Journal #2

First of all, I was extremely impressed with how Tayina described the letters from the inhabitants of Shenandoah. At first, I saw a bunch of desperate pleas from backwards mountain-people, and dismissed them on the basis of their lack of education and tact with formal writing. I found it necessary, after reading Tayina's post, to go back and see if I could help myself draw the same conclusions, or at least empathize with their situation. Although I would not consider them to be writers at first, I realized that I would be a hypocrite to do so, as my own definition of a writer stated it was anyone who expressed themselves in a tangible form.

To be honest I can't fully understand what they are saying for a multitude of reasons. For starters, the lack of grammar makes their writing almost indecipherable, and even if they wrote in proper English I don't believe I would be able to evaluate their comments on farming and the like. However, I am again reminded that writing, especially everyday writing, is not meant to be pretentious or overly-formal. In fact, some of the phrases that I was able to translate, such as the letter asking for permission to use extra scrap metal, showed that these people contain a great moral compass and a passion for their live's work. I am partly ashamed at the way I view mountain people, I went to high school in Pennsylvania and have visited the Appalachia area quite often, because frankly they used to scare me. After reading these letters I find myself thinking although I am appreciative that my grammar is satisfactory enough for the average person to understand me, I could possibly learn something from the Shenandoah inhabitants by minding the simpler things in life, and maybe even tweak their guidelines for use in my life.