Religion, Education, and The Appalachian Spirit
ERH 303, Section 1
Date Due: 4 March 2017
Date Sub.: 4 March 2017
Interview Project
Help Received:
Peer editing, MAJ Iddings conference, works cited
Christian S. Nelms
Cam grew up in a small community called Mount Olive, located 20 minutes outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Cam describes his house as “the backwoods” (Lima), complete with a mile long driveway and a creek that runs through his backyard. He lives with his mother, father, and two sisters, and has lived in Mount Olive for the majority of his life. His parents came to the United States from Nigeria, and Cam is very proud of his Nigerian, American, and Alabamian heritage. In high school, Cam excelled in numerous activities: he lead the football team in sacks as a senior, was the captain of the wrestling team, won a state chess championship, and was named a Science Olympiad. He is also a contributing member of his community, assisting with local and regional campaigns for public office. Despite leaving his hometown for VMI, Cam still enjoys his time back in Mount Olive.
After reading the interview protocol, Cam was excited to reflect about his hometown and upbringing. Although not initially familiar with term “Appalachian”, he quickly associated it with the culture of his neighborhood and community, going on to say “from now on I’ll identify myself as Appalachian” (Lima). One major theme that Cam discussed pertained to the selfless and pleasant demeanor of people within Cam’s community. Cam also explained the church’s degree of influence with regard to communal activities, as well as acceptable values within the community. Lastly, Cam shared his views and experiences in regard to the public educational system in his community, which he feels is problematic for the Appalachian region as a whole. From his experiences, Cam appreciates the overwhelming hospitality of people and the presence of the church within his community, but feels that major flaws exist within the public educational system.
One of Cam‘s favorite aspects about the Appalachian region is the friendliness and hospitality of people in his community. He noted that this is a trend throughout his home region, and referred to this way of live as part of the overarching “Appalachian Spirit” (Lima). When asked to elaborate on this topic, Cam explained that “when somebody says, “hey brother”, they mean it. I think there’s definitely a spirit that I don’t see in other places” (Lima). An example that Cam gave on this topic is when driving through the neighborhood, one must roll down the window, wave, and have a short conversation with every passerby. “Everybody waves”, Cam said, “So, when you drive in, roll down the window, look right to the wave, and look to the left and wave” (Lima). Cam’s take on his community members differs significantly from how Appalachian’s are typically portrayed in the media; films and plays such as Deliverance and The Kentucky Cycle have perpetuated the stereotype that people from Appalachia are unfriendly, cold blooded savages who do not think twice about taking someone else’s life. In Cam’s life, however, this stereotype is not remotely accurate.
Another noteworthy aspect of Cam’s community is the strong influence of the church within his community. He described the church as “the core of family and community” (Lima), and compared the presence of the church to that of a recreational center in an urban environment. Along with regular worship services, his church organizes extra curricular activities such as summer camps, youth groups, and rec-league sports. Cam knows people who practice a wide variety of faiths, but everybody generally share the same basic beliefs. “People are very good about that”, Cam said in regards to the acceptance of different religion within his community, adding, “it all comes together” (Lima) at his local church. Religion has always been perceived to be driving factor within Appalachian communities, as evident by strong religious undertones in various works that contain Appalachian dialogue. With his statements, Cam confirmed the notion that religion does play a large part in the daily lives of people in Appalachia.
In spite of the positive aspects that his church brings to his community, Cam also sees the church as a controlling entity that turns those away who does not adhere to their values. Cam used an example of a person in his community who turned to drugs and alcohol, and was subsequently shunned by the local church and its members: “You can’t come over to the (church) family if you messed up. Anything that has to do with threatening a person’s family is the biggest taboo thing you can do. They will outcast you” (Lima). Upon reflection of this story, Cam implied that he has not heard from this individual since they first met nearly 15 years ago. Although situations like this do not happen frequently, Cam is happy with the church’s overall contribution to his community and life.
Cam thinks that the biggest issue in his community is the various standards of public education in secondary schools. Cam explained there are two different educational programs within his high school: the general education program, and the IB (international baccalaureate) program. Although both of these programs are a part of the same school, the standard of education at each of these programs is wildly different. Cam illustrated this point by emphasizing that “at the basic program students are being pushed through, whereas at the IB students are being taught” (Lima), and if one fails at the IB program they do not move to the next level. Education in Appalachia is often depicted as poor in comparison to the rest of the country, and some of Cam’s experiences in high school give reason to support this claim.
