If others of us dont see that or dont see only that, and are tired of it being the focus Vance has already preemptively inoculated himself from such criticism. Figuring out how to chip away at problems so deeply embedded in a region is astronomically much more complicated than a micro lens shot of a single caffeinated beverage. 16 2013, Updated 11:19 p.m. No one is all good or all bad, but family life for most American hillbillies I know is not how Vance, wielding his overly broad brush, describes it. MS. Anne and Harry M. Caudill Collection, 1854-1996, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky. 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. The meaning of the name is "mountain thrower" and it has a Sanskrit origin. Then, I knew I shouldve seen it coming. Each time I hear it, I feel angryangry and ashamed. For me, beginning to think about (and talk about) shame as an emotion was like searching for a word thats been on the tip of your tongue for ages and then comes to you like a thunderbolt in the middle of washing dishes or when youre nodding off to an X-Files rerun. "Mountain Dew" is a centuries-old mountain slang term for moonshine, which Tennessee-bred creators Barney and Ally Hartman found fitting because their bubbly elixir was initially crafted as a . Its not even, really, an acceptable guilty pleasure. The Appalachian Mountain shiners are part of the hillbilly culture. Mountain Dew is a drink very closely embedded in the Appalachian culture. Just as the word Appalachia is generally pronounced Ap-pa-LATCH-a in the southern mountains, but more commonly Ap-pa-LAY-cha in the rest of the country, so too is there some dispute over the. This is why the folks of Appalachia reacted strongly to an honest look at some of its most impoverished people.. According to area dentists, one of the main culprits contributing to toothlessness in Central Appalachia is Mountain Dew soda (a PepsiCo product). And she expects that number to grow as jobs in the region continue to disappear. To this day, the flavor variations of Mountain Dew often reference the connection to the drink's mountain origins, with names like Mountain Lion and Mountain Holler. Noxious substances merely exacerbate a national problem that is affecting every region of the United States. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. On pages 228-229, Vance writes about instability in working-class families, due to relationship instability. Under current guidelines, any kind of soda of any size can be purchased with a SNAP card even Mountain Dew, which has 170 calories in a single 12-ounce can. Appalachians are portrayed as individuals who are unable to get out of their own way problems caused by excessive Mountain Dew consumption. Jun. ------------------------------------------, the link between transportation and healthcare. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. We're no strangers to Mountain Dew in the south, or are we? Appalachia. People are held personally accountable for the state of their teeth in ways that they are not held accountable for many other health conditions.". */. It has no nutritional value. See our ethics policy. The Real Winners of World Press Photo 2014: The Palestinians. Originally coined in the (poverty porn-laden) 2009 Diane Sawyer special, Children of the Mountains, the phrase has been recycled over and over again throughout the national media in spurts over the past six years. The bad reviews I saw from other Appalachians convinced me it would make me mad. The Appalachian folk song was written in 1928. None of them, as far as I could tell, fell into laziness, violence or what my mother might call sorryness. He invited everyone to his home to celebrate the end of a long workweek, every week. This unique name is an uncommon name for boys but it a unique name. Becoming a parent can be scary. Brushing Teeth 'Too Painful' Nearly half said that their most recent toothache had caused them the worst pain possible and interfered with many aspects of their daily lives. It is a regular reminder that youre not just reading about a kid in Ohio with a druggie mom oh no. That approach never really worked. There were two versions of this song, the first version was written in 1928 and the second was in 1935. The problems faced by the region are painfully real, and deserve not to be trivialized or oversimplified in the national spotlight. I said I hadnt really noticed as he shook his head. 5. Kentucky is also the state with the most smokers, followed closely by West Virginia, according to aGallup study. A Brief Appalachian History. At 10.4 percent last year, the county's . Bascom Lamar Lunsford, born in Mars Hill, North Carolinain 1882, was what amounts to the first Appalachian ethnomusicologist- but not at first. For a time, I thought I could head the scolding off at the pass by making fun of myself first or displaying some arcane knowledge. On the tombstone, there were pictures of Butch partying and having a good time. 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!" The poverty rate in Appalachia is 17.1% (the national poverty rate is 14.7%), and 87% of the region's 420 counties have more than 1.5 times the U.S. poverty rate. Appalling already, the state of dental care in America faces even greater challenges with the threat of the Trump-backed American Health Care Act currently being debated in the Senate after passing in the House at the beginning of May. That this violence and abuse was somehow innate to what they were, caused by the culture from which they had come. Ally Hartman claimed the recipe was his brother's. 1958 Mountain Dew bottle. Instability begets instability. You can see the rest of the series here. All rights reserved. In the eyes of so many people, theres no room at the table for consumption of the irony-free profane. Unless policy and behavior change, were not going to improve the health and its links to systemic health.. He concluded that Appalachia could not be fixed because its people were broken. And Part 2 explored the link between transportation and healthcare. While Mountain Dews target audience today might be neon tank top wearing bros and skateboarding teenagers, my Appalachian demographicnamesake and allwere the original consumers. Picking on Diet Mountain Dew was a surefire way to get my attention and cut me to the quick. A problem as common as gingivitis (excess plaque) can result inserious health problemssuch as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Poor Law Amendment Act, 1841. If you try to to think about this, Im . The presentation of a drastic policy overhaul as the solitary option is a little dehumanizing, and fails to take notice of the deeply rooted social norms of the region (read: Outsiders, dont fucking tell us what to do). Follow us on Instagram (@readingthepictures) and Twitter (@readingthepix), and subscribe to our newsletter. With limited benefits through Medicaid and no benefits through Medicare, in order to receive insurance, people must purchase private plans or employer-provided plans. (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 I saw him pick up and throw several chairs and then punch a friend in the face. As soon as it aired on February 7, 2016, the Super Bowl ad for Mountain Dew's energy drink "Kickstart" was trending online. It was not until the Affordable Care Act passed under President Obama in 2010 when Medicaid gave dental care to children under 19. Appalachia has a distinct culture of sipping soda constantly throughout the day. 