create/update '2024-07-27-appalachia.md.md' file

content/posts/2024-07-27-appalachia.md.md

@@ -10,7 +10,17 @@ JD Vance's ascension to VP pick in this year's presidential race has brought a g
 
 Because of the content, I feel the need to establish where I'm coming from. You see, much of Appalachian culture (particularly the rural one he tries to portray) takes great pride in one's roots. I hope to get to the reasons why in later sections.
 
-As for me, to be honest, I often hesitate to classify myself as Appalachian, since I spent my early childhood in the plains portion of Ohio after my grandparents moved, and moved to Columbus for college (an unfortunate commonality I share with Vance, though I hope it ends there; I didn't even attend OSU). It's the in-between time, however, in which I feel I can speak with experience on life in Appalachia, having spent my teenage years living on the banks of the Allegheny River, in the forests north of Pittsburgh, PA.
+As for me, to be honest, I often hesitate to classify myself as Appalachian, since I spent my early childhood in the plains portion of Ohio after my grandparents moved, and moved to Columbus for college (an unfortunate commonality I share with Vance, though I hope it ends there; I didn't even attend OSU). It's the in-between time, however, in which I feel I can speak with experience on life in Appalachia, having spent my teenage years living on the banks of the Allegheny River, in the heart of Oil Country. Even before that, I spent many a summer in the hills of southeastern Ohio. 
 
-Additionally, I didn't simply live in Appalachia, my family comes from there, and most still live there now. Even as I write this, I'm sitting in my teenage home on the aforementioned riverbank, visiting family. My own papaw, my maternal grandfather, was born in 
+That's right, there's more to the Buckeye State than just flat cornfields.
+
+Additionally, I didn't simply live in Appalachia, my family comes from there, and most still live there now. Even as I write this, I'm sitting in my teenage home on the aforementioned riverbank, visiting family. My own papaw, my maternal grandfather, was born in a hamlet outside of Charleston, West Virginia, and is buried in a town in southeastern Ohio literally called Coalton (where I spent many a summer playing in the creek and going to the gas station to get Ski, a local soda that to this day doesn't go any farther north than Circleville). His brother was a West Virginia coal miner, who retired as his job was automated away. We buried their mother on a hilltop overlooking the hollers outside Charleston. My paternal grandparents, too, hailed from the region, though I know less about the details there, aside from granny coming from North Carolina (so...much...grits...).
+
+I make no claims to expertise on the broader scale, however. Appalachian cultures are as diverse as the landscape. West Virginia differs from Pennsylvania differs from Tennessee from the Carolinas. While the regions share many similarities, they also have many differences, even down to the sub-dialects of the quintessential Appalachian dialect.
+
+## Vance ain't from here
+
+One thing about this whole hoopla bugs me -- Vance isn't from Appalachia. From what I can tell, he only ever spent a year living anywhere that's considered part of the region (when he was a law clerk for the Eastern district of Kentucky).
+
+The thing is, the Appalachian region has an official definition defined by the [Appalachian Regional Commission](https://www.arc.gov/about-the-appalachian-regional-commission/), which names 423 counties across 13 states as part of the region.