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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (April 29, 2002) — Storyteller Anndrena Belcher will share stories about her childhood move from Appalachia to urban Chicago at Tuesday’s 11 a.m. convocation at Milligan College. Her performance is part of a fine arts focus at Milligan this week.
Born in Pike County, Ky., Belcher’s family migrated to Chicago when she was a child, but continued to spend summers with her grandparents in eastern Kentucky. “Ridin’ Route 23,” her performance on Tuesday, will draw visual snapshot images of her bi-cultural lifestyle between the eastern Kentucky coalfields, urban Chicago, and the road that connects the two.
“We always thought of the mountains as our real home. The summers and holidays spent with my grandparents were magical. Their stories and songs of everyday life strengthened my identity as a child of the mountains,” said Belcher, who will use personal stories, fairy tales, poems and narrative clips to share her story.
Belcher returned to the South in 1976 and has since worked in post-secondary education and in the arts as a storyteller, singer, dancer and actress. She has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., as well as storytelling festivals in New Zealand, Utah, Seattle, North Carolina, and Ohio. She has performed for several Kentucky Educational Television programs and documentaries.
She holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Northeastern Illinois University, and a master of arts in social sciences, with a major concentration in Appalachian studies and rural in-migration.
Belcher believes the arts are essential to developing leadership, self-confidence, self-identity and creative thinking.
Belcher’s performance is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Student Life Office at 423.461.8735.
Milligan is a private Christian liberal arts college in Northeast Tennessee, nationally recognized for academic excellence. Consistently named one of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, Milligan’s vision is to change lives and shape culture through a commitment to Christian leadership. For more information, visit www.milligan.edu or call 800-262-8337.