"Storming Heaven" by Denise Giardina, Notes On Reading A Classic Appalachian Novel

 

 

I have often lamented in this blog that I frequently end up reading books far too late which I should have read long ago.  This is another of those instances.  I had known of Denise Giardina and her work not long after this novel was published in 1987 and had never read it.  In fact it is not even the first of her novels which I have read.  I had read her fine historical novel "Saints and Villains" a few years ago and, sadly, I have never written about it on this blog which I will try to do in the next few days.  But, in my opinion, this is the first Giardina novel anyone unfamiliar with her work should read.  Now, after having read three of her books, I don't consider this novel her best but it is the first of her novels about the struggles of coal miners along the Tug River and the border between Kentucky and West Virginia and it should be read before moving on to "The Unquiet Earth" which is the sequel to this novel and the book which I consider to be her best.  And, Yes, I will write about that one soon also.   

"Storming Heaven" is a fine novel about the coal field wars of the 1920's in West Virginia and Kentucky, and is based on actual events during those incredibly difficult times when many brave Appalachian men and women were fighting and dying in the effort to organize the Appalachian coalfields.  While it is based on that epic struggle, Giardina used her poetic license extensively in terms of place names, and rarely mentioned any historical figure by their actual names which I have to assume was at least in part a defensive action which she felt was necessary by the still extant willingness of the enemies of unionization to become overly and unnecessarily litigious in their defense of coal operators to treat their employees as being worth less than a mule since they had to buy mules and could always hire another man if their anti-labor practices killed or disabled another. 

This novel is written by a woman who is descended from some of the Italian immigrant workers who were imported to the coal fields during the early days of the coal industry in Appalachia and she knows her story well.  I would bet that she heard much of the content of this book at the feet of her older relatives on long winter nights in or near the coal camp towns in which they had worked.  Her consummate knowledge of her material is refreshing at a time when it is common for other writers to grab one or two reference books and produce a second rate novel about some aspect of life in America about which they know little other than the probability that a book about their current topic might sell a few thousand copies.  She knows the region.  She knows the dialect.  She knows the coal industry and its absentee owners.  She knows the pain, death, and diseases which have befallen coal miners and their families ever since the first underground mine was opened in some remote hollow of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, or Tennessee.  This is a fine, honest, sometimes painful book and has easily taken its place beside other novels such as James Still's "River of Earth" and Davis Grubb's "The Barefoot Man".  And this book proudly joins Grubb's work in support and admiration of the men and women who fought and died to build a union work place in Appalachia.  

The book is written in a somewhat unique style with several different characters being utilized in alternate sections or chapters as the narrator.  It is first person writing in multiple voices and it works quite well.  Major characters include a pro-union mayor C. J. Marcum in Giardina's mythical town which is based on Matewan, West Vitginia.  There is native Appalachian union man Rondal Lloyd who devotes more of himself to the union effort than he does to the woman who loves him deeply.  That woman, nurse Carrie Bishop loves both Rondal Loyd and the mountains of the region.  She devotes her life's work to helping heal the sick, treat the wounded, love the starving children, and support the union miners and their families in any way she can. But  the one thing she cannot do is to maintain a consistent relationship with Rondal Lloyd.  He comes and goes, fights every day to win union recognition for miners somewhere in the coal fields and usually returns to Carrie when it convenient for him.  Many of the characters in the book are purely fictional but quite a few are clearly based on important figures of the union effort such as murdered Police Chief Sid Hatfield who died on a West Virginia court house steps because he supported the miners and fought by their sides in their effort.  The book ends at the Battle of Blair Mountain in the only instance in US history when the federal government used the army to fight American citizens.  

This is a fine novel by a writer who knew her subject matter as well as any child of a coal miner can.  It is an incredibly well worthwhile book to read.  Don't pass it up, especially if you live in the coal fields of America and need a little refresher course on how good men, women, and children died to build unions and fair labor practices in this country. 

On A Second Reading Of "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain

 

When I entered Knott County High School at Pippa Passes, Kentucky, in September of 1964, I remember thinking that the little one room library was the finest collection of books that I had ever seen. When I began to write this post, I sent a message to my friend and former high school teacher Mary Lois Jacobs who was able to tell me that the books in the Knott County High School Library had primarily been donated by Alice Lloyd College and that there were about 2,000 books in the collection, mostly fiction.  She also stated that the faculty had been disappointed in the lack of sufficient non-fiction in the collection. Prior to entering high school, the only lending library I had access to was a summer book mobile program which stopped at our country store at Dema once a week during the summer vacation from school.  I had visited the Kendallville, Indiana, library a few times during some summer visits to my sister's home there but I had never been a regular user of such a fine library.  Today, I know that the collection at KCHS would be considered woefully deficient in most public high schools in America.  The other distinct memory I have retained from that time is that on one of the first occasions I took a lengthy, perhaps epic, novel off the shelves and asked to check it out that Cloys Thornsbury, the librarian, gave me a somewhat askance gaze and asked me something to the effect of "are you sure you can read that". I'm sure I answered "yes" and I'm also pretty sure I actually finished whatever book I checked out.  Three of those first long novels I remember reading are this one, "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain, along with his "The Black Rose", and "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas.  I don't recall that Cloys asked me that question again after I had read, returned, and could discuss those three books.  

