tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25274346274160653752024-03-05T09:36:27.412-08:00Jim AinsworthAuthorJim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-54829321636732903452017-08-02T11:44:00.001-07:002017-08-02T11:44:23.349-07:00Winnsboro NewsThanks to Terry Mathews and Winnsboro News for writing about my books.<br />
<a href="https://theressomethinggoodhere.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/cowboy-cpa-chronicler-jim-ainsworth-basically-all-the-books-tell-my-life-story/">Cowboy, CPA, Chronicler</a>Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-81979902116725052122017-03-22T09:47:00.001-07:002017-03-22T09:47:33.288-07:00The Importance of Place in Novels <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://ketr.org/post/jim-ainworths-latest-circle-hurt">KETR Radiio Interview</a></span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">What
about the places in Circle of Hurt—are they real locations?</span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br /></span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><b>Riverby is real, yet fictional. The real Riverby</b> </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">is on Farm Road 100 twenty
miles northeast of Bonham and two miles south of the Red River in extreme
northeastern Fannin County. It apparently developed around a school established
for the children of tenants from the nearby Morgan and Goss plantations. By
1936, when the first population statistics for the community were reported,
Riverby had twenty residents and one business. Its population remained the
same, although it reported no businesses after the mid-1940s. From 1977 through
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I had never heard of Riverby until about fifteen years ago
when I visited a team roping facility there and enjoyed a meal with the cowboys
on a Riverby Ranch.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
fictional Riverby is a small town, but not that small. It is based on physical
characteristics of the town squares of Commerce, Cooper, and Honey Grove—maybe
a little Ladonia thrown in. It is called Riverby because it is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by
the Red River</i></b>. The fictional town in this book is geographically close
to where the real Riverby is. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Honey
Grove likely provided the primary inspiration, because the old buildings
downtown are truly unique. Also, some of the characters were inspired by people
I knew who lived in Honey Grove. I found these people to be fascinating in real
life and I hope they are equally fascinating in fiction.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Scenes
outside of town, (and there are many) are primarily based on the area around
Klondike in Delta County.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What about Prigmore’s General
Store? Is it real?</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prigmore’s
is loosely base on Silman’s on the downtown square of Cooper. It was a
hardware, grocery, and general supply store complete with lunch counter. There
is also a lot of Adrian Mercantile thrown in. This Panhandle store leaned
toward the rustic, cowboy, farming way of life where fresh hides were often
seen on the porch and the inside smelled of harness and tack and feed. You can
really get a feel for the place that is no longer there in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is there really a place known
as Hurt Hill</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">?</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, there was and is, but you would need a guide (or me) to
find it now. I especially remember an old well hand pump in the front yard that
remained there long after the house was abandoned. My father leased land just
west of Hurt Hill late in his life and leased bottomland west of the hill when
I was a boy. I remember helping him (mostly watching and fetching) dynamite
stumps in the bottomland and planting cotton there. I picked a lot of cotton in
the field where pivotal scenes in the book take place. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This scene from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Flow</i></b>, my 2004 novel, also
takes place in those bottoms east of Hurt Hill: </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The bottoms were different in daylight. Humidity, copperhead snakes,
and mosquitoes were more of a threat than panthers. It was still dark in the
deepest part of the woods, but Blue Bottom creek was dry enough for Jake to
hide in. Today, he was big brother, and he liked that role better than being
little brother. As he looked over the creek bank, Jake saw a small cottontail
rabbit hop up and sit between Tuck’s legs. </i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When he opened his eyes to look for Jake, Tuck saw the rabbit and
smiled. Jake looked toward his parents to see if they were watching. They were
not, so he began easing his way around the cotton field to tell them without
disturbing the rabbit. As Jake approached, Rance downed the last of his iced
tea and leaned back on one elbow. Mattie straightened the ragged quilt they
were using for their picnic then lay her head against Rance’s thigh. Jake held
one finger to his lips and pointed toward Tuck.</i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mattie sat up to get
a better look. “Just look at that.” She pointed toward her son. A small
squirrel had moved to the other side of Tuck, sat back on its haunches, and
intently watched the small boy. Tuck paid little heed to the squirrel or the
rabbit, but seemed to welcome their presence. As he started toward the woods to
find Jake, the rabbit and squirrel followed. Jake looked at his parents and
shrugged.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Was there really a picker
shack and a farmhouse on Hurt Hill? </span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes.
I used to pick cotton (pull boles) in the bottomland just below it. I remember
migrant workers staying in that shack one of the years we harvested cotton
there. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-88672392394475017592017-03-21T08:41:00.000-07:002017-03-21T08:41:10.570-07:00The Story Behind the Cover of Believing in a Grand Thing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The cover of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Believing
in a Grand Thing</i></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My
original idea for the cover of this book was a cowboy or western scene on the
front—maybe a kneeling cowboy with a cross in the background. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we see of lot of those in yards all around.
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<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Again,
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<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My
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the next to last day of our wagon and horseback trip across Texas that I
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When he stopped at his father’s grave, I pulled a throwaway camera I had bought
on the trail out of my saddlebags and took the shot. I knew it was a special
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back legs. Unintended, but I like that a lot. I am certain Marion would, too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Marion’s
mom now lies beside his father and Marion is laid to rest a few feet away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-16502295826866960992017-03-21T08:28:00.000-07:002017-03-21T08:28:12.882-07:00The Cover of Circle of Hurt<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Circle of Hurt and Believing in a Grand Thing—joint launch 3/28 </span></u></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the launch date fast approaching, readers have
questions. In the days before the launch, I will try to answer some of them.
More questions will be welcome at the launch or through e-mail or social media.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What Can You Tell Us About the Covers on both books?</span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></u></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We worked diligently to come up with real photos
that matched my description of the general store, the table and chairs, the
ambiance of the place, but we just could not make it work. When we could not
capture the right scene with a table and chairs inside the right kind of room,
I decided a shack might work, with wooden boards as the background. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe we could find an old house that might come
close to the description of the picker shack. The real picker shack was clearly
in my mind, but it is long gone—swallowed up when they constructed Cooper
Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jan suggested a drive around my
old haunts in Delta County. Maybe we could find one that matched my memory. She
drove so I could watch for one. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We borrowed Granddaughter Taylor’s camera, since
ours is very old. I recalled seeing an old shack near Charleston a few years
back, but we couldn’t find it. Shacks I knew around Klondike were just too far
gone for human habitation. As we drove by my cousin Marion’s cabin, Jan slowed
and pulled over. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She looked at me, smiled as if she had just had a
revelation, and pointed to the cabin. “What about that one?”</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A light bulb had switched on in her artistic head,
but my bulb was still dim. Marion had been gone for two years, and that cabin
contained a lot of fond memories. It’s in excellent shape, built by Marion
and his sons-in-law only a few years ago when the original one burned. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I shook my head. “That cabin is only a few years
old. The picker shack would have been maybe a hundred years old when the novel
takes place.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jan smiled. “Yes, but wasn’t this one built to look
old?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She was right. Marion’s cabin was a cross between
the picker shack in the book and Tee Jessup’s rented farmhouse. It could serve
as either. And Marion would be pleased. My guess was that his family would be,
too. </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wasn’t sure how it would all come together, but
Jan’s enthusiasm was contagious. I knew she wouldn’t mind, but I texted
Marion’s wife Pat to get her permission to drive on her property and take some
pictures. She said sure and we pulled into the driveway I had traveled hundreds
of times to visit Marion, play poker, or attend a family gathering. Memories
washed over me with a warm glow. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Jan began taking photos of the exterior of the
cabin, I caught her enthusiasm. This might work. We discovered the side door
was open, but I was hesitant to go inside. Not because Pat might mind, but
because of the memories. Sure enough, the table where we had weekly poker games
looked ready for players. Besides poker, I had presented at least one program
to a ladies’ club there. Of course, there had been many family gatherings.
Tears wanted to come, but I held them at bay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jan took more photos of the table and chairs and I
realized that this setting, the old jukebox and a few other things might have
partially inspired the scenes inside the general store described in the book.
After what seemed dozens of shots, I turned and saw Jan with her camera inches
from the wall, snapping more photos. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She kept on clicking. “You said you wanted boards
for the background, didn’t you?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: GoudyOldStyleBT-Italic; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Days later, she showed me her concept, saying, “</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I feel as if I’m on the
inside of the cozy cabin stealing a look at the story that is taking place
outside.” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
worked for me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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and colors and the rope and that’s how the cover of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Circle of Hurt</i></b> came to be. I like it a lot and I hope readers
do, too.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-19474519714481880692017-03-17T08:50:00.001-07:002017-03-17T09:32:08.074-07:00Circle of Hurt Launch Party<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif";">FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></div>
<div class="FreeForm" style="line-height: 120%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="FreeForm" style="line-height: 120%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="FreeForm" style="line-height: 120%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Jim
H. Ainsworth and Season of Harvest Publications announce the publication of
Jim’s eighth novel</span>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Circle
of Hurt</span>. </i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They gather around a
big table in the back of Prigmore’s General Store and Café in downtown Riverby
several times a week most weeks. There are six of them, five men and one woman.
There may have been more or less in the past. There are no programs or
speakers. Those outside The Circle wonder what they talk about, but they don’t
ask. The only requirement for membership is to have been deeply hurt or to have
caused serious hurt to others.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tee Jessup is not a
member of The Circle, but he qualifies. He spends a lot of time on the porch of
a dilapidated farm house on a hill, feeling sorry for himself over the loss of
his parents, his brother and his wife. He dreams of taking revenge on the man
responsible for his wife’s death, but he can’t take the vengeance he craves
because he has a young son. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Just down the hill
from Tee’s rented house sits a long-abandoned shack. Decades earlier, it was used as a
shelter for itinerant cotton pickers during harvest season. Clayton Dupree
stayed in the picker shack when he was a boy. Now he has secretly returned to
write his songs, paint his pictures, play his guitar, record everything that
happens around him, and nurse a bullet wound. </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">Ainsworth's second release, </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "minion pro bold ital" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">Believing in a Grand Thing</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "minion pro bold ital" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">,</span><span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">
is partially in response to reader requests. He describes it as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the story of a worn-out old cowboy’s
attempts to blaze his trail to redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i>He’s giving away a copy of this book with every purchase of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Circle
of Hurt</i></b>. Additional copies may be purchased. </span></div>
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Everyone<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>is invited to a<span style="font-family: "minion pro bold" , "serif";"> launch party for both books to
be held T</span><span style="font-family: "minion pro bold" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";"><span style="font-family: "minion pro bold" , "serif";">uesday</span>, March 28, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.</span><span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">
at the </span><span style="font-family: "minion pro bold" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">A&M-Commerce Alumni Center,</span><span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";"> corner of Stonewall
and Bois D’arc, Commerce, Texas 75428. </span><span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif";">All
are welcome and reservations are not required. Refreshments will be served. </span></div>
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All of Ainsworth’s other books will also be available at the
party, from his website or at Amazon.com . <span style="font-family: "minion pro" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3";">Contact him at <a href="http://www.jimainsworth.com/"><span style="color: #000099;">www.JimAinsworth.com</span></a>
or <a href="mailto:Jim@JimAinsworth.com"><span style="color: #000099;">Jim@JimAinsworth.com</span></a></span></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-23504570509769074222017-03-15T11:29:00.000-07:002017-03-15T11:35:24.698-07:00Fifty Years in a Thousand Miles--the Final Installment<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Final Installment--Part 10—Oklahoma and home</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bob Messenger gave me instructions on the phone as I neared his home
in Hollis. He is a long time friend from my post-college days in Tulsa.
We worked for Pan American Petroleum as junior accountants. We soon learned we
were both country boys and working in the downtown environment behind desks on
the 7<sup>th</sup> floor of the Oil and Gas Building made us feel like fish out
of water. We were friends from the get-go.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Back in those days, Bob had a ’46 Plymouth coupe with a 327
Corvette engine and he took me on many weekend trips to Oklahoma City and
other locales. He was an upbeat, funny, friendly guy who loved to drive and
loved to have fun, loved people, the perfect counterpart to my shyness. We
clicked. But Bob got drafted and sent to Vietnam. I left my job shortly after
and moved back to Texas.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I saw him briefly when he flew into Dallas after his
discharge, but then there was no contact for close to forty years. But one day
in about 2004, he and Sharon drove into my driveway. He had come to a book
signing for my second novel. Charlotte and James Hilliard from Jasper were here
for the signing and were also visiting our home. I was so astounded to see them
all and so busy with arrangements for the signing that I still regret not
having more time to visit and rehash old times. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Bob and Sharon’s son Mark became a fan of my books and now
owns them all. I had never met Mark, but I knew a lot about him and his
impressive family. His son Jaco had just finished competing in the National
High School Rodeo Championships in Cody, Wyoming. (I got to meet Mark this year when he and Bob came to my place after attending the Fort
Worth Stock Show cattle auction.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bob and Sharon had remodeled her old family home in tiny
Hollis and Bob waved me into the driveway. He looked about the same as he had
ten years ago and a decade younger than I know he is, but said he was having a
little trouble with feeling in his feet. </div>
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<br /></div>
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They took me on a tour of the house and explained the changes they had made to the old home Sharon had grown up in. It was quite a contrast.
