I've been out of town, but I need to get in on this, too! Although Robert Kennedy died before I was born, I have read that his interest in and concern for Appalachia was sincere. Although I believe his daughter, who filmed the documentary "American Hollow," had good intentions, she got a little sidetracked by a good story. Apparently it's easier to show footage of rundown houses with big satellite dishes in the front yard, and to juxtapose beautiful quilts hanging on the line with a pile of trash in the yard, than it is to dig a little deeper and show the rest of America the people of Appalachia who actually hold down jobs. This documentary is not going to make the rest of the country sympathetic to the economic plight of eastern Kentucky--it's more likely to make them think the area's lagging economy is a result of its reluctant-to-work residents. I know that's not the case! My mother is one of 13 children, and only one of them left the Appalachia region, just like the family in "American Hollow." UNLIKE that family, every one of her nine brothers was gainfully employed (some have retired now)--coal miners, bus drivers, farmers, steel workers. Three of the four daughters work outside the home as well--the other was a homemaker with five children to raise. I'm very proud of my family and their eastern Kentucky roots, and I will venture to say that there are thousands more hard-working families like them who would have represented the area more accurately than the family in "American Hollow." Just another opinion, Amy Hatcher Ryan Ooltewah, TN (but born and raised in southeastern Ohio, a lesser-known corner of Appalachia) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com