"The Room Where It Happened" by John Bolton--Book Review

 

It has been a long time since I began a book and failed to finish it.  I was forced to grit my teeth, lay this book down frequently, return to it periodically after I had regained by stomach for it, and finally, with a huge sigh of relief, I got to the end.  This book should have been a mea culpa and instead it is an attempt by John Bolton to preserve whatever it is he mistakenly believes is his place in history as something other than a co-conspirator to the TRAITOR Trump for a period of about 18 months which far and away negates any service of value to America he may have ever performed during his previous diplomatic career.  I received only two things of value out of reading this massive tome.  First, I got a clear picture of the chaos which has reined inside the White House on a daily basis since January 20, 2017, when America allowed a TRAITOR to occupy the White House.  I have written in two previous blog posts about the other valuable experiences I received because I read this book.  On two occasions, as I was plugging along through this 500 plus page attempt at an alibi, I had encounters with very highly placed physicians in the South Eastern United States and had very open, productive, honest conversations with them about our shared understanding of the treachery of TRAITOR Trump and those around him who have assisted him in his ongoing effort to destroy America in the interests of Russia and Vladimir Putin.  

What I have said consistently about this book and what my two physician acquaintances agree with, is that there has always been only one major hiring criterion for those people who have come to work under TRAITOR Trump  in his illegal occupation of the White House and that criterion has been criminal intent.  Honest, dedicated public servants have not been wanted, sought, or employed in this ongoing conspiracy.  My first physician acquaintance stated that he had read about 80 pages of the book and knew he did not want or need to read further.  He fully understood my struggle to finish the book but could find no good reason to support me in having finished it.  My second physician acquaintance  had not even attempted to read the book because he knew quite well what little value there is in it and decided to use his time for better purposes.  I honestly wish I had done the same.  

But I did find one small statement in the book which I consider worthy of repeating in this blog post.  Without digging through the book to find that quote, Bolton stated roughly that in the event TRAITOR Trump should win the 2020 election, an electoral feat which he did not accomplish in 2016, that he would "continue to do exactly what he wants to do" or some close approximation of those words.  In that respect, Bolton was absolutely correct.  Once TRAITOR, always a TRAITOR, and there has never been a TRAITOR or lower degree than TRAITOR TRUMP.  Don't waste your money or your time on this failed attempt at an alibi by John Bolton. 

"Decoration Day In The Mountains: Traditions Of Cemetery Decoration In The Southern Appalachians" by Alan Jabbour & Karen Singer Jabbour--Reflections On A Wonderful Book

 Over the last few months, I have written on this blog about several wonderful books which I have deliberately strayed into or sought out on purpose.  I was so pleased with this one when I bought it and it arrived that I mentioned it in an earlier blog post based solely on having scanned the wonderful photograps it contains which were shot by Karen Singer Jabbour as her primary, but not her only, contribution to this book with her husband Alan Jabbour. 

Alan Jabbour worked in several high level capacities for the federal government including as head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress, director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, and director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Jabbours completed the research for this book over several years primarily in the area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but also did extensive research in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia.  It is fascinating to me that Alan Jabbour was the son of immigrants and produced such an incredible book about folk culture and folk life in Central and Southern Appalachia.  The book was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2010 but I had not known of it until recently.  It is the best book about burials and burial practices in Central and Southern Appalachia since James K. Crissman's "Death and Dying In Central Appalachia" came out in 1994.  

The Jabbour's focused their first research on several cemeteries which are located in the North Shore area of Fontana Lake which lies within the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  These cemeteries are unaccessible by land except for what could be miles of hiking in the mountains or by crossing the lake on a boat from landings on the south shore.  The National Parks Service decided at some point after the lake was built to accommodate people who wished to attend what had always been annual "Decoration Day" at these cemeteries by providing a pontoon boat operated by Parks Service staff which would transport the people, their cemetery decorations, and food for dinner on the grounds.  The Jabbour's attended the first Decoration Day on the day when a new park superintendent chose to attend the ceremony also which had never been done by his predecessors.  The boat actually had to make three trips in each direction across the lake due to the number of people.  The Jabbour's crossed on the first boat load and returned on the last boat load in able to document the arrivals and departures of the community members attending the ceremony which consisted of the annual cleanup of the cemeteries, placement of flowers and other decorations on the graves, a church service, and dinner on the grounds.  The photographs by Karen Singer Jabbour and the text by Alan Jabbour are thorough, highly informative, and enlightening about Decoration Day in Western North Carolina.  

