As the thread wanders..........

The tourist thing always brings back memories of college. I went to Berea in Kentucky and even before it went the entire route of artsy/fartsy which much of the town has become, it was always a popular place with tourists to see the crafts and folklore exhibits of the southern mountains and to tour the student industries. Berea takes its students from 244 appalachian counties and there is no tuition, only nominal fees for room and board. Students work 15-20 hours per week in various areas, from broom making and weaving to service jobs around campus to assisting professors. The college operates a hotel and restaurant that is 95% student run known as Boone Tavern and is very popular with tourists as the food is excellent and served family style.

However and because of all this, the folks passing through expect that students are somehow different. Its true that the mean family income when I was there in the late 60's was only $3600., but you couldn't tell that by looking and it always seemed to disappoint the tourists. On numerous occasions, several of us discussed dressing in bibs, barefoot, with a piece of hay in our mouths and hanging out in front of Boone. It would have overjoyed the diners so much to see "real poor hillbilly kids" and I think their visit would have been more memorable.

Spaw