Pam Ebert

Hey all! Glad to be back for another week and another chance to share information about life in Appalachia. What’s going on? The biggest thing happening right now in northern Appalachian is the advent of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Drilling and exploration in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia has changed many lives and communities due to increased traffic, noise pollution, impact on rural lifestyles and alteration of the land we so love.

My soul has been fed! I feel at ease, happy and in tune with my culture and my family. Why, you ask? How did I accomplish such a thing, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. First, the Columbiana County Fair was last week. Second, the family and I went on a wonderful mini-getaway to Clewell’s Landing, which is at Guilford Lake State Park. This is a long story to prove a short point, so bear with me, readers. There is a moral at the end of this self-indulgent tale!

Last week I had an off-line comment that made me realize that it is important to discuss stereotypes. Thank you Phil, for keeping me on track! There is much stigma associated with being an Appalachian person, and the tag line of last week’s blog inadvertently may have contributed to the continuation of the old stereotypes. For this, my readers, I apologize.

Hi all! My name is Pam Ebert and I am a new blogger on the ACA web site. This all came about because I was kind of irritated about the lack of scholarly attention directed at Appalachian peoples, and my professor suggested that I try nontraditional methods of getting heard. His exact words were something like “a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse,” which I love and will probably put on my tombstone.  Thank you Dr. J.!