Jane Austin, Kentucky Olympians, Barn Quilts, And More
Quote: 2012 Strategic Directions in the U.S. Electric Utility Industry, a Black & Veatch report
Karen Cox wrote her first book at the young age of 9, and continued to write through adulthood, but never shared her work.
This changed in 2006 when, being a devoted Jane Austen reader, she discovered Jane Austen fan fiction. Fan fiction is a largely Internet-based genre of present-day writers� reworkings of classics by Austen as well as many other noted authors.
Cox read many retellings of her favorite Austen story, Pride and Prejudice, before taking her son�s challenge in 2009 to write and share her own. The result is 1932 (Meryton Press, $12.95 from www.amazon.com), a twist on the circumstances found in the classic tale.
Cox writes Elizabeth Bennet�s plight as one of poverty instead of plenty. Her family, like many others during the Depression, finds itself with no income, no home, and no plan. A move to fictional small town Meryton, Kentucky, changes everything as her family turns to farming, and rich William Darcy�s eye turns to Elizabeth.
�The story behind 1932 had been floating in my mind for some time before I started writing it,� Cox says. �The Great Depression in the U.S. has always been interesting to me. I grew up hearing tales about those years from my grandmothers, and I was always impressed by the bravery and resourcefulness of people living in that time. I wondered how my favorite characters would respond to that level of economic and societal upheaval and how it would change the dynamics between them. So, during a particularly long bout of winter weather that kept me ensconced at home, I hammered out the first draft of what would become 1932. I hope it conveys my appreciation for the fortitude of those who endured the Depression, and my belief that love, all types of love, can conquer the toughest obstacles.�
Cox�s efforts earned a bronze medal in the Romance category from the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Her next project was to write a 20th-century version of Persuasion, her second favorite Austen book, set in the Appalachian foothills. �Find Wonder in All Things (Meryton Press, $12.95 from www.amazon.com) is my take on Wentworth and Anne from the beginning of their history together and through the Persuasion story arc…and, trust me, it was not always easy to translate Anne Elliot into a modern setting and still have some respect for her. At several points, I just wanted to thump her on the head!�
Her persistence paid off. Find Wonder in All Things was recently named a gold medalist from the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
�Penny Woods
Use weatherstripping on old windows, and if you can, add storm windows. In hot climates, add solar film screening to west-facing windows to catch heat. For new units, consider double-glazed panes; in cold climates, �low-e� coatings on glass can help reduce heat loss.
More Kentucky athletes have qualified for the U.S. in the Olympics, since last month�s Kentucky Living cover featuring Lee Kiefer of Lexington, a member of the U.S. women�s foil fencing team.
Also scheduled to compete in the 2012 London Games this month will be Lexington native Tyson Gay, 30, who still holds the American record in the men�s 100-meter dash�which he set during trials for the 2008 Olympic team. Watch for him in the men�s 100-meter race.
This year will mark the third Olympics for Reese Hoffa, 34, who spent his earliest years in Louisville and Bardstown before moving to Georgia with his adoptive family and discovering a passion for track and field. Hoffa will compete in men�s shot put in London on August 3.
Celebrated track cyclist and Lexington native Dotsie Bausch, 39, who now calls Irvine, California, home, will compete as a member of the 2012 U.S. Cycling Team.
Claire Donahue, 23, of Lenoir City, Tennessee, a former member of the Western Kentucky University swim team (2007-2011), will compete in the women�s 100-meter butterfly event. She is the first WKU swimmer ever to make a U.S. Olympic team.
Stay tuned to the news for other Kentucky athletes who may have qualified after the Kentucky Living deadline, especially in swimming, track and field, and basketball.
Quote: 2012 Strategic Directions in the U.S. Electric Utility Industry, a Black & Veatch report
Despite no single definition of smart grid, there is great value to be gained for utilities and customers though the progress will be more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Many rural electric cooperatives celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1961 and a large number are observing the same anniversary this year. Probably no other piece of work captures at a glance the vast meaning of this 25 years of progress more than does the picture of Lone Dot, USA�
Lone Dot could easily be a town in Eastern Kentucky or a hamlet in the great Rocky Mountains. It represents the hundreds of small towns and villages from coast to coast that were brought out of the kerosene lamp era�
The picture of Lone Dot has been seen by millions of Americans since it was first printed in magazines throughout the country in 1960. The original work spelled out so clearly the meaning of rural electrification that artist Ray Hosford�s painting won an award for the Chicago advertising agency which circulated the advertisement for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement, by Suzi Parron and Donna Sue Groves, documents the story of a grassroots movement launched in 2001 when Groves� desire to honor her mother, Maxine, with a quilt square painted on their barn in Adams County, Ohio, became a group effort that eventually grew into a county-wide project. Today, there are more than 4,000 barn quilts along more than 100 driving trails in 33 states and Canada.
Parron, a high school English teacher from Georgia, saw her first barn quilt in 2008 while on a camping trip at Land Between The Lakes. When she couldn�t find a book on the subject, she decided to write her own. A call to the Kentucky Arts Council led her to Groves. When the two combined forces, the journey began. Groves contributed her records of the quilt trails� progress in many states.
Parron�s exploration takes readers across 29 states and two Canadian provinces visiting barn owners, artists, and committee members who continue to put America�s tourist and folk art movement on the map. The book contains more than 80 full-color photographs. There are at least 1,200 barn quilts in Kentucky alone, spread across 40 or more counties. A chapter on Kentucky barn quilt trails includes: Boyd, Breckinridge, Carter, Grayson, Madison, Rowan, Scott, and Trigg counties.
To buy the book, contact your local bookstore or go to www.ohioswallow.com and search Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement.
A youth-led, bicycle-powered tour across the U.S. to honor the International Year of Cooperatives started in Oakland, California, on June 2 and is planned to finish August 22 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Among the locations the tour is planning events: Chicago; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Cleveland. Through workshops and public events, tour participants will encourage awareness of co-ops. To follow the progress, make a donation, or join them for a leg of the trip, go to www.co-cycle.coop.
�Zip the Bluegrass� launches Kentucky�s zipline trail with a first-ever passport to five of Kentucky�s ziplines. The tour includes Louisville�s MEGA Cavern Zips, the only all-underground zipline adventure. Registrants can join free at any of five locations. Zippers receive an embossed seal at each location and are eligible for 15 percent discounts on admissions after the first location. Those completing all locations receive a certificate and T-shirt. Admission fees vary. More info available online at www.facebook.com/zipthebluegrass or call (502) 855-3581.