Recently, in one of my frequent visits to some surplus store where I often buy used books, I strayed into a weathered copy of "The Silver Chalice", bought it, and committed myself to rereading it.  I can now report that the mission has been completed.  Thomas B. Costain was a Canadian born journalist and mass market writer who produced 14 novels, 8 non-fiction historical works, and 4 co-edited collections of short stories by major authors.  His major novels were generally massive works with plots, counter plots, historical settings and characters, and multitudinous casts of characters.  His works can be argued to have not been quite great works but they were well written, meticulously researched, and generally popular on the mass market.  "The Silver Chalice" is an example of all those qualities.  

The primary protagonist in this novel is a totally fictional young artist named Basil who has been sold into slavery by his uncle under Roman law upon the death of his father before he attained the age of majority.  Basil's freedom is arranged by the Apostle  Luke who does so because he has been chosen by the early Christian church to locate and hire an artist to create a frame to hold the cup which was used by Jesus Christ and the Apostles for the sacrament at the Last Supper.  The frame is to be made of silver and the cup is to be surrounded by small busts of the Twelve Apostles.  The freedom of Basil and the commission to create the frame are financed by the Biblical person Joseph of Arimathea who is the same man who is credited in the Bible with having provided his own tomb for the burial of Jesus.  As the novel progresses, Basil falls in love with the granddaughter of Joseph of Arimathea and eventually marries her just minutes before her grandfather's death.  But they have previously agreed that the marriage is one of convenience only because her father is not a Christian and would not agree to continue to finance the work after his father's death.  The newly weds leave Jerusalem for Antioch, outside the reach of Jewish law and the Jewish high priest and his co-conspirators who seek to find and destroy the cup.  Basil goes on a long journey to locate the living disciples and create their busts from actual memory after meeting them.  Along the journey, Basil decides that he has not only come to realize that he loves his wife Deborra but that he also has been converted to Christianity.  Just in case any of you want to read the novel and can actually locate a copy on some of the used book websites, I won't spoil the story by disclosing the conclusion.  Just know that this novel is well worth reading whether or not you are religious.  It moves quickly from scene to scene, from crisis to crisis.  The characters are realistically rendered, both known historical persons and those who are purely fictional.   It is filled with fascinating people including a Chinese prince who befriends Basil, Luke, and Deborra; an Arabic camel driver who seeks to become an important trader; a villain who is also a magician; and a manipulative, beautiful, and dangerous female assistant to that magician.  Basil even spends some time in the home of the Roman emperor.  If you can find it, I can't more highly recommend a historical novel.  And, I was very pleased to be rewarded by those wonderful memories from my teen years by the second reading of the book.  

 

"Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" by Liz Cheney, The One Book Every American Should Be Required To Read

 

  In the era of Trump, certain members of Congress and other Trump enablers...have preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans.  They are working to return to office the man responsible for January 6.  We the people must stop them.  We are the only thing that can stop them.  This is more important than partisan politics.  Every one of us--Republican, Democrat, Independent--must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.  This is the cause of our time.  (Liz Cheney, "Oath and Honor" p. 368)

Liz Cheney used the words above to end her important and honest book "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" and she is absolutely correct.  Donald Trump and every one of his thousands of enablers, co-conspirators, and cult members must be stopped in their efforts to return him to his illegal and illegitimate occupation of the White House.  They managed to nearly subvert the certification of an honest American presidential election on January 6, 2021, and they would not hesitate to commit any crime on the face of the earth to achieve that treasonous goal.  Liz Cheney has written the most important book in this 2024 election cycle.  No other book published before hers and none which will come after hers can more succinctly or more accurately can tell the tale of the political treason, insurrection, and domestic terrorism which they perpetrated against the United States of America on January 6, 2021, and which was rooted in the actions of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators in the White House in the weeks between the 2020 election and January 6.  Liz Cheney has honestly and forthrightly told the tale of that insurrection and was fully willing to sacrifice her political career in order to see that this virulent and treasonous conspiracy did not succeed.  She has also stepped forward to teach every citizen of the United States about the danger which this group of insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, and traitors present to America and American Democracy.  Her book is truly the one book every citizen of this country should read in this incredibly important election year.  Despite the fact that nearly a thousand of these criminals have been indicted for their crimes and several hundred have already been convicted and sentenced to federal prison, the conspiracy is still alive.  The would be dictator and his cult are still working every day to keep the treason alive, to return the traitor to the scene of his treason.  If you do not read another book for the rest of your life, read this one.  It is written in a simple, direct, easy to read prose which allows a fast read but you should read it slowly, thoughtfully, and with an open mind.  This is a book written by an American patriot who literally sacrificed a wonderful political future in order to confront these traitors and their treason, in particular to confront and hold the worst traitor in world history responsible for his treason.  Give it an honest, open minded read and then fully and without reservations of any kind commit yourself to do everything in your power to assist America and American Democracy in this fight for survival.  This is truly the cause of our time.   

