If you buy something from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. Dentists have also found that the effects of soda on teeth are strikingly similar to the effects of methamphetamine or crack on teeth, as I reported in May. None of them, as far as I could tell, fell into laziness, violence or what my mother might call sorryness. The man, who proclaimed that Appalachia had been raped, now wanted to rape certain Appalachian people of their ability to procreate. In more national conversations, it often seems to take up this stunt double role, particularly when addressing rural poverty. Vance grew up in an Appalachian ex-pat family in Ohio with rough-talking relatives who thought nothing of trashing a store until they got what they wanted, and who regularly communicated by screaming at each other. MADISONVILLE, Ky. . "Mountain Dew" is a centuries-old mountain slang term for moonshine initially crafted as a mixer for whiskey in the early 1930s. It was late in the afternoon and I wrapped my hands tight around Dozers sweaty shirtless body because I was pretty terrified. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. But the numbers across the rural American South and lower Midwest are worse. Originally coined in the (poverty porn-laden) 2009 Diane Sawyer special, Children of the Mountains, the phrase has been recycled over and over again throughout the national media in spurts over the past six years. Consider what every movie star, news anchor and television personality has in common: not height, weight or ethnicity (though there is certainly an enormous amount of room for more diversity). Nothing great will ever come from consuming yellow dye #5. But since the 14th century, poverty as a label has been used to ostracize certain people in society (5). CIVIL WAR ERA AND INDUSTRIALIZATION. For the 379 women enrolled in the study, pre-term birth rate, or PTB, was 6.6 percent against 14 percent for Hopkins County generally in the preceding years. The Real Winners of World Press Photo 2014: The Palestinians. In the south-east mountains of the United States this word is often used instead of hollow; A small rising valley region between two hills or mountains; often containing a creek. We continued up the mountain and at the very top we caught an incredible view of the Ohio River snaking across the land separating Ohio from West Virginia. Then, I knew I shouldve seen it coming. 2. The beverage industry has repeatedly challenged claims that its products are destroying teeth. Sorry, but no. It's a thing, reports the Salt blog at NPR, and public health advocates in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia say the damage is real and widespread. It is, however, a drink thatfor better or worseties me to my home. MS. Anne and Harry M. Caudill Collection, 1854-1996, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky. For me, that argument continues to manifest itself on both a personal and interpersonal level. And by quite a wide margin, one might add. By now, we've all heard of the health risks posed by drinking too much soda. We can identify them in the plaque in blood vessels leading to arteriosclerosis. MADISONVILLE, Ky. Nurse LeAnn Todd-Langston and nurse-midwife Sarah Almon had long known their rural west Kentucky county faced a crisis, but it was getting worse. And Part 2 explored the link between transportation and healthcare. Appalachia. Mountain Dew is mountain slang for "whiskey"; the phrase appears in Irish folk songs from the late 19th century and in an American folk song protesting Prohibition. Mountain Dew, however, remains culturally significant. I look around the classmates with whom I grew up in Appalachia and the family that has lived deep in Appalachia for generations, and I see little like the generalizations Vance applies. According to a 2012 study by Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the federal government is spending $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion on soda purchases through SNAP. "Nothing is moving here. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Lyndon B Johnsons January 1964 State of the Union address. Part 1 covered diabetes in Appalachia. The maternal death rate in southern Appalachia was 12.7 per 100,000 births, compared with rates of 15.1 per 100,000 for the entire rural United States and 16.3 per 100,000 in the nation as a whole. "I see erosion from the acids in the drinks, and decay from the sugars," says Steven Ghareeb, spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry and a practicing dentist in South Charleston, W.Va. "They go hand in hand many times, and they're equally bad. It is not part of hillbilly justice. If his family were acting like violent jerks, its because theyre acting like jerks, not because theyre Appalachian. But she and Almon had their own conditions: They wanted to locate the oral health study in a new sort of prenatal program at Yale created by nurse-midwife Sharon Rising called CenteringPregnancy. All rights reserved. Popular Native American folklore says that a bloody battle between the Cherokee and Catawba tribes took place on the mountain. Its high sugar and caffeine content seem to be habit-forming, with many accounts of Appalachians constantly sipping and carrying bottles everywhere throughout the entire day. Each weekend, local residents can be found drinking and have a good time while riding around on these trails with All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) also known as 4-wheelers. The problem, they realized, begins in the mouths of their patients. Geography does play an important role, though. The taste of Appalachia . I learned about Caudills dark turn while I was traveling in the region. 