Sharon told me that Bob had spent hours without success looking for a picture of him and me
standing by that Ford coupe. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I did not know that Bob had experienced some heart problems
and had had two surgeries since I last saw him. Had to have part of his aorta
removed and part of it went down into his leg, necessitating yet another
surgery. </div>
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He had at least two strokes on the operating table and
almost died. Medicine prescribed for high cholesterol had also had an adverse
impact. The ordeal left him without some feeling in his hands and his
feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And his brother died of heart
failure while Bob was in the hospital.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But Bob was still Bob. Welcoming, cheerful, and
optimistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through it all, he
maintained a sizable cattle and ranching operation. Sharon works in real
estate and insurance.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We drove to downtown Hollis and the Boomerang Café for lunch
with some of their friends. Hollis, like most small towns in this part of the
country, is shrinking. Their church has shrunk from 600 members to less than
70.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Then to Ken Bartlett’s home. Ken is a retired farmer nearing
ninety. Bob said Ken had a reputation as a man who never got dirty and never
let his equipment stay dirty for long. He had a cabin in his back yard filled
with a very impressive collection of western saddles, tack and memorabilia.
When I saw a picture of Richard Farnsworth on his wall, I told Ken about
meeting Richard in Oklahoma City at the Cowboy Hall of Fame.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bob loaned him his copy of my <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biscuits Across the Brazos</i></b>
book. A few days later, Ken ordered all nine of my books. A few weeks after
that, he called and left a message on my phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Hello, Mr. Jim, this is Ken Bartlett in Hollis, Oklahoma. I want to
tell you right now that I’ve never enjoyed books as much as I enjoyed yours.
When you pick one up, you can’t put it down. They bring back old memories. You
write the way things really were.” I kept that recorded message. </div>
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<br /></div>
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We spent the afternoon telling stories of old times and new,
then I reluctantly left before dark, thinking I might make it home and not have
another night in a motel. I got into another big rainstorm just outside Hollis,
but made it through. </div>
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<br /></div>
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By the way, do you recognize that name, Bob Messenger?
Remember Father Bob from Rails to a River?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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As I traveled familiar territory toward home, I felt good
about the trip. Had I really covered fifty years in a thousand miles in a trip that lasted less than three full days? You be the judge.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I tried to compose a few scenes from the memories as I headed toward home. Let’s see . .
. a reclusive Oxford scholar with a menagerie of exotic animals; a farmer who built a
successful flying service in the middle of nowhere—who flies famous people
around the country—whose wife has been a world traveler who went to high school
with one of my favorite cowboy actors who happens to have been born on the same day and the same year as me; a murder; a professional cowboy who
managed one the largest ranches in the state for over two decades; another
professional cowboy who writes novels endorsed by the great Elmer Kelton; a
near death experience in one surgery, a miraculous healing from another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmmm<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>.
. . let me think. Are there some stories there or not? Check out <a href="http://www.jimainsworth.com/">Circle of Hurt</a>. You might see one or two scenes that look familiar. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I pulled into my driveway, the CD I had played
intermittently on the road made its way back to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Red River Valley</i> and I had made my way back home. And I was still
alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-67414279558105625622017-03-13T13:26:00.001-07:002017-03-13T13:28:27.118-07:00Where Woodie Guthrie Learned to Play the Guitar<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Part 9—of Fifty Years in a Thousand Miles--Pampa and More Old Friends </div>
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<br /></div>
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I was reluctant to leave Calvin, Linda and Dalhart, but the
sun had set and I had set my sights on making Pampa before bedtime. As I
reflected on our story-swapping while driving, I realized that Calvin saw me as
the boy he knew, not the boy I thought I was. I saw Sidney as the boy I knew,
not the boy he really was.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As I mentally wandered over the various phases and careers
of my life, I figured that people who knew me during each of those careers and
times saw me in a different way. I know I had trouble convincing folks that
their CPA could also be their broker and financial planner. Later, I had the
same problem convincing them I could be a novelist. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I drove through Hartley, another old high school competitor,
then Stinnett, where another of the stockbroker-CPAs I once worked with and
trained, lived. Then Borger, where old friend and brother-in-law Jack
Thornbrough grew up. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Thunder and lightning roiled all around me as I traveled. I
had the top-of-the-earth feeling one gets out there at high altitude. There are
no mountains, but plenty of hills and valleys and the lighting displays are
magnificent. I met a car about every thirty minutes, so I felt all alone. I
seemed to be heading into the heart of the storm, but only got concerned once
when heavy rain slowed me to about twenty.</div>
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<br /></div>
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They gave me room 137 (again) at a Best Western in Pampa and
thunderstorms raged all night. The thunderclaps were the loudest I have ever
heard and the wind blew so hard that water got under my door. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The next morning, I asked for a telephone directory in the
hotel lobby. The thirty-something clerk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>asked, “What’s a telephone directory?” Really? I wondered if anybody
would know in a few years.</div>
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Another clerk finally found one and I called Mike Ruff,
another founding member of the 1<sup>st</sup> Global Registry (a specialized
broker-dealer that I co-founded back in 1991).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mike was still a practicing CPA, Certified Financial Planner and broker
in Pampa. He and his wife Nancy, a Presbyterian minister, had been good friends
to Jan and me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I invited them to the motel, but they insisted I drop by
their house. Over coffee, we kicked around old times, but mostly talked about
where we were in the present. Nancy had undergone brain surgery to remove a
debilitating tumor. She said that doctors gave her little chance of surviving
the surgery, and even less of living a normal life if she did survive.
Blindness was almost a certainty if she lived.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As he stood beside Nancy’s bed after surgery, Mike received a
call from his doctor. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Nancy survived her surgery and so did Mike. She still has
her sight and shows little negative side effects from the debilitating illness.
They were prayer warriors throughout and turned it over to God. They remain
their old cheerful selves.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As we posed for photos, I got a text from a friend asking
for financial advice, even though I have not been in the business for almost
twenty years. I read the question to Mike and told him that this would be his
life after retirement. We got a good laugh out of that. Old friends are good.
We should keep in touch more. I left inspired and happy that I stopped for the
visit. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I left Pampa (the place where Woodie Guthrie learned to play
the guitar) and headed toward Oklahoma. </div>
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I passed through Mobeetie, another famous western town with
a jail that has been preserved. I wanted to stop, but had already told Bob and
Sharon Messenger I would make Hollis, Oklahoma before noon. I also saw the sign
that pointed toward Canadian, home of Mike Gardiner, another <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1<sup>st</sup> Global rep that was a good
friend. He is also in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A River of Stories</i></b>. Wished I had the
time to stop and visit. </div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-48495040212388790982017-03-11T09:02:00.003-08:002017-03-11T09:05:15.332-08:00The Old Hag Shows Up Again<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Part 8—Fifty Years in a Thousand Miles--Dalhart. What are the Odds? </div>
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A short time later, Calvin did lose his job as manager of the Quien Sabe (Who Knows?) ranch. I heard
that he had moved to Dalhart. He has little or no presence online since he left
the ranch (not much before), but I had found enough information to chance
finding him there.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Without benefit of a town map, I followed my instincts and
almost immediately located a street named Peters and wondered if he had already
had a street named for him. A few houses down, I stopped at the only address I
found online, a small but nice brick house with a single garage in a residential
neighborhood. A white pickup sat in the driveway. </div>
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I knocked on the door and a man opened it. “Yes sir. What
can I do for you?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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He was in the dark and covered his eyes as he looked out into the setting sun.
When he did not recognize me, I thought it might not be him. He had put on a
few pounds, aged a little. I counted off almost fifteen years since I had last
seen him. “Looking for Calvin Peters. I’m Jimmy Ainsworth.”</div>
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“You found him. Well, I’ll be, it is you, ain’t it?”</div>
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It was about suppertime and I vowed not to interfere with
that, so we sat on the porch. I had already dropped in on wife Linda
unexpectedly for a meal on that last visit. Calvin, always a great
story-teller, told me what had happened since leaving the Quien Sabe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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He feels God led him north from the ranch rather than south
and back to his old home turf around Adrian. He rented a small house and he and
Linda began to rebuild their lives. He found a job driving a fuel truck. Kids
and grandkids said he was driving a bomb down the highway, so he quit that and
found a job at the XIT Feedlot (XIT Feeders). He worked inside for a while
until he learned that riding the lots horseback paid better and suited better. </div>
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When his boss learned he was looking for a house, he sold
him his on Peters Street. Again, Calvin and Linda felt God’s guidance. They
remodeled the place and “cowboyed” it up. Calvin told me they had already paid
off the mortgage. This despite the fact that he was injured in a horse wreck
that led to both head and back surgeries. Back at the feedlot, he decided to
give up the horses and ride in an air-conditioned and heated tractor. Through
it all, they maintained a positive attitude.</div>
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Calvin insisted on taking me inside and showing me their
improvements and his displays of spurs, buckles and other awards he and his son
and grandchildren have won in rodeos and roping events. In the kitchen, I took
a step back when I saw Jay Dusard’s famous photograph of Julie Hagen entitled
“North American Cowboy: a portrait”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Julie Hagan was the top hand at Wagstaff Land and Cattle Co. in Wyoming
when the shot was taken. I met her years later on a Wyoming mountain. </div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A River of Stories</i></b> . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughter filled the pre-dawn mountain air
and lights came on in the cook tent. “The Old Hag” had finally arrived. At
breakfast, we all knew Julie Hagen before we took our first bite. She was a
ranch manager who had worked for ranches in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, and
Wyoming. He was also a painter and poet. Her brother was an Olympic skier, her
father a biologist, her mother a professional flutist. </i></div>
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Calvin’s photo is signed by Jay Dusard. Jay came to the
ranch to capture some of its majesty in photographs before the way of life
disappeared. My photo was signed by Julie Hagen. </div>
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<br /></div>
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What are the chances that two guys who attended the same
tiny school fifty years earlier in the Texas Panhandle would have the same
photo of a woman (that I met once and Calvin never met; a woman from a state
more than a thousand miles from Texas) hanging in their homes?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I had heard or read something about a civic award Calvin had won
for community service, but he pretended not to know what I was talking about.
Linda has taken a job with a local restaurant and arrived wearing her welcoming
smile. </div>
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Calvin and I swapped old stories for about an hour and a
story about Sidney and the unusual lifestyle he chose came up. I said that
compared to Sidney, I had been a wild and crazy guy in high school. </div>
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Calvin put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Jimmy, you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">were</i> a wild and crazy guy compared to me
and most of our classmates.” That surprised me, because I had always seen
myself as the shy introvert that I was inside—the new kid who tried to stay
invisible. </div>
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<br /></div>
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If you read Circle of Hurt, watch for remnants of this visit. </div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-2498796732017718532017-03-10T08:39:00.000-08:002017-03-10T08:39:20.185-08:00A Bent Door and a Ranch<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Fifty Years in a Thousand Miles—Part 7—The Bent Door and the
Quien Sabe </div>
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<br /></div>
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I headed toward Adrian, where I found the landscape around
the tiny town littered by wind turbines. Sad to see. The town continues to
shrink after I-40 replaced Route 66 and bypassed Adrian. Many of my old haunts
were gone or empty, including the Bent Door. </div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b>. . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mother Road ran along the south side of the town. A hodgepodge of
trading posts, service stations, garages, and restaurants gave Route 66
travelers a chance to fill up their cars and stomachs. Some had signs that said
“Last Chance”. At the Bent Door, an arrow drawn on the window had two heads.
