Finally, "The Life and Times of Ray Hicks, Keeper of the Jack Tales" will make it to bookstores and Amazon between August 20 and September 1. Two reviewers have declared it the Appalachian Angela's Ashes. When measured by angst, struggle and "being up again it," I can see that the story has a full degree of amazement. Many readers will feel empathy for the family that struggled against nature and will feel joy for their survival.

Friends say, "Well, it's about time," because they know the book has been about seven years in the making. The University of Tennessee Press has done a

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Well, it’s about time to see my friend, Glenn Bolick’s book appear in bookstores. Two years in the planning and publishing seemed like a long time, but when all’s said and done, we’re thinking how short two years has been.

Glenn’s plan for the book was a tribute to his upbringing, and that it is. It’s full of fun. Appalachian fun, that is. He says people think he talks funny, because he shortens words when he speaks. He points out how everyone in his community spoke the same. Therefore, he captures the spirit of his life and times as well as that of

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Everyone who knows me knows I’m big on oral history. I like to hear people talk about their families, and I enjoy writing down what they say. Just today, a lady shared her experience as an eight year old student. A sudden hail storm came up when she was having class in a one room wooden schoolhouse. The wind was so strong, it blew the structure off its foundation and the school landed on the front door trapping the children inside. While hail pummeled, the sky was as dark as night and everything became chaotic. It was a fascinating story of survival by a young female teacher about seventeen years old and her twenty-two pupils.

Personal histories are valuable to

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