Songs of the Whippoorwill: An Appalachian Odyssey, Volume II

By John Blankenship

Songs of the Whippoorwill: an Appalachian Odyssey (Volume II) is a book of regional profiles that comes freely from the heart of its author, a writer on intimate terms with the resourceful and fearless folk of the hills. The work has captured the spirit of the land we love, the people we know, and the moments of triumph of men and women who make their home in the southern mountains.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387296255

Book preview

Songs of the Whippoorwill: An Appalachian Odyssey, Volume II

Songs of the Whippoorwill: An Appalachian Odyssey, Volume II

A Collection of Stories

from Southern West Virginia

by

John Blankenship

Published by John Blankenship

Cover Art by Raven Boykin

Copyright © 2017 by John Blankenship

[e-mail]

First Edition – September 2017

Distributed by Lulu

www.lulu.com (ID: 21625187)

ISBN: 978-1-387-29625-5

Disclaimer:

Information used in these articles was acquired by this author over a lifetime spent in the field of journalism. After these many years, it is difficult to recall where some of the information originated. There has been no intention to pilfer, purloin, claim or take credit for any material woven into this text from another source. I appreciate the influence that other authors have had on my writing during my career. Know that you have left footprints for me to follow.

–John Blankenship

Dedication:

This book is dedicated to my wife Linda Lee, the love of my life and best friend, my soulmate and confidante, the spirit that rescued me from all my worldly demons, and forgave me for the many debacles of my youth. She was there when I needed her, and I owe her more than I can ever repay. Linda Lee encouraged me to follow my heart and stood by me when I needed love most; at times when I couldn't find my own way, she was there to guide me. For that and much more, I am eternally grateful.

During the first two weeks of our marriage in August 1968, Linda Lee and I lived in a cozy apartment on Johnstown Road in Beckley. One of my all-time favorite foods is spaghetti. After my bride learned of this she went about making spaghetti for an entire fortnight. Then, one evening I blurted out good-naturedly, Honey, now your spaghetti is good—it’s better than good, but do you know how to make anything else besides spaghetti?

Her reply: Well, no, not exactly. Chef-Boyardee is about all I know.

That’s not a problem, I consoled her. Let’s go talk to my Grandmother Rosa.

And that’s what we did. Our esteemed family cook, the former Rosa Ellen Lockhart, was obliged to give Linda Lee lessons in her kitchen for a number of afternoons.

Within a month (now I am not making this up) my beautiful and crafty companion started turning out pork chops and fried potatoes, gravy and biscuits, pot roast and vegetables, meat loaf and mashed potatoes, bird-eye beans and cornbread, and chicken and dumplings.

When I returned to Marshall University in the fall of that year, my English professors immediately exclaimed, Gosh, Blankenship, you look great. What did you do during the summer?

Of course, I replied how fortunate I was to have a marvelous and amazing chef by the name of Linda Lee, my newlywed from Daniels.

But I didn’t say anything about the first two weeks of our honeymoon, when I dined solely on Chef Boyardee spaghetti, right out of the box.

During that semester my honey was a hit with our collegiate dinner guests at our apartment on Fifth Avenue. They included English majors and professors of literature and poetry, as well as aspiring young writers from both sides of the Ohio River. One of my friends, the illustrious James R. Pack, originator of the literary magazine fittingly titled Infinity, even proposed a toast to the best cook in Huntington.

My young spouse humbly accepted the praise and prestige for her culinary skills and her signature entrée—Chef Boyardee spaghetti, right out of the box!

With much affection and devotion, Johnnie B.

Preface:

In case you liked our first book on the gentle persons of the hills, hollows, backwoods and tightly-knit, family-circles of our welcoming and hospitable Southern West Virginia—a work titled Songs of the Whippoorwill: An Appalachian Odyssey—we have recently published Volume II, a subsequent text of an anticipated mountain-oriented literary trilogy, which actually picks up where the initial work leaves off.  We think our title resonates with readers of our region, because of the famed whippoorwill’s familiarity among so many mountaineers. The almost surreal sound of the night-time creatures, the nocturnal North American fowls often heard—but not seen—in the area, has captivated, and, in many cases, guided the hill-land folk of Southern Appalachia for generations. Now, though, the feathery songsters are becoming increasingly rare, reduced in number from hardwood forests almost as rapidly as their human counterparts—the pioneer spirits who settled in far-flung hills and hollows in an effort to tame the wilderness.

