Hutchins Library News Blog

This week we are featuring Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure and Folk Magic from Appalachia by Jake Richards. You do not need to be a conjurer or witch in order to enjoy this book. This is a good book if you want to learn more about Appalachia and its tradition of conjure magic. Richards writes with a knowledgeable and welcoming style that draws you in whether you are a native, a transplant, or just a visitor. This book is as close as you can get to sitting with the author on a porch just listening to the stories, traditions, and conjures. The book explores some parts of Appalachia that few people in the region talk about, and Richards is generous with the knowledge. See below for book description and location details in the library. 

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards; Starr Casas (Foreword by)

Call Number: 133.4309 R516b 2019

ISBN: 9781578636532

Publication Date: 2019-06-01

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life. The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives. This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more. 

The Electric Literature blog featured this week a list of "7 Books That Show a Different Side of Appalachia." I checked the library catalog, and yes, Hutchins Library has all seven books on the list. Furthermore, as of this post we have the article author's memoir on order, and it should be arriving soon. So, if you are interested in doing some reading about the region, here are the books with links to the catalog so you can come and check them out.

Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker

Call Number: 821.914 W179a

ISBN: 9780967542409

Publication Date: 2020-11-17

A milestone book of poetry at the intersection of Appalachian and African American literature. In this pathbreaking debut collection, poet Frank X Walker tells the story of growing up young, Black, artistic, and male in one of America's most misunderstood geographical regions. As a proud Kentucky native, Walker created the word "Affrilachia" to render visible the unique intersectional experience of African Americans living in the rural and Appalachian South. Since its publication in 2000, Affrilachia has seen wide classroom use, and is recognized as one of the foundational works of the Affrilachian Poets, a community of writers offering new ways to think about diversity in the Appalachian region and beyond. Published in 2000 by Old Cove Press

 

Trampoline by Robert Gipe

Call Number: G514tr 2015 (Fiction Collection)

ISBN: 9780821421529

Publication Date: 2015-03-15

Dawn Jewell is fifteen. She is restless, curious, and wry. She listens to Black Flag, speaks her mind, and joins her grandmother's fight against mountaintop removal mining almost in spite of herself. "I write by ear," says Robert Gipe, and Dawn's voice is the essence of his debut novel, Trampoline. She lives in eastern Kentucky with her addict mother and her Mamaw, whose stance against the coal companies has earned her the community's ire. Jagged and honest, Trampoline is a powerful portrait of a place struggling with the economic and social forces that threaten and define it. Inspired by oral tradition and punctuated by Gipe's raw and whimsical drawings, it is above all about its heroine, Dawn, as she decides whether to save a mountain or save herself; be ruled by love or ruled by anger; remain in the land of her birth or run for her life.

 

The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels

Call Number: S566pr 2020 (Fiction Collection)

ISBN: 9781938235627

Publication Date: 2020-05-19

One of 2020's most acclaimed books. A Kirkus Best Fiction Book of 2020 * One of O Magazine's Best LGBT Books of 2020 * A Finalist for the Southern Book Prize * One of the Women's National Book Association's 2020 Great Group Reads Selections * EW's 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 * BookRiot * Lambda Literary's * Salon * BookPage's * Garden & Gun's * Logo NewNowNext's In this "brutally fresh kind of homecoming novel," (Entertainment Weekly) Brian Jackson returns to his small Appalachian hometown and the family who rejected him. Carter Sickels's stunning literary achievement "deserves a place in the canon of AIDS literature alongside the likes of Larry Kramer and Rebecca Makkai" (Los Angeles Review of Books). The story of Brian's return to small-town Ohio is told in a chorus of voices: Brian's mother Sharon; his fourteen-year-old sister, Jess, as she grapples with her brother's mysterious return; and the video diaries Brian makes to document his final summer. Written in prose that seeks "to answer without flinching away from ugliness and without demonizing the ignorant" (Salon), The Prettiest Star offers an urgent portrait of a family in the center of a national crisis, in order to tell a unique story about the politics and fragility of the body, and to explore the bounds of family and redemption.

 

F*ckface by Leah Hampton

Call Number: H232fu 2020 (Appalachian Center Faber Library)

ISBN: 9781250259592

Publication Date: 2020-07-14

Named a Best Book of 2020 by Slate, Electric Literature, and PopMatters F*ckface is a brassy, bighearted debut collection of twelve short stories about rurality, corpses, honeybee collapse, and illicit sex in post-coal Appalachia. The twelve stories in this knockout collection--some comedic, some tragic, many both at once--examine the interdependence between rural denizens and their environment. A young girl, desperate for a way out of her small town, finds support in an unlikely place. A ranger working along the Blue Ridge Parkway realizes that the dark side of the job, the all too frequent discovery of dead bodies, has taken its toll on her. Haunted by his past, and his future, a tech sergeant reluctantly spends a night with his estranged parents before being deployed to Afghanistan. Nearing fifty and facing new medical problems, a woman wonders if her short stint at the local chemical plant is to blame. A woman takes her husband's research partner on a day trip to her favorite place on earth, Dollywood, and briefly imagines a different life. In the vein of Bonnie Jo Campbell and Lee Smith, Leah Hampton writes poignantly and honestly about a legendary place that's rapidly changing. She takes us deep inside the lives of the women and men of Appalachia while navigating the realities of modern life with wit, bite, and heart.

