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THIS SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN A New Appalachia-Alaska Connection? Sidney Saylor Farr Appalachia being linked to Alaska may seem strange at first, but such a connection is emerging. This new network began with Ginny Carney, a native of East Tennessee with an R.N. degree, who moved to Anchorage more than eighteen years ago, after having lived in many parts of the world. During those years, she says, she lost touch with what was happening in the region. Last winter in the library at the University of Alaska at Anchorage (UAA) she discovered a copy of my bibliography on Appalachian women and was "thrilled to see that someone was doing something about Appalachian people." At this time Ginny was teaching two English classes at UAA and, using my bibliography and other lists of materials sent to her, she wrote an application for a grant to teach a course on Appalachian women in literature. She received the grant along with permission from the university to teach the course on a one-time-only basis. Fourteen women and one man enrolled. I was invited by her to visit Alaska and make some presentations on Appalachia at the university. I flew to Anchorage on September 25 and spoke to Ginny's class and another class on American women writers, as well as at a colloquium and a town forum during the next two days. I have never been more warmly welcomed at any place than I was in Alaska. After I spoke to Ginny's class, the students presented me with a picnic basket full of small gifts—a "dream catcher" and homemade mincemeat, Alaskan cookbooks, a cassette tape, and other delightful surprises. The class members explained that they had been reading about Appalachian hospitality and wanted to make me feel at home. Somehow they found out the date of my birthday and in October, back in Berea, I received a dozen roses from the class. There were letters and telephone calls during the holidays. I was also pleased to receive orders for a dozen subscriptions to Appalachian Heritage. Word got around about the Appalachian class at UAA. People in other colleges said they would travel to the class if another one were offered. A petition asking that Professor Carney teach the course again was circulated and garnered 224 signatures. The university complied, and she is currently teaching a class of twenty-five, focusing on contemporary Appalachian women writers. Extending the network idea, later last fall I received a telephone call from a friend, saying she had been asked to teach a course on Appalachian women and religion at Columbia University. I of course put her in touch with Ginny Carney. The class has thirty members. This was my first trip to Alaska. I felt at home there. Perhaps it was the mountains or the people, or a combination of several factors, but a significant connection was formed. People from both the fall and spring classes are planning to visit Appalachia next summer. In this issue, the Alaska-Appalachian connection sees print for perhaps the first time. Ginny Carney's piece "On Being Appalachian" conveys a feeling of the essence of homesickness for the Appalachian hills, while in Rose Ann Shoemaker's piece on driving a truck in the Arctic, we see a demonstration of how strong and adaptable Appalachian women can be. ...
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