Recently I just finished Appalachia North by Matthew Ferrence. In it, he recounts the complex relationship he still has with the land as a Northern Appalachian. Typically when I finish a book I write a Literature Appetizer to get people a taste of what they will find. Since his book is such a personal journey, I would not do it justice by recounting his life.
Many of his experiences reflect my own experience growing up in Western PA. So instead of condensing his journey, I thought I would condense mine.
The Hero’s Journey is a common literary structure where the hero of the story departs home to do a great act, and then returns victorious. My Northern Appalachian Journey is a bit different, but has a similar structure of three parts; Living in Water, Succeeding by Leaving, and The Mountains are Calling.
About a month ago my roommate, Tyler, and I were going to sit down and watch a movie. Since she was getting the movie ready, it was my task to get snacks from the store. What do you have to have during movies? Popcorn!
Except that we don't have a microwave...I had lived my entire life either on movie popcorn, made with fancy machines, or the microwavable bags. So in the store when I saw a bag of unpoped popcorn, I thought "I'm great in the kitchen, how hard could making popcorn be?"
In January of 1992, a large shipping container traveling from Hong Kong to the US capsized in a massive storm. This happens, but what was unique was one of the items being shipped: 28,800 bath toys. Our global currents sent these toys on a journey bigger than they could imagine.
When the first ducks were being found, there was little story about them. But as more and more kept appearing, media and the populous started to organize and share their findings. Beachcombers searched for the 'next big cache' of ducks. Environmentalists wanted to use this in court to stop shipping across the oceans. Oceanographers analyzed the data to determine how our ocean currents actually move.