Project I-57

 Question:  What do you think life is like in a mining town in southern Illinois -- good and bad points?
What are the people like who live there?
Which is a better place to live - Fisher or a mining town in southern Illinois?  Why?

I don't know.

(M who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I don’t know.

(M who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

Good because there are a lot more football and other sports.  Bad ... I don’t know.

They are mostly into sports and wrestling too.

Fisher [is better]; I know a lot more people here than there.  I don’t really want to live in southern Illinois.

(M who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

The air would not be that good.  It would be a good job for people though.  I don’t know [what kind of peple live there].

Fisher [is better].  The air would be better plus Fisher is where I live.

(M who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I do not know.  Good points it would be small, bad points loud explosions. I don’t know [what people are like there].  Fisher not as loud.

(M who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

1. Probably the same up here.
2. I have no idea [what people are like there].
3. I’ve never been down there.

(M who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois )

Life in mining town is busy and I think that's pretty good [unclear] because we need more coal  and rock.  I think it’s bad because of the messes they can make with oil.  I don’t know what the people are like in mining town.  Fisher [is better] because it’s not so busy and messy, and it would be crowded because of the hills around [unclear] rock area.

(M who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

Good points are you can get a lot of oil or gold.  Bad points are it's dangerous.  I would rather live in Fisher because there's not as much heavy work going on and there's more room to do stuff.

(M [no further information])

I don't know.

(M who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I don't know.

(F who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I don’t know what life is like in a mining town is like.  I  have no idea what the people are like who live there.  Fisher is probably a better place to live.

(F who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

1. dirty and dangerous.
2. bad and good people
3. a mining town [is better]. I like to get dirty and I like danger.

(F who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I don't know.

(F who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

Bad: cause the mine could blow up then we wouldn’t have any money.

Fisher [is better] because there are no mines or anything like that.  It’s more quiet here.  There is not any robberies or any thing like that.

(F who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I think it would be Bad.  Bad points/pollution.  Good points, none.  Don’t know [what the people are like]?  Fisher [is better].  Quiet town with NO pollution.

(F who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

I don’t know [about life or the people].  Fisher [is better] because it is quiet nice people, little, and just a nice place to live.

(F who doesn't know if she has visited Southern Illinois)

I don’t know.  Good - I would get to see a lot of family and bad points - the explosions.  People are very.  Fisher [is better] because it is a nice place to be.

(F who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

1.  I think life in a mining town wouldn't be so cool to live in a mining town.
2.  They're very nice people my great aunt lives there.
3. I would like to live right where I am NOW.

(F who has visited someone in  Southern Illinois)

1. I guess kind of polluted and hard to breathe in that smokey air.
2.  Fisher [is better] because not as polluted.
3. I have no clue [what the people are like].

(F who has never visited anyone in Southern Illinois)

1.  I think it would be kind of cool.  The good things are that you would probably know a lot about mining.  The bad things are that if you didn’t like mining you would not like it there.
2. I don’t know [what the people are like].
3.  I don’t know [which town is better] because I have never been to a mining town.

(F who doesn't know if she's visited someone in Southern Illinois)

I don’t know [about life or the people].

I think Fisher is a better place to live because there is less crime.  I also think that Fisher is a better because I like small towns and Fisher a small town.

(F who has visited someone in Southern Illinois)

N.B.  Spelling has been corrected at teacher request. The M and F after each essay refer to the student's gender.   [ E. Remington's class (above) ]

I think life in a small mining town is sort of quiet. I think a good thing about a small mining town is that it is so quiet that hardly ever gets disturbed. I think a bad thing is that someone could trip and fall in to a mine shaft. I think the people their are probably sort of ordinary.

I'd rather live in Fisher than a small mining town. Another bad thing is if you are a miner you could get black lung disease. The reason I think it might be a quite town is that we don't  really need coal anymore so most of the mines are abandoned.
 
(M who has visited Chicago)

The life of a miner is very dangerous.  A miner's life is also wealthy.  I'd say that the  people that live there always have headaches.

I would live in  Fisher because it's a small town.  Fisher is a quite place to live.  Fisher is also a very good town.
 
(M who has never visited Chicago)

I think life in a mining town would be noisy and dangerous. The good things are that it is quieter because the towns are farther apart. The second thing is the towns are alot smaller and so they don't have very many gangs so that you can't get robbed or hurt.  The bad things are that you could get hurt in the coal mine because a piece of coal could fall on you.  The second thing is that you might not have computers because you might not have enough or the school might not have enough money to buy one.  I think the people would be nice.

