I've only been at this for a week and I'm already struggling to come up with interesting things to write about. Hopefully, things get easier with more practice and I shouldn't be feeling that this is some foreshadowing of what the experience will be like.
As far as useful things to talk about, allow me to refer to the last book I finished reading, "An Hour Before Daylight : Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood" by Jimmy Carter. It was really a quite interesting book. In it he describes the experience of growing up on a farm in the 1930-40s. He really focuses in on that and the family and regional history. It doesn't dwell much on his adulthood which lets him reflect thoroughly on the experience and people that defined his early life.
He writes in a very simple style and everything is forthright. He tries to put forth his ideas and generally defend all of the individuals involved while at the same time managing to feel that I am coming closer to understanding the time than I have before. Personally, my grandfather grew up on a farm in southern Illinois about five years earlier. He left to join the Navy in time for WWII. I imagine that some of this must be like what he went through. Obviously, a lot of the particulars are different but the understanding of the time, place, community, and work involved seem to make the experience more vivid than I had known.
The book doesn't really change a whole lot more than that. It has a relatively simple goal and he sticks too it. I found it easy-to-read, interesting, and informative but I've always been a sucker for biographies, especially biographies about boyhoods. I certainly recommend it for those interested in the time or place in general who want an accessible introduction to the area.
posted by fulsome @ 4:48 PM