Ten Days Offline Was A Satisfying Break!

My personal computer died an ignoble death on February 12, 2024, during a stretch when I had been working more consistently on this blog than I had in quite some time.  But I would also state that it has now been several years since I failed to post at least one new blog post every month.  I have never had any desire to live with my head stuck in a an I-Phone and I consistently refuse to send or receive text messages since I fully believe that at least 90% of text messages are absolutely a waste of time, energy, and band width.  This post is not intended to fulfill one of my long-stated intentions to write a post about just what a horribly lazy society we have become in the computer age.  I have said many times that if I were still regularly hiring employees today I would fully implement a plan to test those employees for their literacy level before the interview began by having a secretary or receptionist advise each applicant upon their appearing in the office that they would be taking part in a brief pre-interview exercise.  I would have the secretary hand each applicant a yellow legal pad and a ball point pen, instruct them to place all their electronic devices in a lockable box on the desk to which they would be given the key, and told to take a seat at an empty desk across the room to write in complete sentences, proper grammar, sentax, and spelling a short essay on exactly why they were the best person for the open job.  It would not take any longer than that fifteen minutes to learn which appliancts had been the beneficiaries of the equivalent of a sixth grade education and which had simply skated through both grammer school and high school (and perhaps even college) dependent on their I-phones, laptops, and other electronic devices.  My point in telling this little story is that no human alive today should be unable to spend at least a week without such devices and that they sure as hell shouldn't allow themselves to become dependent on those devices to communicate, spell, write, do math, or accomplish any other chore which a reasonably well educated person should be able to achieve with a piece of paper and a pen.  

Since I have been a user of Facebook, the only social media platform in which I partake, I have twice taken a month off without ever touching it.  So should all of you be able to do with regard to any social media program, electronic device, or other assistive technological equipment you regularly use.  If you cannot succeed in daily life without those devices, you are not actually succeeding with them.  

If everyone alive would spend a week every year without access to electronic devices, the world would be a better place in no time.  

James River Region in Coastal Virginia

 As I mentioned in an earlier post about Virginia Colonial Governor Berkeley, I have been reading a surprisingly wonderful book by Bob Deans called "The River Where America Began: A Journey Along The James".  While the book is about the history of the settlement of the James River Region in Coastal Virginia and the role it played in the early history of colonial America and the American Revolution, Deans also periodically provides his own insightful examinations of the history of democracy in America.  The short section of the book which I quote below is one of the most pertinent of those insightful examinations. 

The Sad State Of Both Education And Politics In America And Appalachia Today

  An Update To Two Earlier Blog Posts

In two other blog posts from the last few days, I wrote about my decision to buy and publicly wear a baseball cap with the caption "Jack Smith Making America Great Again".  I had written about the fact that I had worn it to several businesses on this past Friday, February 9, 2024, and had not had a single person speak to me about the baseball cap either to thank me for wearing it or attempt to convince me that I was an idiot and had made a terrible mistake to support the work of Jack Smith, the Special Prosecutor who will, if there is a God in Heaven, send TRAITOR Trump to the federal penitentiary for the rest of his slimy, treasonous life.  I also wrote another blog post yesterday, February 10, 2024, about the absolutely dangerous and destructive Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority in the Kentucky state legislature and, in particular, a pending Kentucky State Senate bill (Senate Bill #4) which is intended to stop Kentucky school teachers from using their unused sick days to add to their service time upon retirement which has been a standing benefit provided to Kentucky teachers and other state employees for many years.  This is an absolutely asinine bill which will further exacerbate the state's ability to hire and retain competent teachers especially in light of the fact that their pay and benefit structure is already well below those of most other states.  In that particular post about the state legislature, I had also provided a link to the Kentucky State Senate Regular Session Record website from the Kentucky State Legislative Research Commision which provides complete information about every pending piece of legislation during the session.  I sincerely hope  that every concerned citizen of Kentucky or anyone else with a vested interest in the state will choose to visit and study that website, use it to inform and refine your beliefs and opinions about pending actions of the legislature, and then choose to speak out about, propagate, and vigorously defend those beliefs and opinions.  

