Mark Kidd's Blog

01/09: Heading out to Virginia

On the Move

I've accepted a position with the United States Office of Surface Mining VISTA program, and starting in mid-January I will be serving as the Watershed Conservation Coordinator in Dante, VA. I'll be moving to a beautiful area of the Appalachians that has shown me both beauty and the serious challenge facing communities that are being confronted with economic and environmental consequences stemming from long-term extraction of coal.

The chance to work community development jumped out when I first heard about this project, and I'm excited at the chance to explore some new surroundings. Dante, Virgina lies in Russell County, which encompasses some of the rolling hills like I've seen farther north along the Blue Ridge Mountains. These photos were taken near the county seat of Lebannon, where the valley stretches wide along both sides of the highway and cattle graze along the outcroppings.

In Dante, the hollows are nestled tightly between mountains, and the a primary focus of my work will be to ensure that the streams that flow through each of these valleys has water with fewer contaminates.

My house is situated in Sawmill Hollow, one of the hollows that has had fewer and fewer residences since the decline in local industry during the last few decades.

I'm living in a cozy little house in Sawmill Hollow, just about a half-mile from the Dante museum where I'll be working.


Mom and Jillian were a huge help in getting the place clean and set up for me to live in. Without their expert assistance, I would have had a lot less bleach on hand.

05/09: Presentation on the Great Stalacpipe Organ and other musical caves

I would like to invite anyone and everyone who is interested to hear a
short presentation I will be making on the long and fascinating
relationship between caves and musical performances. The meeting of the
Blue Grass Grotto of the National Speleological Society begins at 7.30pm
on Tuesday, May 16 in the UK Minerals and Resources Building on Rose
Street, and though I'm not sure exactly when I'll be talking, my portion
of the evening will be about 15-20 minutes.

My topics that night will focus a little on the general history of
musical performances in caves (in particular the Kentucky karst cave
systems and those in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia), lithophones --
instruments made of rock, and the most spectacular example of a
lithophone that I am aware of, The Great Stalacpipe Organ of Luray Caverns.

The meeting will be pretty informal and 'intimate' (small); It will also
serve as a great way to ask any burning questions you may have of real
speleologists who will be attending.


Thank you,
Mark

07/17: quote of the moment

Hatred is the most poisonous human emotion. It blocks the capacity to empathise that lies at the heart of human association. It turns the object of the hatred into just that - an object. It robs the hater of his or her fundamental human quality - humanity. In so doing, it opens the door to the most callous and depraved acts that one human being can commit against another. -- Will Hutton