value which Loyal Jones called Love of Place. Bob Henry Baber's life, as I have known him, has always been deeply rooted in his historical family farm near Richwood, West Virginia, which Bob has always referred to as "Baber Mountain". For several years, he held a summer get together there which was attended by both members of his family and his friends in the world of Appalachian Literature. Like many other, if not most, native Appalachians Bob Henry Baber has also penned his own paean to the Appalachian family cemetery in the poem "Severed Threads". The lines: "Who will bury our spirits beneath hearthstones to protect them from frigid air? Who will stir our memories and throw kindling on our ancient dreams? Who will cut the cemetery grass that will so shortly be given over to woods?" are another feelingly rendered manifestation of the deep rooted Appalachian people to the many cherished but overgrown mountain cemeteries on long lost family farms which had been scratched out of the resistant mountains of West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Western Virginia, and North Carolina. He chose to end the book with that poem and it was a fitting tribute to the ties which have always bound him to those mountain acres near Richwood where his ancestors made love to the land with gooseneck hoes, double bit axes, and hillside turning plows, and carried their hard earned raisings from the field to the root cellar in order to weather one more winter on the place which had woven its way into their hearts.

Appalachian Values As Discussed By Loyal Jones

Appalachian Values And Loyal Jones

Retired Berea College Professor Loyal Jones has had a lasting impact on public perceptions of Appalachian people with his book "Appalachian Values".  It is the first book I recommend to people who know little or nothing about Appalachians and express a desire to learn about us.  I believe it is the first book anyone should read who wants to know the truth about Appalachia and Appalachians.  It has done more to dispell the negative stereotypes of Appalachians than any other piece of written material and has been the basis of some of my own academic writing as well as the writing of hundreds of other authors both unknown and well known.  The links at the bottom of this blog will take the reader to two articles which I published with co-author Dr. Heather Ambrose, Ph. D., during the time I was working on my masters degree at Lindsey Wilson College.  We delivered one of those articles, "Culturally Appropriate Supervision of Counselors In Appalachia" at the 2005 National Conferece of The American Counseling Association and it was included in the book, "Vistas 2005: Compelling Perspectives On Counseling".  I have only spoken to Loyal Jones on one or two occasions and cannot say that  we are friends.  But I owe a debt of gratitude to Loyal Jones and so does every other native Appalachian who fights to diminish and dispell the stereotypes which persist today. 

Loyal Jones Photo By Candice M. Hicks

Jones wrote the book, which was originally an article in a Texas magazine published by the Texas Tech Press,  in response to the debilitating portrayal of Appalachian people by Jack Weller in his best seller "Yesterday's People".  Weller's book is the last or next to last book you should ever read about Appalachia. (The last book you should read is "Night Comes To The Cumberlands" by Harry M. Caudill.)   Weller was an outsider, a Presbyterian minister, and had come to the Eastern Kentucky area to preach and do community organizing.  Like many, if not most, of the missionaries who came and still come to Appalachia, Weller knew little of the people he wrote so devastatingly about.  Weller also failed to learn much while he was here. Jones is a native Appalachian who has spent his life in Appalachia writing about his own kind and working to lift the Appalachian people up and to fight the stereotypes.  Some other Appalachian writers of note have taken issue with Jones' work including Bob Snyder, a close friend and mentor of mine.  However, I have been greatly influenced by both and believe both are correct in major areas of their work.  Their disagreement was between them and should not influence any reader to view either of them negatively. 

Roger D. Hicks & Loyal Jones Photo By Candice M. Hicks

"Appalachian Values" was co-authored with Berea photographer Warren Brunner who actually was not an Appalachian.  His photos illustrate the work and actually take up more pages than the text. But, to my knowledge, Brunner did none of the writing and his photography is stupendous. The book is often mistaken for a coffee table picture book which is a major disservice to both the book and the people it depicts.  It is a masterful work of major cultural and political importance and is so deceptive in its simplicity that it is frequently ignored or avoided by academics.  It falls into a group of great little books like "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch and "Night" by Elie Wiesel.  These books are so small that they tend to be misleading to the average reader.  All write about groups of people who are unique and prone to be ignored, misinterpreted, pilloried, and even massacred. All three contain truths which are far more important than  the miniscule package in which they are contained. 

Jones discussed ten core values of Appalachians: Love of Place; Independence, Self Reliance, and Pride; Neighborliness; Familism; Humility and Modesty; Sense of Beauty;  Patriotism; Religion; Personalism; and, Sense of Humor. Jones has discussed these values in more depth in his other work, especially the book, "Faith and Meaning In The Southern Uplands".  Although that work is primarily about religion, it also serves to expand some of Jones' thinking on the other values. Jones may be best known for his work on Appalachian Humor, including several joke books with Billy Ed Wheeler.  Jones has also been a well known dinner circuit speaker because of his humor.  But he is first and foremost an Appalachian academic and writer. 

Later, as time allows, I will expand or expound, in ten individual postings on this blog, on my own perception of these core cultural vaules.  But, at this point, the most important sentences any reader should remember from the book are these:

"All work in Appalachia must be based on the genuine needs as expressed by mountain people themselves.  Whatever work is done must be done with the recognition that Appalachian culture is real and functioning." Loyal Jones, "Appalachian Values" p. 10.

What this boils down to in layman's terms is that the missionaries have never saved us and they never will.  They will persist in coming.  We Appalachians must persist in being ourselves and resisting the efforts at forced assimilation, both blatant and subtle.  I will also, as time permits, write a major posting on cultural assimilation and ways Appalachian people can best resist it and work to preserve Appalachian Culture.

 Go to this link to read updated reflections from both Loyal Jones and I  about his book "Appalachian Values" forty years after it was published.  Reflections On Appalachian Values by Loyal Jones