This Side of the Mountain

Abstract

This Side of the Mountain Christmas, 1989 Dear Reader: I recently asked three friends to write something which I could use in our annual appeal for gift subscriptions. Their response was quick and generous . Gurney Norman, a professor at the University of Kentucky, novelist and playwright, is a mountain man himself and, as someone described him recently, "a friend to everybody." He has contributed in many ways to the success of Appalachian Heritage over the years. A. H. Perrin has been a dear friend to the library since he retired and came to Berea more than twenty years ago. Among his many accomplishments is that of doing watercolor paintings. We are proud to use his work on the front cover of this issue. When I was appointed editor ofAppalachian Heritage in 1985, Donna Lakes was employed by the library to work in the Special Collections Department and help with the production of the magazine. She has become an invaluable friend and co-worker. ;Ât^U^{a/??. 3 VVV Dear Reader: Some say Appalachia is over-scholared. By that they mean too many scholars talking only to other scholars and producing overwhelming numbers of reports, digests, interviews, reviews, articles, and taped material . Granted, theirs is heady stuff which is needed and wanted, but unfortunately the people in Appalachia it is written about generally don't read or understand it. It would seem that scholars have lost contact with the men and women who live and work in the mountains. They are neighbors in name only. They don't speak the same language. Instead of a hoped for twin worlds the two are worlds apart. Both sides keep growing in circles like sea shells and ingrown toenails. Their divergent lifestyles, ideas, and speech patterns curl-up tight, dig in, and go no place together. With the best intentions too many Appalachian publications add to the ingrown scholarly problem. In fact, I feel that the only magazine with a broad base of readers and writers is Appalachian Heritage. Through its humanness, its fiction, articles, and poetry Appalachian Heritage has a unique place, but it does need many more subscribers. Do you believe in the magazine as I do? If so, can you help? I feel Jim Wayne Miller was on target with his suggestions in his Christmas letter last year (see the Fall 1988 issue): "You can help Appalachian Heritage ... by (1) subscribing to the magazine yourself (2) giving a gift subscription to a relative, friend, or acquaintance, (3) suggesting that your local library subscribe and (4) calling it to the attention of secondary school superintendents, principals, school board members, teachers, and librarians. Appalachian Heritage is well worth reading and recommending. 6U <4oui* VVV 4 Dear Reader: As someone who has been a reader of Appalachian Heritage through the entire history of publication which is now entering 17 years, I can say that this magazine is indispensable to me as a reader and a writer. The Heritage has been consistent as an outlet for the best writing to come out of the Appalachian Region the last two decades . The list of writers who have contributed in these years, beginning with Albert Stewart, founding editor, and continuing through the work of Sidney Farr, the present editor, is as impressive a list of literary folk as one will find in any part of the country. As an occasional contributor myself, it is an honor for me to be in the company of all the fine writers who have contributed to Appalachian Heritage. In addition to the stories, poems, and articles that have filled the pages of the Heritage, the magazine has also been a showcase for a new generation of artists whose work would otherwise have no outlet in the print media. It has been in the years that we have had Appalachian Heritage that the mountain region has seen its greatest flowering of ideas and artistic expression. This generation of Appalachian writers, painters, and artists of all kinds-including educators-represents the region's most important natural resource. Appalachian Heritage is a remarkable magazine that all thoughtful people in this vast region want to see continue and to grow. &-V