Book Reviews+Storytelling

Christmas Pokes

During my childhood in the 1960s, my family’s church, Garden Creek Baptist Church, held an annual Nativity play at Christmastime. The first play that I had a part in, when I was around six years old, required me to recite a Bible verse.

Word from the Smokies

I was at least an hour and a half into my conversation with June Goforth when I joked that she hadn’t given me a chance to ask any questions. She paused a moment before laughing and said, “Oh, I didn’t know you had questions.”

John C. Campbell Folk School

It began with a trip to the mountains over one hundred years ago. A place many considered a mission field, a fertile land for both agriculture and cultural experiences.

Chunking Punkins Warms the Familial Heart

The internet is filled with popular YouTube videos documenting festivals called “Punkin Chunkin,” which is a competition held around the country in places such as Clayton, New York, Vinita, Oklahoma, and Bluemont, Virginia.

The Kettle

My mother’s youngest brother, John Ray, was our family historian. For years, he worked as a meat cutter at local grocery stores, where he chatted with old timers who had known past generations of our family.

Rose of Sharon for Del Rio

The trees weren’t delivered exactly during the timeline I had scheduled. My goal was to make the trip to the flood ravaged land on Earth Day, but life had other plans. Here at home, my Beloved is in full blown “project mode."

Thanksgiving at the Appalachian Trail

On the way home to Wisconsin from Valdosta, Georgia, one year after spending Thanksgiving with my Air Force son, I took a detour to Narrows, Virginia, to spend a few days with my aunt.

A Fondness for Box Turtles

In the 1960s, my Marion, North Carolina, neighborhood had yards with flower beds and vegetable gardens, with cow pastures and woods nearby. One day my father called me from play and said, “Come here and see what I found in the backyard.”

Sins of the Father

The Adventures of Roy Boy and Birdie

To Be or Not To Be

They Did It On Their Own

With Pen in Hand

Way High Up On the Hill