Cam was originally part of the basic program and “ran out of classes at the basic because [he] was smart, but [he] didn’t learn anything” (Lima). He then enrolled for classes at the IB program, but was unprepared to handle certain courses because he did not have a strong grasp of the prerequisite information. After a few weeks, Cam’s IB Calculus teacher “tried to get [him] out of the class because she said [he] wasn’t prepared and all that”; “This just shows you the way the system is”, Cam added (Lima). To make matters worse, Cam’s old teacher laughed at him upon returning to the basic program. Cam admitted that although this was one of the most detrimental events that occurred during his childhood, it “inspired [him] to go out beyond [himself]” (Lima). Upon reflection of his peers who stayed in the basic program, Cam said that most of his friends are either playing college football or working to support a family. He knows of a few people who decided to enroll in trade school shortly after graduation, but almost none of his friends from the basic program enrolled at a four-year institution. Cam did not blame them, however, and thinks that they are the product of larger, overarching issues within the region.
Cam thinks that the problems concerning education in Appalachia have remained systemic because it is relatively unknown outside the region, as well as a lack of initiative from people within the region. In the interview, Cam did not suggest any ways to alleviate these issues other than by accepting things as they are and working hard to overcome them. He did, however, imply that this problem might be less prevalent if people outside the region were more informed about the general state of education in the region. Another reason why educational problems continue to exist within the region could be due to the fact that the current state has become mainstream to people within the community. Like many of us, Cam noted that he did not truly recognize his personal biases before removing himself from the environment; although Cam was a smart student, he was not aware of the difference in levels of education at his school until he began taking courses in the IB program. Perhaps if more students became aware that they were being “pushed through” (Lima), as Cam described, they might be more inclined to actively seek change within the educational system.
In conclusion, Cam is very prideful about his upbringing within the Appalachian region and wishes more people would see the region for its positive aspects. Towards the end of the interview, Cam explained how people within his own community would tell him to “get out of Alabama” (Lima) because of the quality of education and other factors; now that he is semi-removed from the region while at VMI, however, he misses his home more than ever. Appalachia will always have aspects that need improvement, but Cam acknowledges that nothing can beat the sense of freedom that comes with living in that part of the country. The “Appalachian Spirit” (Lima) will continue to flourish, and thinks that the potential for educational improvements are limitless so long as people continue to invest their time towards change.
Works Cited
Lima, Cam. (2017,Februrary 17). Personal interview.
Script
Nelms: So first of all I’d like to thank you for agreeing to sit down with me for an interview. I truly appreciate you answering each of my questions as best you can. So, the first question is, where did you grow up within Appalachia?
Interviewee: Alabama, more like the mountain regions. Actually where I live is called Mount Olive. I have a creek running down half my house, it’s hilarious cause it will flood from time to time, but um.. Yeah
Nelms: So is that near any big cities like Birmingham? I remember you talking about being from Birmingham a lot, is it a suburb of Birmingham?
Interviewee: I’m 20 minutes away from Birmingham; I’m like basically in the backwoods
Nelms: Gotcha, so do you identify yourself as Appalachian? If so, why? If not, why not?
Interviewee: Honestly I’ve never really thought about identifying myself as Appalachian, it sounds like a Native American Thing. It’d be awesome, from now on Ill identify myself as Appalachian. But yeah, prior to this I have not.
Nelms: Are you familiar with, um, Appalachian culture, or is kind of a new term?
Interviewee: It’s definitely a new term, unless you’re talking about Birmingham BBQ or something like that. We like to camp out, we like to.. I’m talking about myself and the rednecks, if that’s what you mean by Appalachian culture. We like to go to NASCAR races, camp in the woods things like that. But no, this term is definitely very new
Nelms: So, can you usually tell if someone is from the Appalachian region? And I don’t know if you know but that Appalachian region, it’s is not just Alabama it stretches as north as New York, kind of along the mountain range, and it goes through Pittsburgh, some parts of Ohio, eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, and the bottom part is Alabama, the Birmingham area, where you’re from so..
Interviewee: I didn’t know it stretched through New York, I knew it stretched to Virginia. The weather that you have here is the same as Alabama so it makes sense, it’s a little bit higher here as well. I don’t know if I’m accurate in the way that I’m saying it, that Alabama has a lower end and Virginia has a higher end, but when I drive here I notice that I have to go up and down mountains and my ears even pop. So I didn’t.. Having come to VMI, I did come to realize that Virginia and Alabama were connected by that mountain range. I didn’t know New York was a part of it. I can identify, um, if you’re from Appalachia because honestly I just consider everybody from Virginia on down as southern
Nelms: So you associate Appalachia with southern? That’s like the main geographical region that comes to mind?
