Appalachian Heritage

RESPONSE Buddy, Ain't No Fake in You Gurney Norman Dear Loyal, The grandmother of a close friend died in Boyd County yesterday and I have been asked to say some words at a service this afternoon. I have to drive about two and a half hours to the east to get there on time so I won't make it back to Berea for this morning's sessions. But as James Still is wont to say, no matter. I regret not getting to hear Jack give his presentation but I have read the text of his essay, "Loyal Jones: Calvinist Eiron." Since one of my favorite things is to find Jack in Johnson City now and then for a good conversation at a certain Japanese restaurant Fm sure we will convene before long to talk it all over, or at least, talk all over it, and around it and through it too, whatever the subject may be. I can't resist saying a word of praise right now about Jack Higgs's scholarship as he has been offering it to us for many years. His "Sut Lovingood and the Hard No in Appalachian Literature" which he delivered as the keynote address at Hindman Settlement School's 15th Appalachian Writers Conference in 1992 and which has since been published in Appalachian Heritage (Fall 1992 and Winter 1993) is world-class scholarly writing. And who else but Jack could take your clownish nature and use it as a basis for such erudite thoughts as he has just delivered? Its six a.m. on Saturday now, I'm here at my word-processor in Lexington pecking out these notes which I hope to fax to you in Berea after awhile. If we weren't such hicks I could send this by E-mail or through the computer Internet or bounce it off some satellite or Gurney Norman teaches at the University of Kentucky and writes fiction. 96 something. Ain't it awful to be so old-timey we're still using the fax? No wonder people low-rate us and think we're quaint. (Actually, Loyal, you are quaint; me, I just fake it to get grants). But that's why we're honoring you this weekend, buddy. Ain't no fake in you. And nothing artificial about the feelings surrounding the proceedings yesterday, either. I was there all day right on through the good speeches last night after supper. I felt so proud to be in that big gang of folks yesterday. A family reunion is exactly what your retirement party has been. The feelings, the emotions, the sheer love that we as a regional community experience when we get together don't come across in the E-Mail. You can't hug anybody over a satellite or on the Internet. You gave us all a good excuse to get together and feel our feelings and re-experience one another in true community. Our regional community is a living one and you are at the center ofit; you have convened us not only this weekend , but steadily over the past three decades, and I thank you for it. Love, Gurney 97 ...