What is Appalachia?

                When I think of Appalachia I think of an undeveloped place where a lot of the natural environment is still intact, but when I think of it I don’t just think of the landscape I also think of the type of people that live there. I also think of an area with a lot of diversity of wildlife across the mountains of various states along the eastern side of the US. I see Appalachian as a lager stretch of hills or mountains with parts of it highly populated but for the most part as an un-touched place with people that have lived there for their whole lives.

               

Interview of first person: When they first think of Appalachian they think of a mountain landscape with poverty filled communities. When they think of the types of people that live there they think of creepy rednecks and behind socially, in the sense of they don’t have the technology that the majority of people have and they live by themselves and live of their land. When asked if they thought they were Appalachian they said no because they live in northeast Ohio close to Cleveland, and they also don’t the area where if you live there you are said to be Appalachian.

Interview of second person: When asked how they would define Appalachia the said “I don’t know what that means exactly”. After I explained to them some things they then said “the first thing that I can think of would be people that live near mountains that don’t exactly interact with others, kinda like hermits”.  I asked him if he thought he was Appalachian, “we’ll I really don’t think so considering I didn’t know what it meant in the first place and even though I live in the area that is considered Appalachian territory”.

Interview of third person: When I asked them how they would define Appalachian they said “when I think of that I think of creepy people living in poverty and not having the standards and technology as most people”. They said they don’t consider themselves Appalachians even though they have some family that could be considered Appalachian.

If OU wanted to improve relations and communication the surrounding county they could invite them to all of the sporting events by specifically stating that they are invited to support the home town team. Or they could invite them to other special events that take place on campus like speeches for people to fests in the spring.