www.newrivervalley.com

Amish boys in Giles County by Matt Gentry

Besides asking nosey questions for a living, the best part of being a reporter -- for me, anyway --is immersing myself in other people's lives. Usually it's just getting to know an interesting or influential person. But sometimes, you get to infiltrate a whole culture, like the Amish communities of Giles County.

This has happened to me a few times in the past, like the time I had dinner with a woman from Egypt. The first time I met her was in the doctor's office. She shook my hand, even hugged me. But afterwards, I couldn't have picked her face out of a crowd because when we met, she was wearing a head-to-toe berka. I couldn't even see the color of her eyes through the little mesh rectangle cut into the heavy black fabric.

My editor at the time was as excited as I when I got an invitation to the Blacksburg apartment where the woman lived with her husband, who was at the time the Imam of a mosque in town.

The food was great -- a traditional Egyptian meal made with Halal meat (similar to Kosher), and various side dishes. The 20-year-old immigrant even stopped to pray halfway through the meal, turning towards Mecca and bowing as required.

The next morning when I got to the office, the editor was eager to hear details.

"Guess what's under the berka," I said devilishly.

"What?!"

"Black leather pants, stiletto heels and a tight-fitting blouse. Some serious lipstick, too," I said.

I swear it's true. As the Imam explained proudly, when she is outside, she is modest. Inside the house, she's beautiful.

My most recent immersion, however, has been into the world of the Amish of Giles County, specifically the Walker Mountain Community Farm in White Gate. A story about the businesses there and relationships that have sprung up between the Amish and their "English" (as they call them) neighbors is slated to publish in the Aug. 3 Current.

For me, the biggest revelation has not been their plain dress or their religious customs or the fact that they hold themselves apart from the wider world. Detailed descriptions of these aspects of Amish life, after all, have been documented ad nauseum.

No, the thing that it's really taken me some time to understand and accept has been their relationship with the telephone. Most Amish communities strictly regulate telephone use. The devices are not allowed inside homes. I didn't even see a phone present inside any of the half-dozen retail stores on the mountain, even though all the businesses and even the residents have telephone numbers, which they give out to people.

Giles County Amish phone shanty by Tonia Moxley

Instead, there are little "phone shanties" scattered across the mountain. Residents have their own extensions and voicemail accounts attached to main numbers. "Press 7" for this or that person, etc. Some check their voicemail more frequently than others, making it a challenge for me, someone used to ringing up the town manager or town attorney just about anytime to check a fact or ask a follow-up question.

That's not the way it works when you're interviewing the Amish. And I realized something today as I was waiting anxiously for a callback, my deadline hanging over my head.

Part of the charm of their lives is not feeling the kind of stress that comes with telephones and newspaper deadlines.

-- Tonia Moxley