#my appalchia

[timbarrus]

Foster children in Appalachia are three times more likely to be removed from the custody of their familes to the custody criminals than any other place in North America. 

[silverandebony]

i'm sorry. TAGGING SASKATCHEWAN CANADA AS KANSAS SOUTHERN GOTHIC AND APPALACHIA????

TAGGING SASKATCHEWAN CANADA AS KANSAS SOUTHERN GOTHIC AND APPALACHIA*

*i misremembered and the one tagged with appalachia&appalachian gothic isn't Explicitly saskatchewan (all of the pictures with location captions are apparently from saskatchewan so i'd be inclined to guess it probably is too, but there's no way to know for sure). so who knows!! i don't know what appalachia looks like! maybe it IS appalachia! in which case why is it also tagged saskatchewan

[Image ids: three cropped screenshots of 'regional gothic' style tumblr picture posts and their tags. The first picture is a truck at an empty intersection with a hazy yellow sky; the second is part of a building mural depicting a nature scene with canada geese captioned 'rural saskatchewan'; the third is of the edge of a town on a foggy day, with old, short buildings fading into the mist, captioned 'uranium city, sk'. Tags common across all three posts are: ethel cain, southern gothic, regional gothic, rural gothic, midwestern gothic, kansas, and midwest. Two of them are tagged with 'gibson girl'. Additionally, the truck picture is tagged with appalachia, appalachian gothic, twin peaks, and hayden anhedonia; the mural picture is tagged with small town usa, small town, small town america, small town canada, great plains, prairies, prairie, and prairiecore; and the foggy town is tagged with 'ghost town, liminal, liminal spaces, and foggy day.

End id.]

I also went back to the blog to see if those posts were still there so I could take better screenshots (they weren't; hooray reporting things for spam) but upon further scrolling I realized that every tagged post. Every. Single. Post. With Tags. all of them. Are tagged with southern gothic and kansas and saskatchewan. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME. WHY ARE YOU USING ALL OF THEM THESE ARE NOT THE SAME

*coughs* anyway. Among all of these, in all their spammy mistagged glory, there is one I would like to give a special shout out to, for in my opinion being the most wildly tagged:

[Image id: another screenshot of a tumblr picture post. This one is a picture of a small motel with a rundown fence in the foreground. A colour filter has been used to make the picture look washed out and fit the regional gothic vibes. This picture has been tagged with: gibson girl, americana, appalachian gothic, midwest gothic, preacher's daughter, regional gothic, rural gothic, southern gothic, hayden anhedonia, ethel cain, nebraska, kansas, motelcore, appalachia, southern aesthetic, saskatchewan, alberta.

end id.]

Take a moment to appreciate it. Bask in its questionable glory. Allow yourself the time to question why?

I think it's the 'alberta' tag that really makes it for me here. The 'nebraska' as well. The latter I assume is from the title of one of Ethel Cain's songs, which would explain... to some degree... how it got there. Why 'alberta' though? Why this picture, out of all of them? Is it actually from Alberta? (It could be; I've seen similar looking things) If it's from Alberta, why is it also tagged 'saskatchewan'? 'kansas'? 'appalachia'? 'southern gothic'? Do not each of these preclude all others? If it's Saskatchewan or Albertan, why is it tagged 'americana'?? Is it for views??? If you want it seen, it's already got the tags! Regional and rural gothic are fine! They'll probably get you a lot more views than tagging something with a Canadian province ever will! I just. I don't understand. why. why have you done this. please stop. i'm begging skfjjsjfjj

in conclusion: tumblr has tagging etiquette and i am begging the young aesthetic bloggers to take a moment to learn it. it will save you so much being reported for spam and having your posts and or possibly your entire blog taken down because of it. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a blog to go report specifically because of this

[sunnylolli]

another reason why i think america not having the vision is the bullshit: the USA has one of the biggest IRISH populations out of Ireland. And where immigrants go, their culture goes along, and that includes legend and lore. And as you said, FAIRIES IN THE APPALACHIA WHAT THE HELL.