One read Chicago, the other Los Angeles. 1,139 miles was printed in the center. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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And later, this . . .</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His first plate of
fried biscuits had been made better because he was sitting with Gabe and Nocona
in a booth at the Bent Door. Three black Resistol hats, three pairs of black
Justins. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Bent Door really does have a bent door and bent windows
and it is still intact, though the business was long ago abandoned. I looked
through the dusty windows and saw a few tables and chairs in various states of
dilapidation, wondered if they were the same ones I sat in a half-century
before.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div>
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And from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A River of Stories</i></b> . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Looking at the booth where I sat so many
times inspired me somehow. I wanted to take a few notes. I had left this
country unwillingly, my cowboy dreams abandoned. Now, I had returned with
dreams of becoming a writer. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I stopped in front of the old Adrian Mercantile building,
still standing but bearing little resemblance to the thriving general store I
encountered as a boy. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rivers Ebb</b>—Mattie walked toward the
general store. “JD or Bess told me it started as a hotel—rooms upstairs and a
saloon downstairs.” </i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She turned up her nose
at a dozen or more fresh hides, hair and blood showing, stacked on a wooden
slab on the side porch. The place smelled of leather and oil-soaked wood mixed
with horse and mule feed, wet tow-sacks, and salt blocks. Shelves were filled
with a haphazard assortment of groceries and supplies. Horse liniment mingled
with vanilla extract, potato chips and aspirin. Naked bulbs revealed harness
and saddles stacked on stands. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Mid-Point Café was already closed for the day, so I
walked into the gift and knickknack shop next door, asked the girl if she knew
Sam Brown. She did, said he still lived here, but did not know where. Sam,
another schoolmate at Adrian, is the author of a few Westerns that drew praise
from the likes of Elmer Kelton (again, what are the odds?) I have read all his
books and he’s been featured in at least one major magazine. An authentic
cowboy who does daywork as well as writing. I drove by the house he had lived
in on my last trip here, but it was abandoned, knocked on the door of the house
where his parents lived. Nobody home. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Adrian High School was just across the street. I walked over
and looked in the windows. Little has changed about the building in fifty-plus
years. I tried to be sixteen again as I sat in the place where my picture
had been taken for the school annual, but could not. Awhile back, my son Damon
sat on that same spot and had his picture taken when he went out of his way to pass
through my old hometown. He knew a lot about it from reading my books.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I looked up at the sinking sun and decided I could make
Dalhart before dark. I had heard that Calvin Peters, a classmate I wrote about
twice in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A River of Stories </i></b>lived there now. I had seen Calvin twice in
the years since high school. The first was at the Abilene Western Heritage
Classic. </div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A River of Stories</i></b> . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I followed behind, taking my time to observe
the boots with tall tops and slanted riding heels, the large spur rowels, and
the huge palm-leaf hat, looking for the seventy-pounds-lighter boy I once knew.
. . . I watched him and his Quien Sabe Ranch team compete that night. The
younger cowboys obviously looked up to him. I left the next day, expecting I
would never see him again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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But I did see him again when I attended a writing conference
in Amarillo a few years later. I dropped in unannounced at the Quien Sabe,
where he had been ranch manager for at least twenty years. He invited me for
supper and I spent the night. The next day, he loaned me a horse so that I
could participate in a roundup. Memorable.</div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A River of
Stories</b>: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There was a screened-in
overhang porch to my right where I saw a sea of black hats, all brim-up,
crown-down on the floor beside four freezers that Calvin said were full of
beef..</i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. . . Calvin stopped
the pickup and rolled down a window. “This has been a good life, but the
problem is I don’t own a single thing you see. Not that house, this pickup. I
lose this job, I’ll be leaving here empty-handed after giving this ranch the
better part of my life.”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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My time on the Quien Sabe and Moorhouse Ranches inspired
some of the locales in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rails to a River. </i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He drove six miles on ranch property and
stopped at a cattle guard that marked the entrance to Blind River Ranch
headquarters. The road on the other side looked like it led nowhere, so seldom
traveled it resembled a river wash rather than a road. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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And this . . .<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he feels
like an interloper on ground that has given him birth and nourished his life
for almost two decades, but the cold, dry, thin Texas Panhandle air recognizes
him with a whistled greeting.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I am at a loss to explain why the ranch so inspired me. The
railroad crossing one has to cross to reach the ranch is historical in its own
way, and became the locale for a pivotal scene in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rails to a River</i></b> which I
won’t spoil here. </div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-35735856586074460342017-03-08T08:19:00.000-08:002017-03-08T08:19:07.608-08:00Documentary or a Novel?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I took a trip awhile back to retrace some of the places and
people that inspired my writing in previous books and in my new offerings, <a href="http://www.jimainsworth.com/">Circle of Hurt and Believing in a Grand
Thing</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Part 6—</div>
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<br /></div>
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What are the chances of tiny Adrian producing a Rhodes
Scholar? And the class below us produced two published authors. And how did
Morris built a charter plane service in the middle of nowhere that flew
governors, senators, and other celebrities. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I understand Sidney Blankenship speaks several languages and is an
expert not only on Christianity but some Eastern religions including Hinduism.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He has 27 dogs (down from over fifty), all descended from
two he acquired in 1980. When I tried to visit him fifteen or so years ago, he
had a large menagerie of exotic animals. Now, he is down to two African Lions,
one bear, ten Javelinas, a bison herd of 120, and a few assorted other exotics. </div>
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<br /></div>
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He has continued his studies in theology and is in the
process of writing a book. He still travels to England occasionally to present
papers at Oxford, but can’t be away for long because of his animals. I ask you,
who would not want to sit down and discuss life with a man who has led such an
unusual one? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Morris, on the other hand, has run a successful farming
operation (he and his son farm over 8,000 acres). He also runs a successful
aviation service. He showed me photos of his flights for Oliver North, Senator
Kay Bailey Hutchinson, George W. Bush and other famous folks. He was also a
member of the National School Board Association. He has had quite an impressive
career. He showed me his pristine plane (I think it was a Cessna) in very nice
hangar next to his house. He was considering flying it to the next NSBA
meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Morris remembered my cousin Arlen driving the school bus and
his younger sister Sha and brother Larry. Too bad we didn’t know that back in
high school. I reluctantly drove away without seeing Sidney but feeling very
positive about the visit with his brother. I figure Morris and I will meet
again. Certainly hope so. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I pulled out on the highway to head to Adrian and recalled
the time Cousin Arliss had landed a plane on that road. It created quite a stir. I
wished I had asked Morris if he remembered that. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I looked back at the small farmhouse where Sidney had lived
for more than six decades, I remembered the time when we got a new English
teacher in the middle of the school year. It took a hardy breed to come to
this isolated area and teach, so the local Baptist minister was drafted for the
job when an elderly lady gave up on us rowdy boys and left. </div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b> . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake had never seen Loretta’s father up
close. The preacher had played three sports at Baylor and looked ready to
deliver a crushing tackle today. He sat in Mrs. Boucher’s chair and folded both
arms across her desk. The arms were bigger than Jake’s legs. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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For a preacher, Reverend Jim Sessions (the inspiration for the new teacher) showed little reluctance
in enforcing discipline in his classes, including liberal use of the paddle. He did not appreciate our history with the elderly lady we had forced back into retirement. He
gave us an assignment to write a story, a mystery or thriller, preferably. We
all, especially the boys, snickered. When we saw that he was serious, we
grumbled, but most of us took out tablets and began scribbling.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jerry Fortenberry, my former nemesis turned friend, looked
over my shoulder as I began to write my first fictional short story with great
trepidation. When I finished the first page, I turned to Jerry. “You better get
to writing.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Not me. No way I can write a story. Let me see yours.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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I didn’t want to, but Jerry was still not a boy to trifle
with. He read the page I handed him, poked me again and whispered. “Let me see
what happens in the end.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Somehow, that gave me confidence as I put the finishing
touches on my story. As I recall, it involved somebody dead on a ship. Since I
had no experience with ships, I have no idea why I chose that topic or locale.</div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b>: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake looked over his shoulder at Burt’s paper. The title was “What I
did this weekend.” Burt wrote: Ate supper. Fed hogs. Went to dance. Fixed flat
on tar. Had chicken-fried stake for supper.” </i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake felt better after
reading it. He titled his “Lost in the Fog”. When time was up, Jake bounced his
two pages on the desk as if they were a book manuscript. Floyd Knight stood by
his desk with his hand out. Jake handed him the papers, and Loretta’s father
smiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The next day, Reverend Sessions praised two papers that he
had graded “A”. He mentioned mine first, but he saved the absolute best to read
to the class. It was called “Thoughts of Nothingness”, by Sidney Blankenship.
Sidney artfully described the terror he felt as he listened to classmates’
shuffle of paper and the skin-crawling sensation from hearing them scribbling
on pads while his mind remained a blank and his fingers numb. Sidney had turned
a mundane situation into a comedy/thriller. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When I returned home from my trip, I called the landline
number (Sidney has no cell phone) Morris had provided and got Sidney on the
second try. He told me he has been working on a book about theology for over a
decade. Ironic that I am now a writer after trying my hand at several
professions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe Jim Sessions started
something that day. Or maybe not. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe this is meat for a documentary instead of a novel. </div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-17764594122241223932017-03-06T12:41:00.002-08:002017-03-07T07:38:56.832-08:00Two Brothers From the Past<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Part 5 </div>
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<br /></div>
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I smiled at the memories as I reluctantly drove away and
took my old high school route toward Adrian. I detoured left at the first county road I
passed and drove down to where my high school buddy Calvin had lived. His house
was also gone. Twenty more miles on a paved road that was dirt when I lived
here, I came to the FM road that led north to Adrian. Something told me to turn
south instead. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I traveled toward the old Simms Community, I knew I would
pass the home place of another high school classmate. I slowed as I passed,
reluctant to pull in. I had heard he was a recluse who might not appreciate my
visit. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But I wanted to reconnect with Sidney, one of about a dozen
or so kids in my class at tiny Adrian. He had led a very unusual life,
especially for a boy who had grown up on a Panhandle farm. Sidney got his
degree in Bible studies at Abilene Christian and his academic credentials at
University of Edinburgh in Scotland, then attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
What are the odds of a boy from a very small class in the remote Panhandle of
Texas following in the footsteps of greats like Robert Louis Stephenson, Sir
Walter Scott, Oswald Chambers, and many, many more. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I stopped at the Simms Community Center and remembered
another scene from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb.</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b> </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He eased into a
parking spot behind the Simms Community Center and killed the engine, hoping
that nobody would notice the ’55 Ford had no hood. Jake and Loretta decided to
go in to the dance separately because she was not supposed to be there. A creak
from a rocking chair on the front porch startled him as he watched Loretta
climb the porch steps from the shadows. He thought the big man would never stop
unfolding to his full height as he rose from the chair. Loretta stopped when
she saw her father.</i></div>
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The Community Center is abandoned and falling down now,
though the Lions Club sign still hangs. A business sign across the street has
Morris Blankenship’s name and number on it. Sidney’s brother was a couple of
years ahead of me in school. I remember there were seven in his class and he
was one of two boys. He and Sidney played mean guitars back then. </div>
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I knew Sidney used to live just behind his brother’s house.
I dialed the number on the sign. How does one begin a conversation with someone
you haven’t seen in more than half a century? </div>
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<br /></div>
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“Hello.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Is this Morris Blankenship?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sure is.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This is Jimmy Ainsworth. Does your memory go back that
far?”</div>
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“You’ve got to be kidding me.”</div>
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Morris remembered me instantly and we discussed old times
for a few minutes. I told him I wanted to visit with Sidney. He said Sidney was
not home, but invited me to his house for a visit. There, I met his charming
wife Sondra, who had grown up in Oregon and had been a classmate of Sam
Elliott’s. Said she helped him pass math. I told her that Sam and I were
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I laughed. “Okay, not identical and not cousins. He got the
height, the looks, the deep baritone voice and all those movies, but we were
born on the same day in the same year.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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She also went to school with members of the The Kingsmen
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classic from the sixties?).</div>
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<br /></div>
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I told her I had been the guy to catch her husband’s blazing
fastballs when he pitched and I caught for the Adrian Matadors. I wondered aloud how a girl from
Oregon (Portland I believe) felt about living on the isolated prairie without
neighbors and thirty miles from the nearest small town. She and Morris met at
Abilene Christian College. She had an interesting career with Lemax in Hong
Kong that sells a lot of products to Michael’s stores. That allowed lots of
travel to exotic locales. </div>
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<br /></div>
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She asked if I would like a Diet Pepsi or Diet Dr. Pepper. I
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She replied, “Didn’t ask how you were, I asked if you want a
diet drink.” Morris made a good catch with Sondra. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Morris and I discussed old times and old friends, especially
his brother Sidney. Said he could not explain the strange life his brother had
chosen. Sidney came home from England with a woman to the sparsely populated
area and farm where he grew up, then traveled to California for a brief period.
