Appalachian Woman interview-Mamie

all right minnie yes mimi uh where'd you grow up where are you from originally uh boone county west virginia and tell me about your childhood you had mom and dad as a kid uh yeah we uh i was born in the ambulance manchester and uh your brother yeah he's in tennessee and uh they took his hospital we stayed one night like guys took us home and then back we lived in a little shack it's made like a chicken house and we took uh baseboard boxes boxes you carry stuff in kept the corners out and tagged them up on the wall to keep the air out and after we got all that out we'd take newspapers and mommy take flour and hot water and make the paste with it that's the old recipe you can try it and we wallpaper the newspapers and covered up over all the the boxes that he put up to keep the house warm and about 10 of us in there sleeping and it was rough really rough i mean i came up like the roots my daddy got bad super cancer and uh his bowels was moving he couldn't do nothing that way it me i was my oldest sister than me to do all the chores like a whale went dry we had to figure out how to dig it and get the bronx and you know build back up for us to have water and uh we had to raise a garden everything corn beans taters onions coupons lettuce made your name everything you name it we raised everyone to eat we cook beans we killed chickens we had a big old pot of water outside daddy came out there and wanted to get the bullet it's like all right you know what chicken for supper get out of it we didn't know what he meant to get after he went there and kicking we went over and got five and white chickens pull us and have a big table water down a hatch and he said now you can either ring their neck and kill them or you can chop their head off we said no dad we don't want to he said well you want to get live chicken in hey you better get the cat so we did we had chopped his head up i brought his snake and she chopped it off then we stuck it down that big pot of hot water like that and pulled it out and pulled the theaters off of it and plucked it out that hot water so we got it all out and then we got it chased down and you know got all that [ __ ] out and had two thighs two eggs and two wings and two chicken breasts that's how many pizzas you get with chicken and how we bath was uh mommy and daddy these two big long tubs horse tubs and we pack water from the creek and heat them on two rocks to the side and get the heat up and back for that for school and then after we get down we'll just take a washboard and scrub our clothes out on it and make them out of our hands and hang them up on a nail in the house that way that'd be dry next morning we're at school but we really really had it right i mean it was horrible but i made it you know i mean he just couldn't do the work we had they had a meal ain't no transportation back in you didn't have no transportation about crank cars and she's rich we had this mural and we lived at the heart of where i was going to take you where shell it is uh we had to go to baton town once the week that once the night became about commodities well we had to go down again so he made that sweat i told you and we took a horse mural down the main town and brought it back with the food on the back of it i mean it's really light if we wanted to eat we had to raise your food and go get the wood that was for furry and you know work we survived uh we beaten the cornbread many times for breakfast supper and dinner this is already because you ain't got the money yeah right you don't get it but this part of appalachia is one of the poorest parts of the country and then you are also in a very poor family in this room that's why because we was poor and didn't have a fancy house and fancy cars so people made fun of us that's how we consider them the whites and they just kept doing it so we got man [ __ ] we're nuts we just showed them we're just good as you are and then i thought we're not rich you're not gonna set your down ass and talk about us we eat we get mine and we don't ask you all for nothing your whole family is pretty notorious in this part of the country right yeah them you're very well known well i got um cemetery i was gonna show you and what's left is this man jessica and uh connie and sue bob and sue bob's in jail she freaked out on drugs don't know what you're doing actually sometimes she acts normal and buddy she gets crazy on that [ __ ] and she starts doing everything so i killed a dog and chopped it up and put it in a bag and take it up and burn it and he'll come to law 15 times i suggest him i've had enough fish [ __ ] now ain't no dog here her mind's gone and y'all to know this [ __ ] i love her but what can i do with her she won't listen to me i'll give her cooked meals and feeding packets drugs are drugs are pretty bad in this region drugs are pretty bad in this region yeah and uh i don't do them when i drink i didn't told that [ __ ] i just smoked pot every now and then i didn't take no pills i got them but for dogs but i got rid of them how many kids do you have i got three kids one's dead and two is a wife and two two girls are with me than me one's 15 i think angel 48 and uh kimberly i raised her she was born in 1903 and i was at the bar karyaking and my friend she would get up here she's in labor you've been married before me yeah three times three times yeah and i went up and made a grunt real fast and had that baby and come out my cousin took the towel he didn't cry she just went like that and he didn't hand it to that woman and the ambulance well i thought her in the house i said getting a baby debbie i want to see it for she goes i said lord it's your angel i'm going to breathe my mouth please bring her right i put my mouth over her nose your mouth and breathe as hard as it could really slow and she came out of it and looked me in the face and eyes at me and i said boy you let me keep her she's 18. and i'll uh y'all you go and take me on out here you know i gotta go with these kids ain't got more one and mommy don't want them have you ever considered leaving west virginia have you ever considered leaving west virginia sometimes i think about where you and then when i think about i want to go to tennessee i know there's money that'll be made i can make it every night i can have anything i want i've done been down there about it down through opry have you traveled