In this paper, the author describes his own understanding of the process on how he moved from being a working-class boy who experienced school as a digression from his real interest--sports--to someone who had made education his life work. In particular, he describes his own changing gender, race, and class identity within the context of an…

Donald Secreast, author of two collections of stories about life in Appalachia, discusses how his experiences growing up in Lenoir, North Carolina; his parents' lives as factory workers; and his escape into academia influenced his writing. His work presents "place" as a far more complex and conflicted reality of Appalachia than do other…