"That's where I come from...

In a little less than an hour, a 20/20 special is coming on ABC. A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains is to be set in the hills of central Appalachia, where I'm from. (If you could only hear me right now you could tell.) I'm from a lil place called Floyd County. I never tell the actual town I'm from because no one would know of it anyways because it's so small. Part of this special is supposed to be conducted in Mudd Creek. *get your laughs out now* I lived in Mudd Creek from birth until about 2nd grade. Probably would have lived there at least until I was 18 had it not been for our house burning.

Anyways, I'm really excited about this special cause it's always cool to see familiar things on T.V. But on the other hand I am apprehensive. About 15 years ago there was a special on the old show 48 hours. It was about another lil place called Muddy Gut. I call it a place because it's not a town, it's actually a holler. ( <-- that word, we call it a holler. You city folk probably call it a hollow.) I've looked everywhere online trying to find video of it to share with you guys but was unsuccessful. The show was an absolute embarrassment to us civilized hillbillies. The people they documented had no running water. They bathed in a wash tub with water they got from a well and heated on their coal burning stove. They used an out house ( that's a bathroom outside. Basically you go in a whole or a bucket and somebody has the duty of emptying it or burying it.) Now for those of us who lived there, or people who had been there knew that's not how EVERYONE lives, but that yes, some people still live that way. But to outsiders, it just reconfirmed all their stereotypes.

Well, low and behold my first year of college that video resurfaced in my Sociology 101 class. Now I could have acted like I had never seen it and that I had no clue where this place was even located. But instead, I spoke up and let everyone know that's where I came from. You can only imagine the shock and dismay in some of the northerners faces when they looked at me. Here I was, with shoes on, claiming I had always had running water in my house along with electricity, had all my teeth, seemed to be civilized. How could I have been from there? How I could I be one of "those" people?

So tonight I'm a lil wary of this special. But I have and always will be proud of where I came from. (<-- yes I ended that sentence with a preposition, cause that was how "we" talk).


P.S. Sorry for being a sucky blogger lately. I promise to blog again sometime tonight or tomorrow after I watch the special.