Wheres my “Ireland advising America to leave food for the “Good Neighbors” otherwise there’ll be knots in the morning and advising him never to step in fairy circles because if he does he'll be whisked away to another world” CONTENT HIMA

EXACTLY ANON!! The Irish immigration was exactly what I was allurring to, BECAUSE C'MON???? We can acknowledge the Scottish and Irish music influence in Appalchia but not the folklore??? PUH-LEASE

[timothybarrus]

[colasupernova]

Anyone want to hear my Appalchia Vampire: The Masquerade ideas, because I have some.

[comingintomine]

i'm almost finished with my first semester of my Masters degree. i am so tired of school, why did i go back again? i think i'm really starting to become an adult. it's harder for me to talk about anything, having to do with myself, having to do with society. there's something i've lost, i think. but i also think that maybe it isn't lost, maybe it is just dormant until i can get through this period and really prepare myself for the rest of my life. i am going to have a damn baby in six months. now that's wild. i need to take care of this baby.

i think i figured out how i can make money. i am going to be the person who finally brings money to appalchia and the southeast. there are so many rich people out there looking for ways to spend their money and give to good on-the-ground efforts. so many of them are so caught up in their own social circles. but i am going to create a social circle for the people of my community to reach the people of those communities. i can access them, i went to the ivy league and now here i am in rotting away appalachia. i can make a fucking difference and i can make good money for my family doing it. i am going to make way more money than my whole family needs. i will be able to take care of us. my loving partner can quit his stupid job and become the badass socialist teacher he wants to be. i can do this.

[jack-henry-art]

🌳 Here’s a lil #enpleinair #landscapepainting from this September as Summer made its way south for the year. This one is up at the other end of the #BlueRidgeMountains from us Ashevillians, in Meadows of Dan, VA ~ home of my sweet 🐝 @anniekylabee ‘s family farm ☺️ 🌱 “The Farm” Oil on wood panel 10x8” 2020 @jackhenryart . . . . . . . . . . . . . #pleinairpainting #pleinair #pleinairpainter #pleinairartist #landscapepainter #blueridgemountains #blueridge #floydva #homesweethome #farmhouse #appalchia #appalachianmountains #ashevilleartist #avlartist #riverartsdistrictasheville #riverartsdistrict #oilpainting #oilpainter #oilpaint #gamblincolors (at Blue Ridge Parkway, Meadows of Dan, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CILYOpNBWIl/?igshid=1ef2l7or4v23q

[mooneyed-child]

All of this is bs. Machisaba is nothing but wicca with the word Melungeon attached to it. This is literally the Biblical term for witchcraft, just misspelled, lets not be ableist. This word is ancient, wicca is a newborn baby. https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-witch-to-live-a-murderous-mistranslation-1.5443682  We had no foreign gods, no seasonal rituals about the wheel of the year or anything like that, aside from decoration day. Mekeshepha is just folkcraft, people can recognize whatever deities they want, Melungeon people had many different faiths, practiced different folk belief and different religions. 

Melungeon culture IS Appalachian culture, but we do have our own unique distinctions, but it IS NOT this. So we have our own culture or it is indistinguishable from the greater Appalachian culture? It can’t be both. (I’ll give you hint; Appalachian culture varies throughout each and every holler and family.)

This person runs multiple accounts on social media to make it seem like there’s traffic behind this. They go under multiple aliases, Kati Blair, Katie Littlefeather, Georgia Clyde, etc. and run Melungeon culture page on Facebook along with machisaba groups; they also run a Melungeon culture tiktok that just relates Appalachian lore as purely Melungeon lore. Appalachian lore? You mean just the conglomerate lore of the different cultures that make up Appalachian history? The culture that overlaps TONS of other cultures including Melungeon? Wow, big shock that Melungneon people out of Appalachia have cultural overlap with the rest of Appalchia.  Traditions and folklore can exist throughout numerous cultures.