 

The Harlan Renaissance by William H. Turner

Call Number: 976.915 T954h 2021

ISBN: 9781952271205

Publication Date: 2021-10-30

A personal remembrance from the preeminent chronicler of Black life in Appalachia. The Harlan Renaissance is an intimate remembrance of kinship and community in eastern Kentucky's coal towns written by one of the luminaries of Appalachian studies, William Turner. Turner 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 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.

 

Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

Call Number: C589ev 2020 c. 2 (FIction Collection)

ISBN: 9781950564064

Publication Date: 2020-09-08

Nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah yearns to escape his hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. When a summer job at Asheville's luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings him one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as an opportunity. With World War II raging in Europe, the inn is the temporary home of Axis diplomats and their families, who are being held as prisoners of war. Soon, Cowney's refuge becomes a cage when the daughter of one of the residents goes missing and he finds himself accused of abduction and murder. Even As We Breathe invokes the elements of bone, blood, and flesh as Cowney navigates difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides. After leaving the seclusion of the Cherokee reservation, he is able to explore a future free from the consequences of his family's choices and to construct a new worldview, for a time. However, prejudice and persecution in the white world of the resort eventually compel Cowney to free himself from larger forces that hold him back as he struggles to unearth evidence of his innocence and clear his name.

 

Appalachian Reckoning by Anthony Harkins (Editor); Meredith McCarroll (Editor)

Call Number: 305.562 A646 2019

ISBN: 9781946684783

Publication Date: 2019-03-30

With hundreds of thousands of copies sold, a Ron Howard movie in the works, and the rise of its author as a media personality, J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis has defined Appalachia for much of the nation. What about Hillbilly Elegy accounts for this explosion of interest during this period of political turmoil? Why have its ideas raised so much controversy? And how can debates about the book catalyze new, more inclusive political agendas for the region's future? Appalachian Reckoning is a retort, at turns rigorous, critical, angry, and hopeful, to the long shadow Hillbilly Elegy has cast over the region and its imagining. But it also moves beyond Hillbilly Elegy to allow Appalachians from varied backgrounds to tell their own diverse and complex stories through an imaginative blend of scholarship, prose, poetry, and photography. The essays and creative work collected in Appalachian Reckoning provide a deeply personal portrait of a place that is at once culturally rich and economically distressed, unique and typically American. Complicating simplistic visions that associate the region almost exclusively with death and decay, Appalachian Reckoning makes clear Appalachia's intellectual vitality, spiritual richness, and progressive possibilities.

 

Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia

Call Number: (On order as of this post, to arrive soon)

ISBN: 9781952271427

Publication Date: 2022-03-01

"Commands your attention from the first page to the last word." --Morgan Jerkins When Neema Avashia tells people where she's from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving "There are Indian people in West Virginia?" A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles. Another Appalachia examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia's identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, Another Appalachia mixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.

 

 

Welcome back to Zine of the Month! This month's zine is Like Walking Onto Another Planet: Stories About the True Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining. This zine showcases environmental and sustainability issues in the Appalachian region due to the removal of mountain tops in order to mine the coal. Check it out in our Zine Collection!

Historically, zines have been around since 1776 when Thomas Paine self-published Common Sense and used it as an instrument in promoting the ideas that contributed to the U.S. War for Independence. Just a perfect example to demonstrate the free spirit of zine culture. Zine comes from fanzine which is a term that generally describes a small-circulation science fiction publication. Fanzines first appeared in the late 1920s. Zines were used to promote punk music in the 1970s, a time when this type of music received very little interest from the larger press music. This phenomenon spawned a new interest in self-publishing.

Check back next month for more zine updates!

Like Walking Onto Another Planet

Call Number: Zine Collection

Family physician Dr. Zook practices cradle-to-grave medicine in London, KY and provides care for persons living with HIV, hepatitis and substance use disorders. Her path to becoming a 21st century country doctor wasn’t exactly what she imagined when she graduated from a college much like Berea. She will discuss how mistakes along the way have strengthened her and continue to form the person she has become.

If you enjoyed Dr. Melissa Zook's convocation, check out these related books in front of circulation desk:

A Hospital for Ashe County by Janet C. Pittard

ISBN: 9780786497751

Publication Date: 2015-10-30

Call Number: 362.1109 P688h 2016

When Ashe County Memorial Hospital opened in November 1941, it was the realization of a dream for the poor, sparsely populated county in the mountains of northwestern North Carolina. Building a hospital is a major undertaking for any community at any time. Accomplishing this in the waning days of the Great Depression and on the brink of World War II, while scant local resources were taxed by catastrophic floods and severe snows, was a remarkable feat of community organization. This is the story of the generations of supporters, doctors, nurses, emergency personnel and others whose lives are interwoven with regional health care and the planning, building and operation of (the "new") Ashe Memorial Hospital. This legacy, brought to life through 114 photographs and personal interviews with 97 individuals, traces the development of health care in a remote Appalachian community, from the days of folk remedies and midwives, to horseback doctors and early infirmaries, to the technological advances and outreach efforts of today's Ashe Memorial Hospital.