It should be noted that Decoration Day is not necessarily on the same day as Memorial Day and is often set on other days in all the states of the Central and Southern Appalachian region.  In small localities, it is also often arranged so that Decoration Day does not conflict with the event on other local cemeteries since many people have relatives buried on several nearby cemeteries.  As a result of their work at these first two cemeteries, the Jabbours were able to meet and come to know many of the attendees and were invited to Decoration Day on numerous cemeteries within a large geographic area.  They shot photographs, recorded interviews, and made extensive notes as they traveled from cemetery and community to others in this large area.  

They did an excellent job of photographing and discussing different practices in the use of tombstones, grave markers, grave decorations, types of church services, and varying local customs in many areas of dealing with death and burial.  I cannot say enough good things about their work and their book.  They discuss and provide excellent photographs of a practice I had never seen before called "raking and mounding" of graves in which the grave has no grass growing on it but is, instead, raked clean and the dirt is mounded on top just as it would be immediately after a burial until the freshly dug earth settles.  But in that area of North Carolina, this practice is done long term as a way of maintaining graves cleanly and with dignity.  They also discuss and provide photographs of another practice which is not common in all areas of Central and Southern Appalachia which is covering graves with white sand or gravels instead of grass.  They provide only one photograph of a grave house which is a shame but they are not common in the Western North Carolina area.  But they provide several photographs of handmade field stone grave markers, some of which are very large and complex.  The provide several excellent photographs of shelters, pulpits, and seating equipment on cemeteries used both for the church services and dinner on the grounds.  These seating and roofed areas are more common all across Appalachia.  The book has 32 color photographs from probably a dozen or more cemeteries in a central section of the book on high quality stiff, slick paper.  But every chapter has at least a few black and white photographs, some with more than a dozen, of graves, shelters, entire cemeteries, church services, and other items and events.  This is the best book I have ever read about cemeteries in Central and Southern Appalachia.  It is beautiful blend of high quality photography, professional folk lore documentation, and very professional writing.  Nearly every discussion of a practice, item, or event has an insertion directing the reader to the appropriate photographs which document the practice, item, or event.  This book is well worth the price of admission if you have any interest in cemeteries either in Central and Southern Appalachia or elsewhere.  

I grew up near three cemeteries in Knott County Kentucky and attended many burials, Decoration Days, grave diggings, and cemetery clean ups in both Kentucky and West Virginia.  I also, for one year, supervised juvenile offenders in mowing and maintaining a historic cemetery in Franklin, Pennsylvania.  I have documented, photographed, and created memorials on the website Find A Grave for many cemeteries in Kentucky and other areas.  This book is a masterpiece especially if you have prior knowledge or interest in Appalachian cemeteries.  It is also a great book to own and read if you simply want to learn more about these practices from the viewpoint of a novice.  You will enjoy this book tremendously if you know or want to know anything about Appalachia and Appalachian people. 

Lazy Wife Greasy Beans, A Lesson In Appalachian Nomenclature

 I was just offered the opportunity to buy a freezing sized amount of what are called Lazy Wife Greasy Beans from my friend Bill Best, whom I have written about several times on this blog.  Bill is a nationally recognized expert on saving, propagating, and growing Appalachian Heritage food crops, a prolific author, retired Berea College professor, and farmer.  I have never had any personal experiences with Lazy Wife Greasy Beans but I just cannot resist the opportunity to learn about them, write about them, freeze them, and eat them when the snow is on the ground.  From Letcher County on the Virginia border to at least Rowan County on I-64 and west to about Adair County, Kentucky is famous for having a people who have, over the last 300 years, grown and managed to save hundreds of varieties of Appalachian Heritage food crops, especially beans and tomatoes. 