For more than a century, writers and vocalists alike have identified the whippoorwill with the lonely and poor but vibrant lives of the mountain people, those who blended manifold cultural strains in their heavily-wooded, thinly-settled enclaves to produce a heritage of which every son and daughter can be justly proud.

Perhaps the fading (yet once prosperous and seemingly never-ending) calls of the vociferous whippoorwills have much to say to the needs of the region, much to say of our attempts to gain understanding and recapture something of its love of life, wisdom, ingenuity and especially its independent spirit.

It is for this reason that over the years I have traveled the winding mountain thoroughfares to assemble the accounts and images of our fiercely-independent (yet often isolated) hill-land folk so that—like the songs of the whippoorwill that seem to have no ending—their profiles now appear in print to be shared with generations to come.

John Blankenship

Songs of the Whippoorwill: An Appalachian Odyssey, Volume II

Introduction by Vaughn Rhudy:

The single all-pervasive theme of John Blankenship’s features and profiles in Songs of the Whippoorwill, Volume II is the authentic voice of Appalachian inhabitants. There is no playing up of the peculiarities of the clothing, speech patterns or local customs of a proud people simply to amuse regional or national audiences.

The lively and fascinating folk portrayed in these interviews entertain us with realistic and honest language, artless charm and faithful images, and the choices and judgements they make in the face of temporal trials and tribulations are not contrived or uncommon—rather their decisions stem from the stable results of character that their regional society has conferred upon them.

In his native Appalachia, Blankenship allows the residents of the region to speak for themselves, and he believes the mountainous, hilly, steep, and often precipitous terrain literally has a personae all its own.

The author sees the emerald elevations as one of nature’s most enduring archetypes, while the nurturing earth projects itself into the home-grown culture as a symbol of strength and awareness. The pains and joys of living stand as part of time’s eternal plan—the endless cycle of life and death. For this reason, perhaps the author’s writing style marks a key contribution to Appalachian literature common to us all.

With a characteristic insight that is granted only to those who were born and bred in this seemingly enchanted and mystical kingdom, Blankenship attempts to correct what he sees as false public impressions of our Appalachian heartland—impressions which are borne by the rest of the realm because of a damaging mass media and an immoral and hostile Hollywood motion-picture industry. He is keenly and passionately mindful that mountain peoples have been fraudulently and dishonestly portrayed as pathetic victims who passively accept a degrading role unfairly thrust upon them by unforgiving environs and one-sided social structures.

The free-thinking and self-reliant folk addressed in this volume are anything but weak and passive. Strength of character is the bedrock of these personal narratives. It is the strength of personality that results from fighting cruel elements and harsh surroundings and overcoming them. It is a struggle shared equally by both men and women of the hills. These are contented individuals who have stood the test of time and won. They are as much at home and in command of their familiar settings as are the hale and hearty wildlife and the soaring and singing fowl that inhabit our remote mountain wildernesses. And perhaps, above all, they know how to make the world a better place without the party-political possessions of power and money.

The author’s simple elegance and lyrical rhythms will keep you turning pages as you savor the truthful tales of honorable and principled Appalachian men and women—all of whom no doubt are among the gentlest creatures that God ever created.

Vaughn Rhudy Ed.D.

Dr. Rhudy is a former award-winning journalist and educator. He has worked for The Register-Herald newspaper in Beckley, West Virginia, and The Dallas Morning News in Dallas, Texas. He taught English and journalism for more than 20 years at Shady Spring High School in Raleigh County, West Virginia, and advised the school’s nationally recognized student newspaper and yearbook. He has won numerous awards for his writing and reporting, as well as his teaching, including Raleigh County Teacher of the Year in 1992, Ashland Oil Teacher Achievement Award Winner in 1994, and the Milken National Educator Award in 2003. For the past eight years, Rhudy has worked in the Office of Assessment at the West Virginia Department of Education and currently serves as the Executive Director of Assessment for the state.

From the Writer's Notebook:

My  fascination with Appalachia’s landscape and people has been growing for years, but I was prompted recently to offer up a series of stories and profiles that I wrote for publication in the 1970s and 1980s. These articles feature the lifestyles of mountaineers and other rural folk found in Southern West Virginia—considered by many as the epicenter of Appalachian culture—including values, principles and beliefs that have been recorded in literature and art and theatre for generations.  When I asked a woman of the hills to show me how to do the kind of clog-dancing common in her neck-of-the-woods, she politely responded: I’m not sure I can teach clogging to you—it’s a mountain thing.

This book might be the best single way to explore the historic depths of what that mountain thing is. It is shared knowledge that Appalachia is imagined on one extreme as America’s Third World, and on the other as a