This Side of the Mountain

This Side of the Mountain George Brosi THE ARTWORK FOR THIS MAGAZINE celebrates the artistic life of Cherokee High School in Cherokee, North Carolina. This is a particularly appropriate time to showcase this talent because the 27th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference will be held at Cherokee High over the weekend of March 26-28. This organization has been exemplary since its beginning by providing opportunities for communities to benefit from academic research and for scholars to find meaningful topics for research. When my family and I lived near Cherokee about a dozen years ago we were particularly impressed with several community institutions—besides the obviously wonderful free health care provided—which scholars and others need to study and learn how to adapt to other mountain communities. In Cherokee the Boys Club operates a round-the-clock day-care facility for Tribal children of all ages. Anyone who wishes can bring a child to this facility, no questions asked, and leave the child there as long as necessary. This is a wonderful community resource, ideal for all kinds of exigencies whether caused by sickness, work or weather. Wouldn't it be great if similar places existed in all communities? When we first moved to the area, we were struck by how nice the homes were and by the fact that, in contrast to Kentucky sub-standard housing appeared to be practically non-existent. The Qualla Housing Authority not only builds houses and apartments, they tender lowinterest loans to Tribal homebuilders and re-modelers. Unfortunately, bank charges in Kentucky often exceed the actual costs of the housing work, and Cherokee provides a brilliant example of the importance of encouraging good housing by circumventing conventional bankers. One advantage these Cherokee institutions have is that they can limit their programs to Tribal members. Nevertheless, those attending the ASA Conference will hopefully find many innovative ways people in Cherokee have improved their way of life and also find ways these ideas can be adopted elsewhere. ...