 

Now, I am betting that most of my regular readers are wondering what all this writing about Kentucky Senate Bill #4 and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority in the state legislature has to do with wearing a baseball cap supporting the incredible work of Jack Smith and his investigative and prosecutorial team.  This is the story of that connection.  Yesterday, Saturday, February 10, 2024, I went as I usually do to my local Saturday hangout where I customarily eat lunch and spend time with two friends, one of which owns the hangout and the other who is a lifelong friend of that owner and my friend from several years.  It is also pertinent that the owner is a local business person with two businesses in the this county and has served almost twenty years in two separate terms on the county Board of Education.  I had spent probably an hour talking with my two friends when the owner's liberal son-in-law came downstairs from where he had been working without my knowledge.  This liberal son-in-law is also a friend of mine and we love to talk politics and other topics when we have the time together.  I called him over to show him my baseball cap which he appreciated greatly and we had a good laugh about it.  His father-in-law, the long term Board of Education member, then asked me, seriously, "Who is Jack Smith?" I told him, "the Special Prosecutor" and he never said a word further.  It is now pertinent for me to say that a Facebook friend of mine who is a retired college English professor had mentioned to me earlier that the reason I had not had anyone ask me about the baseball cap was because the people who customarily support TRAITOR Trump can't read.  I now have to admit that this friend was correct.  

My Board of Education member friend and I then continued our conversation in which I asked him what  he thought about Kentucky Senate Bill #4 and the fact that the majority in the state legislature was attempting to take away the right of Kentucky teachers to use their unused sick days to extend their time of service upon retirement.  To my surprise he said that the bill is a good idea and gave me a rambling justification that "when people retire the Boards of Education where they worked have to pay for that sick time at their current rate of pay instead of the rate of pay they were earning at the time they earned the sick time".  I asked what he thought about the probability that the bill, if it becomes law, will make it more difficult to hire and retain teachers in Kentucky.  He said,"Yes, it might but it's a good idea to pass that bill."  I was, to say the least, surprised if not shocked to hear that from a sitting Board of Education member in a county where I personally know that at least one teacher has been hired in the last year or two who did not have an education degree and all her prior work  history had been in a variety of public sales positions. Hence, she was hired under a special provision in the law which allows people with unrelated degrees and experience to be hired as teachers because of a hardship waiver if qualified teachers are not applying for the available jobs  I have no idea if it is relevant that the teacher to which I am referring is related to a member of my friend's extended family. But it is very relevant that he has a great niece who is a teacher and has chosen to work in another county located about two hours from this county where most of her close relativee live.  The county in which she works is one of the best counties in the state in terms of teacher pay and benefits.

But the most relevant aspect of all this for me is that I know a member of the local Board of Education who had no idea who Jack Smith is until I told him and is not concerned that every teacher in this state stands to lose a great deal of accumulated sick time, and therefore time of service which will lower their retirement pay when it has been a long standing aspect of employment in education in Kentucky.  And you can bet your sweet ass that if the Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority in the Kentucky State Legislature get away with taking that sick time feature of retirement away from teachers, their next move will be to take it away from every other employee of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  If Kentucky teachers don't Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out strongly in their entire numbers against this legislation it will become law at a time when the current lieutenant governor is a former educator and she and the governor have fought tooth and nail for their entire time in office to try to force the legislature to give teachers a sizeable raise which would make them more equitably paid in comparison to their peers in other states. And, due to the veto proof majorities in both houses of the legislature any veto from the governor can only be a public statement of disagreement with the bill.  In fact, every state employee, both current and retired needs to be fighting to defend the teachers of Kentucky in this effort to stop this asinine bill from becoming law. If every state employee stood up with the teachers and expressed their intent to vote against any legislator who votes in support of this bill, it would never pass into law.  We should all be fighting to make Kentucky teachers the best paid and best compensated via other benefits in the nation.  When teachers are given excellent pay and benefits in this state, better qualified and more dedicated persons will strive to become teachers and to fulfill their careers until retirement.  Better teachers produce better educated citizens and those citizens produce better lifetime output than lesser educated citizens.  If we want a great state, we must hire and retain great teachers and pay them what they are worth in every other state in the nation.

The Most Unjustifiably Ambitious State Legislature In America!

 The Kentucky state legislature convened on January 2, 2024, to begin the 2024 regular session which will last until April 15, 2024, which will be a sine die day, or the date of adjournment.  They have set aside 10 days from March 29, 2024, to April 9, 2024, as days to deal with any vetoes which Governor Andy Beshear might sign.  However, sadly, very sadly, the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party has a veto proof majority in both houses and any vetoes which the governor will sign are likely to be only on bills which are so abhorrent to both the governor and common sense that he feels that it is necessary to take a public position against them.  At two links below, I will post the individual links to both the legislature's schedule and the link to the link to the page labeled 2024 Regular Session Record. That page is operated by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and is updated every day if necessary.  It will contain every bill being considered by the legislature, every bill passed into law, and a great deal of other information. The schedule page will tell you every day the legislature is in session and, for those of you who are willing to travel to Frankfort, it will let you plan to be there on a day when you have a possible opportunity to publicly express your opinions to the legislature by either seeking to contact a legislator, leave a message face to face with a legislative employee, or engage in public protest by exercising your right to free speech. I urge all of my readers who live in Kentucky or have a vested interest in what happens in the state to spend time on both links to learn what is being considered by the legislature and to familiarize yourself with the legislative process.  This is going to be a very destructive legislative session and will do a great deal to destroy individual constitutional rights in the state; destroy a multitude of programs intended to provide health care, education, free speech, environmental protections, and virtually any program intended to assist the lower echelons of society. 

