March 19, 2025, An Interesting And Informative Day In Prestonsburg, Kentucky

On March 19, 2025, my wife Candice and I took a trip to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, to complete a variety of intended actions including a minor amount of shopping, eating out for lunch, and a hike for me at Jenny Wiley State Park where I often hike when we are in Floyd County. Our first stop was at Wal Mart to do a minor amount of shopping, and then off to Jenny Wiley State Park where one of my favorite hiking trails starts near the lodge and has about 4 miles of linked trails around the mountain, over and along the ridge, and a connecting trail which can take you off the mountain to the site of the former Jenny Wiley Amphitheater which still exists as a building but is, sadly, no longer in use due to the demise of the Jenny Wiley Summer Music Theater which functioned there for several decades. When we got to the park, I left Candice reading in the van as I often do and headed out to hike toward the trailhead near the lodge. As I approached the trailhead, I could see yellow construction barrier tape across the start of the trail with a printed message taped to a post. The message stated that this portion of the trail was closed due to a mudslide, and that the remaining portions of the trail could be accessed at the amphitheater spur. I started back in that direction, stopped for a few minutes to read the names and text on a monument to the children and bus driver who died in the 1958 Floyd County School Bus Wreck, and then headed on toward the amphitheater which is situated near the convention center which is used for a variety of purposes including state employee training sessions, weddings, banquets, and other public events. I have even once seen a rained out performance of the Roger Miller written musical "Big River" in the convention center. As I approached the convention center parking lot, I realized that several vehicles including a group of travel trailers, several cars from various othet states, and one or two vehicles actually marked with signs for the American Red Cross were in the parking lot. I realized the convention center must be in use as the stationary site for the Red Cross Disaster Response to the recent flooding in Eastern Kentucky which had devestated larger portions of Eastern Kentucky and Floyd County in particular. I also remembered that the Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge was once again in use as emergency housing for flood victims as it has been used on at least one other occasion under the incredibly effective and compassionate leadership of Governor Andy Beshear. I had to walk past the rear entrance of the convention center to get to the trail and when I turned that corner I saw two people sitting at a table outside the rear entrance. I suspected they were Red Cross volunteers and stopped to verify that and thank them for their work. We introduced ourselves and my hike turned into a long conversation with these two people and a third who showed up a bit later. They were from three different locations in the country, all long term Red Cross workers, one with ten years of service, one with sixteen years of service, and the third with an amazing forty-one years of work with the American Red Cross and on their third deployment to Eastern Kentucky in disasters. Our conversation quickly turned political and they opened up to me about their fears for the future of FEMA and the likelihood that TRAITOR Trump will destroy that agency and further worsen the disaster response to upcoming hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and other disasters. I expressed my own identical opinions and they reassured me that the Red Cross will always continue to provide disaster services since it is a private non-profit agency. But we all agreed that the future response from the federal government to disasters in the next four years, if TRAITOR Trump is not removed from the White House, will be slipshod at best with any federal funding likely to come to the states in block grants which will be pillaged on two or three levels before any of it actually reaches victims themselves. One of these Red Cross workers had actually been part of the response to the most recent Puerto Rican hurricane disaster when TRAITOR Trump was living in White House the first time and sent almost nothing to the people of Puerto Rico for a variety of reasons including his racism, ignorance, TREASON, and total lack of compassion and empathy. It was very refreshing to have this conversation with people who have traveled the world doing good works for the betterment of the human race, who understand the dire straits our country has been in since January 20 2025, and who can speak as openly as I do about the danger which is presented to the country by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate. I never finished my hike due to the length of that conversation but I have put in about a half hour between my parking location at the parking lot of the old golf course, the lodge, the closed trailhead, and the convention center. I also got a second half hour afterward at the Big Sandy Community and Technical College walking track and campus. As I walked across the campus, I encountered the sign at the top of this blog post, realized immediately that it would be considered a violation of TRAITOR Trump's malicious executive order against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and decided to document these signs for my readers before the Right Wing Radical Repugnican head of the state community college system in Kentucky can force these signs to be removed from the campus, and order that racism, sexism, and mysogny be practiced in the community college system across the commonwealth. Below is the seond sign which was available on the BSCTC campus and all the other community colleges in Kentucky.

