Sarah Branscomb (sarbbran@mars.utm.edu) from 192.239.151.120 at 09/26/96 04:51PM
comment
    As a native to East Tennessee, it can't be overlooked that within the South there are numerous subcultures distinct to each geographical region. Back home, we tend to think of ourselves as "moutain people" as opposed to pure Southerners. I am none too familiar with the South as a whole, but consider myself rather an expert on the Appalachian folk. There, in the nooks and crannies of ridiculously tiny towns with names like Piney Flats, Lazy Hallow (pronouced "halla"), and Hikry( my hometown, and yes, it's really spelled like that), there are infinite amounts of peculiar backwoods stories and humor that would leave anyone not native to the area dumbfounded. The first tool I can remember being introduced to as a child was an ingeniously rigged something or other called a comealong. I'm still not quite sure about the uses of the comealong, but I was told by my greatgrandmother, source of infinite off the wall wisdom, that this little job would make just about anything come right along. That's how it is in East Tennessee. A handful of nails and a bit of copper wire will provide endless kinds of useful household items. We are not wasters in the mountains. Every bit of tin foil or ten penny nails are carefully stashed away for rainy days. Perhaps this is the best way to describe this particular area of the South; in the mountains you cling to everything with all your strength, because you never know when it might be taken from you. This mindset applies to everything, from stories to jokes, recipes and bits of string, and especially to family. We're some clannish fools back home, but more than that, we're the kind of folk who will stand beside you, give you anything you need, or just fill you up with biscuits and gravy. It's an overlooked part of the South, but the Tennessee mountain people are good folks, just the same.