At this time, it is too complicated a process to attempt to address every legislative bill in the session. But I will speak out here for the first time about a bill which I just learned about yesterday, February 9, 2024, which is intended to take away the right of Kentucky teachers to keep unused sick days throughout their careers and add them to their time for retirement purposes which has been a standing perk for all full time state employees for many years. This bill is labeled as Senate Bill 4.  This bill will pass the state legislature, will go to the governor's desk, and, I suspect, will be vetoed as a public moral, ethical, and political statement by the governor who is deeply committed to education in the state but, incredibly sadly, unable to prevent this attempt to further incentivize every good educator to consider either never applying for a job in Kentucky or leaving the state early in their careers to seek better jobs in states with a genuine commitment to high quality education.  I repeat, the Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority in the legislature has a veto proof majority in both houses of the legislature and all Andy  Beshear, the best governor can do is speak out and take a rational public position by refusing to sign such damaging laws into the state code.  We must support the governor and lieutenant governor, who is a former educator, in their effort to save public education in Kentucky.    

As I have time to read, research, and understand other bills being proposed in this legislative session, I will post other blog posts to this blog, may modify this particular post, and will do my best to keep my regular readers in Kentucky informed about the most dangerous bills being proposed by the legislature as they continue their effort to become the worst state legislature in the nation.  

My New Baseball Cap!

 

Today's blog post will be short and sweet.  I wore my new baseball cap to town today, actually two towns, West Liberty and Morehead in Kentucky.  I wore it in our local pharmacy, our local chain gas station, and through the drive through at Dairy Queen.  Then I traveled to Morehead and wore it as I walked at the local cemetery where I met two other men walking, to the local Wal Mart, and through the drive through at McDonald's.  I even went to the sporting goods counter at Wal Mart and bought two boxes of .22 long rifle ammunition.  I engaged several people in brief conversations and no one said a word about my new baseball cap which took me somewhat by surprise.  I had thought that surely someone at the sporting goods counter might decide to express their mistaken opinion about it.  I was actually disappointed to tell you the truth.  I love to confront ignorance and I never even got the opportunity.  Maybe next time because I will be wearing it whenever I go in public at least until November 5, 2024.  

Muskrat For Supper, Ring The Dinner Bell!

 

When I was growing up in Appalachian Kentucky, my family ate nearly everything available with only two exceptions, muskrat and opossum.  We were always told that both were "nasty" and we shouldn't eat them.  Since then I have eaten both although it has been a long time since I ate either.  The firs time I ate muskrat was about 28 years old and working as the broodmare and yearling foreman on a Thoroughbred farm in Lexington, Kentucky, known as The Stallion Station. Our maintenance foreman was an African American man named Harvey "Bull" Jackson.  I will always remember Bull for a variety of reasons but one of the fondest memories I have of him involves the first time I ever ate muskrat.  Bull and I had to come in every Sunday morning with one man each to help us and do the bare minimum work on the farm.  My helper and I had to check on all the horses, do the feeding and turn out or put up whichever horses needed to be moved, and do any treatments for sick horses.  Bull and his helper had to check fences, water lines, etc. and do any necessary repairs.  We got in the habit of meeting for breakfast in the tack room at the foaling barn which had a good table, a hot plate, a sink, and hot and cold running water.  

 

One Sunday morning Bull came in with a big platter of meat all cooked up and set it down on the table and said "I brought breakfast.  Sit down and eat."  When I looked at the meat, I knew it was some kind of wild meat and thought it was probably groundhog which I love.  I've written about eating and cooking groundhog in more than one place on this blog.  I grabbed a leg, took a bite, liked it a lot but could tell that it wasn't groundhog.  "What is this, Bull," I asked.  He responeded, "Ruth cooked that.  Eat that.  It's good."  I finished the first leg, grabbed another and asked again, "What is this, Bull?"  I got the same answer, "Ruth cooked that.  That's good.  Eat that."  I knew Bull's wife Ruth and knew she was an excellent cook so I kept eating.  Finally, when he saw that I was enjoying the meat, he told me, "That's muskrat.  I went out last night to the ponds and shot some muskrats.  Ruth cooked them up for supper and we had that left over.  You like that don't you?"  I told him that I did like it and we finished the pan of meat.  I've been a muskrat lover ever since but I have not had the opportunity to eat a lot of it. 