Interviewee: So driving from Alabama to Virginia, there are three very large massive crosses -like Jesus Christ crosses- and those basically mark the trail as you go up, and it’s pretty cool because every point is like a new climb up, and that’s actually how I learned how to drive from ‘Bama to Virginia, because if I didn’t see that cross every 200 miles then I knew I was off.
Nelms: So, growing up, obviously the term Appalachian is new to you but it seems like you associate that with southern, redneck-type people and stuff. How do you think the way in which that type of person is portrayed in the media and politics and stuff, how you think that affects you being from that same area? Or does it affect you being from that same area?
Interviewee: Now that I’m relating Alabama to Appalachian, I do have an Appalachian pride about myself. Yeah, I didn’t realize until I went to places like California, or New York, even though now I understand New York is a part of it. But, there is a lot of culture that comes with it and when you roll out to the middle and western parts of the United States they do act a little different, and um.. Ok, does it affect me-
Nelms: Yeah, you know the way in which people from Appalachia are portrayed in pop culture as hillbillies, illiterate, ignorant, you know, on and on, and yeah my question was being from that region, do you feel like that affects you in any way?
Interviewee: The negative press doesn’t affect me. But a lot of the press is pretty true; the Appalachian region is very big, and I’ve noticed that they use parts of the region to hold people, like in prisons, and they also use those kinds of places for mass farming. So it doesn’t affect me, the press, but a lot of the things that they do talk about are true: the education is a lot worse down there, they’re kind of just passing you along. And there’s also the, I don’t know if it’s tied with being in the woods or whatever, but religion is a big thing, so a lot of “bless your hearts”… I think the press is very accurate, um, to a degree actually
Nelms: Do you think that it doesn’t do justice to people who don’t fit that stereotype? Or do you think that there’s not enough of those kind of people to make it worth trying to paint a different picture of the region to the mass group of America? Because obviously there’s exceptions to, you know, that stereotype
Interviewee: I think the, let me see if I can get the English word, one think that the Appalachians has is it’s, kind of, if you live there for too long it’s like the twilight zone, it kind of absorbs you. The people from the Appalachian region are actually friendlier, they want to go out of their way to talk to you, regardless if they’re known as rednecks or whatever. My best friends are rednecks; the rednecks are a lot friendlier than the New Yorker
Nelms: Yeah?
Interviewee: Yeah, a lot friendlier. Maybe it does have to do with the Appalachian spirit, but when you go down there, when somebody says, “hey brother”, they mean it. I think there’s definitely a sprit that I don’t see in other places in the United States. For example, I guess California would be the whole millennial, “we have these rights” type, but in the Appalachians it’s kind of like a country club, like a family. When I think of Appalachia I think of native Americans, maybe they have a key too, because we were taught that when Christopher Columbus came over they helped raise things and that’s a big part of the culture, you know, a lot of people are farmers and whatnot but they also try to help and raise their youth. The problem in it is, it lies in the government. For example, public education is poor which leads to a higher rate of incarcerations and so on. So I think, on a social level, it doesn’t affect me to be called illiterate or all that, or be known as part of those people because those people are really nice actually, from my experience.
Nelms: So one of the positive, underrated aspects about the Appalachian spirit that you were talking about is the overall friendliness of the people?
Interviewee: Yeah, people are definitely more friendly, I will say though, if somebody says “bless your soul” or “bless your heart” they actually don’t like you too much. They just don’t want to come on out and let you know, but if somebody says “bless your heart”, you need to go ahead and get off the grass or stop whatever your doing and start rethinking… Maybe it’s also the trail or the wilderness, but people do have more guns, more freedom. I think, um, everything’s more relaxed and people are more independent, you know, they try to fend for themselves
Nelms: So within your community, what kind of actions or gestures would you consider to be respectful?
Interviewee: You gotta… Oh, when I drive into my… So, like I said I live in the mountains, it’s the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse… Um, anyways, it’s a long road, one mile long, the houses are really spread apart, it’s a Alabama thing, there’s usually big families living in one home. But anyways, when I drive in, something that you gotta do is you gotta wave. Everybody waves. So, when you drive in, roll down the window, look to the right and wave, and look to the left and wave.
Nelms: So it’s not one of those from the steering wheel kind of pick your hand up, it’s a roll down the window type thing
Interviewee: Yeah, roll down the window, you gotta beep your horn..
