September 2005: Kettle Bottom (Fisher)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 6:30:10 PM

Changing sets from an EBSC board meeting to bookclub meeting at Sherrill's house on September 22nd, readers chatted about Smith students and prospectives, leading nicely into a discussion of Kettle Bottom by Diane Gilliam Fisher, this year's assignment for entering Smith students to discuss during orientation meetings in the houses.

Each year Smith College selects a book to be read by all entering students over the summer before they arrive. The author of the book is invited to campus during orientation to address the Smith community through reading, reflection, and sharing their experiences of writing the book. This is a highlight of the orientation program! For more information about the book, see http://www.perugiapress.com/books2004_kettle.html.This book of poetry about Appalachia is not widely available. Some of us waited a few weeks for an Amazon order and others shared scarce copies. We highly recommend it to those who have not read it, and we wondered if Smith managed to open some eyes and hearts amongst the new students.

Set in a mining town in West Virginia in 1920-21, the poems were able to convey the different voices of miners and their family members more nimbly than a novel could. With an introduction explaining the facts of the time and place in history, including the miners' struggle to survive in the company town where they were forbidden to unionize, and subsequent uprisings, the poems filled in the spaces between historical fact with emotion and poignant details.

One of the early poems in the book explained that "kettle bottom" was what the community called the petrified tree on the mountain the miners were digging. We talked about the poems that touched us the most--the middle section, Ravens Light, and the one about the blue coat. We pondered what it's like for incoming students to read the book, what it is like for them to read about how those people suffered, if it puts into perspective the great privelege of attending Smith, for all the sacrifices many people make to get there.