B R E N D A   C O U L T A S
________________________________________________

from THE ABOLITIONIST'S JOURNAL

 

 

The Bluegrass State

 

Although they are called the Bluegrass state, they are better known for their weed. You can buy any kind of drug in most factory parking lots.
There are drive thru liquor stores and dry counties in Kentucky.
They have bluegrass music and a radio show called Old Scratchy records. Bill Monroe and the Shady Boys lived there.

Daniel Boone brought the first slaves to Kentucky.
Kentuckians roller-skate in old tobacco barns and frequent the “World's Largest Thrift Shop” in Louisville. Everyone strips tobacco in Kentucky.
They know barbecue and horses in Kentucky.

Wendell Berry, a poet, is from Kentucky.
The shakers built a round barn in Kentucky.

For heaven's sake, Kentucky is all that separates us from Tennessee.

My husband tells everyone we are going to Kentucky because people get very excited about this idea called Kentucky.

I was a member of the Owensboro, Kentucky Junior Coin club.
Johnny Depp and Richard Hell went to high school in Kentucky.
I've never been to Rough River nor Goldie's Opera House in Owensboro.

I attended the reburied of native American graves in Kentucky.
There is a Paris, Kentucky. and a Paris, Illinois.
Lilly Tomlin and Bobbie Ann Manson are from Paducah.
Ashley Judd is from Ashville, Kentucky.

There are underground coal mines in KY and strip mines in Indiana.
I like the strong labor unions of Kentucky where everyone sits on porches.
WC Handy was born in Henderson where they fought to keep super Wal-mart out.
John Jay Audubon lived with his slaves in the wilds of Kentucky.
Josiah Henson escaped from Yellowbanks (Owensboro) Kentucky.

Edgar Cayce and bell hooks are from Madison.
I stayed at Land Between the Lakes once, a huge man-made lake in a dry county, near the Eddyville prison.

I had my collarbone set in Kentucky.
My mother had a hysterectomy in Kentucky.

I know a man who calls it K-wacky. They grow their fingernails
long and gouge out eyes. Brothers and sisters and first cousins marry each other. No one is a virgin. They bite off ears and lips in barroom brawls in Kentucky.

Disclaimer: I am sorry about all the beans I spilled on Kentucky. You should know that some of my family members and friends are Kentuckians.

 

 

n e x t

 

[ page 1 of 4 ]