Recently I learned my interview with Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia director Julien Nitzberg is the most read story ever on AltDaily. Nice to hear, nice accolade, sure. For me, the best part of that statistic is its subject. I really care about Jesco and co., both as individuals and as representatives of the hard-to-explain truth-myth hybrid I call Appalachia.
As more readers are exposed to this story on the White family, they are also exposed to all the stuff surrounding it. Debates continue to spark. Are they rebellious anti-heroes? Are they moochers and addicts? Obviously the answers to both of these questions is yes. They are. They are also exploited and aware of it and maintain their own sense of freedom within the parameters of lives they navigate, but to destinations predetermined by forces larger than even White.
We come from the same world: where you're addicted to Jesus or to the Devil and there's very little room for in-between in the minds of your community. Jesus may come with cleaner clothes and more money but he often comes with corruption and politicking after the final hymn, over ham and green beans in a townie's eat-in kitchen.
The Devil brings many types of fire. Hellfire, surely--a concept rarely punctured into sinners as they make their biweekly pilgrimages out of hollers and creekbeds to the post office and liquor store. This conviction is instead whispered among the do-gooders as though they were dandelion tendrils, whirring and buzzing audibly round their ears. This sinner doesn't make much eye contact. Keeps his head low and alert high, as confrontation in his world ends in bruised bodies, not egos.
