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My family's story took a pretty big turn with The Indian Removal Act of 1830. President Andrew Jackson signed the act into law that allowed the Cherokee to be forcibly removed from their homes and lands in the Georgia foothills of the Appalachians to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Some of my family escaped into the North Carolina mountains and would help form what was later to become the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the rest were relocated to Oklahoma around what is today Sallisaw. The woman pictured below suffered through the separation that my family experienced through this heinous and violent act of the American government. |
My great great grandmother Arizona was the child of some of the Cherokee that experienced the Trail of Tears firsthand. Here she's photographed in her backyard with her crutch. She had to leave home at 15 with a bad leg and walk from Calhoun/New Echota, GA to Dayton, TN to find a new life. There she married and she and her husband moved to Hazard, Kentucky so he could mine coal. He lost his life in the mines, and later she remarried a British man she met in Hazard. This is the first coal link in my tree that I am aware of. The next comes with the building of coal towns and the mass advertising campaigns to people of all ethnicities, all over America for real jobs with real wages and real inclusion in the coal mines of eastern Kentucky. |
There on the left is my mother's parents - Charles Leslie Mullins and Barbara Louise Johnson Mullins. My Pop did what I think a lot of coalfields men did who couldn't see themselves as a coal miner, or didn't believe it could be a secure job for them, he joined the service in the military as soon as he could. He was a member of the Golden Knights which is the Army Parachute Team. He served in Korea and Vietnam. He tried to serve in WWII by lying about his age as a young teen and his mother had to go gather him back home. He wasn't in my life much because of residue from the wars. He moved to Alabama at some point before my life or memory and I only saw him twice, though I talked to him on the phone some. My Mimi (Barbara) told me he had been a mortician in Letcher County or somewhere at one point. |
And now, we have my dad - Mike Hansel. He came home from East Tennessee State University where we was hoping to become a Physical Education teacher and coach. He played every sport in school and was good at all of them. But, my mother required marrying, so he came home and did what men do who need to support a family with decent pay. He went to work as a miner. He's worked for so many companies in his career he cannot retire at age 63. He's followed the booms and busts miniature and gigantic in his 30 years as a miner. He worked his way up to what would be considered an environmental engineer position. Folks now get a college degree for that work. |
My dad is a very intelligent man, and the "War On Coal" rhetoric, propaganda, and practices have done a number on him. In the years, when he should have been thinking of retirement, he was sent to Frankfort to educate and inform state government and protesting organizers on the realities of reclamation work and the environmental impact of coal mining as a representative of his company or the industry. In this position, a job that when you look at the pictures of the earliest miners instills awe and interest from most, my dad experienced violence against his person and property and such an extreme amount of stress that there were times when any mention of coal or anything that would remind him he'd go back to that on Monday, caused an explosion of strong emotion and words. Self defense. |
"One candidate ran on improving job training and education opportunities as the means for navigating the 21st Century job market. The other candidate promised to bring back coal mining jobs. Millions of Appalachians considered those proposals and said, "I want black lung disease, too!" ~Jeff Fulmer
"You have a job that makes you so sick you can barely breath and almost impossible to talk. When asked "If you could go back to work would you?" And they answer yes, you know the American education system have failed." ~Tom Weartz
"West Virgina, PA, and Ohio...all solid Trump territory. They loved that the fool actually said he would bring coal back, and that he would dismantle ACA (Obamacare). For many years, people like me (considered the coastal liberal elite) fought to bring politicians into power to bring jobs and health care to these regions---services that we personally don't need in regions that we don't live in--because it was the right thing to do. But apparently, a bigoted, misogynist snake oil salesmen promising them a version of the US that looks like Berlin in 1939 was more appealing. So, this liberal American is done with the Rust and Bible Belts, and focusing on California and California only." ~Michelle Whiting
"People like him voted for Trump based on his lie that he'd bring back coal mining jobs. They don't have my sympathy. Enjoy Trump cutting your healthcare and poisoning your air and water." ~Maria Goldberg
Kelli Hansel Haywood - JD Vance... I appreciate the recognition that it is really, really complicated. I plan to read your book soon. I think facing issues head on, acknowledging them instead of being offended by the way it looks to others, and telling our own story is the only way to rebuild here. I came back to southeastern Ky to raise my family. It's a choice I don't take lightly and the more people I get to know who are ready to do what it takes (because it isn't going to be romantic at all) to heal this place, the more I hope that I will have a reason to stay.
Wonder how much you've considered epigenetics. Gotta get the book. My best to you, and I hope you're choosing to take your time being the voice of Appalachia seriously, remembering it's a very diverse place. Take care and know it's a huge responsibility.
Kelli Hansel Haywood - One reason I offer that end bit is I have to do the same. I'm a radio host, reporter, and producer for WMMT in Whitesburg, KY. We're a community radio station and I'm director of public affairs. It's a ginormous responsibility to represent others to the world even if you are one of them.