For instance, the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center website sells seed beans for about twenty separate varieties of greasy beans including a Lazy Wife Greasy Bean, a Small Lazy Wife Greasy Bean, and a Lazy Daisy Greasy Bean.  The website does not specify which was small, the bean or the lazy wife who originally grew it.  But the website of Sow True Seed gives the best description of the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean.  They say it is "One of the largest of all the greasy varieties, it's called Lazy Wife because the gardeners (who were traditionally the women of the family) could wait longer to harvest and get more food per harvest as these beans are just that big. Thick, fleshy, and stringless, pods remain tender until the beans are quite large. A great shelling bean as well. Originally from Madison County, NC"  They also give the scientific name, Phaseoulus vulgaris, which could mean that the person who produced the scientific name and catalogued it felt that it was vulgar to name a bean in a manner which could be considered demeaning to women. However, an internet friend of mine who goes by the moniker Greenbriar Jim and happens to be a doctoral level retired scientist for the federal government corrected about the meaning of the Latin word "vulgaris".  Jim says that the word simply means "Common" in Latin.  I'm willing to take his word for although the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean is anything but common.  But at the time in Appalachian Folk History when this bean got its colorful name, it was not a particularly offensive thing which also supports Jim's information.   By the way, Jim has a wonderful photography based blog with a little history thrown in for good measure. Although he hasn't produced much on the blog in recent years, it is still well worth visiting at this link.  The blog is named "The Wayfarin' Stranger" and is well worth an extended visit.  The website of the Burpee Seed Company, from which I would never buy an advertised heritage seed because of their long history of hybridization and crossbreeding of many crops, does make a statement about the somewhat inappropriate nomenclature of the Lazy Wife Bean:  "Were these pearls, what a necklace they would make. These are the true ‘Lazy Housewife’, originally introduced by W. Atlee Burpee Co. in 1885, which explains the antiquated moniker. Plants bear green, entirely stringless pods of exceedingly fine, buttery flavor when cooked. When dried, the beans are perfectly round and white, like little pearls, with a heavier, richer, creamy taste. For longer cropping periods, greater yields, and easier harvesting, use a pole or trellis system. Pick them young for snap beans (80 days), or let them dry for shelling beans."  But the Burpee Company also attempts to take credit for  having "originally introduced by W. Atlee Burpee Co. in 1885."  There is little doubt that the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean was a heritage bean which was simply appropriated by Burpee in their ongoing commercial zeal because they knew it was being widely grown in the Appalachian region.  Several other seed sales and preservation companies also sell the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean and some have decided it seems better to them to call it the Lazy Housewife Bean.  Use of the word "housewife"  instead of just "wife" is a relatively more modern term and was not used three hundred years ago when Appalachian subsistence gardners isolated the bean for its unique qualities and began spreading it across large portions of the Eastern United States.  

Shortly after I posted this blog post, I had a question from a reader in Pulaski County, Kentucky, who wanted to know if I had ever heard of White Snowball Greasy Beans.  I had not but I was able to find a small amount of information on the internet.  Without disclosing any personal information about the reader other than their general geographic area, I am posting here our exchange and my exchange with my two Appalachian Heritage Bean experts, Bill Best and Frank Barnett, who are always the first and generally the last people I go to with questions about Appalachian Heritage crops.  I sent them the following e-mail question: Hello,  Do you two know the White Snowball Greasy Bean?  It is possibly a Pulaski County KY bean.  Roger

Here is the message I got from Frank Barnett:

Sure do. I was given one such named variety by Bill years ago which I assume is from his home turf in NC.  And in 2019 when I went to Mitchell County, NC another 2 going by that name, and one of those was from Yancey County, NC.  One thing about bean variety names, before the internet and the big bean swaps, names were local, even to the holler level.  Good example varieties were from older folks called John or Maggie. You know like the Amish the same names were used over and over in each generation. Big John might mean the eldest John or the heaviest John and of course there was Little John, maybe Big John’s son.  So I have 5 bean varieties called Big John. And 3 or 4 Aunt Maggie bean varieties. I had an Aunt Maggie but she was not a seed saver. I had 4 Raleigh Barnett relatives, Big, Junior, Little, Little Junior. None them gardened.  I know of a relative in my Mom’s family , George, who always wanted a son but he had all daughters ( a bunch). When his daughters got married they each named their first born son, George. Now all the Georges were differentiated by nicknames, Big Nose George, Horny George (warts across his forehead), Big Foot George, Pleasant George, and I have forgotten the rest. Just a good thing they were Not bean seed savers. Nope, no regulatory organization to control name naming.  That is apparent with names like Dog Eye or Eagle With Wings ( Red eyed fall bean to non bean person) or Cousin Jed and Aunt Onie (Ona, I assume). (Personal E-mail from Frank Barnett)

This morning, September 29, 2020, I received a response to my e-mail question from Bill Best about the White Snowball Greasy Bean and here it is in its entirety: 

Like Frank, I have grown the Snowball greasy to see if it was the same as the Lazy Wife Greasy.  The jury is still out but my son’s colleague at Tennessee Tech is doing DNA analysis of several of our bean varieties.  I’ve heard of the Snowball Greasy being from Mitchell and Yancy Counties in NC but now from Pulaski County, KY.  I like Frank’s discussion of bean seed names and am still waiting for him to write a book about his knowledge of beans and their keepers that he has met over the years. I had Lazy Wife greasy beans for supper tonight and they are still as good as they used to be. Roger, I’m looking forward to seeing you and Candice this Thursday.  Weather permitting you can drive within two feet of my Lazy Wife greasy bean rows.  We picked some for you today and will pick again Wednesday if the weather allows so that you can have the freshest ones.  We are stringing and breaking many every day to make shuck beans, since I’m down to two packets and need more to replenish my supply.  I keep them all in a freezer where they will last indefinitely."

