Down the street from our hotel in Hanoi, June 2011. I was there taking a class on Environmental Policy and management in Vietnam.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, 
With conquering limbs astride from land to land; 
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand 
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, 
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand 
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command 
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. 

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she 
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I just finished memorizing this poem for the sake of it, and it got me thinking. 

I spent my Spring Break in West Virginia this year, exploring the mountains, getting to know people, and visiting various Mountaintop Removal Mining sites, historic spots, and grassroots organizations dedicated to stopping the destruction of their state and tempering the power of the coal company. Below is a reflection of how i felt upon my return to Indiana. 

…………………………..

“Our trip to West Virginia was very important to me because I don’t think I quite understood beforehand what it is like to live in such a challenging place and to have the culture of coal mining be so tangible and also so tangled up with the different spheres of one’s life.

Every single day in southern West Virginia, these people wake up and coal is a part of their lives. And not in an abstract, “I suppose this electricity must come from somewhere,” kind of way. It is a very real, concrete presence. Coal is everywhere, in the dirt beneath your feet, in the trains and trucks that pass you on the narrow, winding roads. Perhaps more significantly, it is there is the history, in people’s sense of family and heritage.

If you stop and ask someone what they think about coal, you will not get the blank stares that you so often get elsewhere. You also will not get vague opinions based on economics or global climate trends. Instead, you get passion, and intensity, and people whose lives have been fundamentally shaped, too often tragically, by coal companies willing to do anything to get at that certain rock beneath the soil.

Coal matters here. This trip was really only a brief glimpse at the relationship between West Virginians and coal, but to interact in such a personal way with the ones to whom we must be held accountable for our energy actions laid a very important weight of responsibility on my shoulders.

Right now, West Virginia is reaching a point of no return. If we continue to mine coal, especially through the more “efficient,” more destructive strip- and mountaintop removal mining, the land will soon be destroyed beyond repair and a way of life will be lost. Personally, I think Appalachia is worth protecting and, despite witnessing such massive environmental destruction, I am inspired to have met so many individuals  dedicated to representing the people, holding the coal companies accountable, and preserving their homes and land.”

Welp, I’ve started a blog. Its purpose is unknown. I suppose I shall have to discover that purpose as I go along. Someday I’ll know. Right now it just feels a little stupid though.

I joined Twitter two weeks ago, and tumbler just yesterday. This is feeling a littlecompulsive. I think what I really need it just some space away from my computer. 

… And instead I’m here, trying to decide what in my life is a blog-worthy event, and coming up a little short. Of course, I have no doubt my life will eventually become one of such action and adventure that they will have to make a lifetime movie out of it, but for now I guess I’m still just on the straight and narrow.

I suppose there are so many different motivations that people have for starting blogs. Some people- the blessed few- actually lead inspiring and exciting lives, the type that people around the world would want to, and perhaps ought to, read about. Others come with a passion and perspective on an issue that makes others think intelligently, and that helps others in their search for the truth. Blogs can be friends as well, I suppose… ways for people to have a conversation and offer opinions when no one else is willing to listen. They also connect people with common interests who would otherwise never know enjoy each other’s company. 

Still, blogs can be awfully self-serving at times, feeding into people’s narcissism and  sense of self importance, when all that is really at play is a populace that is bored and unable to unplug. A blog is a diary in a world where nothing is secret anymore, and whereas writing can often clarify thoughts, the lightening-speed of the internet often serves to cheapen the conversation. Topics and opinions that should be given deep thought and provoke important insights instead are bandied about in one-sentence, all-caps shouting matches. Good stuff is out there, and the internet  have given voice to so many once-voiceless, but it is important to tread with caution. There will always be internet trolls, but the one thing I can control is the content and the tone that I add to the conversation, and that’s something I will try to keep in mind.

Novella