Chapter 1: Meet the Man Who Focused the World on Eastern Kentuckys Woes.Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington)16 Dec. 2012. In the 1970s, the people rose up and forced the government to institute reclamation projects that returned the mountains to a shabby version of their former selves. Mountain Dew is mountain slang for "whiskey"; the phrase appears in Irish folk songs from the late 19th century and in an American folk song protesting Prohibition. More recently, whats driven home the jerry-rigged wiring between Mountain Dew and Appalachia is the use of the phrase "Mountain Dew Mouth" to describe the poor oral hygiene habits in the area which have led to widespread gum disease and tooth decay. Something known as "Mountain Dew Mouth" is rotting children's teeth in poor regions of the country, especially Appalachia. No national news outlet, it seems, cares to shine a real light on the deep and profound problems (drug wars, economic stagnation, post-coal mine environmental havoc) facing the area that causes people to place their health on the backburner and, more often than not, fall on the crutch of unhealthy food and drink. We can identify the [bacterial] footprints from oral infections in heart tissues. Originally the care of the poor was relegated to the church, which regarded the poor to be of the highest moral status. That this violence and abuse was somehow innate to what they were, caused by the culture from which they had come. But since the 14th century, poverty as a label has been used to ostracize certain people in society (5). This unique name is an uncommon name for boys but it a unique name. I saw him pick up and throw several chairs and then punch a friend in the face. Today, coal has left Appalachia, as have a host of other industries that brought economic opportunity. The Appalachians are one of the three major mountain ranges in North America, alongside the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. I would definitely attribute these problems to drinks." Nearly half said that their most recent toothache had caused them the worst pain possible and interfered with many aspects of their daily lives. At the University of Maryland dental school, ateam of researchers explored the effect of toothaches in poor Maryland adults like Matello: 44.3 percent of their respondents reported having experienced more than five toothaches in the past 10 years. If you want to contact us for business inquiries or collaboration opportunities, email: mountainrootsmail@gmail.com Also find us on facebook @mountainrootshomestead Snail Mail: Mountain Roots Productions PO Box 664 New Castle, VA, 24127 #appalachia #appalachiantrail #appalachian source Advertise Here Virginia Digital News Being violent is not a symptom of Appalachianness. My teachers drank it, my doctor drank it and prisoners would drink it while picking up the littered roadside bottles. 2. Mountain Dew, the carbonated fluorescent-green soda that Willy the Hillbilly declared will tickle your innards in a 1966commercial, has long been a staple of Appalachia. Oral care practitioners are familiar with the term "Mountain Dew Mouth," as the particular brand has far more acid and sugar in comparison to other sodas. It was released on Del Rey's first major-label studio album, Born to Die. The term "Appalachia," however, is more of a socio-economic term than it is one of geography. A little over a year ago, I became obsessed with the concept of shame. Poverty is much greater in Central Appalachia than the other regions of Appalachia and about twice that of the U.S. as a whole. And Part 2 explored the link between transportation and healthcare. Poor Law Amendment Act, 1841. Appalachian or Southern Baby Names? It was officially developed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the mid-1900s, but it has ties to the wheat and rye distilled by Irish immigrants who settled in the region as coal miners during the previous century. Over the next six weeks I returned regularly, befriending the extended group of people that spent time at Pats house. In that same exodus, several of my mothers uncles moved to Ohio and Detroit for work. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MADISONVILLE, Ky. Nurse LeAnn Todd-Langston and nurse-midwife Sarah Almon had long known their rural west Kentucky county faced a crisis, but it was getting worse. MADISONVILLE, Ky. . At first, I hee-hawed and rolled my eyes. Bad oral hygiene could be significantly remedied through the American health care system; that is, if the United States adopted a holistic approach to health care. There were two versions of this song, the first version was written in 1928 and the second was in 1935. We stopped along the way and enjoyed beer with others who were out recreating. My consumption of Diet Mountain Dew ensures that Im served a double shot of shamecomplete with Backwoods Barbie stereotypeon a fairly regular basis. unsalted butter, at room temp, sugar, eggs, at room temp and. I knew that Pat had his own set of values that were different from prevailing societal norms. He