Nelms: And that’s right when you get to the beginning of that one-mile road?
Interviewee: Yep, everybody that you see you gotta greet. Also, I’ve been outside working, and everybody that drives to leave is always honking and waving, and it’s um, it’s just a big old, like, everybody knows everybody. Have you ever seen the Andy Griffith show?
Nelms: Yeah
Interviewee: It’s just like that. Everybody knows everybody, everybody waves to everybody. If you have an emergency or something like that bring your kinds on over. If you’re hungry, we got some barbeque going. Yeah… another example, I came outside and I saw something flying in the air, so I went to catch it, it was a barbeque rib
Nelms: Someone threw you a rib??
Interviewee: Yeah, he said “Welcome back home (name), nice to see you again. I recon you’re gonna be home for awhile, come on over and see us as soon as you can”
Nelms: Awesome
Interviewee: But anyways, yeah you gotta wave to people, you gotta be very polite. But um, religion’s a big thing, that’s where youth groups or whatever, is really the core of the family and community. So we have that versus the New York recreation center
Nelms: Oh I see, like the YMCA as opposed to… Interesting. What about disrespectful actions? Something like if you do it it’s like, it’s a smack in the face.
Interviewee: A part from that is family, the opposite is very true. Best example, this guy, I met the first year we moved to that part, awesome guy or whatever, but he kind of lost his way. He started doing dope or something, or something was going on, maybe he was getting drunk, and that’s a no-no because you can’t come over to the family if you messed up. Anything that has to do with threatening a person’s family is the biggest taboo thing you can do. They will outcast you, so family is a big deal. Um, what else is a no-no… Everybody’s a community but when you leave the back woods with the rednecks and you go more into the city, I will say they are more segregated. For example, there’s a part of Birmingham city in the back, backwoods, called “Keep Birmingham Beautiful”, you got all the old houses from Jefferson times, Washington times, and all the people in those houses are just white. And across downtown you have your projects and your ghettos, and I know this is probably getting off tangent now, but the main highway, I-61, that runs straight through the city was built in the late 17-something century to segregate. On the left side you got all the projects, all the Negros, and on the right side you have all the city and businesses
Nelms: Interesting. Well that kind of leads into my next question, because obviously as far as portrayals go, the typical Appalachian person is you know the white, redneck, like hillbilly, not to much diversity within the region as far as depictions go, you don’t really see black rednecks too much, for example, in the media at least. And my question is, as a person of color who grew up within the region with that stereotype, what’s your take on, I guess, and you just talked about it which is why I lead into it, but as far as the in your area, because you said once you get in the city it’s all white, but what about in your community?
Interviewee: My community is actually predominately white, I’m the second black family to have moved in. But those are the rednecks, they love us. They acknowledge that were Nigerian, they love how my parents both have two jobs and work over 80 hours a week, they love seeing my sisters doing their mad morning dash to the busses cause they’re always late, stuff like that, but um, when you go to the city, I feel like a lot of things in the Appalachian region are systemic. Another example to add to the interstate example, the second example is my high school. In my high school you have the tech academy, you have the basic school, and you have the JCIB. And the tech academy was across, whatever, but basic school had like 500 students. JCIB had like 250, the JCIB is ranked like #3 in the country or something like that at the time.
Nelms: These are the names of the high schools?
Interviewee: JCIB is the Jefferson country international baccalaureate, IB,
Nelms: Oh, IB yeah
Interviewee: Versus the regular 500 students, they both use the sane lunchrooms and everything. But at the basic program students are being pushed through, whereas at the JCIB students are being taught. If you fail or whatever at the JCIB, you don’t go on. And if you look at the statistics, even when I look at my friend groups, everyone in the JCIB has gone to college or whatever, but everyone at the regular school is either trying to play football, has a family now.. Some lucky ones finally wake up and go to a trade school two or three years down the road, so some people are finally starting to grow up. But I think a lot of that is systemic. I think a lot of that… It’s the people who have vs the people who have not’s, and when you look at the people who have not’s it really doesn’t matter what color you are.
Nelms: Do you think that’s how other people see it too?
Interviewee: I think outside of Alabama, I don’t think people know exactly what’s going on. Outside of Appalachia I don’t think people know what’s going on. That’s how it is, that’s how it is.
Nelms: Are there any aspects of your character that you feel directly attribute to your upbringing in the region? Like is there anything about you that you feel wouldn’t be a part of you if you didn’t grow up in the region?