In my recent blog post about eating groundhog, linked above, I made reference to a cookbook I have called "The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook" which had a couple of groundhog recipes which I mentioned in that blog piece.  It also has recipes for muskrat along with several other species of animals which most people don't eat but which I have found to be very good grub as we say in the mountains of Appalachia.  In their introduction to the section on muskrat the authors of the cookbook say: "In New Orleans and other eastern cities whose restaurants serve muskrat in season, this delicious meat is often listed as "marsh rabbit" to avoid the stigma attached to the word "rat".  It is a pity that the name puts off some people, for the tender, fine grained meat is excellent fare."  The authors of that cookbook are absolutely correct.  I have only been to New Orleans on two occasions and have never seen it on a menu where I have eaten.  I would love to try it in a commercial kitchen there someday.  I also know that in the Detroit, Michigan, area muskrat is commonly eaten and is generally thought to have been rooted in Catholic culture.  History says that in that area "tradition has it, it was during these early years of the 19th century that the humble pastor of Ste. Anne Parish in Detroit, Fr. Gabriel Richard, lobbied for a special dispensation to the region’s residents to consume muskrat throughout the Lenten season." I have also heard it told that in the Detroit area muskrat is commonly served smothered in sauerkraut or with sauerkraut as a side dish.  I've never been in Detroit in my adult years although I have spent several weeks in Michigan over the years in other parts of the state and have never seen muskrat on a menu in the state. I would love to attend the Lenten dinner described in the article linked above.  

My L. L. Bean cookbook has four recipes for muskrat.  The first describes oven roasting muskrat in much the same way Ruth Jackson cooked hers and similar to the way my family has often cooked both groundhog and raccoon.  Their second recipe is for "Marsh Rabbit" New Orleans Style.  They claim this recipe can be used equally well for rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, and beaver.  That recipe mentions "deglanding" the muskrats prior to preparation and I would agree with that idea.  Muskrats are so named because they have musk glands near their rectums and exude musk for purposes of defense, marking territory, and attracting mates and the musk can be quite strong in adult males.  Skinning of muskrats, beavers, or any other mustelids should be done with careful attention to removing those musk glands without damaging them and infusing the meat with the musk.  This second recipe contains several vegetables including carrots, onions, and green peppers. It also include a quarter pound of diced ham.  This recipe is also heavily spiced with a combination of red pepper seeds, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt, and pepper.  It is intended to be simmered for 1 1/2 hours in a Dutch Oven or heavy casserole dish.  Between the many vegetables and the diverse collection of spices, it appears to me that muskrat should become so well disguised that it's distinctive natural taste could well be lost.  The third L. L. Bean recipe is much simpler and called Braised Muskrat.  The only additives are onions, thyme, 1/2 pound of salt pork, and a touch of salt and pepper.  It seems that this recipe would be much more natural in flavor and true to the real muskrat.  The last L. L. Bean recipe is called Basic Sweet-Sour Recipe For Braised Muskrat Or Other Furred Game.  It is reputed to good for several other animals including beaver, squirrel, groundhog, and raccoon.  I have a bit of an issue with any recipe for any product which makes any claim leaning toward its being universally applicable to anything that creeps, crawls, or flies too low over the supper table.  It also includes onions, green pepper, and lard for flavoring.  The spices are salt, pepper, theyme, 1/4 cup sugar, dry mustard, and vinegar.  Once again, this recipe seems to be attempting to mask the natural flavor of the muskrat.  

There are also numerous recipes available on the internet for muskrat ranging from braised and baked to stewed and fried.  If you love wild meat, muskrat should never be avoided.  It is good, pretty, red meat with a nice color and taste.  You can find a recipe which appeals to your individual taste and try it.  It is well worth eating.  Just ask any devout Catholic in Detroit.  

Half A Million Page Views In The Life Of This Blog!

Sometime overnight this blog reached 500,000 page views for the life of the blog.  It has consistently averaged about 3,000 page views a month over the last several years but on several occasions it has had as many as 10,000 to 19,000 page views in a month.  On one occasion, in March 2015, it came up just short of 21,000 page views for the month.  And, all the page views and follower numbers are due to the fact that the blog has slowly accumulated a gradually growing number of followers now at about 215.   Without readers, there would no reason to write a blog, or to put it another way "if a tree falls in the wilderness and nobody hears it does it make a sound".  The answer to that one is no in my opinion.  Once in a while I write a post about some person in the history of Appalachia and suddenly receive a comment from a family member, friend, or former student of that person who says "Thank You!"  That makes it all worthwhile!  You might have also noticed that I have never allowed advertisements on this blog.  It has never been about an attempt to make money.  For me, it has always been about spreading information and ideas to as many people as possible.  My original intent was to keep this blog absolutely restricted to topics about Central and Southern Appalachia.  In May of 2016, I found it necessary to write about Matt Bevin's War Against Appalachian People  and I have never regretted having taken that step.  Matt Bevin proved on a daily basis that he was totally unfit to hold any position of public trust at any level.  In October of 2016, I finally wrote my first blog post about the TRAITOR Trump.  I deeply regret that I did not write a first post about TRAITOR Trump much sooner.  As our country has steadily sunk deeper and deeper into the moral and ethical desert which has been created by TRAITOR Trump and those who support him, I have wept as the majority of the greatest nation on earth have done.  I will continue to write speak out against, and do everything in meager power to try to influence every American I can to work to help us hold this TRAITOR, multiple rapist, career criminal, tax cheat, racist, and idiot responsible for at least part of his thousands of crimes against America, American Democracy, the human race, and the planet in its entirety.  If that upsets you, you are part of the problem.  And, in closing, I would like to thank all of you who read this blog, learn from at times, and agree with the values which it works to uphold.  THANK YOU ALL!  