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. "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. Mountain Dew is the 4th top-selling carbonated soft drink on the planet; right behind Classic Coke, Pepsi, and Diet Coke - in that order. 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). Its that we know the truth isnt so generalized, that Appalachia isnt just a culture of poor white people, that ignorance and poverty and drugs and violence arent its only components. Its gross." Here are three more in-depth reviews of Hillbilly Elegy. On April 28, 2009, Del Rey tweeted "Mike Daly is Really fucking good. Diabetes. View larger map Learn More About Subregions Appalachia Then and Now The other meaning of the name is 'a wise man'. When I read numbers like that, Im immediately wracked with guilt that Im not there, that Im not rallying the troops to preserve the tightly knit heritage of the place that raised me. The taste of Appalachia . Just under 30 percent had periapical infections or pericoronitis inflammation. It asks very little from the reader. Its high sugar and caffeine content seem to be habit-forming, with many accounts of Appalachians constantly sipping and carrying bottles everywhere throughout the entire day. It is "not good" in a decidedly unsexy way, the way other corporate Frankenstein creations like Ho-Hos and Combos are easily tossed into the furnace of public scorn. Add a global pandemic into the equation and that can make things even scarier. Chaotic people beget chaos. At first, I hee-hawed and rolled my eyes. As the wealth gap continues to increase, teeth represent the dividing line between the classes. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Lunsford is an attorney, however, he is very fond of folk songs. Yes, indeed. Should I credit all this to their hillbilly heritage? I think it valuable for us to question how we arrive at the meaning of poverty. The Story Behind the Song Bascom Lamar Lunsford first wrote the song in 1928. It was late in the afternoon and I wrapped my hands tight around Dozers sweaty shirtless body because I was pretty terrified. But generally the women coming to Trover Clinic werent doing anything about it, mostly because in Hopkins County there was only one dentist who accepted Medicaid patients -- for one half-day a month and only on a walk-in basis. For example, many Appalachian names are of Gaelic or Celtic origin (if you are interested in Irish baby names check out our Irish boy's names and Irish girls names posts). It is, however, a drink thatfor better or worseties me to my home. Dozer had had 20 beers that day and I remember that it was muggy and hot out, he was super sweaty, and my hands were kind of slipping along his body. Close. I find Caudills complicated legacy a reminder that there is a lot more to the evolution of a people than the victimhood that has been placed upon them. He uses this word over and over, beating it into the readers consciousness. He cites a 2009 ABC report on Mountain Dew mouth in Appalachia, and the outraged reaction of Appalachians. Mostdental insurance limits annual benefits to between $1,000 and $1,500 per personthis cap has hardly changed since the mid-'80s, despite inflation. Letter to William Shockley. The Appalachian Mountains stretch from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to northern Alabama and Georgia. Social Darwinist thinkers in the late 18th century and early 19th century influenced attitudes towards poverty during the emergence of capitalism (6). Use of thesesubstances is rampant in Appalachia; a single Kentucky county filled prescriptions for over 2 million doses of painkillers last year, which is about 150 doses for every man, woman and child. At the top of Pats back, near his neck was a tattoo that read honkey. I was pretty convinced I was spending my evening with Caudills dullards. The ties that bind know no distance. "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public. I knew that Pat had his own set of values that were different from prevailing societal norms. By sa smith on January 26, 2012. Im someone who people think shouldin so many wordsknow better. They, like Vances family and many other Appalachians, came home for regular visits and the annual reunion. The seemingly relentless desire to perpetuate negative regional stereotypes (rotting teeth! Shameful or not, no food stuff is more personal to me, more deeply burrowed into my sense of identity than Diet Mountain Dew. And in an impoverished part of the country, where the majority of residents either go hungry or receive government aid for food, public health advocates are calling for a policy overhaul to address the problem of rotted teeth and gum disease in Appalachia. Vance ignores valid reasons why Appalachians are leery of outsiders telling them who they are because historically, that has always been done through a very skewed lens. The drink is also native to the region. According to dentists, one of the main culprits is Mountain Dew soda. 277. hide caption. Nothing great will ever come from consuming yellow dye #5. Old recipes passed down keep traditions alive, but more coveted. 1. Nonetheless, the factors that contribute to poor dental health are not simply Mountain Dew; they are not even specifically linked to Appalachia. (Note: I have made a couple of minor edits since this piece was first posted.). So we were saved and mostly unharmed. MADISONVILLE, Ky. . Before being bought by PepsiCo, Mountain Dew was invented in Tennessee in the heart of Appalachia. New book takes on, and takes down, Appalachian Trump Country narratives and elegies, Hillbilly Elegy: Another generalization of Appalachia. On top of that, without municipal water systems, people rely on well water, which is unfluoridated or they drink more Mountain Dew to quench their thirst. /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. Public health advocates say soft drinks are driving the region's alarmingly high incidence of eroded brown teeth a phenomenon dubbed "Mountain Dew mouth," after the region's favorite drink. are in the service sector, yet these jobs are hard to come by without a certain degree of oral health. Just dont read it and think you understand Appalachia. As a memoir of a rough childhood, its fine. With 26 percent of preschool-age kids suffering from tooth decay and 15 percent of young adults extracting a tooth because of erosion, Mountain Dew-mouth in Appalachia has created one of the worst dental health problems in the United States according to alegal brief by Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law. Its always bothering me, Matello told theWashington Post as she waited outside the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury. Four men showed off a massive pit of mud they found. When we got back to Pats house, I was given a crushed up Loratab to snort for the pain. 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