Let me start by stating a few of the things that came to mind when thinking of Appalachia: old people, banjos, woods, moonshine, and rednecks. Being from the Appalachian region (Rocky Mount or Franklin County) I felt that this exercise was kind of a self-reflection, thinking I was one of the few in the class from this region. Little did I know this region stretches from Mississippi-Alabama-Georgia region all the way to Pennsylvania. The first and most important thing I would say has influenced these thoughts would be my race. Growing up in southwest Virginia I really didn’t see a lot of my own race. I often saw a lot of white people which is kind of like the dominance factor that van Dijk spoke of. One of the words I used was “rednecks” to describe Appalachia. As I read Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis I noticed a method of research where he said try to explain and not just describe the discourse structure. So instead of just saying that I associate rednecks with Appalachia I wanted to explain why I thought what I thought. I know that redneck might be offensive to some but I picture an ideal redneck one is white, a part of the lower class and male. I think the main reason why I have developed this presumption is due to media, but that’s a different story. I also think that certain things can be obvious “mountains” and “hunting”. I’m sure everyone has seen mountains and/or woods before and one could expect there to be animals there. Being that there is animals there might be some hunting involved too. We talked about the movie deliverance in class which is based in the woods. This is why banjos and music came to mind.