“There’s no way I was born to just pay bills and die.” ~ Unknown
Before construction began on a new dining services building in the side yard of the UK Art Museum, it was filled with a variety of sculptures. One piece was tall and looked a bit like a rusted bucket filled with coal shooting out of the ground. When they moved it they dumped the coal behind the Singletary Center for the Arts. For months I meant to snap a pic of that pile of coal. Eventually, most of the pile was carted away one slab at a time. Coal is a relatively soft rock. Dumping a pile easily makes a pile of smaller pieces. No one has carted that off yet. Et voila!
UK has an interesting relationship with the coal industry. Most of our buildings are climate controlled with coal. The UK Men’s Basketball dorm is called the Wildcat Coal Lodge. Meanwhile, in the Med Center, studies and treatment continue on Black Lung. Over in Environmental Studies research continues on the effects of Mountaintop Removal (MTR). The list goes on. I know many a Kentuckian that’s benefitted from coal. I know many a Kentuckian who has suffered because of coal. Most of us Appalachians have had both. Coal gets mined in states other than Kentucky, other parts of the world, but I have never seen it in person anywhere but here. It means I’m home, even if it’s in a pile behind a city building. There’s some strange comfort in that. My grandfather Terry once loaded 32 tons in a single day. It was record breaking. He did it alone in a deep mine. I don’t agree with MTR, and deplore the abuse of the Appalachian people and environment by the industry, but I appreciate that coal keeps my lights on. I appreciate that my grandfather risked his life everyday for his family. He has moved on now and so should we. I’m ready for solar and wind energy, the thousands of jobs they’ll bring, and the billions of lives they’ll eventually save. Until then, I will appreciate that my lights are on, and I will appreciate the men and women who make it happen. I will also do what I can to get us off something so destructive, and so finite, but I hope I always do it with respect.
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