On confronting stereotypes, are you guys familiar with any of Dwight Billings’s work?  I think University of Kentucky press has published his books.  There’s a good contingent at UK who produce literature on the subject, and Kentucky’s stereotypes are our stereotypes as well.

As far as the hillbilly goes, we could do a hell of a lot worse for a starting point in stereotyping.  People, for the most part, are fascinated by the hillbilly character and have been for many decades (really, the boom for the image came with silent movies; see, Williamson’s "Hillbillyland: What the movies did the the mountains and what the mountains did to the movies").  There is a reason that Pikeville’s "Hillbilly Days" festival is the second largest draw in Kentucky (second only to the Kentucky Derby):  People get to celebrate the character; people get to meet real people from the region and see that they are indeed not the character; people know their money is going toward a good cause (Shriner’s children’s hospital projects).

After much research and study, I really believe that the more lucrative and more comfortable (for locals and outsiders) would be a happy medium where we celebrate our heritage while celebrating our future (which surely is different from, though influence by, our heritage). 

"There is always a lag between the end of an age and the realization that the age has ended." –Walker Percy

@ David – Singapore, KS, right?  Thank you for sharing an outsider’s perspective.  We have our problems like every other state (or country), but it’s still just as beautiful today and has a lot to offer.  You have a standing invitation for dinner on me the next time you find yourself state-side and around these parts.