around the country yeah if i can yeah they come and get me where have you been i've been to north oh god i've been in north carolina south carolina virginia georgia florida california new york you've been around uh yeah i've been everywhere alabama uh [ __ ] i mean whoever was and they've done shows and now all i had to do was just go on stage and and sing loretta lynn and to help dress code same family condition it started but he didn't know the words so i had to fill in for him how would you describe your brother jessica he's a famous uh he's like a little cult figure dancer right yeah when he sets his mind or something he's he he means he's a musician too right yeah do you if he tells you something you better believe it because he won't lie to you that's one thing he won't do and i can't go see man got no car if i had a car i'd go sing yeah he's in tennessee now i probably have to be harassed to get in there because man i got into it i went down three times in that little red car i bought and every time i went she wouldn't cook and who the hell cook mashed potatoes green beans corn and mac and cheese and set it on the stove and then go outside and turn the meat over ain't even done just put on tell me about living here in in this part of the country i mean the the hillbilly culture is is strong here i mean every like pretty much everybody here is yeah everybody everybody here is doing about the same thing i didn't think i'd live to see madison or boone county the [ __ ] i see him out of people you know backpackers and sleeping on a creek bank i'll take and show you he's got a tree built up in his creek down there uh my house down the hill there over there i take your show you've got a house me at the middle of the creek and every time the water comes it washes it out and he goes right back builds it back again here here in appalachia a lot of people live in the abandoned houses yeah they do they work in all kinds of houses and they i'm not just that they steal stuff they go to the goodwill and get stuck in and take and sell it brand new stuff i've seen it they go crop pops and everything there are people have a lot of people that you knew from earlier in your life left the region have a lot of your the people that have lived that you grew up with have they left west virginia yeah they it's like um it's so poor here anywhere i go i don't feel comfortable because it's like a ghost town and when i go to bennytown i have to go purple sun or twilight and you know just like going into ghost town everybody's inside you don't see nobody walking no cats no dogs and i have first little dad came to each other and it's like a little community anybody that takes care of each other and i don't i find a place if i grow up this is my hometown i was born raised up there over the best years of your life what were the best years of your life oh well when i started filming really because when i was growing up i had to hustle and wrestle and go sit and dance and then my mercy would dance and me and would give us some money but we never drank we never take the opening we just went down played money and danced got mad and danced to the jukebox and it was good times then after god i married this boy to get away from home i never respect whipping he tried to get me [ __ ] i got a big knife i said yeah i feel like come here ain't getting [ __ ] for me [ __ ] i remember you get out here waiting and i left never went back more and then uh i met eddie connie chapman sale at a gas station and he fell in love with me and i sort of like tam to make miss suddenly jealous of the mouse's daddy and we got together and got married and stayed together about seven months then he started cheating on me i just slowed my [ __ ] up and left told him bye-bye and then i married jake angel's daddy i was murdered in seven years and well it was pretty good a little bit my marriage with him he's pretty good decent help me [ __ ] and then he got the cirrhosis to the liver and diabetic and he uh he died with us to live and we got the bar apart and they caught and told us we got the hell out i went up and got him and then took him he got turned blue from here all the way around so you've been you've been in love before you've been in love before yeah three times one time i met eddie connie the second time uh it took me years and years to get over him he died and he got his diabetes and took his leg off and he died he did old chat with him but i voted him for years and years and years but i got open it wasn't easy about cracking the idea what's been the hardest time of your life when i was growing up had digging wells and go get cold out of mountain snow on and stuff and build the bridge across the creek so we get over to the bus stop we had to go to school barefoot snow's on and we'll show you where did you go in school i went to 8th grade and quit [Music] [Applause] count it off southwestern regional jail to accept this call press zero to refuse this call this call is from a correction facility and is subject to monitoring and recording thank you for using global tell link are you doing i'm starting to soldier damn i'm down here filming i'm making my doing another movie i'm down here feeling it's all at the house i talked to everybody in the pod they said if he comes in here he's good you know yeah i mean uh i guess jessica was trying to talk to me uh dakota just a few minutes ago and i guess that you know i mean they didn't comprehend right you know i mean they shot a letter down here saying this business you know i mean but he what happened was he went in and got a pickle suit and went down there and told on some stuff and you know what i mean it was petty you know what i'm saying but you know i mean i talked to the people and they're like well you know i mean i pulled your strings yeah well i appreciate it you're welcome amy you know i do anything for you how's jessica doing she's doing all right yeah she got the house waiting on me i'm down here i'm done i'm down here at the park avenue filming if there's guys in california and they move me right how long do you think you'll be i'll call i'll call back and talk to her well probably about an hour or two you can't tell by me i might give me some beer and get on a good i'll see you later honey all right take it easy [ __ ] sorry it's okay so uh do you uh do you go through uh emotions like depression anger stuff like that