Back To School: Nicest People I've Ever Met Live in Grundy



Here's another thing I want to remind faculty, students, alumni, and potential students about.  The nicest people you will ever meet live here. Yesterday, Matt Hardin, a student at Appalachian School of Law, posted this unsolicited comment to my morning blog: "My personal experience is that all of the world's nicest people live in Grundy."

The people in southwest Virginia combine Southern hospitality with a heapin' dose of mountain hospitality to create a very open-hearted and supportive community.  They welcome students into their churches, civic organizations, charitable enterprises, and homes.

This place and the people who live here embrace you with their beauty, calm determination, work ethic, generous spirits, and loving kindness.  Many have so little and yet they share so much.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life of Brian: Negotiation Strategies Illustrated in Film

Image
Culture  and the  Length of the Negotiation Dance Culture can dictate the length of the negotiation dance by determining the number of rounds of concessions and the amount of each expected concession. In cultures in which the parties expect more haggling, parties will make 12-15 offers/counter-offers.  A clip from   Montey Python's Life of Brian , starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, illustrates haggling in a way we'd expect from this group. Brian Cohen, played by Chapman, is trying to escape the pursuit of Roman Centurions by buying a beard as a disguise.  The frightened consumer, however, cannot buy it at the sticker price.  He is forced to haggle.   In sharp contrast , a U.S. consumer has a low tolerance for the negotiation dance.  He or she t ypically will make only 2 or 3 rounds of offers.   As a result, U.S....
Read more

Dispute Resolution Theory, Thai Culture, and Expectations of a "Farang" Spouse or Boyfriend.

Image
Rugged Individualism versus People Concerned About their Role in the Collective Well-being of Family I plan to retire to Thailand in the summer of 2020.  My weekly treatments with a talented Thai massage therapist, Mena, have suddenly involved language lessons and cultural translations over our two hour sessions together. Today, we skipped the language lessons.  Instead, I raised a question arising from my look at the postings on various Thai-related Facebook groups.  Male-dominated groups regularly discuss relationships with Thai women, both spouses and girlfriends.  I'll spare you the seedier details. One recent post, by a thoughtful 72-year old Western man, asked whether "farang" men had a hard time getting their Thai spouses or girlfriends to open up emotionally.  He had studied and written books about relationships, and so came at the topic with a scholar's curiosity. I asked Mena what she thought in response to the question....
Read more

12th Al Jazeera Forum: Session 4 - Changing Alliances in the Region

Image
Where is the Middle East Heading? On April 28-29, 2018, Al Jazeera held its 12th Forum providing an opportunity for leading scholars and other experts to discuss a variety of topics affecting the Arab world.  The website for the forum,  @aljazeeraform , provides additional information and links to the videos of each session.  You can follow the Twitter coverage at  #AJForum . As I noted in my  first post  in this series, I am working from my notes, so I apologize in advance if I incorrectly paraphrase the remarks of any speaker. I was also reliant on the quality of the translation services and their audibility. Therefore, I am happy to make any needed edits to this summary. For summaries of the other sessions see: Opening Session Session 1: The Gulf Crisis Session 2: Iran and the Gulf Session 3: Change in the Region? Session 5: Palestine and the "Deal of the Century" Session 6: The Media During Times of Crisis Session 7: Where is th...
Read more