My response to Bill's message is fairly simple since I am not the Appalachian Heritage Bean expert.  I am simply an expert on Appalachian Culture and have an interest in all aspects of it including Appalachian Heritage crops which came about primarily because I met Bill Best because he and I both had stories in a book from the Jesse Stuart Foundation and Bill introduced me to Frank.  They are the two best experts in America on Appalachian Heritage crops, especially beans and tomatoes and whatever they say is gospel, has been traced and certified before they say it, and should always be considered to be the final answer.  

I also received a second response to my e-mail from Frank Barnett this morning, September 29, 2020, which has some more information about his wide ranging search for Appalachian Heritage Beans and also contains  some pretty good humor.   

"Oh sorry for the long winded discussion about bean names but I needed a break from shelling out beans. I hope all this rain does not damage the 5 varieties I have yet to pick for seed.   In April 2019 when I went to Mitchell, Yancey and Madison counties in NC I felt right at home. I had good visits with everyone and besides talking about beans also had   discussions about about chickens, tobacco, old Ford trucks, and oh the manager at the state liquor store in Burnsville. He sounded like a moonshiner, he said he really objected to buying his whiskey from the state, state has no business making whiskey.  The bulls*** got really deep, next trip I will have hip boots.  And I left for Tenn over one of the last two cow path dirt roads in western NC.  Oh but no coal trucks. Yep I know about those WVa roads marked as coal haulers."

I think Frank Barnett's  e-mail tells you a lot about how serious he is about Appalachian Heritage Beans, how far he is willing to travel to find a variety he does not know, and how hard he works on his farm, as does Bill Best, in order to preserve and pass on what they know about these hard to find crops. 

Let me go on to say that these posts about Appalachian Heritage beans have always generated a lot of readership and several such exchanges with my readers about the particular bean variety I might be writing about or others which I had not even expected such as the White Snowball Greasy Bean above.  That is a very good thing!  If one of my blog posts about such topics generates questions for you let me know.  If the post contains what you perceive to be an error, also let me know.  Or if it reminds you of information you have about some related topic, also let me know.  I love to see this happen and I love to learn as do most of the readers on this blog.  I have never intended this blog to be typical or to be only my opinions especially about topics rooted strongly in Appalachian culture, agriculture, history, literature, or any other topic within the greater field of Appalachian Studies.  Here is also a photo Frank sent me on October 8, 2020, of our mutual friend, national Appalachian Heritage crop expert Bill Best with his freshly made shucked beans.

 

A Reading Assignment For Self Professed Christians!

 

 At least ever since early summer of 2015, I have heard many people say "I am a Christian and I support Donald Trump."  I have a little reading assignment for those of you who have found yourselves in this group.  I would like to suggest to you that you take up your Bible, preferably the King James Version which is the closest in existence to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek languages in which the various books of the Bible were written, and begin reading the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.  Read slowly and carefully and, if you have them rely heavily on a comprehensive Bible Dictionary and Concordance.  It might also help in this exercise if you have what is called a Red Letter Edition of the Bible in which what are supposed to be the direct words of Jesus are in red type.  As you read, every time you come to one of the directives about how a Christian should live their life from either Jesus or the twelve disciples quietly and honestly ask yourself "Did Donald Trump ever do that?"  The answer will always be a resounding "No!".  After you have completed reading these five books of the Bible and honestly responding to the question about each directive from Jesus or the twelve disciples, flip to the back of the Bible and read "Revelation".  Every time you come to one of the signs of the coming of the Anti-Christ, sit quietly and honestly ask yourself "Could this apply to Donald Trump?"  The answer will also nearly always be a resounding "Yes!"  

 

If you complete this assignment honestly, you will come to the realization that no one can be a practicing Christian and support Donald Trump.  If you find yourself in that position, I would suggest that you spend a few minutes deciding which it is you would be better off giving up, Donald Trump or your self professed Christianity.  Have a nice day!