"Getting The Spirit" by Vernon Abner, Thoughts About An Interesting Little Book

The author "Getting The Sprit", Vernon Abner was a former US Navy sailor who was born in 1937 presumably in Jackson County Kentucky where he spent most of his life. After leaving the US Navy, he entered Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, as a nontraditional student at the age of about 36. During his time at Berea, he took at least one class from my friend Bill Best whose work I have written about several times on this blog. During his career at Berea, Bill Best encouraged many hopeful Appalachian writers and Vernon Abner was one of those. Bill Best actually wrote the preface to this book which was the only published work, to my knowledge, by Vernon Abner. This book was illustrated by Jon Howson with wonderful black and white drawings including the cover which is a portrait of Vernon Abner. Bill Best concluded his preface with these words: "The other students remember him as being "real", as someone who "understood his own life. He helped create in them a desire to understand their own lives more deeply. Those who take seriously this collection of his story will understand." In an essay on the back cover of the book, Carl and Sally Glover wrote "As you read this collection, we hope you celebrate Vernon Abner's humor and wit, feel his sorrow and depression, and share in his love and appreciation for all living beings. We trust that your venture into Vernon Abner's world will reward you for your time and effort." I am unable at this time to verify my belief that the Glovers were the owners of Kentucke Imprints which was the publisher of this book and is now defunct. "Getting The Spirit" was published in 1985, just 4 years before Vernon Abner's death. It is my understanding that this book was his only published work. The book is broken into three sections: Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy. The Fiction section is composed of six short stories which are clearly Appalachian in nature. They are replete with examples of Appalachian aphorisms, cultural qualities, and demonstrate a writer who clearly knew the lifestyle of Appalachians quite intimately and effectively. I cannot say that these are great short stories. But I must insist that I enjoyed them a great deal and would gladly defend them as good examples of short fiction based on Appalachian mores and cultural values. They are at time riotously funny. They contain two central figures, teenage males and neighbors who love to play practical jokes on those around them. The title story is about the boys decision to place a hornet nest under the floor boards of a home where a local preacher is holding a service with the entire neighborhood in attendance with the nest situated in such a way that the hornets are able to invade the church service. Without using direct quotations from the story, rest assured that it is quite funny. For those of you with little direct experience in the Appalachia of the period in which Vernon Abner grew up in the 1940's and 1950's, such home based church services were common and I have attended many in my own childhood. This story is a fine reminescence of life in an Appalachia which is now almost entirely lost. The third story, "Did The Fleas Get To College?" is a rendition of another practical joke which is played on a visiting nurse who travels by horseback. It involves the use of a large number of aggressive fleas which the boys have managed to capture from some hogs which one of their fathers has bought and brought home. It is not quite as funny as "Getting The Spirit" but it is well worth reading. The other stories in the book are not at the same level of writing and humor as the two I have discussed but collectively the group of stories in the book make we wish that Vernon Abner had lived long enough to polish his demonstrated talent, produce more and larger books, and become the writer which his potential could have produced. The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are not at the same level of work as the short stories. The final section of the book, labled Philosophy, contains nineteen short essays of about a page each, perhaps averaging 500 to 750 words each. They discuss a variety of common subjects from everyday life in an interesting, but less than perfect, manner. It is regretable that Vernon Abner had not been able to produce a more lengthy book composed entirely of his short stories. He had obviously been compelled to live a life which required time in the US Navy before his college days, the need to earn his daily bread after arriving at adulthood in one of the more poverty stricken counties in all of Appalachia. Like many native Appalachians, he was born with a sizeable amount of talent and intelligence, a prodigous sense of humor, and a desire to share his world with the greagt world outside. It is a shame that life is sometimes not exactly fair.

Reflections On Reading "Appalachian Anthology: Histories, Historiographies, and Oral Histories of Appalachia" by Diane Alexander

