Abstract
This essay discusses Appalachian music and explores how it has always been historically based. The mountain lifestyle has been so difficult that Appalachian people had to find solace in their music and songs. More than anything, the music has represented the celebration of local life and provided an escape from the drudgery of everyday work and isolation.

Tags:appalachian, music, culture

Abstract
This paper examines how the unique American Appalachian dialect is often greatly misunderstood. It looks at how many modern Americans characterize the Appalachian dialect as a corruption of the English language, which is spoken by uneducated and unintelligent hillbillies. Instead, it shows how the Appalachian dialect is more aptly characterized as an archaic type of English that resembles the English spoken in the time of the first Queen Elizabeth. It also discusses how geographical, cultural, and social isolation have kept the Appalachian dialect essentially pure over the past 200 years of America's history and how, today, the Appalachian dialect continues to thrive, preserving one of America's great linguistic traditions.

From the Paper
"Currently, the Appalachian dialect is used extensively in the region. The Appalachian dialect spoken today closely in many ways resembles the English that was spoken by the first settlers to America. The isolation of life in the mountains of Appalachia has carried on many traditional attitudes and behaviors, as well as maintaining the dialect of Appalachia (Virgin English). Interestingly, Dial notes that the dialect spoken today is a "watered-down" version of the dialect spoken in earlier times. Perhaps the influence of television, radio, movies, as well as a more transient American population have helped to contributed to changes in the Appalachian dialect seen in the past century."

Tags:english, hillbillies, linguistics, social, isolation

Abstract
This paper discusses the importance of understanding the cultural aspects of healthcare-seeking behaviors in a given region and how that can help both practitioners and consumers alike improve the process and provide improved quality of care. The paper also provides a critical review of five recent journal articles concerning the cultural diversity that characterizes Appalachia and discusses the relevant healthcare- seeking behaviors identified among people living there and how they are best dealt with.

Table of Contents:
Review and Analysis
Summary and Conclusion

From the Paper
"Throughout the country, studies have also shown time and again that age and ethnicity are also important indicators of what types of health seeking behaviors people will tend to pursue. For example, in 1999, 42.1 million non-elderly people were without health insurance in the United States; while there were more white, non-Hispanic people among the uninsured in terms of total numbers because they make up a greater percentage of the population, as a group they are also less likely to be uninsured. Likewise, among all Hispanic Americans, 35 percent are uninsured; among non-Hispanic African Americans, 22.8 are without insurance and almost one-third (32.8 percent) of Native Americans and Alaska Natives do not have any type of health insurance today (Giffords et al., 2005). Furthermore, among Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, the probability of being without health insurance is 22 percent. For white non-Hispanic adults this likelihood is 12.7 percent compared with 17.5 percent in the general population; the authors conclude that, "Racial and ethnic minority groups' lack of access to health services and barriers to the health system infrastructure and information result in consistent disparities in race and ethnic health statistics" (p. 213)."

Tags:care, poverty, patients

Abstract
The paper relates that traditional nursing in the United States has been accused of being ethnocentric and unable to accommodate cultures other than white Caucasian. The paper examines the cultural issues related to the Appalachian region of the United States and issues that may affect nursing care. The paper explains that the needs of the Appalachian community are different than those in other parts of the country. The paper discusses how the question of spirituality causes a conflict between the needs of the patient and standard ethical practices of the health care system. The paper demonstrates how nurses can play a major role in bridging this gap and developing practices within the Appalachian region that specifically address the need to integrate some type of spirituality into the daily care routine.

Outline:
Understanding Cultural Differences
Bringing Trans-cultural Competence to the Nursing Floor
Health Behaviors and Appalachia
Putting it Into Practice

From the Paper
"The Appalachian region represents a unique culture within the larger culture of the United States. The most obvious difference that one notices when they encounter someone from that region is their accent. However, if one questions them they may tell you that you are the one with the accent. The Appalachian region is a part of a proud Southern tradition that goes back to the founding days of the United States. Many people passed through the region on their way to the western frontier. Some decided to stay and set roots. These settlers blended into the patchwork quilt that became a symbol of the region."

Tags:culture, spirituality, care, behavior

Abstract
The paper overviews the history of the development of coal mining methods in the Appalachian regions. The paper looks at underground mining, strip mining and mountaintop removal mining (MRM) as well as the problem of inadequately controlled and managed coal slurry impoundments and slag heaps. The paper also describes the harmful effects of these methods of mining on the environment. In addition, the paper refers to many studies that all emphasize the fact that a more harmonious balance between industrial coal mining and the environment needs to established.

