The Arnow Conference 2017

Harriet Simpson Arnow

I just love the annual Harriet Simpson Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture held at and presented by Somerset Community College. It gives me a chance to be in the company of some real writers and people who appreciate the art. They have some speakers there whose words fall off their lips in prose and fall gently onto the paper. My writing is not like that. I am so impressed by the way that a simple act of seeing or hearing can be described in its entirety so that a visual

impression is left on the brain without the need of seeing it with one's eyes or hearing it with one's ears. What it does to me is to remind me that one lifetime is not enough to be able to learn the answers to my questions or to take advantage of new insight. However, one is all we have and if a portion of a lifetime is squandered then the situation is dire indeed.

Writers see the world differently than we do. It's almost like they are observers of the human condition and, for the time that they are practicing their art, they float above us in a kind of ethereal way. Am I waxing too poetic here? Maybe, but I am impressed for real. I suppose that for the most part they have lives just like the rest of us with bills and families. They probably catch colds but they are very descriptive colds and unlike the common colds that most of us catch where you just lie there and suffer.

Crystal Wilkinson

I sat there with my friend Bill and listened to Crystal Wilkinson speak and read from her book “The Birds of Opulence.” The way she took common, everyday experiences and wove them into a tapestry was like having my eyes opened to the vivid mental imagery of those mundane happenings such as one would find in a daily diary. It is revelatory that Ms. Wilkinson hails from Casey County which

only serves to remind us that the gift can fall anywhere. That the seed be strong enough to survive and be nurtured to maturity seems to be the qualifying characteristic. Her accomplishments are many and it does not reflect very well on me that I had never heard of her.

I have been familiar with Gurney Norman for decades largely due to his novel “Divine Right's Trip” which was serialized in “The Last Whole Earth Catalogue.” It was required reading for my generation so Mr. Norman is well known in Kentucky. He has written many other books about life and adventure in the Appalachian Mountains and he ability to spin a yarn is second to no one. He did,

Gurney Norman

however, bring up an idea that was fresh to me about his pondering on watersheds. How we here live in the Cumberland River watershed but in the mountains where he was from it was the Kentucky River watershed. It was more than a geology and geography lesson in that it is possible to discern watershed occurrences in our lives where up to a point everything leads to a particular set of events and then one can cross metaphorically into another watershed and a whole new set of events. What these wonderful people do is cause us to step outside our normal repetitive daily lives and look into the events that brought us to where we are. Then perhaps we can even find the narrative to write about it with some expression that may even surprise us.

Up next was Silas House who everyone in these parts has heard of. He is a very accomplished novelist. He also is from neighboring Laurel County and spent much of his life in Leslie County which is the home of my Mother so I am a bit familiar with the surroundings. He has been writer in residence at Eastern Kentucky University and Lincoln Memorial University and writes about rural life largely in the Appalachian Mountains. His description of his requirements for writing and the

Silas House

way he may approach a story are, like the others, almost another language to me. To come from modest or even poor circumstances and still possess the will to write (to say it is a gift implies it is given to one) should be inspirational to everyone who has ever looked at the world and wondered why it is the way it is. In my case I am interested by what makes people tick and how they reach the conclusions that they do but my style is more journalistic. I think that everyone who writes like I do longs to be one of those who sees the world differently and is more receptive to the emotional expression than to the factual. Maybe someday.

One of the things that each speaker mentioned though was their love for the writing of Harriet Simpson Arnow who was from Burnside and environs and possessed the will to describe her life through the imaginary lives of others. She left the homeplace and moved to Cincinnati and then on to Detroit where she spent most of her life. Her most famous book was “The Dollmaker” which she wrote in 1954. It bears mentioning that she worked in the early 1930s for the Federal Writers Project of the WPA, a government program established by President Roosevelt to help combat the deep depression the nation was enduring. I mention this because at this time our federal government is slashing funding for the arts and humanities as if there is no longer any need for replenishment of the soul.

Then my friend Bill and I sat for a couple of hours just talking about literary stuff. Bill is one of the most literate people that I have had the pleasure of meeting. He can talk about fiction, music (jazz, blues, bluegrass) and speak with authority on names that I've only seen mention of. One of the things that I like about my friend Bill is that he can speak of musicians and philosphers and then ask if I have read or heard some work to which I almost uniformly reply “no” even though it is tempting to lie about it every now and then. Fear of discovery causes me to maintain my honesty which is poor reason indeed to be honest.

This is a great conference that is hosted by Somerset Community College. It is good for our souls to know that our own small world really has no boundaries. That literature and music ties us to the larger world and that our own Appalachian Mountains are incredibly rich with fodder for the creation of fine works of art. When I am exposed to these artists I am reminded how I have lived my own life far too engrossed in the daily grind and anxious of tomorrow. Then I wonder how these writers and musicians manage to deal with the daily grind and still listen to their muse.

My Take is that we are surrounded by fine writers, artists and musicians whose work is rarely seen or heard. The local arts community is a flourishing one that should have more avenues for exposure to the people.