Frequently, I buy books about Appalachia, with Appalachian titles, or some which allegedly cover Appalachian subjects, and sometimes I buy some I have to ask myself later, whey did I do that without digging deeper. This book was described on Amazon as "A collection of Appalachian journal articles, research papers, historiographies, and oral histories prominently featuring Appalachian culture, dialect, and stereotyping. Vignettes of oral history from the 30s and 40s..." It is also apparently one of those books which have been published over the last ten or so years by Amazon under deals which have them sold as printed on demand. As a class of books, I have usually found them to be less than the most rational purchases I have ever made, and I have often stated my intentions to never order another one of this type. But before I come off as totally negative about this book, let me say that it does have some merit, primarily in the purely oral history sections of the book. But it is amazingly redundant in the first two articles or chapters. The first is called "The Forties" and listed as being credited to a Joseph Alexander instead of the listed author Diane Alexander. The second article or chapter is called "Appalachian Youth in World War II: An Oral History" and Diane Alexander is listed as the author of that article or chapter. The first, "The Forties" is a genuine oral history which was apparently written by Joseph Alexander about his experiences during World War II both in the mountains of North Carolina and in Newport News, Virginia, where his parents emigrated to for employment during World War II. As pure oral history, it has merit, is relatively well organized, acceptably written, and covers the emotions of the young man about being removed from a rural Appalachian mountain life to life in a Tidewater city during the war. The second, credited to Diane Alexander, is nothing more than an article, or most likely a high school or college term paper, based on the oral history in the first section. It gives her rendition of several of the same episodes Joseph Alexander discussed in his oral history and the quotes from that oral history are ethically attributed to him. But the highly repetitive and redundant nature of the paper or article leaves it only slightly more than useless. Ms. Alexander would have been far better served to have used only one of the chapters in the book, either the pure oral history or her own conclusions about that oral history with credit to Joseph Alexander. But putting both in the book was a waste of both time and paper. By the time I had read both of these sections of the book, I considered abandoing the remainder which is an act of which I am rarely guilty. But I perserved as I almost always do in such cases since I know that I have also written some things which some people did not really choose to suffer through. I have always thought that is another person suffered through the effort to produce a book they at least deserve the respect to have me finish reading it since I chose to buy it and spend my money on it. The third section of the book, entitled "Firewood", is another piece of oral history written by Joseph Alexander about a chore of his youth in the North Carolina mountains. It has a degree of merit equal to that of his first contribution to the book although most modern readers outside a group of off gridders would find it more meaningful than simply something to read for a brief while. It is acceptable as oral history from a prior era and a man's discussion of a portion of the life which made him the man he was when he wrote it. Thankfully, Ms. Alexander does not insert her own article about this particular oral history. The next section, "Spotlight on Appalachia: Settlers and Speech, Music and Moonshine" by Ms. Alexander makes an attempt to discuss all three of the listed elements of Appalachian Culture over the next fifty pages of the book. After having spent the first twenty years of my life in an Appalachian area of Kentucky where moonshine was commonly made, sold, and consumed, and having grown up in a country grocery store where my parents regularly supplied sugar, malt syrup, cracked corn, yeast, and other items to several local moonshiners, I do know a little more than the average novice about this subject. Ms. Alexander does a minimally acceptable job of discussing the topics, but they would have been better served by having been individually discussed in shorter papers. This particular section also shows what is a common problem with the entire book. It would have been much more readable with a higher level of editorial input from a qualified person. That is a common problem in these books which are produced and sold by Amazon without editorial input. Most of those I have seen by all such authors whose work I have read are short on editorial input and long of errors of both omission and commision in all aspects of writing and language. I did think think about this book long enough to produce a blog post about it. I have also saved some of my readers both their time and money if they take my advice and never buy a copy. If you do decide to ignore my advice about the purchase, please do follow my advice about the utility of Joseph Alexander's oral history and the lack of utility in Diane Alexander's writing about it. It will save you half the time it would otherwise take you to read the book and glean most of the value from it.

American Democracy Is In Grave Danger!

"Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is about eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents--a depressingly low level. But what else can you expect? (Robert A. Heinlein, "Stranger In A Strange Land", Unabridged Edition, page 232.)

"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by an downright moron." (H. L. Mencken)

