Appalachia

             In our research the students of OU do not view the people of Athens at all. They do not consider them or even think of them. As students we live in our own little world and forget that Athens is more than just the college. Students do have pride in their college but not necessarily Athens. In general most students don’t know the history or much about the area around or outside of OU. However, based on our interviews and talking to locals the people of Athens seem to have a strong opinion about the students of OU. One freshman we interviewed who has lived in Athens his whole life said that the people of Athens hate OU students. They hate driving around OU and especially the partiers. Overall, the relationship between OU students and the people of Athens is not healthy and could be improved but the question is how do we go about improving it?

            Through class discussions we came to realize that most student don’t even realize that OU or Athens is in Appalachia. In fact, not very many know anything about Appalachia at all except for the common stereotypes or even care to know. A majority of students don’t seem to care to know about Appalachia. In our interviews when we asked people the first three words that come to mind when they hear Appalachia we got responses such as ignorant, hicks, rednecks and poverty. 

~Da Fancy Pants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7LmNlpLMM&feature=youtube_gdata_player