On the first day of the immersion course we were asked to introduce ourselves including, of course, where we are from. I said that I call West Virginia one of my many homes. I attended four years of college at Alderson-Broaddus and fell in love with the area. Lots of people in NYC often think that I am “from” WV. I guess because I talk about it so much. Sometimes it feels disingenuous to talk about West Virginia as my home. What makes a place your home anyway?

In preparing for the trip I was nervous about taking people with me back to visit places that I knew and loved so well in West Virginia. We stayed the first four nights at my alma mater and visited with community folks, agencies, and professors that I have deep connections to. I was nervous and felt responsibility for how both groups would receive each other. It’s hard to invite 50 people so deeply into your life. It feels really vulnerable.

by Ellie Martin Cliffe

A very dear person reminded me today that even though our experiences throughout this journey have exposed great struggle and injustice in Appalachia, God is here. In some places it was difficult to believe, especially yesterday. Then I considered ecotheologian Sallie McFague’s assertion that the earth is the divine body; we watched people mutilating God at the mountaintop removal site. Doesn’t this mean that by damaging and abusing the earth (the land and its people), we are hurting God most of all?

At the same time, I can’t think of anyone I’ve talked to who doesn’t have hope that something positive is going to come of this. People are noticing commonalities in their struggles (related to poverty, education, other human rights, and the environment). My hope is that eventually, maybe soon, people in power’s eyes and ears will be opened and they will finally see, listen, and act.

Myles Horton, the man who founded the Highlander Center where we are now, wrote that our anger and drive need to be smoldering – not burning; flames go out faster. This movement is smoldering, and everything we’ve experienced on this trip has in some way contributed more fuel for it to continue.