Those two quotations above tell us all we need to know about the present incredibly dangerous and destructive events which are being perpetrated by the current occupant of the White House, TRAITOR Trump, who literally personifies all that H. L. Mencken and Robert A. Heinlein had to say in those two quotes. While Democracy is the greatest form of government ever created by the human race, it is a system whose very nature causes it to fall prey to dangers which lie within the system of electoral politics which is inherent in a democratic government. For the simple minded, I find it necessary to say that the word "democratic" in the preceding sentence is used in its most generic form. While I am a proud and dedicated lifelong member of the Democratic party, I do admit that there have been times when elected representatives of the Republican party have provided the country with a democratic government which usually functioned in the best interest of the country, the human race, and the world at large. But today, since January 20, 2025, TRAITOR Trump and the Criminal Syndicate which he has managed to install in power after the tragedy of the 2024 election have been working daily, hourly to destroy America, American Democracy, Ukraine, Iceland, Greenland, the Panama Canal, NATO, and literally all forms of democracy in the world today. We have seen a Criminal Syndicate placed in positions of power while posing as a "cabinet". Literally none of these so-called cabinet officers is worthy to hold any position of public trust at any level. This Criminal Syndicate is composed of a Convicted Felon, TRAITOR, Russian Agent, Serial Rapist, Career Criminal, Tax Cheat, and Idiot at its head, one former heroine addict, another accused sex offender or two, a woman who shot her hunting dog because she didn't like the way it hunted, a wife beater whose own mother called him the same to his face, and a motley collection of other miscreants, misanthropes, and idiots. We are seeing thousands of dedicated career employees of the United States government being fired without cause, and many of those firings are coming in departments where the absence of qualified professionals literally creates untold danger to our very nation. Homeland Security has lost at least 400 employees and many of them are intelligence analysts, translators, and undercover agents whose work is necessary to defend our democracy from any future attacks such as September 11, the USS Kohl attack, and January 6, all of which were grave assaults on democracy. Others of the 17 total US intelligence agencies are also losing hundreds of professionals whose lives and careers are dedicated to preserving democracy itself. The Pentagon is also losing hundreds of civilian workers who do the same kinds of work in support of US military forces. We have seen five seperate plane crashes in this country in the last month and the worst of those was apparently in part because air traffic controllers were being fired and one person was attempting to do the job of two when that plane crash happened. The NIH, CDC, and othe agencies working in the area of public health are losing hundreds of workers.The US Department of Health and Human Services has been placed under incredible risky by having a former heroine addict and the world's worst anti-vaccine idiot in charge after his entire extended family stood up in public to tell the entire world that he is incompetent to be in the position he has been given. The FBI is in the hands of a man who has said publicly many times that he wants to destroy the agency. The ambassador to France is the convicted felon father of TRAITOR Trump's son-in-law who is apparently on a mission to attack France because the government of that ally is being run by the man who helped President Biden expand NATO and support Ukraine in their war against the aggression of Vladimir Putin and Russia. A group of young highly questionable computer hackers are now, under the disguise of being government employees, attacking the computer security systems of literally every government agency in the country. And they are being directed and controlled by Elon Musk who is holding billions of dollars of questionable NASA contracts where the lifelong employee at the head of that incredibly important agency was immediately removed becasue he was actually doing the same high quality job he had for his entire career. Just as the two quote above say, democracy's leaders now "reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents--a depressingly low level" and the "White House is adorned by a downright moron who is attempting to destroy our most important strategic alliances in support of his Russian owner Vladimir Putin. NATO, our most important strategic alliance, is under attack by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which places both Ukraine and all of Western Europe in danger. Literally the world is falling apart due to TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate and nearly half the country don't understand the nature of the danger and cheer him on. GOD HELP US ALL!

"Remember Me? A collection of recipes from my years at the Courier Journal" by Alice S. Colombo