 

Country Music Association Nominees For Entertainer Of The Year 1967

This morning I awoke thinking about what music I might listen to today and the thought entered my head that it would be interesting to listen to the music of several people who had been nominated for Entertainer Of The Year by the Country Music Association or CMA.  Since I like classic country much better than the great majority of what is being billed and sold as country music today, I went to the first year of the CMA Awards, 1967, to start looking at who had been nominated but didn't win that year.  The list was an incredible group of five of the greatest male country singers of all time, Eddy Arnold, Merle Haggard, Bill Anderson, Sonny James and Buck Owens.  When I read the list, I was thinking that this group of five must have all won several CMA Awards in their careers despite not winning that year's Entertainer Of The Year Award.  I was wrong!  One of those five never won a CMA Award.  Yet, all five are in the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville.  I am sure most of you will struggle to guess which one never won a CMA Award.  I know I did.  

I  did not say at the beginning of this blog post who won the CMA Entertainer Of The Year Award in 1967.  The winner was Eddy Arnold.  He had actually been nominated for three CMA Awards that year, Entertainer Of The Year, Album Of The Year, and Male Vocalist Of The Year.  He only won the Entertainer Of The Year Award and was never nominated again after that year.  

Merle Haggard didn't win the Entertainer Of The Year Award in 1967 and, in fact, did not win a CMA Award until three years later in 1970 when he was nominated for an amazing 9 awards and actually won four.  In an even more amazing statistic, Merle was nominated for 46 CMA Awards from 1967 until 2015.  

 

Despite his amazing career as both a performer and a songwriter, Bill Anderson has been nominated for only 9 CMA Awards including that 1967 nomination for Entertainer Of The Year.  He did not win a CMA Award until 2001, 34 years after being nominated the first time and having written at least 7 number one country songs both for himself and other performers.  

Buck Owens has been nominated for 6 CMA Awards including that 1967 Entertainer Of The Year Award and did not win an award until 2001 when he shared the win with Brad Paisley, George Jones, and Bill Anderson, for the project called "Too Country". Buck Owens has never won a CMA Award on his own.  Yet he had 10 Number 1 Country Albums in his career along with an astounding 20 Number 1 Singles.  He also went 34 years after his first nomination before he ever won that joint Vocal Event Of The Year Award with Bill Anderson and company.  

By now you have probably guessed that Sonny James was the one singer from that amazing fivesome who were nominated in 1967 who never won a CMA Award of any kind.  In a 9 year period from 1967 to 1976, Sonny James was nominated for 5 CMA Awards and never won a single one.  And during his prolific career, Sonny James had 2 Number 1 Country Albums and an amazing 23 Number 1 Country Singles.  It is hard to believe that with that kind of career he never won a CMA Award.  

I firmly believe those 5 men might well be the best group of nominees ever for any CMA Award.  They all had stellar careers, all are in the Country Music Hall Of Fame, and all are world famous as singers and musicians.  All 5 are among the best singers in the history of Country Music. 

Reflections On Reading "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard

 

Fairly frequently, I go to Goodwill Stores, Salvation Army Surplus Stores, and other less well known discount stores specifically to buy used books.  I have on one or two occasions found rare books of considerable value and on many occasions I have found books which I have read and loved for 50 cents or a dollar.  A few weeks ago I hit the reading jackpot in Paintsville, Kentucky, at the Goodwill Store there when I found "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard. My wife Candice and I had recently read David Grann's book "The Lost City of Z" about the Amazon explorations and disappearance of British explorer Percy Fawcett, which had made fleeting references to former President Theodore Roosevelt's expedition into the Amazon with Brazilian explorer and Army officer Candido Rondon during which they had traveled the length of the River of Doubt and been the first explorers to do so.  