concluded that poverty is genetic in origin(2) and invited the eugenicist William Shockley to his home in Kentucky Together they proposed to studypoor eastern Kentuckians as part of a research project on inherited intelligence.Cash bonuses would be offered to participants in exchange for sterilization (3). This article originally appeared on AlterNet. The Appalachian Mountains hold some truly terrifying stories.Podcast Episode #308.Download Swamp Dweller Scary Stories:Itunes: https://apple.co/2L7znZpSpotif. are in the service sector, yet these jobs are hard to come by without a certain degree of oral health. Thus, patients leave the ER with no long-term solution for treatment. But Vance claims his relatives were violent and had poor coping skills because they were Appalachian. "It makes no sense to be paying for these things twice.". Few of the women associated dental cavities and oral disease with pregnancy or prenatal problems, despite mounting medical and dental research showing the linkage, especially in Kentucky, said Jeffrey Ebersole, director of research at the University of Kentucky Dental Schools Oral Health Center. Singer says one of the best opportunities to curb the problem is targeting programs like SNAP, which allows recipients to buy soda. Id like to think if you cut me open a little Diet Mountain Dew would be right there in my bloodstream, hovering just below the surface, like the homesickness that never quite goes away. In 1962 Caudill published an essay in the Atlantic titled,The Rape of Appalachia. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Vance also ascribes some of his familial dysfunction to the stress of his grandparents move from the hills of home to the industry of Ohio. ", Beneath all the systemic diseases linked to bad oral health, Ebersole argued, is a disastrous healthcare system in which oral health is considered a luxury. The problem is, he does not have a new or amazing insight. For Appalachians, a sense of place and of home seem particularly important, yet from the 1940s to 1960s, an estimated seven million immigrated north into urban areas in search of work, only to be met with widespread prejudice against any Appalachian-speaking mountain speech. View larger map Learn More About Subregions Appalachia Then and Now of The Whitesburg Conference, Whitesburg, Kentucky. Sitting at my kitchen counter with DMD in hand while my then-boyfriend concocted an intricate lunch, without lifting his eyes a gauntlet was thrown: "You have to stop drinking Diet Mountain Dew. "Students tell us it tastes best, and it's a habit." The 4 of us caught the ATV off balance and it flipped. Here she races at Crossville Raceway in Cumberland County, Tennessee. We went up the mountain without a problem; it was the end of summer and the trails were overgrown. It was, in his eyes, a more intimate, longterm partner than he had become. Then, I look outside, and those guys next door were walking their bobcat out on a rope to go piss in the snowa fucking bobcat!" Picking on Diet Mountain Dew was a surefire way to get my attention and cut me to the quick. And he must have one hell of a publicist. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. For my mountain home, shame surrounding Mountain Dew has become a rhetorical touchstone thats somehow come to shape the countrys perception of life in modern day Appalachia. 1. Geography does play an important role, though. "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public health conference," says public health researcher Dana Singer. For those who have never had the pleasure of sipping an ice cold can of Mountain Dew, youve probably only heard talk of its vices, of which there are (admittedly) many. Basic education, says Harris, is also needed: "We also just need to let people know that you can drink these drinks safely, but they can also do harm. In January, when an acquaintance who worked on Hillary Clintons campaign touted it on Facebook, I was unable to argue because I had not read it. Less than 300 feet into our journey home, we rolled and tumbled. Part 1 covered diabetes in Appalachia. MS. Anne and Harry M. Caudill Collection, 1854-1996, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky. (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';fnames[3]='MMERGE3';ftypes[3]='dropdown';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Stacy Kranitz Folklore & Superstitions in Appalachia. New book takes on, and takes down, Appalachian Trump Country narratives and elegies, Hillbilly Elegy: Another generalization of Appalachia. 