yeah i do that on time constant it don't look real good to tell about it what's wrong with me because they're too busy wanting to cramp and hit the damn road and get those and none of those don't happen for that i got everything wrong with me i got all kinds of different operators in me and it's drawing his finger right here it won't go down but sometimes it will go up one down and then my face gone the doctor said the nerves were damaged and i got sisters in him he can't cut him out except he did that my people decay so he wrote me a diabetic prescription and told me get the doctor write me new minds and they won't write me any rhymes because i smoke pot so i'll get them off the street and they just keep them and going like that and then my back gets messed up the total it's wiped out too we've done three miles on it's total everything i'm just told i'm trying to tell them i'm ready for the junkyard what what do you worry about what are you afraid of uh i'm not afraid you know the only thing i'm worried about is trying to get my babies back out here for three years and god knows that i take care of that babies better than anybody i went down to the conference set and sold pictures and autographs until i got 50 bucks and gave it to her [ __ ] to take them baby so they could buy them rights and then give them another bit they'd buy them something to eat with and if i hadn't done that they wouldn't do it if the birthday comes around i make the party better stuff have a party for they don't about it you have a lot of friends that are involved in drugs and no i mean i do but i don't fool with them on that you know i can't control everybody i um i said this here everybody is going to get on that mess i'm talking about the hospitals restaurants banks stores uh any big publicly sooner or later everybody's gonna be on it and next thing you know we're gonna be out here fighting for our life to keep her home and keep food stuff here it's the kind of around demand people can't see what's the most popular drug man crystal meth i guess i don't do it i tried and i didn't like it i don't like speed i don't i do dope won't do another smoke pot and take neurons and i have to take them i won't be able to walk and clean my house and stuff what are you proudest of in your life what are you proudest of in your life the proudest part of my life when we came famous on the movie made it in 1991 the dancing outlaw and from that day on i woke up and i've been on it ever since you're like a like a little celebrity from that yeah yeah and your brother too what's your biggest regret what's your biggest regret regret dying i don't want to die and leaving babysitting 18 like i've done the hell your grandkids your grandkids you're talking about yeah the two do they come in little girls they're two and three-year-olds and they let my friend have him and she won't let me see him [ __ ] and i had him for three years just take him out of my heart like i snapped him and then the one was 18 i raised she found a boyfriend i was hooked up with him waiting for the 18th to around and come around she all there something moved up with me so i got this man mouse and angel are you religious no i'm going to start probably going how can you when they run in and out some dope all night long like deers i'd still wait and guard make sure they don't pack their food out enough to backpackers you call the the i go i go through the drug addicts backpackers the drug addicts are called backpackers yeah they they steal [ __ ] but we come up one day i never a friend of mine he wiped out and had things like that sticking [ __ ] out of garbage oh um pop lids uh those stick broke like it's crazy what's wrong with packing your [ __ ] oh it's uh it's with my head you're crazy that's out here i'll pay my go his wife is mine like [ __ ] he said stay up all night and play out and plunder i don't like this [ __ ] i'm talking keep me awake that's crazy what would you say is the most important lesson you've learned in your life well when the we moved out of bennytown this guy live inside of us and he get to wind and watch us lay out in the sun and daddy caught him one day and told him about it and he said something that he said but [ __ ] you then i'll move we packed up and he showed him the land we moved moved from there and uh went down ducks branch and lived there and that's where i left that i went married this boy worked at this store and he's in love with me but i wasn't enough of him how cause i had to do all the chores you know mommy go to madison get groceries we had at the house clean when she get back i'm going by sweeping mopping washington driving that thing i mean i had a strict father my mom didn't do too much my dad was strict maybe what mean to us is just a strict father but we made it you know it was a rough road to go down i don't know if i could go down right now with my help like yes let's see they got everything shut off now so who we live they got the roads cut off but lines and stuff up in there and it's like a ghost town up there what do you think the future is for this region you know the coal mines seem to be drying up and uh drugs seem to be stronger than ever well if they would get rid of the the drugs and this they piled out the world will turn different it makes people eat it makes them sleep it calms them down but map gets them into stealing [ __ ] killing odin and don't know what they're doing geeking getting [ __ ] pointed out open level cabinet door in the kitchen let's see them open and why not now they're looking for so the world ought to stop the drugs whoever made it and this let the part go and it would be the wonderful that's what we need to possibly do mommy said maybe i'm saying right now drugs and then i'm going to figure this is going through the world and she was right everything she told me to happen about the end of time camera and always stuff i know a lot all right well thank you so much for sharing your story you're much welcome anytime thank you john come down he climbed me one hang out with me never nobody really don't come up with us to come up with a mouse and then they go do their thing i sit and watch two events like they're joining us

Channel: Soft White Underbelly

Views: 643,697

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Id: qCIS2prGpis

Length: 20min 57sec (1257 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 27 2021