Outline:
Introduction
The Environmental History of Appalachian Coal Mining
Environmental Impact of Coal Mining in the Appalachians
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The issue of coal mining in the Appalachian regions has in recent years been the cause of much debate and contention. The central concern in this debate is the dramatic and severe impact that coal mining has had on the environment of the region. In the age of global warming and climate change the issue of the devastation of the natural environment through mining methods such as mountaintop removal mining (MRM) tends to evoke strong and critical responses."

Tags:underground, strip, mountaintop, removal, mining, slurry, impoundments, slag, heaps

Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses the Appalachian mountain region. The writer notes that today the region has a reputation that is rich in resources with a notoriously poor economy and people. The writer maintains that this is no doubt the legacy of the exploitative nature of early industrialization in the Appalachia area. The writer concludes that as infrastructure is developed there is less and less need for some of the region's riches and conversely as the resources available are depleted, industry looks elsewhere for a point of need, leaving behind the generations of workers dependant upon this type of development. The writer contends that it is for this reason that the future of the Appalachian region is yet unknown, and will continue to be a region of flux for many years to come.

From the Paper
"The Appalachian mountain region was the first American frontier, sought after as a place to romantically recreate the American dream of idealistic frontiersmanship. The mountains were the back door to many of the original American colonies and within them to the settlers of the nation lay unknown riches and exotic cultures, yet to be experienced or some would say exploited by the Europeans and the American settlers. They were the first areas to be traversed and eventually developed. The name of the area is a result of the goals of the Spanish to find wealth through gold mining as the area is named for the first group of Native Americans to point toward the forests and claim them rich in gold, the Appalachee. It is thought that they may have done so to send their unwanted guests away from them but none the less the name stuck."

Tags:mountain, frontier, timber, forest

Abstract
The connection of the people to their land is the nature of an Appalachian soul; it is the galvanizing hum that motors generations through its tangled thicket and cold ridge. This paper examines how Kathryn Stripling Byer with gracious imagery, tells the story of a woman's Appalachia, her home.

From the Paper
"The unchanging spirit of the South, and the quirky restless soul of Appalachia, is epitomized by repetition. Children in the mountains - East Bend, High Point, Tuxedo, Flat Rock - know their ancestors, and their ancestors land, like it is their own. Stories in the south serve as a modern companion; for generations, in a seemingly endless circle, they have shaped the lives of the future with the lessons, values, and lives of the past. Byer, whose modern approach to the Appalachian spirit is all the more maudlin for its acknowledgement of change, speaks of the land and people like an eulogy, the sad, penultimate note before the end of the song."

Tags:home, south, black, shawl, harvest

Abstract
This paper explores the reasons for the extreme poverty that exists in most of the Appalachian region of the U.S., discusses the effects of Calvinism on the continuing despair of the region, and provides possible suggestions for improvement.

From the Paper
"While the Appalachian region of the South suffered even in the antebellum heyday of the cotton boom, the condition worsened during the Civil War, when Appalachia suffered from the general devastation affecting the South and the exploitative tactics of Northerners, especially in terms of supply merchants and heavy, unrealistic agricultural prices for much-needed credit lines (148). The banking disaster of the 1930's and poor agricultural distribution and marketing decisions sent the region plunging even further into poverty. Furthermore, the decline in agriculture in the United States, creating difficulties across the country, has led to additional problems for Appalachia."

Tags:isolation, south, rich, folk, culture, pineville, kentucky, economics, sanitation, education, general, welfare

Abstract
This paper will discuss two autobiographical memoirs and discover how they convey a story and philosophy from the author. The books analyzed will be, "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail" by Bill Bryson and "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" by Jimmy Buffett. The texts will point out the certain qualities that make up a story and philosophy from these authors.

Abstract
The paper is a detailed summary of most aspects of the culture, including a discussion of the history and theology of the cult; distinctive religious practices; role of snakes; unique uses of language; historical persecution and prosecution; and the role of the Appalachian environment in the formation of the group.

From the Paper
"On a balmy summer day in rural Tennessee in 1909, George Went Hensley sat on top of White Oak Mountain pondering the meaning of a passage he had found in the Bible. The text was from the Book of Mark, Chapter 16, verses 17-18: And these signs shall follow those that believe: In my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Spoken after Christ's Resurrection and immediately before His Ascension, these were the last words that Jesus spoke to his followers. Noting that the verse says that believers shall take up serpents, not can or may, Hensley took these words to be a mandate from God. He asked God for a sign, and his prayers were soon answered when he saw a large timber rattlesnake in a rocky gap. Hensley captured the rattlesnake, and later that week, at a religious meeting at Sale Creek, Tennessee, he cited the Bible and thrust the snake at the congregation challenging them to take it up and test their faith. The congregants handled the serpent, and a new religion was born."

Tags:cult, serpent, Christianity, Bible, faith