Back in the remote Texas Panhandle, he enjoyed a short career as a musician (is
still often referred to as Willie because of his long locks), and has been
living on the family farm ever since, free of cell phone or internet
distractions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I left Adrian with my
family, (under protest), the High School Annual had not been published. I asked
friends to circulate my copy for signatures before mailing to me. Sidney’s note
to me stood out because of his beautiful handwriting, not just his words. </div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-47643478517611133532017-03-02T12:07:00.000-08:002017-03-02T12:07:32.686-08:00Part 4--Can We Ever Go Home Again?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Visiting the Old Home Place and the story behind the stories</div>
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<br /></div>
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As I headed out of Vega, I passed by the old 66 café where I
used to listen to cousin Arliss tell jokes until the wee hours of many
mornings. He always made me laugh and treated me like an equal, even though I
was eight years younger.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I headed west on 66 toward Adrian, tried to take myself back
in time as I traveled the route I had taken so many times. The first trip was
described in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Halfway between Vega
and Adrian, Jake decided that the tall concrete silos in the distance had to be
the grain elevators the man at the Vega café had described. He slowed and
turned south onto a dirt road. </i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When he had covered
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of life. Blowing snow stacked up against the fences on the side of the road,
trapping huge tumbleweeds. This country seemed frozen in time, trapped.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The road was covered in snow on that long-ago trip. This
time, it was dry, dusty, and rough. I had to slow to about twenty to hold the
pickup together. Still, the creak from the wreck I had two years ago came back
as the rough road rattled the pickup and my nerves. I stopped and looked down
the road. Nothing as far as the eye could see and out there, and the eye can
see the horizon. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I had traveled it many times in my youth; why did it still
seem so desolate now, so strange?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
memory serves, there were at least two houses where the school bus dropped off
kids along the twenty-mile stretch. I found one abandoned house. I believe it
was where Hubert Bronneman, a high school classmate, lived. The old Parker
place was gone. I remember a young boy who claimed kin to Quanah Parker lived
there. A rattlesnake bit him on the ankle as he stepped off the back step. The
fangs bit directly into a vein and they were at least fifty miles from a
hospital. They called it a miracle when he returned to school a few weeks later
limping, but living.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sure that he was lost,
was traveling into an uninhabited snow-desert, Jake slowed and watched for any
signs of life. Then he saw it—a dim flicker. A small house, Quonset-hut barn, a
single cottonwood tree. But it was the wrong side of the road. Miles later and
about to give up, he saw the dogleg right his father had drawn on a crude map.
He shifted into second as he made the turn. A small frame house covered in
stucco that looked like dried mud sat on his right, dim light coming from the
windows.</i></div>
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The road has changed little in the decades since that day,
but it is even more desolate. Even though the area has had a wet spring, clouds
of dust engulfed my pickup as I made the turn. Ruts in the sand were at least a
foot deep and felt like mud underneath my tires. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I wanted to go back in time, to visit the old place once
more. But it was not to be. The house was gone. The well house, windmill, stock
tank, barn and corrals—all gone. The only thing remaining was the shop. New
corrals had been constructed closer to the road. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I stepped out, walked through the dust and weeds, hoping to
find something of my family’s hardscrabble farming life, some physical evidence
that we had lived there, eked out a living from the land. I found nothing
physical, but I did feel a strong spiritual presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked to the spot where the windmill and
stock tank had been. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A still windmill,
coated with snow in the moonlight, stared back at Jake as if he were an
intruder in its domain. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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With a boot, I brushed the dust where the well-house had
been.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake followed his
daddy into a small cinderblock building beside the windmill. The walls and
floor were black and smelled of wet soot and diesel. Rance set the bucket of
diesel on the ground and struck a match.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I walked over to where the house had been<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake stepped into a small hut-like
enclosure attached to the house. A coal-oil lantern </i>(stormy weather had
knocked out power) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sat on the gray and
chrome Formica table that his grandfather hated, but his mother loved. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The shop was locked, but I looked through the windows,
trying to imagine Arliss (Bob Lee in my books) sitting at the old desk where he
had died. I walked over to the spot where the barn, corrals and loading chutes
had been. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake felt Scar crouch
under him as he watched the young bull. Rance’s voice was not raised, but it
carried through the thin air to Jake’s ears as if it had been shouted through
two generations of Rivers. “Be a good passenger, Son. Let the horse drive.”Jake
took a light grip on the saddle horn and let the little gelding have his head. </i></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-82199417564057915702017-02-28T12:16:00.000-08:002017-02-28T12:16:12.287-08:00Fifty Years in 1000 Miles--Part 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Vega—County Seat of Oldham County, Seat of Many
Memories, and real places for scenes in novels</div>
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Arlen, Sherry and I swapped stories for at least two hours
before I left for either Hereford or Vega (I had not decided which). </div>
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<br /></div>
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I decided to stop in Vega first. Downtown by the Oldham
County Courthouse, just off old Route 66, I stood next to a huge stone tablet of
the Ten Commandments. I remember it from my youth and wish I had paid more
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<br /></div>
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I was consumed by memories as I looked around the square.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized I had written at least six novel
scenes in at least two books that take place within two blocks of the square. I
visited one of my teenage haunts, the Burger Hut. The windows were boarded up,
but the building was freshly painted with blue trim and a new blue metal roof. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Legend has it that Elvis and his manager, Colonel Tom
Parker, stopped there once and ordered burgers and cokes. They ate in the car (reportedly
a long limo) with the windows rolled down. Hut patrons turned on their stools
away from their own food and watched Elvis eat his burger. The story has some
merit because the Hut sat on Route 66 when it was the main route from
Chicago to Los Angeles. Elvis and Parker might have passed that way. The Hut
was central to many scenes in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Six counter stools and
two small tables at each end allowed the joint to seat only fourteen when it
was full. Gabe nursed a cup of coffee on one of the stools as Jake entered. A
blonde with cat-eye glasses appeared in front of Jake. “What’s for you? He
ordered a root beer.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gabe held up an empty
sugar dispenser as she turned to fill Jake’s order. She smiled. “Sorry, we ran
out of sugar. My boss is due back with a new sack any minute. Coffee not sweet
enough?”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gabe’s smile was
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in the morning, though.”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The girl put an index
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the coffee. “Sweet enough now?”</i> </div>
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<br /></div>
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The blonde’s name was Charlotte in the
book.The Burger Hut parking lot was also the scene of a violent
confrontation between Jake, his friend Nocona, and a local Indian people
alternately called Chief or Yellow Eyes. Weeks later, Jake sees his nemesis
again.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The stools were all
screwed to the same wide board and Jake felt it move, heard it creak, as
someone took the stool next to him. He cut his eyes just enough to see braided
hair drooped over the man’s right shoulder and a pockmarked cheek. Charlotte’s
expression when she came to take his order told him he was sitting next to
Yellow Eyes. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I do remember that night. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I walked two blocks over to the house where Charlotte lived
with her dad. It is pivotal in at least two scenes from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rivers Ebb</i></b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Go
Down Looking</i></b>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake parked the Ford
and waited for her to emerge from the house. She never asked him to come
inside, not even into the yard. Jimmy Charles sing “A Million to One” on the
Ford’s radio and he knew those were the odds for him and Charlotte. She lived
alone with her truck-driver father in a small house of native red stone. Doors
and windows showed neglect. The picket fence that enclosed a dirt yard needed
paint.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I was surprised that the house is still there. The red
stone, (did I make that up?), is covered with stucco. The picket fence is now
chain link. Or maybe I just remembered those details wrong.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Go Down Looking</b>,
Jake returns to downtown Vega with his brother Gray Boy after being away for
many years. He's on the Vega Square.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jake felt a strong
pull to walk over, to relive that night years ago when he had been chased and
threatened, the night that Drager had taken a tire tool to the Rivers’s Ford,
the night that Gray Boy had purposely crashed the family Ford into Drager’s Chevy. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He pulled his baseball
cap down close to his eyes, walked with his head down. Memories flooded as he
walked up to the little picket fence with peeling paint in front of the tiny,
red rock house. Red sand had drifted against the fence deep enough to reach his
boot tops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . . She appeared on the
screened-in porch just as Jake was about to give up. She put her hand above her
eyes to shield them from the sun and looked at Jake as if he were an
apparition. The cat glasses had been exchanged for bigger, rounder ones. The
hollow spots below her cheekbones Jake had always admired were gone. He stared
at her belly, guessed she was six months along. Wondered whose it was. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I walked down to the church where my brother got married,
then visited a museum that was being remodeled. The curators knew my brother’s
children and some of the boys I knew from Vega when I was here long ago. I
wondered if the rivalry between Vega and Adrian boys was as intense as it was
back in my day, but didn’t ask. </div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-30519757881405836142017-02-25T10:43:00.001-08:002017-02-25T10:52:18.537-08:00A Stop In Amarillo<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Many readers ask if my novels are based on real people, real
events, and real places. All of them are—some more so than others. All of the
major events happened; all of the characters were inspired by real people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all of the events happened to me, nor did
I witness them all. A few are taken from newspaper and magazine articles that I
found intriguing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I witnessed most
of the events. The people are often composites of interesting characters I have
encountered. Some are readily identifiable as real people. The places are also
real, though I might change the topography or combine characteristics of places
to get the right setting for my characters. </div>
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I took a trip awhile back to retrace some of the places and
people that inspired my writing in previous books and in my new offerings, <a href="http://www.jimainsworth.com/">Circle of Hurt and Believing in a Grand
Thing</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Part 2 A Stop in Amarillo—Where Fiction Is Introduced to Truth</div>
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<br /></div>
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As I left Henrietta and headed back to 287, a tall cowboy
skinny as a slice of bacon walked beside the road. The backpack indicated he
was a cowboy afoot. He stopped, shook a cigarette from a pack, and used his
huge hat to shield his lighter from the wind. Struck me as a classic pose for an
artist, an opportunity to look for a novel, but traffic kept me from stopping.
Bet he has a lot of stories to tell.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Outside of Estelline, I passed the Prairie Dog Town Fork of
the Red River. I had passed a big lake earlier where the water was red. They say
out here that means the water is pure and free of gypsum. You can sure see
where the Red River gets its name. </div>
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Passed through Hedley, population 319. Marveled at the fact
that I played many baseball and basketball games here when I attended Adrian
High School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though it’s about a four
hour drive from Adrian, Hedley was in our district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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As I passed through Goodnight, Texas, stories of the grand
old man of cattle filled my head. Goodnight was clearly the inspiration for
Woodrow Call in Lonesome Dove and that made me think of Bose Ikard, the man who
inspired Joshua Deets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have visited
his gravestone in Weatherford where Goodnight had his famous “never shirked a
task” epitaph inscribed to honor Ikard. Jan and I could not recall his name
recently and I told her to Google “never shirked a task”. His name came up
first. </div>
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Blue Duck, who died after jumping from a prison wall, was based on Kiowa Chief Satanta, who died the same way. He is found in <b><i>Home Light Burning. </i></b><i>Hy regretted the question as soon as it left his lips. Satanta looked deeply into his eyes for several seconds before answering. "I will be free soon." Two days later, Satanta faked a heart attack and was taken to the prison hospital. Singing the Kiowa death song, he jumped through the second story window of the hospital and landed on a brick wall below. </i>Hy is my great uncle and was in Huntsville Prison at this time. </div>
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In Claude, the temp dropped to 88 and I no longer needed air
conditioning. Ugly wind turbines now cover the landscape, spoiling natural
beauty, making loud noise, killing birds. These ugly machines do little good
and much harm and would not exist except for corrupt taxpayer subsidies granted
because their meager production of energy makes them unable to pay their own
way.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In Amarillo, I was surprised to see several sixties-looking
hippies traveling the highways with backpacks sporting hair that has not felt
shampoo or scissors in months, and filthy clothes. Wonder what their stories
are?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enough for a novel?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I had to get on the interstate for a short time. Minutes
later, I was in a traffic jam. A wreck up ahead, I found out later. Decided it
would be a good time to pull over and rest for the night. Settled into room 137
at Motel Six, I called cousin John Bill Garnett, who lives in nearby Hereford.
I hoped to catch him for a short visit, but he was in Wyoming. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The next morning, I found cousins Arlen and Sherry Alexander
in the Amarillo phone book and invited them for coffee. They insisted I come by
their house. </div>
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<br /></div>
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They had been kind enough to buy and read my books, so we
had a conversation starter to delve into old times and family history. I knew
Arlen and his parents and siblings had lived in the Panhandle when he was a
boy, but they had returned to Fort Worth long before I lived there as a boy. So
I was surprised that he knew some of the people I had gone to school with in
the area. His sister Sha had a crush on someone he remembered only as Popcorn.