I think Fisher is a better place to live because it is not as dangerous and it is not as far from a different town.
 
(F who has visited Chicago)

I think a small mining town would be kind of nice.  I would like to imagine it nice and quiet.  But there is not as many jobs there and the people are probably boring to me.  Some people just sit around waiting for some thing exciting to happen ,but not me . I would probably do something unordinary to them.

Fisher is way more exciting than a small mining town in southern Illinois. All my friends are here not in some mining town.  I have lots more things to do that are not unusual.

(M who has never visited Chicago) 

It would be fun to live in a mining town. Why?  Because they dig up coal.The people would be nice and a lot of fun. Why?  It would be fun helping people dig up coal. Why?  Because they will be nice to people that live in Fisher. Why? Because Fisher Schools are nice and no robbers come here barely. Oh by the way there's dangerous equipment in mining towns.

(F who has never visited Chicago) 

I think it might be annoying  hearing the trains going  by at night but I guess you would get use to it after all. I also think it might be kind of cool  living by all those coal trains and getting up in the morning watching them go by. I also think the people there are very nice.

(M who has visited Chicago) 

 I think what is good about living in a mining town in southern Illinois is that it has good farming, hunting.  It wouldn't be too noisy and it would be nice to live there.  The bad thing is that they're not mining anymore so some people might not want to live there.  I think that the people would be nice and friendly.

I think that Fisher is a better place to live than living in a mining town in southern Illinois.

(M who has visited Chicago) 

I think life in a mining town is sort of weird.  Good points of a mining town are they dig up different kinds of gems. Then they can take them to the banks and cash them in for money. Another good point of a mining town is if a tornado comes along they could go into the mine and be safe.

Bad points of a mining town could be if they went underground, and it collapsed they would be caught and would not be able to get out. People that do mining underground could be hurt very badly. They could be cut by metal or other sharp items. If they go too far down, they could die because of heat and the pressure. Life in a mining town is not a good idea because of all the coal dust. The people could die because they could get what was called black lung.

I would not like to live in a mining town because, if I went underground I could die. I would not be able to do things I am able to do now. I would not be able to go to school, or have any fun with my friends because I would be underground. If I was in a mining town there would be too much coal dust in the air, and we would have a hard time breathing. If I lived in a mining town, I would probably have no friends because everybody would be underground with me.

I would rather live in Fisher because it is safer. We do not have to go underground. I can go to school and have my friends to play with in Fisher. I can walk on the sidewalk by myself. I can go to the store and get things for my mom or dad. I can go to my friends and play with them.

(M who has visited Chicago)

I think  life  in  Southern  Illinois  is  like  not  very  crowded and  busy.  The  good  part  about  Southern  Illinois  is  that  it's nice  and  quiet.  The  bad  part  about  Southern  Illinois  is  the  old dangerous  mining  machines  that  might  fall  down.

I think  that  people  in  Southern  Illinois  are  like  really nice.  I  think  the  people  in  Southern  Illinois  are  nice  because they  don't  have  to  worry  about  traffic  jams  or  being  late.  I also  think  that  the  other  people  who  live  in  Southern  Illinois are  nice  too,  but  I  don't  because  I've  never  lived  there  or visited  there.

I think  that  Fisher  is  a  better  place  to  live   because  it doesn't  have  dangerous  old  mining  machines  that  can  fall  down  and hurt  someone.  I  think  Fisher  is  a  better  place  to  live  because there  are  not  underground  mining  shafts  that  could  cave  in  and trap  people.  I  also  think that  Fisher  is  a  better  place  to  live because  Fisher  is  a  farming  community  and  is  a  safer  more profitable  community.

I think Fisher  is  a  better  place  to  live  because  the  ground is  all  ready  settled  to  build  a  house  on  but,  if  you  steam roll  a  mound  of  dirt  from  when  people  mined  and  build  a  house on  it  you  have  a  chance  of  it  settling  and  ruining  your  house. Since  Fisher  is  a  farming  community  it  will  probably  be  around  a lot  longer  than  a  mining  community.  These  are  the  reasons  I picked  Fisher  than  a  mining  town  in  Southern  Illinois.
 
(F who has never visited Chicago)

I think life in a mining town would be cool because I think it would be fun to watch them if you live near by. It could be dangerous too. I think there are nice and bad people too.
 
Southern Illinois would be better to live in because it is quiet there.
 