JD Vance - Thank you Kelli. I do understand the way its perceived and I will try to be as fair as I can.
There is an ethnic component lurking in the background of my story. In our race-conscious society, our vocabulary often extends no further than the color of someone's skin - "black people," "Asians," "white privilege." Sometimes these broad categories are useful, but to understand my story, you have to delve into the details. I may be white, but I do not identify with the WASPs of the Northeast. Instead, I identify with the millions of working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree. To these folks, poverty is the family tradition -- their ancestors were day laborers in the Southern slave economy, sharecroppers after that, coal miners after that, and machinists and millworkers during more recent times. Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash. I call them neighbors, friends, and family. pgs. 2-3
Kelli Haywood
| J.D. Vance
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Among the working class, well over half had at least one ACE, while about 40 percent had multiple ACEs. This is really striking -- four in every ten working-class people had faced multiple instances of childhood trauma. For the non-working class, that number was 29 percent. pg. 227
We do need to create a space for the J.D.s and Brians of the world to have a chance. I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better. pg. 256
The doctor came in and time changed. You know, the kind of change that happens when you're cutting a tomato and one second you realize that you're about to cut your finger and it seems like it is happening in slow motion while at the same time being too fast for you to stop it? She didn't want to tell me what she was about to open her mouth to say. "There's a mass..." She went on to say words that no parent ever wants to hear in association with their child. Words you never dream you will hear. In that moment, my brain went from panic, to grief, to planning. It landed to planning quickly. I'm a mother. I had taken my daughter to her pediatrician for a possible stomach virus. At worse, it was appendicitis. We ended up at ER, and now we'd take an ambulance ride three hours away from home to the closest children's hospital. |
I’m learning a lot, too. The big revelation for me came the first time he woke up on a Saturday morning and, as we were lazily playing in our pajamas, said, “I want to go to Melissa’s!” Movies and mom blogs had prepared me for this moment to be heartbreaking, but it wasn’t. It was totally fine.
After all, isn’t this movement away from us and toward independence the central goal of parenting? Isn’t this what sets parenting apart from gardening and cat ownership? That we want our children to leave us? That we don’t want to be number one in their lives forever?
You have been blessed to live as Hari Dass Kaur, which means the kind, creative and prosperous Princess who loves to serve God and who is God's Lioness.
Hari is a name of God. Chanting the mantra Hari increases and awakens the flow of kindness, creativity and prosperity in your life. Dass means service, one who loves to serve. Kaur is a name that all women receive - the Princess/Lioness of God who walks with grace and strength throughout her life. Yogi Bhajan taught that every woman has the potential to attain this divine state and encouraged all to manifest it.
Having the name Hari Dass Kaur means that your highest consciousness can be reached by serving God with great love. God is within you, so serve there too.
“The moment you touch your soul, you become fearless." -Yogi Bhajan
It is true that when you touch your soul you become fearless. This picture on the left is just moments after I gave birth to my third daughter at home. You can see a little of the blood on my arms and my baby. She was so healthy and strong. She was born with such a force that it caused me to bleed a little more than normal. It wasn't anything that couldn't be handled well at home. |
This week was a rough week. Yes, I know. I should be immensely grateful. You know what? Don't say that to me - ever. I am immensely grateful. My baby sister texted me today - You're at the height of your game right now. Yes, you may be sick, but you will be fixed and start to feel better. I really believe that. You're going to be living in an awesome new house. You have the best babies money could buy. LOL. She's completely right. I'm glad to have her encouragement. I'm grateful and blessed by all those things. It is what is keeping me going. If I hadn't taken those steps for myself, I don't think I'd be coping as well as I am. I absolutely LOVE my job and the people I work with. Yoga saves my life every day. No, dark places and sad feelings do not come from a lack of gratitude. People are wrong there and it is offensive. Greed is the opposite of gratitude. |
I continued on. It's been a week of migraines and drastic mood swings. These are all associated with Hashimoto's. (Side note: Those of us who have the disease get accused of being dramatic. Please, don't be so insensitive to assume you know what someone else is feeling without having experienced it yourself. Be compassionate if someone seems to feel out of sorts. Even if they are being dramatic, they need comfort. It's a cry for help and relief. ) My stomach is in knots a lot lately too, which I will probably write about in another post. It's interesting. I'm working on something good in regards to that. Because of those things, I'm not sleeping. 1-5 hours at most a night. It's hard to stay on an even keel being so tired. I kept going further down in the dump. |
These are people who become key to the progressions in life like your parents, certain friends, romantic partners, spouses, and siblings. These souls can also be people that you only know for a brief time but who have an impact on your life and open up opportunities related to your Sacred Contract.
-Knowing the Terms of Your Soul Contract, Jess Carlson
Kelli Hansel Haywood is the mother of three daughters living in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. She is a writer, weightlifter, yoga and movement instructor, chakra reader, and Reiki practitioner.
Find Kelli on Instagram - @darkmoon_kelli
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