Public Health in Appalachia by Wendy Welch (Editor)

ISBN: 9780786494149

Publication Date: 2014-06-09

Call Number: 362.109 P976 2014

The Appalachian region of the United States sees hunger, poverty, disability, preventable illness and premature death in disproportionally high numbers. Yet, Appalachia also knows the quiet strength of people working together to lift one another up as a community. In this collection of essays, health professionals explore how clinics and communities address the barriers to healthcare that continue to plague this underserved region and discuss theoretical perspectives about Appalachian healthcare. Topics include regional dental care, cancer and diabetes treatment, the integration of primary care and behavioral health, telehealth, the importance of "patient responsibility," and the effects of faith, fatalism and family dynamics on the health of Appalachian youth. Avoiding simplification and stereotype while presenting data, analysis and anecdotes, this volume gives a detailed picture of Appalachia's complex and multi-faceted public health challenges. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Mary Breckinridge by Melanie Beals Goan

ISBN: 9780807832110

Publication Date: 2008-06-02

Call Number: 610.7309 B829zg 2008 c.2

In 1925 Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965) founded the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a public health organization in eastern Kentucky providing nurses on horseback to reach families who otherwise would not receive health care. Through this public health organization, she introduced nurse-midwifery to the United States and created a highly successful, cost-effective model for rural health care delivery that has been replicated throughout the world. In this first comprehensive biography of the FNS founder, Melanie Beals Goan provides a revealing look at the challenges Breckinridge faced as she sought reform and the contradictions she embodied. Goan explores Breckinridge's perspective on gender roles, her charisma, her sense of obligation to live a life of service, her eccentricity, her religiosity, and her application of professionalized, science-based health care ideas. Highly intelligent and creative, Breckinridge also suffered from depression, was by modern standards racist, and fought progress as she aged--sometimes to the detriment of those she served. Breckinridge optimistically believed that she could change the world by providing health care to women and children. She ultimately changed just one corner of the world, but her experience continues to provide powerful lessons about the possibilities and the limitations of reform.

Attend Wayna Adams' convocation on

April 6, 2017, 3:00pm

Phelps-Stokes Auditorium

If you liked Ms. Adams's presentation, then you'll love these books that we have available for check-out, on display near the cafe!

Daniel Boone by Michael A. Lofaro

Call Number: 976.902 B724zL 2003

Publication Date: 2003

" The embodiment of the American hero, the man of action, the pathfinder, Daniel Boone represents the great adventure of his age -- the westward movement of the American people. Daniel Boone: An American Life brings together over thirty years of research in an extraordinary biography of the quintessential pioneer. Based on primary sources, the book depicts Boone through the eyes of those who knew him and within the historical contexts of his eighty-six years. The story of Daniel Boone offers new insights into the turbulent birth and growth of the nation and demonstrates why the frontier forms such a significant part of the American experience.

 

Kentucky History by Ron D. Bryant

Call Number: 016.976 B915k Copy 1

Publication Date: 2000

American history has been produced by the union of disparate states, each with its own ethnic, geographical and economic history. Long appreciated by the nation's local citizens, the richness and significance of local history has only recently been reevaluated by academic authorities. The number of articles and monographs on Kentucky history has increased dramatically since the last Kentucky bibliography was published in 1949. This book provides an indispensable guide to the literature on Kentucky history.

 

Traces of the Past by David L. Weitzman

Call Number: 609.73 W436t

Publication Date: 1980

 

Come check out the display I created for my ALE (Active Learning Experience). I was sent to the New Opportunity School for Women (NOSW).  While working with the NOSW, I had the opportunity to meet graduates from the program. Meeting them is what inspired my ALE project: a display at the Hutchins Library.

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The display gives more information about NOSW and what they do. There is also some reading materials and available applications to the program that you can take with you! If you want to learn more about the New Opportunity School for Women come visit the library and take a look at my display, or visit the NOSW website.

You can also check out this list of books about the NOSW written by the founder:

Changing lives in Appalachia : the New Opportunity School for Women by Jane Stephenson

Call Number: 305.409 S835c 2013 c. 2

Publication Date: 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Courageous paths : stories of nine Appalachian women by Jane Stephenson

Call Number: 305.409 C858 Copy 4

Publication Date: 1996

 

 

 

 

 

 

In cooperation with the first annual Dandelion Festival, Hutchins Library has an exhibit of print material and a couple of documentary films which deal with foraging and cooking with wild plants. Any items on the display table can be checked out at the circulation desk. The exhibit will run throughout the month of April. The exhibit was created by Calvin Gross, Associate Library Director.

The exhibit is open to the public during library regular hours.

In addition, below you can find the flyer for the workshops taking place during the Dandelion Festival on Saturday, April 16th. After the workshops, live entertainment, booths, and activities for all ages will begin at 1:00 PM at College Square in Berea.