The Quiet Gift

BY KRISTY HORINE

Chris Green grew up in Lexington.

“It ain’t Appalachia,” he said with a laugh.

And yet Green lives out the legacy of deep Appalachian roots that plunge into mountain soil, fill crevices between rock and coal, and anchors his commitments in the world. These days, as the director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center (LJAC) at Berea College, Green uses the whole of the Appalachian story to help others find and tell their own stories.

It’s the desire to know people and their stories that keeps Green coming back for more. That, and the fact that it’s his job.

Green is not only the director of the LJAC, but he is also an associate professor of Appalachian Studies and former chair of the college’s Appalachian Studies Department. A widely published writer, regional poet, and a literary and social historian, Green shares the beauty and goodness of all things Appalachian with others.

“I love people, and I love helping people tell their stories and helping people feel heard,” Green said. “I have to be careful if I go out of my office and we have a visitor come to the center, and they want to tell me a story of their grandparents. I’m just gonna sit down in a rocking chair because whatever they’re going to share, I’m going to learn. I learn about that person’s heart. I learn about their world and where they’re from, and I grow from those stories, too.”

The giving and receiving of stories is an integral part of the mission of the LJAC, Green said, and it is a quiet gift. He employs his own version of this quiet gift inside the classroom, the center, and beyond. He’s delivered lectures at Hindman Settlement School’s annual writer’s conference. He has also reviewed, edited, and endorsed a score of scholarly, fiction, and poetry book manuscripts for presses in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Georgia. Green teaches his students how to listen. He curates stories, information, and history, and then connects those elements to others who might not even know they needed an Appalachian infusion.

At the end of the day, Green waters and tends all Appalachian roots – roots that have been here for centuries, and roots that have yet to take firm hold. He does it because he cares, and he cares because he knows the value of all people.

“When I think of Appalachia, I think of service. And I’m not thinking of outside folks serving people inside. I’m thinking of the way that there is a sense of openness and care that people have for each other. For folks on the outside, they might not be able to see that at first, but if you’re able to sit with somebody for a while, you’ll see it, and you’ll feel it, too.”

So for today, and tomorrow, and for as long as he can, he’ll smile, pull up a rocking chair, and open his quiet gift for Appalachia and beyond.