Struggling Across the Divide

REVIEW OF FRONTLINE'S "COUNTRY BOYS" Struggling Across the Divide Floyd D. Davis Men forget, as they grow older, how treacherous the journey into manhood was. The routines and familiar demands of school, work, marriage, and children mold us, transforming the lucky ones into dependable , contributing husbands, fathers, and mature men. Those who complete the journey successfully owe their accomplishments to a host of mentors, loved ones, and economic circumstances that pulled restlessly in their favors. Those who fail are wallowed viciously in their short comings, ever searching for the person or favor that might have made all the difference. In his documentary, "Country Boys," David Sutherland follows the lives of Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson as they struggle through this journey. Their stories are told against a back drop of theAppalachian coalfields that is well-balanced betweenbeauty and squalor, and their struggles and problems become subtle metaphors for the struggles and problems of the larger Appalachian community. Center Stage for their efforts is the David School, an alternative school operating in the long defunct mining camp of David, Kentucky. Differences intheboys' lives quickly tell as they pursue their studies at the school. Cody's step-grandmother Liz provides a stable, prosperous home from beginning to end within which Cody receives a steady diet of advice, guidance, structure, and love. Cody's income from his father's estate is stable and apparently substantial, and he develops a deep Christian faith which ties Cody tightly to his Church despite his unconventional "punk" dress and appearance. He founds a local band, writing and playing Christian punk music at local Churches and events as an outlet for his musical talents. His girlfriend (and eventual wife) Jessica Riddle and her family provide yet another dimension of support. Ray Riddle, Jessica's father, is a talented, hard-working man who writes and sings country music and comes to accept Cody into his family despite Cody's unconventionality. Ray fills a role in Cody's life that all young boys desperately need: a stable, functional man whom they can emulate. Chris at first lives with his parents and siblings, but his father Randall is an unrehabilitated alcoholic and his mother strongly codependent . The family is dysfunctional, impoverished, and unstable. They 90 attempt to subsist on Chris' and his father's Supplemental Security Income Payments (SSI), supplemented by the mother's meager earnings. Chris finds himself thrust into the roles of parent for his younger siblings , bread winner, and mediator between his warring parents even as he struggles to come to grips with his own mounting problems. His parents finally divorce, and the family disintegrates, his mother leaving for a new life in Florida which does not include her son. His father dies of alcohol abuse in a relative's home, rejecting his son's last attempts at reconciliation and leaving Chris alone in the world. For Chris, there is no benign adult presence or stable home; there is no steady girlfriend to love and support him; there is no Ray Riddle to follow when he is unsure of what to do. These absences damage Chris' chances of success immeasurably, as they do every adolescent boy who finds himself on the same road. In many ways the David School is a third player in the documentary , its staff and its facilities providing the glue which binds the story together. I was reared and still live on a family farmjust outside David, and was newly graduated from the University of Kentucky when the David School opened. I remember dismissing it as yet another in a long line of anti-poverty efforts that had come and gone to my community in the course of The War on Poverty. Danny Green, the school's founder, was soft-spoken and obviously able, but I doubted that this well-meaning Northerner (from Brooklyn) would be with us long. I was wrong on both counts. The David School established itself in the old Mallory Commissary Building in 1974, eventually expanding over the next thirty years to a shiny new building on a 200 acre campus above the old ball field. The school was and is modest and soft-spoke, much like its founder...