I had no idea who Candice Millard was but picked the book up at the Goodwill Store as soon as I saw the title.  Millard is a former National Geographic writer and was an excellent person to choose to write about Roosevelt's trip since she has traveled the remote parts of the world on many assignments.  It is a rare kind of book, one that won't let you put it down, that keeps you rooting for the protagonists, and is backed by impeccable and immense research.  The book is based largely on the journals of four of the men on the expedition: former President Theodore Roosevelt who had traveled to remote parts of the world previously for both military assignments and hunting trips; Colonel Candido Rondon, the original discoverer of The River of Doubt and a world famous explorer in his own right who had been the director of the Brazilian attempts to run telegraph lines into the remote Amazon; the American naturalist George Cherrie who had progressed from being a child laborer in a sawmill at age 12 to becoming one of the most famous naturalists who ever lived having had 6 species of animals and birds named for him; and Millard also depended heavily on the journals of President Roosevelt's son Kermit who had been building roads and bridges in the remote portions of Brazil prior to the expedition.  Millard artfully weaves her own meticulous research work and excerpts from the first person journals of the men on the expedition into a wonderful book about one of the most interesting and riveting stories and one of the world's most dangerous and difficult trips ever taken in the early twentieth century.   The photo below is of T. Roosevelt in the American west. 

During the roughly 3 month trip, Theodore Roosevelt nearly died due to his past history of having been shot in an assassination attempt combined with other health problems, the incredible physical challenges of the trip, and the myriad insect borne diseases of the Amazon jungle.  By the time the trip ended, Roosevelt was literally near death and had lost over 20% of his body weight.  He had been a man all his life who actively sought out physical challenges of an extreme nature while also being an intellectual.  Roosevelt was equally matched in those attributes by Rondon and Cherrie.  Kermit Roosevelt had been raised by his father to accept and master similar challenges virtually from the cradle and was nearly a match for the other men in those capacities.  Rondon also had a native Brazilian right hand man who was similar in physical qualities with a lifetime of experience in Amazon survival.  They also had a sizeable contingent of laborers from among the more civilized Amazon tribes who with one exception worked tirelessly to carry the heavy labors of the trip and support the success of the expedition.  The one exception was a native Brazilian who was both lazy and dangerous and eventually murdered Rondon's top assistant.  The men were able to make brief contact once with that man after he disappeared into the jungle following the murder.  They responded by abandoning him in the jungle and he is believed to have either starved to death, been murdered by local tribes of Stone Age natives, or possibly been killed by the native wildlife.  The photo below is of T. Roosevelt & C. Rondon.

 

This book is an amazing story of survival, a portrait of a former American president who was actually capable of taking on the challenges of a world into which almost none of the other presidents in this or any other country would have dared to go, and a story of tremendous achievement by a team of roughly 20 men who could not have been handpicked better to have accomplished the nearly impossible.  If you love real history about success against great odds this is the book you should read.  The photo below if of George Cherrie.

Southern Legitimacy Statement

Once upon a time about 13 years ago, I was applying for something or other, probably a position (unpaid of course) writing a piece now and then for some minor website or magazine which deemed itself to the be the epitome of how to write about life in the American South.  For some unknown reason, I actually did the assignment with a bit of a sarcastic tone and submitted it never to hear from the place again...which was probably just as well.  I am attaching the piece below and hope at least one of you who might read it understands what I have intended to say about this farce.  

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Roger Hicks’ Southern Legitimacy Statement

Having spent most of my life in Southern Appalachia I tend to think of myself as an Appalachian first and a southerner second.  However, I have also spent most of my life on the appropriate side of the Mason-Dixon Line.  Nobody who lives north of the Tennessee border ever seems to know how to make sweet tea. Nobody who hasn’t lived in West Virginia (or perhaps Missouri) ever understands the Missouri Compromise.  I have spent days, weeks, months, years in places like Pipestem, West Virginia; Yee Haw Junction, Florida; Sand Mountain, Alabama; Marshall, North Carolina; and West Liberty, Kentucky.  I was born in Lackey, Kentucky, and my parents carried me home from the hospital through the front door of a small country store they owned.  The door on the other side of the room went into our living room.  I spent years hearing old men sit around the gas stove telling stories about life in Eastern Kentucky before “we went across the waters and fit the Germans”.  I went to a two room school in Knott County Kentucky and started selling Rose Bud Salve, Grit Newspapers, Cloverine Salve, and garden seeds door to door when I was about ten.  I grew up knowing how to find, catch, kill, skin, dress, and cook fish, frogs, chickens, hogs, squirrels, rabbits, ground hogs and any other thing that flew too low over the dinner table. I not only know what a Hoover Box is; I know how to make one and where to set it. I also know why it was necessary and appropriate to name that device a Hoover Box. I also know how to raise, pick, can, freeze, and cook things as diverse as shuck beans, plantain, poke, tangle gut, pickled corn, and cushaw. I developed lifetime resistance to starvation through development of survival skills. I reckon that probably qualifies don’t it? 

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And, I will conclude by saying, I reckon that is just about what I should have said under the circumstances. 

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