They are also very culturally appropriative, claiming to be Lakota, Melungeon etc. in one video of hers you can tell she’s faking her southern accent so bad to the point it was almost Hollywood level embarrassing. She was born and raised in Michigan, no where near Appalachia. I’m running for the GLMN BOD so I know this person IRL, do you? These are big claims coming from a man who was raised white, just learned they were Melungeon within the last 5 years and has appropriated Melungeon, Indigenous, and African cultures to sell 2 books that you never credited anyone you rehashed your information from. I wonder who owns that house in WV she’s always at then. Accents are another thing that varies throughout different hollers and states, I have had people think I was trying to make fun of them because my accent is similar but just off. Southern and Appalachian are 2 wildly different accents, I would think an Appalachian would know that? I guess thats new to you though.

Words she claims are Melungeon, like bruxo, machisaba, etc. would HAVE NEVER survived the development of Appalachian dialect, especially our own Melungeon dialect which was a lot more relaxed and faster than the former. That shit would’ve never survived. Ask any linguist. So Melungeon people were too what? Dumb and weak to preserve our dialect and culture? We are the ONLY culture that was unable to pass down an oral history? That is some true colonizer thinking, the very type of thinking Walter Plecker would be proud of.  Dialects to this very day, differ from family to family, holler to holler, ridge to ridge.  There is for sure words from my community that you’ve never heard in yours and vice versa

She also runs an Etsy shop called MamieClydes Apothecary and another online shop called Actual Hen.

And?

 She has also tried saying that Melungeons have/had nations, like the “Great Lakes nation” (another website she runs, and likely takes fees for from people who fall for it) when that is not the case. Nobody at GLMN ever claimed Melungeon people called their communities “Nations” historically, a nation is simply put:  “ a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory” and that is all it is meant to mean. GLMN enrollment is free for anyone who completes their own applications, application processing fees only apply to people who need their genealogist to complete their application for them. The Melungeon Heritage association charges a yearly fee, and almost every other Cultural Organization charges upwards of 100′s of dollars.

We had small pocket communities in TN, VA, NC, SC, and KY before the world wars, but never “nations.” We had family tribes like the “Collins tribe” or “Gibson clan” but that was only in relation to a group of families who intermarried with each other and migrated to other places together, for safety and security, especially after the civil war and during Jim Crow. You forgot West Virginia, and we never called our communities tribes either, this is simply semantics you’re turning into a witchhunt. What are you really mad about? Not being raised Melungeon? Not being the Be All End All King of The Melungeons? Lmao. Grow up. A good LARGE number of Melungeon people migrated with the Great Appalachian Migration to states in the Midwest for work and to escape discrimmination, Wayne Winkler would be more than happy to talk to you further about the number of Harlan County Melungeons that ended up in the Detroit area.  Hazel Parks Historical Society has a section dedicated to the Melungeon migrants, and their town is jokingly refferred to as Hazeltucky because it was almost entirely populated by appalachian people.

Yes we did call ourselves ridgemanites, but we also called ourselves “malungean” in the Carolinas, “carmelites” in highland county, Ohio, etc. We’ve been called Melungeon, ramp, redbone, cro (Croatan), etc. and? you forgot redlegs, blackwaters, portygee, plus more. 

 I have receipts of her activity in the Melungeon group I help run, some of the groups she runs, messages with her, showing that none of this machisaba stuff existed to her or online before June 2020. Georgia has been upfront that she learned this term from other people and just adopted it, but she’s always talked about being Melungeon, I’ve seen her share memories from 12 years ago about her Melungeon heritage.    She has tried claiming different southern/Appalachian/ magical practices as being totally closed as they are supposedly Melungeon and that is also totally false. People are allowed to gatekeep their culture from vultures like you who steal family histories and cultures to appropriate and publish for profits. Who are you to decide what practices from someone elses culture that you are not a part of are open or closed?

She also runs a Michigan historical website about abandoned houses in Michigan, specifically Hazel Park, MI where she was born and raised. What is the point here? She has never denied being raised in MI. 

