#they're from kentucky iirc and their religious perspective is so interesting

[intheholler]

hi i just found your blog and its making me very emo 😭 i grew up in appalachia (the shenandoah valley in VA near the WV border) but had to move away several years ago to central VA, and then even further away last year to the rural midwest. i've been really strongly missing appalachia for the past year, but esp so these past couple months.

i miss the people and community, the spoonbread or chicken and dumplings my mom used to make me when i was sick, the mountains surrounding you on every side, being off in the woods with no one around, picking wild blackberries with my best friend, speeding around twisty roads blasting music with all the windows down, picking and eating the wild honeysuckle growing along my back fence, all the bluegrass and folk music, hearing people's accents, the pennsylvania smartweed that would grow under my porch, looking up at the night sky at night and being able to see the entire milky way, the crick i would cross when i walked to school, etc etc etc.

i think the thing i miss the most is the lgbt community. yeah we were small and there was a lot of lgbtphobia, but we were really closeknit, and i was involved w a lot of lgbt activism in my area. city and suburbanite gays just all have such vastly different experiences than me and everyone i grew up with, i always just end up feeling really isolated around them.

also i don't think people not from appalachia understand just how connected to the land we are. its not just about "oh i like hiking" or "i think the mountains are pretty" or something like that. the land is a part of me and i'm a part of it. we're tied to eachother. and that's not even getting into the communal aspect of being appalachian.

i desperately want to move back to appalachia, but i probably won't be able to for at least 4 or 5 years and it makes me really depressed. being away feels like part of my soul is missing. however i don't think i'll be able to move back to the exact area that i'm from, both bc i'm jewish and have gotten more involved w that since growing up and wanna live in an area w at least a small jewish community, and bc my hometown is almost unrecognizable now from all of the people moving in from northern VA and building fancy sitdown restraunts and shit on main street. i remember before we even had a walmart or a target and had to drive to the closest city 45mins away if we needed to get anything more than basic groceries.

anyways this is really long and rambly, but i just wanted to say it was really nice to see someone talking about appalachia and posting pictures of it, it made me feel less alone 💛

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