Interviewee: Well I will say… So you’re diving into who I am. I will say, I think this is the best way to answer it. So when I’m talking to you now, this is my English. Then I have a, um, I guess, (demonstrates Nigerian accent) “I was not born here, I was born in Nigeria.” With this comes a different mindset, mentality of how I act, with each dialect I see different personality traits. With my Nigerian upbringing, it’s very, we think we’re hard to be put in society, we generally think outside of society, as in that’s why I always get specials… But I think some things are really little compared to my education
Nelms: Right
Interviewee: But what my Appalachian gave me was an ability to come out and really talk to people. My Nigerian gave me the pride, I’m confident, but my Alabamian gave me the whole, I should greet everybody, you know, I should try to go out my way to talk to people, as in help them out of they’re in trouble. Those are the things that being raised in Appalachia does give you. Now I will say I did gain a lot of negative things while I was going through the high school because it is systemic, and I feel like a survivor really.
Nelms: I actually meant to ask this before, but which of the high schools did you go to?
Interviewee: I went to the basic school. I didn’t know about JCIB; I ran out of classes at the basic because I was smart, but I didn’t learn anything. I went into middle school knowing algebra but they made me retake it. Then I went to algebra 2, and we only learned how to distribute, so basically as a junior in pre-calc we were learning algebra two, and as a senior we were learning pre-calc. Like I said, I ran out of classes so I tried to go to JCIB and take classes there; I took physics B and calc BC or whatever, calc II. I didn’t know any pre-calc, and at the end of the day the teacher literally tried to get me out the class because she said I wasn’t prepared and all that, and um, this just shows you the way the system is. This is one of the biggest things in my life that kind of just, it was detrimental at the time, but when I came back the teacher at the basic school actually laughed at me and that hurt my feelings, and ever since then that actually inspired me to go out beyond myself
Nelms: This was when you first went to JCIB and came back?
Interviewee: Yeah, the physics B teacher actually was, he liked me and all that, he knew I was behind so he let me audit the class. So honestly, when somebody doesn’t believe in you, you kind of lose hope. But I did pick up on things, as just an experience; I didn’t really learn anything but I did see things that I know how to do. So even though I didn’t really gain anything, it was at least an effort
Nelms: Interesting, now, alright, lets change gear a little bit onto some more fun stuff: food. Are there any certain kinds of food that you would say are specific to the Appalachian region?
Interviewee: Barbeque
Nelms: Just plain barbeque? There’s all kinds of barbeque..
Interviewee: Full moon barbeque. It’s, the story is actually called full moon. It’s all over Alabama, it’s like downtown. Chick fil a is really big too. Ok anyways, barbeque, grits, the whole bacon and eggs thing, and when you go to an actualrestaurant, like Chic fil A, is all Christian and stuff. Remember what I said about the soft side of town, you know, that’s where all the local restaurants are. Another thing that’s really big is called the pancake house.
Nelms: Ok, like IHOP or is it a more local kind?
Interviewee: Yes it’s very local. I will say after barbeque and grits, it’s not as, you how in New York you can get a kabob on the street, it’s not like that in Alabama.
Nelms: So if I put two plates of food in front of you, one’s barbeque and grits not made in Appalachia, and one is, could you tell the difference? Like is there a certain way that makes them unique.
Interviewee: I will say I’m bad at taste and all that but I will say the effort put into those barbeques, they will smoke ‘em for days. Especially when you go to NASCAR races and stuff, whole communities come together and build cars, the family, the babies, everything comes together
Nelms: Oh that’s actually really interesting, so has your community ever done that?
Interviewee: That’s what we do!
Nelms: So y’all come together and build.. a car?
Interviewee: Yeah we’ve built a V4.
Nelms: How many different families were a part of it?
Interviewee: About 4. 4 different families because.. Oh, probably 7 now that I think about it because you have to order the parts, you have to get this guy to come put it in. We got.. Another thing about Alabama is we tend to be very self sufficient as a neighborhood. For some reason, I don’t know why, but the person next door knows something that fits in perfectly. So we have our mechanic in the neighborhood actually. So I broke my key in my car or whatever, he came and fixed that all up. We have like, anyways a lot of people are trades based, so we do all fit in. I guess it’s the whole blue-collar thing. Yep, Appalachian
Nelms: Interesting, um, lets see what else we got here. So we talked about how family is really important, that’s like a main value to everybody but specifically to Appalachia. Would you say more so in the Appalachian region than in other regions, and in what ways do you think it’s more important?