(M who has never visited Chicago)

I think life in a  mining town in southern Illinois is small . The good points are it probably is not so busy like a bigger town . It's bad points are it could be polluted and dangers because it may have big machinery . The people that live there are adjusted to the town .

I think Fisher is a better place to live because it is not as dangerous and it probably is not as polluted.  I like Fisher.

(M who has never visited Chicago)

Well, I think that life would be kind of nice to live in Southern Illinois.  There would be more doctors. There would be some bad points too. Like the pollution. It would kill a lot of animals. I think the people who live there would probably be pretty nice. I think some of the people would be kind of mean.

I think Fisher would be better than Southern Illinois because you wouldn't have to live with all the pollution and noise.
 
(F who has never visited Chicago)

I  think  life  in  southern  Illinois  would  be  really  quiet  on  the farms. And  I  think  in  the  city  would  be  noisy.

I   think  Fisher  would   be  better  because  ITS  NOT  THAT  LOUD  AND NOISY!!!!
 
(M who has visited Chicago)

The good part about mining towns is people are real friendly. The bad part about mining towns that it has no grocery stores and it is very noisy.

I picked Fisher because it is fun to play at. People are nice and I have a lot of friends there. And the school their is fun to go to, we have snow, stores and a lot of toys.
 
(M who has never visited Chicago)

A mining town is probably noisy and dangerous. Some of the people there are miners who mine coal. There is a lot of dangerous points about mining town because there is a lot of machines. Like for example, if your ball went into a mine you could not get it out. A good point about living in a mining town is that you can get a lot of coal. If you had a furnace that you had to use coal with this would be a good town for you. Some of the people there are very poor. Some of the people are more fortunate and work at a nice place and can live in better homes.

I think that Fisher is a better place to live because it is not as dangerous as the mining town in Southern Illinois. Children do not have to worry about where they play.
 
(F who has visited Chicago)

Mining towns life is like good and  bad because when you  go  in the mines you could get  hurt .And  the good points about mining towns are that when you are living in a farm it is quiet there. They like to live in mining town because they like to live in cities and like to mine in mining towns. I don't really know because they are good  places to live in

Fisher is good because there is nice people living here  and mining  towns are good  because  you could get  coal and you can get  lot of  electricity at your house. You  can sell coal  to other people to use the coal.

(F who has visited Chicago)

I think that mining towns would be good because people would find gold, oil, silver and coal. I think the bad things are that the mine could cave in and hurt people.  Also they could close the mine and people would lose their jobs.

I think the people are very hard workers and they might be greedy. I think Fisher is a better place to live because the people aren't greedy and there aren't as many robberies.
 
(M who has never visited Chicago)

I think life in a mining town is noisy. One bad point is that mining is dangerous. One good point is coal can help us. The people who live there are nice. I would like to live in Fisher. I have a nice teacher. I like my day care too.

(F who has visited Chicago) 

I think living in a mining town would be dangerous.  It would be dangerous because, if you ran into a big machine and, it was running you would probably get hit or hurt badly.  Now for the good points.  One good point about living in a mining town is that you probably wouldn't have an electric stove, you could just use a furnace with coal. There are probably alot of mine workers.  I know that there are some bad people and some good people.

I would rather live in a town named Fisher.  I would rather live in Fisher because, all of my friends live in Fisher and, I really don't like the sound of tractors and, machines.  Plus the tractors and machines go really really slow on the roads and, if I or anybody else were trying to get some where quick and, you were in a NO passing zone you wouldn't be able to pass and, would have to go the same speed limit ass the slow tractor.

(F who has visited Chicago) 

I   think  it  would  be  bad   to  live   in  a mining town  because   of pollution, its  a dangerous  place,noisy , and  might  not  have  a doctor. Some   good things  are  more  forest, good   hunting  and  fishing. To  tell  the  truth  I  have  never   met  an southerner  .  But   I  think I  would  like  too.

I  still  like  Fisher  better!! I   like  the quietness  of   Fisher
 
(F who has visited Chicago)

I think it might be really exciting because they get to use dynamight in the mines. It might be dangerous and people might get hurt from it. I think the people would probably be very nice and friendly to live by. I would like to live in Southern Illinois because they have dynamite.

(M who has visited Chicago)

The good thing about southern Illinois is that they have coal mines.   They are kind of noise and dusty.    Well, the bad thing about southern Illinois is it is kind of polluted. They probably have trouble breathing.

They probably have good and bad people there.     But when I went there there were a lot of people.    Well, I think southern Illinois  is better than Fisher.because it is probably much hotter than fisher and it must be pretty cool.

(M who has visited Chicago)