"Underworld"

Growing up in Dallas, Texas I know little about the life of a coal miner. In fact, pretty much all I know comes from the movies. October Sky, written in 1999, initially comes to my mind. In the film the workers are portrayed as blue-collar hero’s struggling day to day just to make a living the only way they know how. The characters are simple and don’t have many luxuries. They get up early every morning and walk like zombies towards the elevators that will take them underground. They are stern, unhappy, and strictly focused on their jobs. This is my interpretation of what life is like in a coal mining town.

After reading Jeanne Laska’s “Underworld” my opinion regarding the life of a coal miner changed drastically. She doesn’t glorify her characters in to being home-town heroes. Coal mining is a job that pays the bills, it doesn’t define them.

Throughout her writing it is clear that Laska’s did extensive research and did her best to submerge herself into their lifestyle. “I spent months trying to position myself and my world around these people”. In order to accurately represent the coal mining industry, Laska knew it would take more than just one trip down to the mines. In addition to putting on a hard hat and making several trips down to the underworld, she socialized with them off the clock. In one trip to the local strip club Laska spoke with a group of men about the stereotypes of coalminers. “Look at these poor, stupid rednecks who work these awful jobs. Trapped! Suffocating! Buried alive!” It was an out of date interpretation of their lives and portraying them this way would only show her ignorance. She explains the impression that all coal miners are poor and struggle economically is false. Including the fact that coal mining is a $27.6 billion dollar industry allows the reader to realize that coal mining is a profitable. Workers aren’t all stern faced, depressed, poor people. They have friends, family, and a social life.

I enjoyed reading “Underworld” and hope to imitate aspects of Laska’s writing in my feature article. They research she did for this article clears up the myths of Hollywood’s heroic coal miners and makes the characters real. I’m not saying that these men wouldn’t step up and save a life if the situation didn’t call for it, I’m sure they would but it’s not an everyday occurrence. Through research, establishing credibility and descriptive writing, Laska grabs the attention of the reader and writes a compelling “real-life” feature article.