1. Forty-seven thousand people reside in Madisonville-Hopkins County. I would probably get fewer dirty looks if I snorted a couple of lines of cocaine every day. According to the federal government, more than 50 million Americans live in areas officially designated asDental Health Professional Shortage Areas, and must travel hundreds of miles to get help. The Appalachian Mountains stretch from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to northern Alabama and Georgia. Even today when I discuss drinking it in public, people look at me incredulously as if waiting for a punchline. "We are using taxpayer dollars to buy soda for the SNAP program, and we are using taxpayer dollars to rip teeth out of people's heads who can't afford dental care and are on Medicaid," says Dana Singer, a research analyst at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department in Parkersburg, W.Va., who wants to see stricter regulations on sales of all sugary beverages in the region. Destroying store merchandise and threatening a sales clerk were normal to Mamaw and Papaw: Thats what Scots-Irish Appalachians do when people mess with your kid, Vance writes on page 40. Pat made sure that all guests were taken care of. He lived in a trailer and was occasionally put in jail for petty non-violent crimes. I abruptly found myself assessing everyone I met, trying to determine whether or not Caudill would consider them dullards. In late July 2013, I was invited to drink beer on a Friday night with a group of people in West Columbia, West Virginia. But did that make him a bad dad? Each time I hear it, I feel angryangry and ashamed. At the University of Maryland dental school, ateam of researchers explored the effect of toothaches in poor Maryland adults like Matello: 44.3 percent of their respondents reported having experienced more than five toothaches in the past 10 years. While Harris says that there aren't a lot of comprehensive surveys of dental health in Appalachia, signs of a rampant problem are unmistakable: Some 26 percent of preschoolers in the region have tooth decay, and 15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have had a tooth extracted because of decay or erosion. January 15, 2021. Lack of accessible medical care is still a reality for thousands, particularly women and young mothers. Family and friends stopped by to share stories, complain about hardships and seek advice for problems. Good ol' North Carolina. If you want to contact us for business inquiries or collaboration opportunities, email: mountainrootsmail@gmail.com Also find us on facebook @mountainrootshomestead Snail Mail: Mountain Roots Productions PO Box 664 New Castle, VA, 24127 #appalachia #appalachiantrail #appalachian source Advertise Here Virginia Digital News He mentions the law school mentorship of Amy Chua, who went on to write a book about Chinese tiger mothers. (This story has been corrected since it was originally published.). As a defense mechanism, Ive become a trivia expert on the most esoteric facts available about Mountain Dew so I can titter them off as a nervous shield. Mountain Dew bottles by Shutterstock/Darios. Time and time again, Appalachians are portrayed as individuals who are unable to get out of their own waythe kind of people who must have change enacted upon them in order to better themselves. Today, theres a Mountain Dew to suit every tastefrom Code Red (cherry) to Baja Blast (lime)and enough generic knockoffs with names like Mountain Lion, Mountain Lightning and Mountain Holler to really put an exclamation point on the rural connection. He mentions his aunt, who had an early abusive marriage, and his mother. "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public. Nearlyhalf of the people in Kentucky, and 25 percent of the national population, depend exclusively on well water, posing a threat tonatural resources as well as peoples teeth. This article originally appeared on AlterNet. I had been traveling too much, and when I was home, I was still distant. When I moved away from home, it became very clear that I should be ashamed of drinking Diet Mountain Dew (my parents and I still lovingly abbreviate it as "DMD" in text messages). POSTWAR TO THE PRESENT. Answer: There is a common stereotype that people from Appalachia refer to Pepsi's Mountain Dew soda as "Mountain Dew," but this is not true for all people from Appalachia. But one has to wonder if the underlying issues of the region aren't addressed, will taking sodas off the menu really solve anything. Back in 2009, Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law, issued the first battle cry in the war against Mountain Dew mouth with a legal brief titled " Undoing. In order to cover high overhead costs, pay back dental school bills and earn an income, many dentists refuse to treat people on Medicaid. More than a third of Americans do not have dental coverage, according to aWashington Post article. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Vance grew up in an Appalachian ex-pat family in Ohio with rough-talking relatives who thought nothing of trashing a store until they got what they wanted, and who regularly communicated by screaming at each other. Appalachians are portrayed as individuals who are unable to get out of their own way problems caused by excessive Mountain Dew consumption. In both cases, its a prickly briar patch of fact and lore jumbled together. On pages 228-229, Vance writes about instability in working-class families, due to relationship instability. Diet Mt. It is approachable, easy to understand, easy and quick to read. "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public health conference," says public health researcher Dana Singer. By childbirth, all the problems had been treated; continued follow-up monitoring also showed reduced smoking by the mothers and increased breast-feeding, and led to lower levels of prescribed pain medication and sharply reduced number of visits to local emergency rooms for other health problems. I said I hadnt really noticed as he shook his head. If theres a pop culture reference about DMD you need to knowincluding that bopping Lana Del Ray jam and its brief mention in a recent Paul Muldoon poemIm your girl. Grease a baking dish with olive oil or butter, then pour on the Mountain Dew sauce mixture until about two inches high. A culture in crisis.. Dew Baby". He came to believe that Appalachias gene pool had been watered down by inbreeding among what he called dullards who lived on welfare in remote mountain hollers (1). His aunt, who had an early abusive marriage, and when I discuss it. 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