I knew he was referring to Popcorn Pannell, who married Cynthia Kromer, a
schoolmate of mine at Adrian. Popcorn had become a pharmacist and he and
Cynthia settled in Plainview. </div>
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Arlen also knew my old classmate Bill Gudgell and the
details of his murder by a young boy he had taken in to live in his home and
work as a farmhand. The boy and Bill’s wife (another schoolmate) went to
prison for Bill's murder. I told them the story of Bill’s connection to Calvin Peters and the
Quien Sabe Ranch and how I hoped to see Calvin on this trip. Fodder for a
novel? </div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-87121727712051665142017-02-24T12:36:00.002-08:002017-02-24T12:36:55.442-08:00Fifty Years in 1000 Miles<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Looking for a Novel </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
The Stories Behind
the Stories</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Fifty Years in 1000
miles</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many readers ask if my novels are based on real people, real
events, and real places. All of them are—some more so than others. All of the
major events happened; all of the characters were inspired by real people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all of the events happened to me, nor did
I witness them all. A few are taken from newspaper and magazine articles that I
found intriguing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I witnessed most
of the events. The people are often composites of interesting characters I have
encountered. Some are readily identifiable as real people. The places are also
real, though I might change the topography or combine characteristics of places
to get the right setting for my characters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took a trip awhile back to retrace some of the places and
people that inspired my writing in previous books and in my new offerings, <a href="http://www.jimainsworth.com/">Circle of Hurt and Believing in a Grand
Thing</a>. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUD4SOy8OfMdnPCCWGlg4bJO5kBllRPKDiGWAHmgMCsuvOI5-hXmhtOgdehSm-1oJAWwXXy4_YygrmI-FLEza-6NQPZ2gfRoSCnohbSuFtR-a_e-2u-h_Kbyi9gvAjbx9Dnu5OHpwzxCyJ/s1600/Circle+of+Hurt+Front+Cover+1x1+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUD4SOy8OfMdnPCCWGlg4bJO5kBllRPKDiGWAHmgMCsuvOI5-hXmhtOgdehSm-1oJAWwXXy4_YygrmI-FLEza-6NQPZ2gfRoSCnohbSuFtR-a_e-2u-h_Kbyi9gvAjbx9Dnu5OHpwzxCyJ/s200/Circle+of+Hurt+Front+Cover+1x1+5.jpg" width="129" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQnc1saeZdnejpoJbzzUG_jirPIKlLmcPI6xdAg5Yx4hl1N9B2UIC6HlYssyM4eQ4LQqDHvxoT4MfaRk_IvTiqR1rpWBENauluqKm-6HlcCiDwkMyI8INwvuEcGjLy6eq5fOW-K1YEg8a/s1600/Grand+Thing+Front+Cover+1x1+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQnc1saeZdnejpoJbzzUG_jirPIKlLmcPI6xdAg5Yx4hl1N9B2UIC6HlYssyM4eQ4LQqDHvxoT4MfaRk_IvTiqR1rpWBENauluqKm-6HlcCiDwkMyI8INwvuEcGjLy6eq5fOW-K1YEg8a/s200/Grand+Thing+Front+Cover+1x1+5.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Part 1—A song and mortality, old towns and ranches of West
Texas</u></div>
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<br /></div>
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This trip, like many of mine, was unplanned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just felt the need to get away from the
office, the computer, and social media that had swallowed me whole after the
publication of three books at the same time. I threw some things in a travel bag
and left just after noon on a hot July Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left the CD player going the last time I drove my pickup,
and as I rounded the curve on our driveway, Red River Valley was still playing.
I have used the words to that old song in at least two books. But today, the
sound of the Sons of the Pioneers brought a sudden and very strong awareness of
my mortality. Tears came to my eyes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The song reminds me of my childhood and of my long gone
parents. It’s about a girl leaving the valley, but as I drove away, I imagined
my wife and children singing it to me. Lyrics like, “From this valley they say
you are leaving” and “Then come sit by my side if you love me. Do not hasten to
bid me adieu.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Sounds like I am over dramatizing and I suppose I am, but as
tears filled my eyes, I had the definite feeling that I might never see them
again. Why? Maybe because this would be the first night I had spent alone away
from home in several years. Nothing short of death could keep me from
returning—thus the feeling that mortality rode with me. I had recently lost my
cousin and close friend Marion, so death was fresh. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I drove farther away, I tried to recall the words from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Go
Down Looking </i></b>as I wrote about Jake’s loss of his brother, Gray Boy. I
could almost recite them from memory. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His death undeniably
changed my life, almost as much as his living. Mortality slapped me in the face
that day and every day for months. The slaps were sharp and stinging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then mortality became a distinct personage and
regular traveler on my shoulders. He was heavy at first but then grew lighter
with time, even lifting me up on those occasions when I wanted to bend with the
weight of living. Having mortality there caused me to make better decisions, to
take chances I might not have taken without his constant reminders that life is
often short and always fragile.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I was headed to the Panhandle and possible other points
north with the intention of coming back through Hollis, Oklahoma to see old
friends. I had no real agenda, just go and hope. I had driven the Panhandle
route many times over the years, but old landmarks were gone or changed, and
without GPS in my old truck or on a smart phone, I decided to pull over and
check my map about an hour from home. </div>
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<br /></div>
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A car driven by a Mexican woman and a young boy pulled up
beside me. The boy asked directions to the prison in Bonham. Said his daddy was
a prisoner there. He translated the directions I gave them. As they drove away,
I wondered at the sad story they could probably tell and whether it was deep
enough for a novel. Was that what I was looking for—a new novel—or was I
rediscovering an old one? </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I passed through Nocona, I saw a for sale sign on what
had been the world headquarters for Nocona Boot Company. I had visited there a
couple of times back in the days when I sold boots in Chute I, my western wear
and tack shop. Sad to see that old empty building, sort of a shadow of a former
life.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In Henrietta, I pulled off the main highway and drove
downtown to see how things had changed from the old days. Took a picture of an
old hotel that had lots of western character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Downtown, like a lot of small Texas towns, seems to be on the decline. I
sat on a bench on the courthouse lawn and felt cool under the shade even though
the temp was around 100. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The sign for Waggoner Street reminded me that I was near the
Waggoner Ranch (also known as the Triple D), the second largest ranch in Texas
and the largest inside one fence.I tried to recall the family connection of the Waggoner to
the 6666 Ranch and a little bit of the history I used to know well. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Legend has
it that the 6666 was won with a poker hand of four sixes, but that is myth.
Many towns, including Henrietta, Electra, Burkburnett, and Vernon claim
ownership of that legendary poker game. The Sixes and Waggoner mixed families
(but not land) when one of Burk Burnett’s (founder of the 6666) descendants
married a descendant of W. T. Waggoner (founder of the Waggoner Ranch). </div>
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I understand the Waggoner family is feuding now and the
ranch is up for sale for a mere $725 million. Legendary cutting horse Poco
Bueno is buried there. I spent a little time with Wes O’Neal, a former horse
manager there, when Glen Spradling, a farrier for the Waggoner,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>suggested that I write Wes’s biography. A project
still not completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was that street
sign telling me something? Part 2 soon. </div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-78628790788545383212016-10-11T09:28:00.004-07:002016-10-11T09:32:35.766-07:00O'Reilly's "Killing" Series<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I have read most of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Killing</i>
series of books and know that O’Reilly and Dugard can put together compelling
stories. I did find a few questionable assertions in the other books (like
putting Lincoln in the Oval Office before it existed), but I was disappointed
to find many in this one. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although it has been said that everyone is entitled
to their own opinion, but not their own facts, I suppose everyone <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> entitled to their own version of the
facts. My version differs with the authors’ on at least ten occasions. Others
have found at least thirty factual errors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What disturbed me more than factual errors was the obvious
negative slant to both opinion and fact in this book. The writers savage Nancy
Reagan and attack Ronald Reagan unmercifully long after he is able to defend
himself. Bill O’Reilly professes to be a conservative, so I was more than a
little surprised that he turned left in this book about one of the greatest
conservative leaders of the last century.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyone who has heard Bill on television or radio knows that
he is egocentric. He doesn’t try to hide it. He knows a lot and is extremely
popular and successful, and has come to the conclusion that he knows a lot
about almost everything. With that level of narcissism, it is easy to see how
he could conflate rumors and unverified sources into facts in his own mind.
I.e. “It’s true because it is in my book.” Well no, not really.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reagan himself said, “It’s not that our liberal friends are
ignorant, it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Ironically, Reagan’s
statement applies to the authors of a book about him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really had a hard time with the inclusion of salacious and
unproven rumors. For what purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
tells of then Governor Reagan sitting next to an attractive eighteen-year-old
at poolside. Years later, the young lady “suggested that intimacy soon
followed.” In the next sentence the authors admit that “his personal behavior
as governor was so exemplary that few questioned his clearly stated traditional
values”. So why even mention an unfounded, malicious rumor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I found examples like this one throughout when the authors
used terms like “it was widely known” when describing a negative trait or
behavior of Reagan or Nancy. Widely known by whom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also attribute thoughts and feelings (mostly
negative) to the First Couple that could only be known by them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When George Will questioned Bill’s facts and research in a
column and on television, O’Reilly turned red in the face and his hands shook
as he called Will a hack. I thought of one word—caught. When Will asked why he
did not ask some of Reagan’s closest advisors about some of his assertions, he
said it was because “they had skin in the game”. Seriously? How is it then that
O’Reilly used sources not only with skin in the game, but with axes to grind? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If they insisted on putting in the unproven negatives, why
not balance it out with a few unproven positives?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although there is no bibliography, the
authors did list sources in the back of the book. Of the fifteen magazines and
newspapers listed, twelve are either left or hard left. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a writer, I do understand narrative non-fiction and how
authors insert the gist of conversations and conditions (which flowers were
blooming as the protagonists take a walk) that could not possibly be known.
They do this to advance the story. But this is only ethical when such additions
are not clear distortions of facts or rumors designed only to titillate
readers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise, call your work a
novel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why did they do it? Because the book is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Killing Reagan</i>, so the authors made a
decision that the assassination attempt on his life would be the key element.
Therefore, the attempt had to be the focus <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all the way through his term as president and
to the end of his days. And it had to have a major impact on his health, his
psychology and his mental capabilities. To hell with whether it did or not. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
understand that such events can cause severe traumatic stress. Events like that
can permanently affect a life. Other people, however, recover to lead normal
lives. The evidence is overwhelming that Reagan fit into the latter category. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
O’Reilly and Dugard do give grudging credit to Reagan for
bringing the Soviet Union to its knees, but little mention is made of his
successes with the economy, major tax reform, and other significant
achievements. Why? Because this totally conflicts with the person they portray
as a severely damaged, barely competent person who stays in The White House
personal residence and watches reruns on television. They seem to imply that
Reagan’s achievements were made possible by his wife or by his staff without
his leadership. This does not pass the credulity test. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It also conflicts with the other books written by and about
Reagan. Did he suffer from the early stages of Alzheimer’s while president?
Nobody really knows. If he did, the symptoms were late in his last term and were
minor. Did he suffer some of the normal maladies of aging? Probably, but less
so than the general population. And occasional short term memory loss was more
than offset by the wisdom of his years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Were any mental problems caused by the
shooting? Possibly, but again, nothing that can be proven. Reagan’s diaries
were clearly written by a lucid man in complete control of all his faculties.
O’Reilly’s book devotes one sentence to the journal he kept as president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a writer who wrote books while writing a weekly column, I
know the time constraints in trying to do both. Bill does radio and television
shows every weekday while maintaining a heavy schedule of personal appearances
across the country. It is hard to see how it is humanly possible for him to do
this while writing a series of books for adults as well as children. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always assumed he lent his name and
celebrity to the covers while Martin Dugard and his staff did the research and
writing. I don’t know that to be the case, but common sense says it is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am okay with that, I suppose. Many famous folks do the
same. However, Bill did write at least one page in the book called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Word</i> where he reveals a letter
Reagan wrote to close friend and advisor John Koehler. Bill says he includes it
to “give Ronald Reagan the last word. He deserves it.” But Reagan’s letter pretty
much refutes most of the assertions in this book.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bill seems to fail to see the irony in that. Reading that
part and hearing Bill defend the indefensible assertions in this book while
maintaining the book is laudatory of Reagan causes one to wonder if he read the
book at all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I discussed this on KETR. </span><a href="http://fxfeeds.mozilla.org/rss20.xml">Listen here</a></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-10404086899927515352016-10-04T08:39:00.000-07:002016-10-04T08:39:12.133-07:00The Narcissism Epidemic<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://ketr.org/post/narcissism-epidemic-addresses-age-entitlement">KETR Interview </a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I read this book because of the subtitle, Living in the Age
of Entitlement. It seems a lot more folks feel entitled to a lot more things
than they used to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The authors go into
detail about helicopter parents who raise their children to believe they are
not just queens and kings for a day, but for a lifetime. They book doesn’t
deeply examine why this phenomenon came about or how to reverse it. The book's
solution: Don't tell your children they are special. I think it could have been
said better. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How about telling them they are special to you, but are still
children and must know and understand obedience and effort is necessary for
achievement. Or how about, never reward bad behavior. Neither kids nor adults
are entitled to everything they want.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The authors deplore the pervasive and silly attitude that
everybody gets a trophy whether they achieved anything or not. Awards, money
and privileges must be earned. Otherwise, they have no value.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not all narcissists are psychopaths, but most serial killers
are narcissists. Dr. Harold Shipman is known to have killed at least a dozen
and is strongly suspected of killing as many as 260. Yet, he remained arrogant
even when imprisoned. How dare anyone question him? Did you see the smug smile
of the butcher Dr. Kermit Gosnell while he was being led away in cuffs for
multiple murders?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narcissists seldom apologize or express shame or humiliation
for anything. Even when they admit mistakes, they wear their past misdeeds as a
badge of honor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take these incidents:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dennis Rodman stated that he should be on the short list for the Nobel
Peace Prize because of his befriending and hugging of a North Korean despot. Is
that narcissism or just stupidity? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anthony Weiner continued to publicly display his perversion
even after resigning from Congress in disgrace and launching a campaign for
Mayor of New York. Then there is Elliot Spitzer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 70, Geraldo Rivera tweeted a photo of himself (a selfie) in
his bathroom nude from the waist up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How about the legions of sports athletes who think they can
commit crimes and get away with it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>664
arrests from 2000 to 2012 in the NFL. Why do we idolize narcissistic criminals? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book delves into the "look at me" involved
with Facebook and other social media avenues, but it offers little in the way
of explanation or solution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is social media just narcissism on a grand scale? Am I a
narcissist because I use it to try to get more people to read what I write by
using social media? My writing colleague <a href="http://christinacarsonauthor.com/category/my-blogs/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Christina Carson</span></a> recently blogged,
“A fine question at this point in human history is, why are we so needful of
diversion, of places to hide out? We shouldn’t kid ourselves that just because
we see the world and its happenings many times a day and interface with people
all over the globe, we are engaged with life. I think we are more afraid,
emptier, and unhappier than ever. I love this earth. Its order, its harmony,
its beauty astound me. I love human nature and all the amazing stories it can
engender through its sometimes hapless, sometimes crazy, sometimes endearing,
and always compelling choices it makes. But I’m troubled that we don’t stop
enough to examine where, lemming-like, we seem to be headed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The authors drift when they get into social security and a
few aspects of the economy where they are clearly out of their element and
seriously misinformed. They also seem to posit that driving an SUV may be
narcissistic, in a stumbling attempt to state one author’s alarmist and
inaccurate views on global warming. Even if she were right (which she isn’t),
what has that got to do with narcissism?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They expose what they call myths about narcissists. Myth 1:
Narcissists have really high self esteem. In the second sentence debunking this
myth, they say and I quote, “Narcissists <u>do</u> have really high self-esteem.”