I have often said on this blog that I love cookbooks, especially local fundraising type cookbooks from Appalachia and I often buy them from Goodwill, Salvation Army, and and other independent "junk stores". Yesterday, February 14, 2025, I ran into a slightly different type of cookbook and bought it at Goodwill in Paintsville, Kentucky. The title "Remember Me? A collection of recipes from my years at The Courier Journal" is a bit odd for a cookbook. But this one was compiled by a former food writer at the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. Even though it was from well outside Appalachia, I bought it. It was compiled by Alice Colombo and contains many recipes she had been allowed to publish over the years by restaurant owners she had met in her work, some of her own recipes, and others from God only knows where. It was published by a company called Publishers Printing Company in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and that company now appears to be defunct since I can't locate a website or anything about them other than one article saying they had moved several years ago to another location they owned in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. The book is spiral bound, 8 1/2" x 11" and printed on high quality, heavy, slick paper. It does contain a note from the author saying that any of the recipes which carry the "Copyright" symbol had previously been published in the Courier Journal and are copyrighted. This is not either Appalachian or purely Kentucky in nature since it contains several recipes from restaurants the author had either visited in her professional writing days or during personal visits for other reasons and had obtained the owners permissions to publish them. The most interesting of these recipes are from the first three chefs at the famous Brown Hotel in Louisville and are there particular and progressive recipes for the famous Kentucky Hot Brown. They include the recipe of Laurent Gennari who was the first chef at the hotel and worked from 1923 to 1927 and presumably invented the Hot Brown. The next is labeled "The original Hot Brown by Fred Schmidt who worked at the hotel from 1927 to 1930. Although it is labeled "The original Hot Brown...", it is clear that if Mr. Gennari was using his own recipe in the preceding four years, Fred Schmidt didn't invent the Hot Brown and his recipe is not the original. The third Hot Brown recipe is credited to "Mr. Harter" who seems to have worked at the hotel from 1930 to some unknown date which Ms. Colombo reported by saying "Mrs. Clark didn't give the year Mr. Harter left the Brown." But considering the fame which the Hot Brown has achieved in Kentucky and elsewhere, it is nice to find these historic recipes of its development over the early twentieth century. For those of you who don't know about the Kentucky Hot Brown, it is a construction of sliced turkey, cheese, and bacon on white bread toast and is served all over Central Kentucky and several other areas since its invention by whomever, most likely Laurent Gennari, at the Brown Hotel in Louisville close to a hundred years ago. The three recipes in this cookbook don't agree on the spices and minor ingredients. But they show some combination of the following: butter, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, white pepper, and whipping cream. The book also contains recipes from famous or somewhat popular restaurants in Kentucky, Nevada, South Carolina, Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, New York, Louisiana, Florida, California, Ohio, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Illinois,Georgia, Missouri, Michigan, and Virginia. The book is broken into somewhat more sections than most cookbook authors bother to do. They include Appetizers and Beverages; Soups, Chili, and Stews; Salads and Salad Dressings; Breads, Rolls, Muffins, and Sweet Rolls; Vegetables; Grits and Rice; Dairy and Cheese; Sandwiches, Stuffings, and Dressings; Marinades and Sauces; Entrees; Seafood; Casseroles, Eggs, and Quiches; Pasta and Pizza; Nationality foods; Cakes; Frostings, Fillings, Sauces and Syrups; Fruits;PIes and Tarts; Cheesecakes; Cookies and Brownies; Desserts and Puddings; and Candy. Other than the Hot Brown, I have not found a particular recipe which stands out to me as one I would love to try. But the book is over 352 pages and I have to admit that I have not yet fully examined it from cover to cover. The information page of the book states that at the time my copy was published two printings had been produced, the initial of 1,000 copies and a second of 500 copies. Somewhere in a used book store, junk store, or yard sale, you might be able to find a copy. The book does list a website which works as of February 16, 2025, which has a page with a contact form for interested parties to fill out along with an e-mail address for the author. If the book interests you, take a shot at it and you might find a copy. There is also a list of businesses which were selling the book at the time of publication. But with the 2011 publication date, it is probably not a good bet that they are still holding unsold copies.

"The Civil Disobedience Handbook" James Tracy, Editor--A Book Every American Needs To Read---TODAY

The blurb on the back cover of this important little book states "Civil Disobedience is an American tradition, an essential element of a working democracy." Truer words were never spoken. In this terribly tragic time in which TRAITOR Trump is once again is living in the White House and working daily with his Criminal Syndicate which is now posing as a "cabinet", there has has never been a more important time for that majority of American citizens who understand just how endangered our country and our democracy are by this tragic outcome of the most recent election to Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out about the destruction of our country by this worst of all TRAITORS. This book is a brief 94 page primer on the practice of civil disobedience with very valuble information on both the practice of civil disobedience and advice on how to conduct that practice without unduly endangering the practitioners. The one drawback to the book is that it is a bit dated having been published in 2002. James Tracy, the editor, is described on the cover as "...a long time organizer active in anti-poverty work. He is coordinator of Rightto a Roof,a part of San Francisco's Coalition on Homelessness." After having worked in the field of homelessness for over 8 years, I can assure that anyone who has Tracy's experience knows a great deal about the need for civil disobedience. Tracy also lives in Berkeley, California, a location which has always been a proving ground for protest activity in America. The book begins with a short history of civil disobedience in America, then moves on to a full length copy of The Patriot Act. But a word of caution about the reading and acceptance of that version of the Patriot Act is in order since the Patriot Act has been renewed, revised, and replaced by the USA FREEDOM (Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring) Before taking any actions based on Tracy's rendition of The Patriot Act, one should find a copy of Freedom Act as it which has been passed by congress. The book also contains a lenghty list of resources which can come in very handy to anyone who is seeking to use their constitutional freedoms to express discontent with the actions of the current TREASONOUS occupengt of the White House. Much of the general information in the book is just as valid today as when it was published. It would be wise to obtain and read, as will I, the more recent second edition of the book which was published in June of 2024 by Tracy and Jennifer Joseph. But, whatever you do, read one or the other, remember the Freedom Act is now the law, and feel free to express your discontent with the current occupant of the White House both privately and publicly.

