This morning, Igool and I had our HVAC ducts and chimney cleaned by a man named Jim. Jim with a last name that starts with "D", but I didn't quite catch it.
Jim and I spoke about the construction of houses and how they don't make new houses in the sturdy way that older houses were built. New houses are put up with speed and lower-costing materials and labor. Jim told me that he wouldn't take a new house if it were given to him. He told me of several properties he owns in this area.
We got to talking about how we both play music. He likes bluegrass, but his son is a session musician in Nashville. He likes the new country, a style he can mix in some r&b and rock. Who has the time to play guitar nowadays, when everyone needs to make a buck to survive? That was the theme that started our conversation.
Jim told me that he is from Appalachia West Virginia, where the kids grow up knowing how to play music, fix houses, grow food, and live self-reliant lives. He didn't paint an idealized picture of that kind of life, but he did seem to be proud of his roots. He mentioned that when he's down there, with no electricity, that he misses his beloved TV. I said that if you don't have a TV you might have more time to play guitar, and he admitted there's some truth in that.
I was interested in his story, because I drive through Appalachia whenever I head back to Charlottesville, Virginia, where my parents grew up and where I went to high school. It's a beautiful drive, but I always notice the shack-like houses, the outhouses, the lack of power lines, the proximity to strip mines and factories. I also notice the huge billboards advertising some tourist attraction or another. How do they survive here? What do they do for a living? Do they get government financial support?
I told Jim about my trips to Nashville, TN and Cave City, KY, and how I noticed similar conditions. He said that the people in those areas - some of them have no social security numbers or birth certificates. The government doesn't even know of their existence. They are self-reliant people.
That's when Jim told me about the Buffalo Creek flood. He said, that at midnight, on some night in 1972 (which happens to be the year I was born), the government, against the wishes of the local people, dammed up the creek. The creek flooded, wiping out a 14 mile area and killing lots of people. Jim said he lost his brother, sister and other relatives and friends that night. He was there, he said. He had a job driving semis at the time.
Every once in a while, for weeks afterwards, when he was searching for the missing, he would find body parts.
It was a horrible story. He told me to check out a website called "Valley of Death" or something of that nature. I looked for it, and I found some other sites that focus on Buffalo Creek. Some of them are pretty darn informative and interesting. Although, the story differs from Jim's. According to what I've looked up, the flood took place in the early morning of November 26, 1972, around 8:00am. Also, it had been raining a lot, and the dams had been there for years. The dams were made of coal crap, called "gob", which is nothing but the nasty byproducts of strip mining.
Anyway, I know that this blog is not that interesting without graphics, links, and hypertext, but I just wanted to share Jim's story and my story about Jim's story.
Some stories you just feel grateful (or unfortunate?) to have heard.
Thanks a lot, Jim.
If I become famous I will still not forget you and your story. (Jim said, as he was driving off in his duct truck, that if I ever "make it big" to think about him. Many people have said that to me over the years. I haven't exactly "made it big" in the financial sense, but I am happy, and I still make an effort to remember where I come from, where I've been, and who I've met.)
Here's a neat site that Jim's story led me to, that focuses on historical events that are not well-discussed in the mainstream history books. It's a website run by the people at Recollection Used Books. (I wrote a song called "Recollection").
The site is called "The Daily Bleed", and it is based on a calendar. You pick a date, and it lists events that occurred on that date, with links to lead you to more information. Very cool. I chose November 15, my birthday.
Have fun.
http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/1115.htm
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