That’s on page 24, so I my antenna went up early. Is it a myth or not? (They
say it is; I say it’s not.) They try to explain their own contradiction, but
fail.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Myth 2: Narcissists are insecure and have low self-esteem
i.e. . . . they use bluster to cover up for deep self-hate and inadequacy.
There are a lot of other studies out there that say this is not a myth and this
book failed to convince me that it is. If narcissists aren’t just covering up for insecurities,
why would they resent and demean other’s accomplishments?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is missing from this book is research
that has shown that type 1’s seem to all share the same problem—problems with a
parent when they were small children (usually abandonment or rejection of
another type). The narcissists I worked with all had deeply rooted problems
with one parent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another myth about narcissists is that they almost never
succeed. Unfortunately, sometimes they do, but usually at dire cost to the
people (and businesses, cities, counties, states and countries) they leave in
their destructive wake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really wanted this book to explore how the epidemic is
affecting our nation and how most politicians suffer from some level of
narcissism. When two people run for political office, I usually vote for the
one who wants it (or needs it) the least, because he/she is always the best
qualified. Wanting it or needing the office and the power that goes with it
badly always makes for a terrible politician who abuses power because of
concern for a personal legacy, not the future of the country (and yes, those
two can be in direct conflict).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why? Many reasons, but one example is that narcissists can
take directly opposite (and mutually exclusive) positions on the same issue and
feel that both of their opinions are correct and anyone who challenges them is
stupid. I suppose anyone who runs for political office has to have a healthy
ego, but many, if not most of the bozos who run our country think they’re
brilliant. That’s dangerous.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The authors, to their credit, do make several references to
the appalling lack of personal responsibility in this country (the heart of
free enterprise), but then suggest more regulations and solutions involving
collectivism and larger bureaucracies as the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The obvious battle between the authors and
the compromise turns the book into illogical conclusions in an attempt to
satisfy their opposite political persuasions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The psychologist authors of this book said that it would
offer solutions to the epidemic. Maybe. Readers will have to judge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-3689520759947725622016-07-20T12:41:00.001-07:002016-07-20T12:43:50.563-07:00Quiet<i><b> Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking </b></i>by Susan Cain. I reviewed this book some time ago here and was recently interviewed on KETR. Listen <a href="http://ketr.org/post/introverts-speak-yourselves#stream/0">here.</a><br />
<br />
See more of author Susan Cain's comments below and the test to see if you are an introvert. <br />
<div class="container small" id="con146101429">
<h3 class="conheader">
Susan Cain's Opinion Piece In 'The New York Times'</h3>
<div class="bucketwrap externallink" id="res146101448">
<a data-metrics="{"category":"Story to Story","action":"Click External Link","label":"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/01\/15\/opinion\/sunday\/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all"}" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all">'The Rise of the New Groupthink'</a>
</div>
</div>
<b>On the value of working alone</b><br />
"None of
this is to say that it would be a good thing to get rid of teamwork and
get rid of group work altogether. It's more just to say that we're at a
point in our culture, and in our workplace culture, where we've gotten
too lopsided. We tend to believe that all creativity and all
productivity comes from the group, when in fact, there really is a
benefit to solitude and to being able to go off and focus and put your
head down."<br />
<b>On whether extroverts should be offended by 'Quiet'</b><br />
"My
criticism in the book is not of extroverts at all, but rather of the
extrovert ideal. I actually find extroversion to be a really appealing
personality style. ... Many of my best friends truly are extroverts,
including my beloved husband."<br />
<div class="hr">
<hr />
</div>
<b>Quiet Quiz: Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert?</b><br />
Excerpted from:<i> Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking </i>by Susan Cain<b> </b><br />
To
find out where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, answer each
question True or False, choosing the one that applies to you more often
than not.<br />
1. ______ I prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities.<br />
2. ______ I often prefer to express myself in writing.<br />
3. ______ I enjoy solitude.<br />
4. ______ I seem to care about wealth, fame, and status less than my peers.<br />
5. ______ I dislike small talk, but I enjoy talking in depth about topics that matter to me.<br />
6. ______ People tell me that I'm a good listener.<br />
7. ______ I'm not a big risk-taker.<br />
8. ______ I enjoy work that allows me to "dive in" with few interruptions.<br />
9. ______ I like to celebrate birthdays on a small scale, with only one or two close friends or family members.<br />
10. ______ People describe me as "soft-spoken" or "mellow."<br />
11. ______ I prefer not to show or discuss my work with others until it's finished.<br />
12. ______ I dislike conflict.<br />
13. ______ I do my best work on my own.<br />
14. ______I tend to think before I speak.<br />
15.______ I feel drained after being out and about, even if I've enjoyed myself.<br />
16. ______I often let calls go through to voice mail.<br />
17. ______If you had to choose, I'd prefer a weekend with absolutely nothing to do to one with too many things scheduled.<br />
18. ______ I don't enjoy multitasking.<br />
19. ______ I can concentrate easily<br />
20. ______ In classroom situations, I prefer lectures to seminars.<br />
The
more often you answered True, the more introverted you are. This is an
informal quiz, not a scientifically validated personality test. The
questions were formulated based on characteristics of introversion often
accepted by contemporary researchers.Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-56114024112551928362016-06-21T12:36:00.002-07:002016-06-21T12:36:30.666-07:00Little Sister Death<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Little Sister Death</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">William Gay</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">***</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">6/16/2016</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I hate giving any work by Gay (one of my favorite authors) only
three stars, but this one was published after his death and is obviously an
unfinished manuscript. It’s the story of a writer who comes to live in
Tennessee to write about a haunting known as the queen of the haunted dell--a
legend or story famous to most Tennesseans and others across the country. But
the writer’s complete story is never told. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The title comes from Faulkner’s <i>The Sound and the Fury</i>. Editors worked from Gay’s hand-written and
typed notes and filled in a history of the story, but although Gay’s lyrical
prose is present, the book seemed not ready for publication. And the Gothic
tale is very, very gloomy and features macabre violence. <span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But the introduction by Tom Franklin, a friend of Gay’s and a
fellow writer, was worth the price of the book. I spent a day in William Gay’s
home three years prior to his passing and found him just as Tom described. He showed
me his book and music collection and one of his paintings. He also told me
about his completed manuscript <i>The Lost
Country</i>, which still remains unpublished. Guess Dzanc (publisher of this one)decided to go with
this one first. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gay told me of his troubles with his publisher at the time (not
Dzanc) on <i>The Lost Country</i>, but he
did not mention this manuscript. I don’t think he would have wanted it
published in this form, because he was a perfectionist.<span> </span>His haunting prose and descriptions are here,
but it is just not his best work. </span></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-35145861642299534892016-04-19T08:49:00.003-07:002016-04-19T08:49:56.935-07:00Some Kind Words from one of America's best and most prolific writers<h2 class="entry-title">
Why do we even go to the trouble of writing?</h2>
<h3 class="entry-date">
April 19, 2016</h3>
<h3 class="entry-author">
<a href="http://venturegalleries.com/author/calebpirtle/" rel="author" title="Posts by Caleb Pirtle III">Caleb Pirtle III</a></h3>
<div class="full-content group">
<a href="http://venturegalleries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/51N4bWBwOAL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg"><img alt="51N4bWBwOAL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-75173" height="599" src="http://venturegalleries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/51N4bWBwOAL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg" style="opacity: 1;" width="400" /></a><br />
THERE’S ONE GOOD THING about being a writer.<br />
We hang around with a lot of writers.<br />
I was with one of the best recently at the Silver Leos Writing Conference at Texas A&M Commerce.<br />
I’ve known him for years.<br />
And I’ve always been fascinated at Jim Ainsworth’s lyrical and
literary way of stringing words together to tell a compelling story.<br />
Pound for pound, inch for inch, and word for word, he is as good as any writer I have ever read.<br />
His stories are mesmerizing.<br />
He’s a poet writing prose.<br />
Just read a passage from his novel, <em>Firstborn Son</em>:<br />
<em>But the auction and the deaths of his brothers and father had
changed Ben Tom. Always upbeat and positive, he now seemed morose, often
secluded himself for days at a time to grieve over his failures and
losses. The regal house on the river mocked him as it deteriorated
daily. He had let his lovely wife down, disappointed his children. He
spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about how the people who
depended on him would fare if he departed this life.</em><br />
<em>Joe Henry and Tee still sought out their old friend, sat down
with him for coffee and bagels or a platter of Ben Tom’s homemade
biscuits, usually at the old bank in Mesa, but sometimes on Ben Tom’s
small farm. His back troubles were compounded with a variety of other
ailments that he tried to conceal, but could not. His eyes revealed
constant pain. His posture revealed a broken spirit. But his voice still
expressed unbridled optimism and the confidence of better days ahead.</em><br />
It doesn’t get any better than that.<br />
<figure class="thumbnail wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_75174" style="width: 250px;"><a href="http://venturegalleries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/31ub9Zg0e8L._UX250_.jpg"><img alt="Jim H. Ainsworth" class="size-full wp-image-75174" height="167" src="http://venturegalleries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/31ub9Zg0e8L._UX250_.jpg" width="250" /></a><figcaption class="caption wp-caption-text">Jim H. Ainsworth</figcaption></figure>
As far as I’m concerned, Jim Ainsworth should be one of the best-known, best-read, and most popular novelists in America.<br />
Sure he tells stories.<br />
But his words paint pictures of life as it was and as it is on the Great American Southwestern landscape.<br />
This is Jim’s land.<br />
These are his people.<br />
They may be fiction.<br />
He knows them like family.<br />
In real life, somewhere out there in the hinterland, they exist.<br />
On the pages of Jim’s novels, they will always exist.<br />
But, as a writer, Jim has a problem, and he knows it.<br />
He knows what’s wrong.<br />
He doesn’t care.<br />
The books of Jim Ainsworth can’t be neatly classified or packaged in a
particular genre that’s acceptable to powers who run the publishing
world.<br />
He says he writes <em>Texas Fiction</em>.<br />
And that’s good enough for me.<br />
He and I have spent many hours talking about the plight of authors as they confront today’s publishing world.<br />
So many great writers.<br />
So many great novels.<br />
But who buys them?<br />
Who discovers them?<br />
A novel no one finds, a novel no one reads, is a novel that, in reality, never been written.<br />
At least, it feels that way.<br />
So often it seem we spend months weaving a story together only to
throw it off a cliff and into a black abyss of lost and abandoned words.<br />
Several months ago, Jim’s frustration boiled over.<br />
He was tired of beating his head against the wall.<br />
He was tired of writing books that didn’t sell.<br />
He was tired of it all.<br />
Jim Ainsworth was getting out of the writing game.<br />
Goodbye.<br />
And good riddance.<br />
He rode away into the sunset.<br />
Now he has ridden back, and it’s about time.<br />
“I’m writing again,” he told me at Silver Leos.<br />
“What made you change your mind?”<br />
“It’s a letter I received a month or so ago.”<br />
He did not know the lady who wrote the letter.<br />
Maybe he had met her.<br />
Maybe not.<br />
But she told him she had gone through one of the darkest periods of her life.<br />
She was down.<br />
She was depressed.<br />
But she had read one of his books, and it touched her.<br />
It had eased the pain and turmoil that was troubling her life.<br />
She could face tomorrow with a renewed spirit.<br />
“That’s why I’m writing again,” Jim said. “I figured out why we do what we do as writers.”<br />
“What’s that?” I asked.<br />
“We’re not here to sell a million books, although it would be nice.”
