Creative Juices

William H. Turner ’68 AS has just published “The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns,” an intimate remembrance of kinship and community in Eastern Kentucky’s coal towns. Turner, one of the luminaries of Appalachian studies, reconstructs Black life in the company towns in and around Harlan County during coal’s final postwar boom years, which built toward an enduring bust as the children of Black miners, like the author, left the region in search of better opportunities. The book tells the story of Turner’s life in Lynch, which he describes as the “greatest coal town in the world with the largest coal tipple.” Turner’s family included his mother, a native of nearby Benham, eight children, and his father. “The Harlan Renaissance” invites readers into what might be an unfamiliar Appalachia: one studded by large and vibrant Black communities, where families took the pulse of the nation through magazines like Jet and Ebony and through the news that traveled within Black churches, schools and restaurants. Difficult choices for the future were made as parents considered the unpredictable nature of Appalachia’s economic realities alongside the unpredictable nature of a national movement toward civil rights. Unfolding through layers of sociological insight and oral history, “The Harlan Renaissance” centers the sympathetic perspectives and critical eye of a master narrator of Black life.

Ron Dwinnells ’83 MED is the author of “Don’t Pick Up All the Dog Hairs.” The book offers insights into how to deal with situations and enhance your life at home and in your career. Dwinnells delivers advice via chapters with names like “Don’t Fly with Turkeys,” “Don’t Dress like a Warthog,” “Don’t Be a Jamoke,” and “Don’t Run Over the Cat.” “Don’t Pick Up All the Dog Hairs” began serendipitously while Dwinnells was teaching public health and leadership classes at a local medical school. He advised his students what not to do as a leader through entertaining stories from his own background, conveying lessons he had learned from failures, adversities, mistakes and even enemies from leadership experiences along the way. The lecture series became so popular with students, it won him accolades and several teaching awards and pressure to write his stories down. Dwinnells, a pediatrician and certified physician executive, did just that. But don’t let the clever chapter titles fool you. “Don’t Pick Up All the Dog Hairs” is full of serious wisdom in chapters like “Don’t Fail to Prioritize,” “Don’t Be a Manager When You Are Supposed to Be a Leader,” and “Don’t Drain the Emotional Bank Account.” Steve McGuire ’73 AS has written “Prior Restraint,” a political thrilled that begins when America’s most famous news anchor is brutally murdered by terrorists, and the entire media establishment is paralyzed by the fear of who may be next. Seemingly overnight, a pernicious wave of self-censorship grips the airwaves, and no one dares to further criticize religious fanaticism. A corrupt Senator, intoxicated by ambition and greed, exploits the ensuing chaos, while a tenacious, young reporter risks her career and her life to uncover the truth. “Prior Restraint” is a chilling story about fear, greed and power that blurs the borders between reality and illusion, with a plot line even more terrifying in its disturbing proximity to our everyday reality.

Bernard Clay ’00 AS has just published his autobiographical poetry debut, “English Lit, Poems.” The book juxtaposes the roots of black male identity against an urban and rural Kentucky landscape. Hailed as one of the most authentic voices of his generation, Clay artfully renders coming-of-age in the predominately Black West End of Louisville. Balancing the spirited grit of a farmer and the careful lyricism of a poet, “English Lit, Poems” is a triumph of new Affrilachian — African American and Appalachian — literature.

Rafael “Rafa” Ocasio ’87 AS has recently written two books, “Race and Nation in Puerto Rican Folklore: Franz Boas and John Alden Mason in Porto Rico” and “Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico.” “Race and Nation in Puerto Rican Folklore: Franz Boas and John Alden Mason in Porto Rico” documents the historic research trip of Franz Boas to Puerto Rico in 1915. As the founding father of American U.S. anthropology, Boas was interested in documenting Puerto Rican oral folklore. Ocasio traces the rather convoluted political and social events that Boas encountered on the island while documenting the oral samples. In “Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico,” Ocasio gathers some of the Puerto Rican folk stories that Boas documented, which he also translates into English.

UK and the UK Alumni Association do not necessarily endorse books or other original material mentioned in Creative Juices. The University of Kentucky and the UK Alumni Association are not responsible for the content, views and opinions expressed on websites mentioned in Creative Juices or found via links off of those websites.