"This Proud Heart" by Pearl Buck

On several occasions on this blog, I have written about the works of Pearl S. Buck, one of the small handul of American writers to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature and one of my favorite writers of all time. I have writte3n about "The Good Earth", her most famous novel, which I believe is also one of a very small group of the best novels in all of literature. She followed "The Good Earth" with two other novels in the "Good Earth" trilogy, They are "Sons" and "A House Divided". While either of those novels could have been a career best for many writers, they are not among Buck's best works. I read everything I come across by Buck and still have numerous of her books to be read. Fortunately, a year or so ago, I bought a large collection of books, actually 5 commercial peach boxes full, from the estate of a local school principal. This one we are discussing today I found in a small group of books I bought at a small "junk store" in Rowan county Kentucky which also included a unique first edition of Jack Kerouac's first novel, "The Town And The City", which was published under his legal name John Kerouac, the only one of his books to have been published that way. "This Proud Heart" is one of Buck's lesser known novels which is set in the United States with purely American characters for the most part. The protagnonist is a brilliant woman, Susan Gaylord, and begins when she is a high school student who has shown a great deal of talent in more than one area. She is the daughter of a professor father and a dedicated housewife mother, has one sister, Mary, several years younger and not really close to her older sister. Her father is a somewhat frustrated poet in addition to being a professor in a small college. He has chosen to devote his life to his familiy and his primary profession but does manage to write poetry and publish some of it in small magazines. Susan comes to understand her father's frustration with his life decision and vows to do more to control her own life and its outcomes. She is a talented artist and piano player as the book begins but chooses to marry her high school sweetheart, Mark, who is a totally devoted husband to her and works in the real estate business after they marry. But Susan finds herself interested in sculpture and uses a barn on the old farm they buy to create a piece in wood which is composed of a family of four, a husband, wife, and two children, a son and daughter. That piece is submitted to a contest for a piece to be placed in the lobby of a hospital financed by a very rich man in New York. The piece and her work in general is supported by a famous male sculptor, David Barnes, who has a house in the small New England town in which Susan and her family live. Barnes is a brusque, short spoken man who has strong opinions about Susan's talent and her inablility, as he sees it, to succeed as a sculptor in the United States. He strongly encourages her to come with him to Paris to study under another great sculptor and a man who teaches anatomy to sculptors. She refuses until the untimely death of her husband Mark due to typhoid fever. After his death, she packs up her children and their maid to travel to Paris to actually do what Barnes has suggested. During her time there, she meets another man, Blake Kincaid, who is also a sculptor of much less talent than Susan. They fall in love and she marries Blake which proves to be a less than perfect decision. They return to New York where he lives in considerable wealth and she grows more and more hampered by his efforts to control her, minimize her talent, and disparage her work as a sculptor. She comes to realize these things about Blake and rents a studio in the poor neighborhood near his ostentatious home where she meets and sculpts marble statues of some of the people in the neighborhood. David Barnes returns to the novel from Paris and assists Susan in getting her works into a gallery for an exhibition which confirms her talent and leaves her with a full understanding that she cannot succeed as a sculptor if she remains with Blake. She moves her family back to her hometown after the death of her father and decides to end her relationship with Blake. The novel leaves the whole situation somewhat in midair at the ending but we see that Susan has been able to understand that she must be independent in order to do her best work. The novel is also widely discussed as one of Buck's better works in support of feminism. Susan Gaylord is a strong, successful, competent, talented, and highly motivated woman. For the time in 1938 when the novel was published, she is an amazingly modern woman. I suspect that this novel is somewhat biographical with the sculpting being a substitute for Pearl Buck's writing and Blake being a character based on Buck's missionary first husband whom she divorced to marry her editor and publisher after her early work caused such a stir in the literary world. While I would not say this is one of Buck's best novels such as "The Good Earth", "Imperial Woman", or "The Living Reed", it is a fine novel and well worth reading.