He shrugged. “If our words reach out and positively touch one person,”
Jim said, “then writing the book has been worth the effort.”<br />
Why are we here, he wonders, if not to help someone else?<br />
Sometimes a story is all it takes.<br />
</div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-80418171646706193582016-03-09T07:07:00.000-08:002016-03-09T07:07:26.904-08:00<a href="http://ketr.org/post/jim-ainsworth-giving-kids-allowance-still-good-idea-and-maybe-adults-too#stream/0">KETR Podcast </a><br />
<br />
<br />
Giving kids (and adults) an allowance. Also, a simple index card for financial planning. <br />
<br />Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-67580955476742287882016-02-26T09:02:00.004-08:002016-02-26T09:02:59.637-08:00Why Are Some Evangelical Leaders Supporting Trump?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
Why do evangelical pastors like Robert Jeffress<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, a Fox News contributor and
pastor of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, support Trump? He made
headlines during the 2012 presidential election when he described The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a "cult" and said evangelicals
should not vote for then-candidate Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gordon
B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(1995-2008), said: “We are Christians in a very real sense and that is coming
to be more and more widely recognized. Members of our church pray and worship
in the name of Jesus Christ. He is the center of our faith and the Head of our Church.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeffress later conceded,
“It is better to vote for a non-Christian (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Romney,
I presume</i>) who supports biblical principles like life and marriage than
voting for a professing Christian like Barack Obama who absolutely repudiates
what Jesus Christ said about some key issues.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the damage was
done. Jeffress did not seem to realize that <u>not </u>voting for Romney was
the same as voting <u>for</u> Obama. A small increase in the Christian vote
would have defeated Obama in 2012. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
2014, Jeffress released a book claiming that Obama’s re-election was paving the
way for the Antichrist foretold in Scripture. Maybe he was promoting this
future book when he helped with his reelection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
good pastor is back for the 2016 election. He appeared on <a href="http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4768779963001/pastor-jeffress-on-the-2016-race-and-the-evangelical-vote/?playlist_id=933116636001#sp=show-clips">Fox’s
Lou Dobbs</a> recently to again express his support for the Donald, saying that
he is the only real “outsider” (which indicates a disturbing level of naiveté).
He went on to say that after the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriages,
evangelicals seem more open to a secular candidate, that they have decided to
allow the government to solve “practical problems” and let the church solve Biblical
problems. This was in answer to a question by Dobbs wherein he described Trump
as a “very religious man—a Protestant . . . a Presbyterian”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
is Trump secular or Christian? Which is it, Dr. Jeffress? And are you seriously
suggesting that Christians “give up” and vote for a candidate that does not
reflect Christian values? What kind of twisted logic is that? </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
about that book of yours in 2014? Do you not realize that Trump’s values align
almost perfectly with Obama’s?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Trump
took deep offense when it appeared that the Pope was questioning his faith, but
he has questioned the faith of at least three other candidates for the
nomination many times. Maybe Jeffress is supporting Trump because they share a
common personality trait of narcissists. They seem able to hold opposing ideas
in their heads at the same time, to change positions regularly, and yet believe
all positions held are exactly right. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">“The notion that the church, the press, and the
universities should <u>serve the state</u> is essentially a <u>Communist</u>
notion. In a free society these institutions must be wholly free — which is to
say that their function is to serve as <u>checks </u>upon the state."
—Alan Barth (1906-1979)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333;">Food for thought: "Just how much must
evangelicals and conservatives compromise themselves to support Trump? That is
the ultimate problem. Every person supporting Trump has not just compromised on
a candidate, but compromised their core values. ... These people are
compromising their integrity for a presidential candidate willing to use
profane language on the campaign trail and bombast to overcome a lack of
knowledge of details. 'For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?'" —Erick Erickson</span><br />
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-32071844471653542512016-02-24T11:28:00.005-08:002016-02-24T11:35:08.730-08:00Tweeter-In-Chief or Commander-In-Chief?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Donald Trump is an enigmatic phenomenon created by a
sustained assault on critical thinking by the whining, oversensitive crybabies
of <u>political correctness </u>encouraged by the likes of Obama, Reid, Pelosi
et al. Americans are disgusted and angry at their attempts to take away our
liberties and diminish America’s standing in the world, not to mention their
utter devastation of our economy by running up more debt than all previous
administrations combined. Yes, I said combined. There is a tipping point and we
are nearing it.</div>
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“The Donald” is also a product of John Boehner and Mitch
McConnell, who along with some other Republicans, made promises in order to get
elected which they broke. Their policy of lying down, rolling over, and playing
dead infuriated many of us.</div>
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I realized long ago that America is hungry for straight talk
from a forceful leader. We want our intelligence to be respected and our
freedoms to remain intact. For many, Trump seems to fill that need. But does
he? </div>
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Trump supporters say:</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He is not part of the <u>establishment</u><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>and will not be beholden to special
interests. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nonsense. He is more establishment than any of the other
candidates. The establishment is
not just politicians, but the large donors who own them. Trump gave money to
Reid, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Pelosi, Obama, and even
contributed $150K to the Clinton Foundation. He defines the<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>term “crony capitalism”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will build a wall
and make Mexico pay for it and rid our country of <u>people here illegally who
are draining our economy</u>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the last presidential election, he called taking away
welfare from illegal <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>immigrants
<u>inhumane </u>and is on record as supporting legalization and citizenship for
folks who came here illegally. Will the
real Donald Trump please come forward?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will destroy our
enemies, especially ISIS, and <u>keep us safe</u>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Trump claims to have opposed the war in Iraq from inception. Yet he is on
record as supporting it until a full eighteen months after it began. And what about
his blaming W. for 9/11? Isn’t
that an extreme left conspiracy position? Does that <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>kind of deranged thinking
befit a commander-in-chief?<br />
<br />
He also shamefully hides behind 9/11, mentioning the hundreds of friends he
lost. Though nobody can find records of his attending any of the funerals, I will
accept what he says. But I do know he
took (yes, I said <u>took</u>) $150K from the World Trade Center <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Business Recovery Grant program as a “small
business” hurt by the attacks. His “small <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>business”
brings in $26.4 million annually and occupies a $400 million building.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
He seems willing to equate his prep school time with
military experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A military veteran said that Trump would take the lawyers
off the battlefield (referring to
the ridiculous rules-of-engagement that our Wimp-in-Chief imposes on our <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>soldiers.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe he would, but Trump has surrounded himself
with lawyers his entire <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>adult
life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speaking of that . . .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He is currently involved in 169 federal lawsuits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He is being sued for fraud for his now-defunct Trump
University.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2013, he settled a lawsuit from investors who lost
millions in his California resort that went belly-up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He is an <u>extremely
successful businessman</u>. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";"><br />
</span>Hard to argue that point, yet he has filed bankruptcy four times in the
same gambling, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>hotel, casino
business. A lot of fine people have gone bankrupt and recovered, but<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>four times in the same business?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is he a slow-learner? He proudly says he used
the <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>laws available to him. Translation:
He hid behind bankruptcy protection statutes to avoid <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>paying creditors. If you had $9 billion, would you pay people who
loaned you money or <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>would you let
them lose? How about the hundreds of employees who lost their jobs? If he wins the nomination, those folks will be
in campaign ads. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What John
Bright said of someone else applies to Trump. “He is a self-made man who worships his creator.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will get our <u>budget
</u>balanced, reduce the national debt, and keep taxes low</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How does that square with his support of the bailout of
large banks and the <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>subsequent
stimulus that added trillions to our debt without contributing to a real recovery? The only problem he had
with either is that they were “not large enough”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will get rid of <u>Obamacare</u>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe, but he promises to replace it with universal care, a
single payer system <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>controlled by the government. Do you
really want your doctors to work for the <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>government
and hospitals run by bureaucrats?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone
who believes that the government <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>should
take over another 20-25% more of the economy is not qualified to run for any <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>public office, much less president. P.
J. O’Rourke said, “If you think health care is <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>expensive
now, wait until it’s free.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He is a <u>conservative</u>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has not voted in a Republican primary for at least thirty
years. Did he just skip voting or
did he vote Democrat? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He is <u>pro-life</u>
and a <u>Christian</u>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But wait … what about that pesky video a few years back
where he said he was pro-choice
including partial birth abortions? He is threatening to sue Ted Cruz for
playing it in a campaign ad. He
calls Cruz a liar for exposing his positions. Wouldn’t you love <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>to hear the deposition when Cruz asks,
“So, Donny, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>who is that guy
speaking out of your <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>face with your
voice if it’s not you?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Donald says he is Christian but has never had to ask God for
forgiveness. And what is a basic
(maybe <u>the </u>basic tenet) of Christianity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s right. It’s forgiveness. God knew <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>man would continue to sin, so He sent His Son to die on the Cross
so that we might be <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>forgiven. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He has a
right to change his mind. </i></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
Sure, but the man will be seventy before the
general election. Shouldn’t his mind have<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>been
made up on significant issues long ago? </div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is more disturbing is that he is able to hold opposite
positions in his head over short spans of time (sometimes in the same day).
Another sign of severe narcissism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t
eight years with a narcissist
in the White House enough? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #333333;">"Sixty-eight percent [of my followers]
would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder, I think it
means anything, okay?" —Donald Trump. Are you really going to vote for a
man who insults you that way?</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Dems want this guy to win the nomination. He polls the
worst against their candidates. He has the highest negative ratings of any
candidate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Donald Trump is a spoiled boy in a man’s body. Even in his
senior years, he maintains the pursed-lips-pout of a small child and reacts
angrily with threats of legal action to anyone who challenges him. Because of
his personality disorder, he believes that any statement he utters is
absolutely truthful, even when it is provably false.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Texans, we have a candidate from our state. Ted Cruz is a
proven conservative, a constitutional scholar, a former Solicitor General for
Texas, a man who has represented us before the Supreme Court nine times. Do I
wish he had more private sector experience? Yes. Do I wish he had more
charisma? Yes. But I am not looking for a guy to have a beer with; I am looking
for a strong, principled leader. Cruz has kept his promises and proven
courageous under national pressure from both the media and from his fellow
Senators. If the media (including Fox) don’t like him and most politicians
don’t like him, what better recommendation could there be?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do we really want a president who Tweets, when a tweet could
roil financial markets or cause an international incident? I think not. Common
sense, intelligence, and humility are qualities I most admire in leaders. But I
find hubris to be a dangerous trait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
worked with and for narcissists. I do not want another one to be the leader of
the free world. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pastor Charles Stanley said, “Few people are excited about
pursuing humility because it’s considered a weakness. But if we understand
God’s view of it, we’ll realize that humility is an extremely significant
quality. Philippians 2:3 says, ‘Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but
with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves’.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow">Ben Shapiro</span> says: "In
truth, we should never be comfortable with our politicians. We should never
trust them. Our celebrities have become royals, and our politicians <span class="textexposedshow">have become celebrities. That means we crown ourselves a
king or queen every four years. And America needs no kings and queens. We need
unimportant, decent people who focus on how to make themselves unimportant in
our lives." </span></div>
Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-54299325495064757372016-01-29T09:09:00.000-08:002016-01-29T09:09:40.891-08:00Searching for a Reclusive Author<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ketr.org/post/jim-ainsworths-favorite-novel#stream/0">Listen to podcast on KETR here</a><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">From <i>A River of Stories </i>Book </span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notes from my journal
about a trip I made to Tennessee</i>: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Left <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">in Jeep with the top down in July heat</span>
headed for Hohenwald, Tennessee. I hoped to meet and visit with author William
Gay. I read his <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provinces of Night</i></b> and was mesmerized. When I saw a photo of
the author beside a crude painted poster of Jimmie Rodgers, I knew there had to
be some type of connection between us. I had heard he was somewhat reclusive,
so my chances were doubtful. To give my pragmatic left brain an excuse for
chasing such a wild goose, I told it that I was going to do some family history
research. My maternal great grandparents came from Maury, Tennessee. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Spent first night
in a real fleabag motel. A driving overnight rainstorm (6 inches) filled the
Jeep floorboards overnight. Yes, I had a cover, but it just served as a funnel
to pour water inside the Jeep. I pulled into a covered service station bay and
managed to get the top up and Velcro the side windows in the pre-dawn dark. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Jeep windows
fogged up quite a bit as the temp dropped about thirty degrees when I headed
into the mountains. Discovered ballpoint pens had rolled off and blocked
defroster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smoke boiled out of tall
trees as temperature dropped. Road very winding, up and down and I was
constantly threatened with log trucks, but held my own. Jeep handled well. Kudzu
everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Must have crossed six or
seven rivers including the Beech. Crossed the Tennessee River on Alvin York
Bridge (hero of First World War) from Tennessee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over Coon Creek, Rushing Creek, etc… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Finally made it to
Hohenwald and checked into only motel in town. Pretty crummy and worn out, but
paradise compared to first night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Took
the precaution of examining the room before I gave up my credit card this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also checked for ice machine, which was
second only to cleanliness in importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t need chocolates on my pillow, but I require ice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2527434627416065375" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2527434627416065375" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2527434627416065375" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2527434627416065375" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Next morning, I
drove down to old house that had been converted into coffee shop/bookstore just
off the square.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looked for William Gay’s
books and did not find a one. Asked owner about him and the guy turned up his
nose and told me to ask his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
did, she just said, “He’s a hermit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They told me he had moved to another part of the county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hohenwald is in Lewis County (named for
Explorer Meriwether Lewis, who is buried here). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Went to Chamber of
Commerce and picked up some info. and maps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nice lady there said Gay comes to library quite often, but is reclusive
and strange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I already knew
that from seeing pictures of him and from reading his stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Made me want to meet him even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said she would give my cell number to lady at
library when she returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe she could
help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I drove up to
Columbia, Tenn., county seat of Maury County, where my maternal grandmother was
born. Had to almost strip and give up my pocket knife to get into courthouse
where county clerk (called by different title there) seemed unfamiliar with the
concept of marriage licenses and birth certificates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, someone told me that archives were
kept in the old jail across the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Great old restored building and helpful people there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Found marriage license for great
grandparents. Their old farm is now a state park in Maury County and in
Marshall County, (Lewisberg County Seat), Nathan Bedford Forrest (Civil War
Hero) memorial is also on their old farm. Satisfied to have accomplished at
least something, I headed back to Hohenwald, taking a little side trip on
Natchez Trace Parkway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very, very, nice
Jeep ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Close to Choctaw country and
more ancestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Back in Hohenwald,
I learned it’s common practice to name roads for residents, so I located
William Gay Road in late afternoon. Only one house on the road’s dead end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Beware of dog </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">and<i> Trespassers will be Shot and Survivors Prosecuted</i></span>
signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dogs would not let me get out and
knock. They literally tried to chew the tires off my Jeep and tried to jump
inside (the top was down), so I turned around and came back disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wish I could have taken a picture, but camera
was back in motel room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The house was
built with rough-hewn timber, not logs, and had several different types of
rusted sheet metal on the roof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gay was
a carpenter by trade, so I wondered if he had built it. Interesting place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would love to have seen the inside. I settled
for a Jeep ride through Tennessee Hill Country and lucked on Grinders Creek, a
place mentioned often in Gay’s novels. Looks just like he described in his book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The next day, I<b> w</b></span>alked downtown
to the chamber again and found that the librarian had called Gay on my behalf.