24 September. With limited benefits through Medicaid and no benefits through Medicare, in order to receive insurance, people must purchase private plans or employer-provided plans. And she expects that number to grow as jobs in the region continue to disappear. No one I met on the trails that day mentioned the rape of Appalachia nor did anyone mentioned that they missed the mountain. Glimmering pearly whites have long been a symbol of social and financial success in America. Did he really just tell me what to drink? It's estimated 26% of preschoolers in Appalachia already have tooth decay. I went there with Dozer, one of Pats friends, who owned a 4-wheeler. The Appalachians are the oldest mountain range in North America. Irish and Scottish immigrants who moved to the Appalachian region to mine coal called their mixers for moonshine, off-market bourbon and whiskey, "Mountain Dew." Barney and Ally Hartman started bottling their Mountain Dew in the 1930s and marketing it as whiskey's best friend, meaning it's had a pretty manly ad strategy from its inception. In order to cover high overhead costs, pay back dental school bills and earn an income, many dentists refuse to treat people on Medicaid. The man, who proclaimed that Appalachia had been raped, now wanted to rape certain Appalachian people of their ability to procreate. Appalachia is less racially and ethnically diverse . The Bell Witch. 3. That approach never really worked. Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams, elegantly summed up my decades-long tug of war with how Mountain Dew relates to my identity in a recent interview. Six years ago Ebersole was looking for a site where he could undertake a program to demonstrate in the field what clinicians were telling him in their practice. Hes been everywhere, touted as having some new and amazing insight into the white rural Appalachian voter. Bill Estep and John Cheves. It's also referred to as "mountain talk." But there's variation within the dialect, just as there is among the nearly 26 million people who populate the diverse region, which covers 13 states. It asks very little from the reader. The Story Behind the Song Bascom Lamar Lunsford first wrote the song in 1928. Dew Baby". This level of judgement has only heightened from year to year as Ive settled into a career as a food writer. One of the amazing things about Centering, Todd-Langston said, is when you bring people together on common ground, even though the lower socioeconomic women are the ones that get the most out of this, by bringing them in here, those barriers go away. Prenatal training and preparation was a key part of the centering sessions across the pregnancy period and thereafter. Reply . 277. Appalachian Mountains. My father was one of 11 children, and my mother is one of five. Diabetes. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. In more national conversations, it often seems to take up this stunt double role, particularly when addressing rural poverty. Story after story presents tightened regulations and banning the purchase of soda with food stamps as the lone solution to problems caused by excessive Mountain Dew consumption. It was hot potatod around through several bottling companies before eventually being sold to Pepsi in 1964, and nationally marketed. For Americans who do not have health insurance and need dental treatment immediately, the emergency room remains the only option. Now why would you want your baby to be smoking? Rising, whose Centering Healthcare Institute has worked with major medical schools across the country, flew down to Madisonville to help Todd-Langston and Almon start the prenatal program there. The arrival of enslaved Africans in the area dates back to the 16th century. Harry Caudill, . In many regions of Appalachia there is a major decline in dental health, many speculate that this is due to the numerous financially challenged families and individuals; however, many dentists believe that the true culprit is Mountain Dew. It was not until the Affordable Care Act passed under President Obama in 2010 when Medicaid gave dental care to children under 19. Unless policy and behavior change, were not going to improve the health and its links to systemic health.. Dental health is essential to overall health, and serious and sometimes fatal illness can result from untreated oral conditions. I said I hadnt really noticed as he shook his head. Dozer had collected several people along the way so by the end of the ride, there were 4 of us on the ATV. Mammoth Cave in west-central Kentucky spans 420 milesmore than twice the size of the second-longest,. Nationally, the rate of infant mortality was 211.1 per 100,000, but it was higher in five of six southern Appalachian states (all except Tennessee). 17 More. With 50 percent more caffeine than Coke or Pepsi, Mountain Dew seems to be used as a kind of anti-depressant for children in the hills. The vast majority of doctors lack the knowledge and tools to treat dental ailments. None of them, as far as I could tell, fell into laziness, violence or what my mother might call sorryness. The beverage industry has repeatedly challenged claims that its products are destroying teeth. Vance has chosen the version of his life to tell, and he chooses to emphasize what fits his narrative. It is, however, a drink thatfor better or worseties me to my home. For 10 years, Otto researched and conducted interviews about oral health in America, traveling across the country attending beauty pageants and clinics, talking to dentists and patients alike. 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