I tried to explain to her my issues about all of this, like do what you want but don’t say it’s Melungeon when it’s not, it’s a modern made religion basically, but don’t say it’s Melungeon or try to claim practices that aren’t yours to gatekeep as Melungeon to keep others from it. Who are you to tell people who were raised Melungeon, that their family traditions are not Melungeon, when you yourself were admittedly not raised Melungeon and neither was anyone in the group you run, and neither were any of your parents or grandparents?

It seems she also runs the two other “Melungeon” pages on here along with her tumblr “georgiaclyde”. Fayth Scott runs the blog you reblogged this from not Georgia. Is it more likely that multiple people who were raised Melungeon have similar upbringings or that Georgia is running hundreds of accounts on multiple platforms to push a practice she isn’t even that serious about? You seem to have an issue with anyone that doesn’t believe or practice exactly what you do. Your little group sounds like its becoming an uncultured cult. 

To beat it all, everything she puts out, she’s taking from my books, Backwoods Witchcraft, and Doctoring the Devil, which she has claimed are horrible in some groups. Your books are just rehashed info from all the other Appalchian/Hoodoo/Conjure/Southern Cunning books there are out there, only you never credit the people you so blatantly steal your information from and profit off of.  Funny how your witch hunt started after you got gatekept out of Melungeon cultural groups because people were trying to avoid that.  But when she tried adding “machisaba” to the Melungeon Wikipedia page, she sites my book as a source? Whats actually funny looking at the Melungeon wiki history is that it seems you were actually trying to use it to promote yourself and sell your book and continued to try and do so after your book as a source was removed numerous times. Come on lmao 🤣 This has just been going on for too long with all her alias accounts. I will say it once and hope it sticks with y’all: FAKELORE is just as bad as cultural appropriation. I was the first one that said anything about finding unique differences between Melungeon life and that of greater Appalachia and then out of nowhere she has this entire religion she failed to mention to any of us cousins (she ain’t our cousin was we thought she was at the time) for so long?And THERE IT IS!! “I was the first to try and rebuild Melungeon culture, how dare her not give me all the info to take credit for it! How DARE her not tell me, a culturally appropriative stranger who demonizes melungeon culture, all her family traditions right off bat!! How dare someone culturally raised Melungeon know more about her own culture than me, a white man!!!!” Come on now. She also took people gedmatch kits from our kit group and made her own, and multiple people had to go and leave it because they didn’t not consent to their genetic information being added to something like that without their knowledge. This is all I’m saying on the subject. Thats just a straight up lie, the GEDMATCH ancestor project was started before all this drama and everyone added to it, joined on their own accord. You continue to make shit up because you have some unhealthy obsession with being the God of all things Melungeon but you need to sit the fuck down because you aren’t even Melungeon, didn’t even know you could possibly be until less than a decade ago.  Nobody that is culturally connected is going to stop following their culture just because you’ve never heard of it lmao. You need to stop trying to colonize us, Walter. 

Contrary to popular belief Machisaba =\= Witchcraft. You can be a witch and practice Machisaba, you can be not a witch and practice Machisaba. It is not a religion, there’s no contracts or covenants. In my experience it’s just learning to work with the energy of things and the environment around you. Calm down. Quit demonizing your kin just because you don’t understand. A lot of us are Christians no less, and are against the witch terminology.   This belief was born in the same sense that the word Melungeon is a slur was born. As Melungeon people we did not call ourselves Melungeon, we called ourselves Ridgemanites and other names denoting where we resided. We did not call out practices Mekheshepha (Machisaba), this is the OT word for a witch or a female sorceress. We were demonized as mixed race and demonized as witches and had our own dialect stripped from us, so we adopted what was given to us.  Machashabah similarly is the biblical word for cunning work, or knowing how to use intentions, thought, and prayer to heal. 

[kayrowsyrup]

Appalchia still has urban areas! But I have noticed though my siblings and I got sparked and my cousins, who lived in the bigger towns, didn’t XD

People of Color: White parents never spank their kids

Me, growing up in Appalachia where not only have my parents spanked me but Iv also witnessed plenty of spankings and ass bustins in public: you sure about that?