Interviewee: I would say more so, and I would say maybe it’s because of religion. And when I say religion, as long as you believe in Jesus Christ you’re fine
Nelms: So you don’t have to be any specific religion?
Interviewee: It all comes together. People are very good about that in the Appalachians. I will say that um, more so, I’d say families are more controlling in Appalachia, as in they want you to be raised this kind of way, believe in these kind of things.
Nelms: So is that like a big no-no, going against your families – going back to the who disrespectful thing – going against the mold that your family wants you to fit?
Interviewee: Yeah, I will say that, um… For example, in my family, I never yell or raise my hand to my dad or whatever, but it’s more lenient in the Appalachian family. But everybody goes to church on Sunday, that kind of deal, or everybody’s going to work kind of deal. I don’t know if I’m answering this well, but families are more strict, the more ideal, you should look like this, you should wear this whole deal. It fact, arranged marriages do exist in Appalachia. Yeah, they do exist..
Nelms: Really, today? Interesting.
Interviewee: That’s the thing about Appalachians. The whole Nigerian thing isolated me from the world, I never got to go out until I was 18 or so and could finally drive. But when I finally started going out senior year of high school, people were adopting me, feeding me, having me come to church with them, and I could do whatever I wanted in their homes, kind of deal. And the only thing was, you know, when you’re in the home we treat you just like the family.
Nelms: Last question – sorry two more questions – what would you like young people to know, if anything, about Appalachian people, and their culture? I’m talking about kids coming up who are starting to look at the news, kids who are starting to get a sense of things, what would you want them to know before they see a depiction that makes them think “oh the mountains, I don’t wanna go there”
Interviewee: I didn’t realize I was biased until I came to VMI, and I realized I do really miss the Appalachians. Where I live, when you drive in at night at 8 o’clock or whatever, when it’s already dark, you don’t need to turn on a flash light, the stars illuminate everything. It’s like, you can see literally everything in front of you because of the moon and all that. For a new person coming in, looking at news seeing where they wanna start their families or whatever, even like immigrants, Alabama, and people from the region, id say because it’s less populated, now whoevers listening to this can correct me if I’m wrong of course but the home fees are so much lower. You can thrive in Alabama, you’re paying a little less but you can thrive is raise your child right, keep ‘em, make sure they go to the right school because the education as a whole isn’t as good.
Nelms: But like you said there is a good school, there’s at least one school where you can get a solid education from?
Interviewee: You need to just do your research, because if you don’t you’ll end up in this general population of people. See, in New York, the general population of people are relatively well educated, but in Alabama, we as a whole I guess cant afford that at the time, or we have, anyways, but Id definitely recommend it, and if not starting- I would recommend a person starting a family or retiring in the Appalachians, because you can go camping. I’ve seen cougars run across my lawn. Coyotes are definitely there.
Nelms: So if that’s the kind of lifestyle you want, you know isolated, friendly neighbors, um, those are the kinds of things that would attract people in living there?
Interviewee: Yeah, and it’s definitely a gold mine waiting, you know, it used to be very big you know Birmingham coal mines and steel, I think in the 1920s, where people were just flooding in, it used to be very popular and all that. Now it’s died down, but I really do think it’s like a volcano or whatever, it’s waiting to erupt. There’s a lot of potential there, it just needs the right person to just, put the efforts into building your own fortune. I’d definitely recommend it.
Nelms: Awesome. Last question, any place you’d rather be from?
Interviewee: Like I said, I didn’t realize – everybody was saying “get out of Alabama”. A big thing actually is people say to their kids “get out of Alabama” because of the education and all that, the pay is higher elsewhere but, um, when I really think about it I do have a lot of, I miss Alabama. I do have a lot of pride about it. The roads are beautiful, you can have your little midnight drives, Alabama is like, I feel like if you’re somewhere high tech like New York or whatever is busy bustling, I feel like you cant really get a sense of who you are because you get lost in the crowd, but in Alabama you get a sense of freedom. You can do whatever, you can come up with whatever you want. Anyways, um, would I rather be from anywhere… Now I will say that, um, Id probably like to be from somewhere like California because it reminds me of life in Nigeria. Alabama is nice and the Appalachian trail is nice and all, but really I won’t be able to appreciate it until I look around, you know
Nelms: Interesting, so do think you’ll appreciate it more the longer you’re away from it?
Interviewee: Yeah, definitely.
Nelms: Cool, well I think that’s everything. Thanks again for agreeing to do this interview.