The reclusive author told her that he might call me. Went to library and the
librarian gave up his correct number (after I gave her one of my own
books.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He confirmed that he had tried to call me but
lady had given him one digit wrong on number. Told me to drive on out to his
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seems his wife divorced him and
took the house on William Gay Road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Followed his
directions to Little Swan Creek. His house is up a slight hill just before the
bridge that crosses the creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shares
a road with other folks that live up the hill behind him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>William Gay looks just like what he was most
of his life, a drywall man who may have drunk and smoked a little too
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this drywall man is
brilliant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hair hangs in ringlets as if
it had never seen a comb, over his collar but not as long as I have seen in
pictures of him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
House is logs with
red metal roof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nice enough, but he has
not abandoned his hillbilly heritage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
abandoned pickup sits in front of a small shop, the bed full of V-8 cans and
assorted trash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think he was sipping V-8
the whole time I talked to him, alternating with drags on cigarettes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said he and his son are trying to quit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting that I also consume a lot of
V-8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>End of his left index finger has
been pinched off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mine, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Room filled with
books. Hundreds. Fireplace and wood stove in the room, but no overhead
light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Room very dark (just like I like
my office). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paintings scattered here and
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Yes, he paints, too.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few guitars and a few books on how to
compose music. Big books on Van Gogh art and lots of DVD’s and all kinds of art
books. While he talked on phone to his daughter, I perused the shelves and
found our tastes a lot alike, especially in movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I offered to leave so he could talk in private,
but he motioned for me to stay). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I kept offering to
end my intrusion on his privacy, but he urged me to stay and talk. We talked
about his writing and some funny stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told him that the scene with Albright and the hog was the funniest I
ever read. Asked him about characters in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provinces of Night</i></b>, Fleming, E. W.
and Boyd, etc… Told me he was a little bit Fleming (a seventeen year-old boy),
a little bit Boyd (the boy’s father), and a little bit E. W. (the
grandfather).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same answer I give when
people ask me if I am Jake in my books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
He had a
director’s chair with the name of his book of short stories on it. They made a
movie recently based on one of the stories in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Hate to see That Evening Sun Go Down</i></b><i>. </i>Hal Holbrook
plays the old man. I have since seen the movie and really enjoyed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
He got a call from
his agent while I was there about another book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Twilight</i></b><i>.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
has been optioned for a movie, also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t like it was well as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provinces</i>,
but still a very good read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After my
visit, I learned that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provinces</i> would
be made into a movie starring Kris Kristofferson called “Bloodworth”. I also
learned that his publisher for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lost
Country </i></b>is having trouble and holding up its publication. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I told him I had
written him in the first part of 2007 after reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provinces</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said that was about the time his wife kicked
him out and he never got the letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
seemed impressed that I brought along a copy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s won numerous prestigious awards, primarily for his magazine short
stories, but also for his books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a
visiting writing scholar at Sewanee, University of the South.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oxford-American magazine commissioned him to
write an article about his experiences going to a college campus as a scholar
when he never attended college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has
read himself into brilliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though I
expect there was something genetic going on, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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A lady in town
asked him if he got help with his writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He asked, “What kind of help?”</div>
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She said, “Well,
your people was never very smart and you wasn’t either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Figured you got some help.”</div>
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Based on his
stories, his family was both poor and violent, doing everything wrong to the
excess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although he had a huge appetite
for books and magazines and regularly entered writing contests, he followed the
same path as the rest of the family for most of his life until he started
winning competitions for his stories. </div>
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I was a reader as
a kid, but always felt guilty about it and never read any heavy stuff unless I
had to. Wish someone had told me reading was never a waste of time. I recall
reading a comic book (we called them funny books) when Daddy ran a service
station in Commerce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was about ten and
was supposed to watch the front while daddy did some mechanic work in the
garage behind. A customer went to get him because he could not get my attention
to take his money. Daddy had to shake me I was so engrossed in reading what was
probably a comic book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t think that
has happened before or since, but I get the impression that William Gay lived
his life inside books because his outside life was so bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I praised him for
the dialect in his writing because I consider it perfect. He said he listened
to folks around there a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, a
man on a construction job complained, “My old lady ain’t put a hot meal on the
table in weeks. The bitch will be laying on her ass when I get home
tonight.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked what he would do if
he she did have a hot meal, he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I won’t eat a damn bite.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
found that hilarious and so typical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I told him I had
met Flannery O’Connor once when she came to ET. He asked which year and I said
62 or 63. I think he was trying to catch me in a made-up story, because he knew
that she died in 64 at 39. He asked if she was frail when I saw her. He said he
had always wanted to meet her. He told me of many writers who had influenced
his writing and life, including a fellow who wrote stories for the Progressive
Farmer magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gay has an incredible
memory for authors and book titles. Wish I did. I can remember details inside
books, but have trouble with titles and authors. </div>
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I left after a
couple of hours and drove up the Natchez Trace toward Nashville. Got off a
little early and headed toward Grinders Switch (home of Minnie Pearl).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a water tower and an abandoned
depot, but little else there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really
great Jeep riding though the winding hills and across winding railroad
track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back down through pretty mountain
scenery and to Hohenwald by bedtime. A good day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">William Gay</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><img alt="William Gay" height="116" src="file:///C:\Users\JIMAIN~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg" width="98" /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">William Gay first came to the Sewanee Writers
Conference in 1999 as a Tennessee Williams Scholar. Later that year, Gay
published his first novel, <i>The Long Home</i>, which received the James A.
Michener Memorial Prize. Gay returned to Sewanee in 2000 as a Walter A. Dakin
Fellow and served as the Tennessee Williams Fellow for the 2000-2001 academic
year. Gay then published another novel, <i>Provinces of Night</i>, and a
collection of stories, <i>I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down</i>, which
contained stories that had been published in the <i>Missouri Review</i>, <i>Georgia
Review</i>, <i>Oxford American</i>, <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, and <i>Harper's</i>.
His stories have also been anthologized in <i>Best American Short Stories</i>, <i>New
Stories from the South</i>, <i>O. Henry Awards Prize Stories</i>, <i>Best New
American Voices</i>, and <i>Best American Mystery Stories</i>. In 2006, he
published his third novel, <i>Twilight</i>, and was named a USA Ford Foundation
Fellow by United States Artists. *In 2010, MacAdam/Cage will publish his new
novel, <i>The Lost Country</i>.</span></div>
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*Note: Gay died before his last novel was published. Nobody
has found his last manuscript (or will admit to it.)</div>
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<![endif]-->Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527434627416065375.post-37932125694088225732016-01-15T09:47:00.003-08:002016-01-15T09:47:41.597-08:00The Fellowship--The Literary Lives of the Inklings<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Listen to KETR Podcast interview <a href="http://ketr.org/post/story-inklings-shows-even-greats-are-human">here</a></div>
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I have quoted C. S. Lewis many times in books and other
writings and have always been fascinated by his conversion from atheism to
Christianity. His book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mere Christianity</i></b> had a profound
effect on my life. It still astounds me that the man could write such diverse
books as the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles of Narnia</i></b> series, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Surprised by Joy</i></b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Screwtape Letters</i></b>, thirty books in all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also found the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadowlands</i>,
with Anthony Hopkins playing Lewis, fascinating. Lewis, at one time, was one of
the most famous people on the planet and remains one of the most widely quoted
Christian apologists today. </div>
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I learned later about the relationship between Lewis and
J.R.R. Tolkien of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord of the Rings</i>
fame and how Tolkien (a devout Catholic) influenced Lewis’s conversion. Though
Tolkien influenced Lewis’s conversion, I did not know that Lewis, in the early
days, held an anti-Catholic bias based on his Irish upbringing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I thought of both men as brilliant scholars, but mostly
writers of fantasy tales meant primarily for children. How wrong I was. I
learned that they combined their voluminous learning with a strong liking for
fantasy—fantasy not indulged independently of their ideas, but about their
ideas. </div>
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The book tells the story of the Inklings, a group of
writers, professors, scholars, academics and various other possessors of titles
both honorary and practiced who met regularly to engage in deep discussions of
religion, spirituality, fantasy, the meaning of life, poetry, and other deep
intellectual topics too many to list here. I imagine the rooms where they met
literally expanding and contracting with the IQ’s of the brilliant folks
mentioned in this book. It focuses on Lewis, Tolkien, Barfield and Williams,
but many, many others were involved as part of the group or peripherally, names
like Saul Bellow, T. S. Eliot, Dorothy L. Sayers, etc.</div>
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The authors delve deeply into the Inkling members’ meetings
as well as their personal lives and interactions. Although I think it would
have been a better book at 350 or so pages rather than 500, who am I, an
intellectual lightweight compared to these giant brains, to know? I had to keep
a dictionary handy to wade through the multitude of terms regarding
philosophical and scholastic studies and disciplines.</div>
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I believe it is safe to say that the group unleashed a
mythic awakening and a Christian awakening that surpasses anything or anyone
else in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Without them, there would probably have
never been a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dungeons and Dragons</i>, or
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry
Potter</i></span><b>.</b> </div>
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I confess that I drew as much inspiration from the
weaknesses exposed in this book as I did from the strengths and triumphs of
these literary icons. I knew about Lewis’s strange relationship with Mrs. Moore
, but not as much about his hearty appetite for drink and ribaldry. It was
fascinating to learn that even the most brilliant minds can suffer from the
same pettiness and daily problems that the rest of us do. They Inklings argued
among themselves, hurt each other with their criticisms and reviews of each
other’s works, suffered from envy. They endured failures as well as triumphs. I
think the authors best describe their own work with this:</div>
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“By returning to the fundamentals of story and exploring its
relation to faith, virtue, self-transcendence, and hope, the Inklings have
renewed a current that runs through the heart of Western literature.”</div>
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Jim Ainsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18240405075941678085noreply@blogger.com0