Nancy Jensen, Recycling, Cooking Demo, And More
Electric co-op group offers scholarships
Woody Guthrie, the opera
Beef Cooking Demo
The sadness of secrets
Eastern Kentucky author Nancy Jensen�s first novel, The Sisters (St. Martin�s Press, $24.99; to buy a copy contact your local bookstore or go to www.nancyjensen.org), finishes the story her own family lore never did.
�When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my sister pushed me into our room and whispered that our grandmother, who had been upset all day, had received a letter telling her that her sister was dead. I knew about my grandmother�s brothers, but this was the first time I�d ever heard mention of a sister,� Jensen says. �I tried to ask questions, but my sister shushed me, telling me I must never ask anyone about it�and especially not Grandma. Later, my mother repeated the same admonition, but I couldn�t stop thinking about this estranged sister.
�Over the years, fragments of the family lore surrounding the sister trickled down to me�though my grandmother still kept silent�I could not understand, and I could not stop wanting to know, what kind of offense or betrayal could result in one sister�s deciding to erase another, as if she had never existed.
�My grandmother died without sharing the intricacies of her story, so I knew if I was ever going to have an answer to my question, I�d have to write it myself.�
The novel begins in the 1920s with Mabel and Bertie, sisters whose mother died during the birth of a third child. An abusive stepfather leads Mabel to make a choice that will affect not only her and Bertie�s lives, but every generation following. Though she means well and sees no other way out, Mabel�s good intentions are misunderstood, and for the rest of her life, Bertie allows the seeds of betrayal to take hold and eventually bury the memory of her sister forever.
Readers will follow each sister�s family separately, wishing paths could cross, sadly knowing they never will. Despite this, Jensen�s novel is an emotional and insightful study of the power of a secret, the bonds of family, and the ripple effect one decision can make.
�Penny Woods
When doing laundry, use cold water. If your dryer has a moisture meter, use it to prevent over-drying�50 minutes often works best for a full load. Remember to check your lint filter each time before you run a load to help your dryer run more efficiently (and save energy).
Three regions of Kentucky are listed in an updated Patricia Schultz book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. The new 2012 version highlights: Bluegrass Country, The Bourbon Trail, and The Kentucky Derby. Schultz suggests places within each area to visit, complete with phone numbers, Web sites, and historical information.
To buy a copy, contact your local bookstore or go to www.amazon.com.
Electric co-op group
offers scholarships
Women in Rural Electrification (Kentucky W.I.R.E.) is taking applications for $1,000 scholarships. The scholarships are open to any eligible student whose family is served by a Kentucky electric cooperative and has at least 60 hours of credits at a Kentucky college or university by the start of the fall term. W.I.R.E. will award at least three scholarships. The deadline for application is May 7. For an application form, go to www.kaec.org and click on the link at the bottom of the New Info box, or call your local electric cooperative or the Kentucky Living office at (502) 451-2430.
“The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity�found that investments in technologies that can capture and safely store carbon dioxide would create or support more than 150,000 skilled, high-wage jobs across at least 30 states.”
�Steve Miller, president and chief executive officer, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, in EnergyBiz, January/
February 2012
�My job is a pack rat�s heaven,� Mark Gossett will tell you.
Gossett is coordinator of Meade County Solid Waste & Recycling Center in Brandenburg, a 7-acre site where, through a regional interlocal agreement with Breckinridge, Hancock, and Hardin counties, and the city of Irvington, they handle more than a million pounds of recyclables each year.
�You can�t imagine the things people consider trash,� Gossett says. �We�ve found chairs, desks, and various items that we�ve rescued, cleaned up, and reused. Until we got so busy, we�d hold auctions with some of the stuff. But since everything�s sorted by hand, we don�t have time anymore.�
The Center added a new roofed addition last May in order to accommodate their single-stream sorting system to more efficiently process recyclable materials.
�We have 13 employees who sort through loads of trash brought in by semis with attached trailers each day. Every month, five brokers bid for the recyclables, which are then sold and sent to mills. About half the total tonnage is reclaimed newspaper. Once each commodity is weighed and sold, individual counties receive 80 percent of the proceeds,� Gossett explains. �It�s a win-win situation. It�s good for our earth and gives back dollars to our counties.�
Your Co-op Meeting at the National Convention
The continued success of rural electrification will depend on the degree to which its proponents stress information and education, the nation�s rural electric cooperatives leaders said at the 20th Annual Meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The business of the convention was carried out despite many inconveniences for the 6,000 delegates, including about 150 Kentuckians. A three-day storm of wind and rain pushed tides at the ocean-side resort city five feet above normal, disrupting transportation, telephone service, and electric power in some hotels. The essentiality of electricity was brought into sharp focus for conventionaires when many of them had to plod their way up 12 or 15 flights of stairs after elevators were stopped by tidal waters pouring into hotel basements.
NRECA General Manager Clyde T. Ellis called for the establishment of a Department of Rural Development within the Department of Agriculture as a means of improving the lot of America�s rural population.
Ellis said that powerful lobbies in Washington seek the demise of the cooperative system and �We�ve had to fight with both fists to even stay alive in this program.�
Michael Johnathon, the folksinger, songwriter, author, playwright, and host of weekly national radio broadcasts, has released the first act of his original opera.
Woody: For the People is a tribute to Woody Guthrie, who wrote This Land Is Your Land. Guthrie, who would have been 100 this year, began writing the song while making his way back home to New York from the Pacific Northwest where he�d been writing songs for a documentary. He was trapped in an ice storm outside of Pittsburgh and nearly froze to death until a Pennsylvania ranger found him. The five arias Johnathon has released are based on historical facts.
�The country was in the middle of similar circumstances as today�an economic meltdown and war�yet the reaction from people was very different then, compared to now. I think the day Guthrie wrote that song is the most important moment in folk music history. Opera is the grandest of all art forms,� Johnathon explains. �It�s so old, it�s brand new,� he says.
�Kids today live such two-dimensional lives and opera is the greatest example of three-dimensional art in history. As fitting with Woody�s own life, this will be the people�s opera. My goal for this opera is unique in that it has audience participation as they�re asked to sing in the chorus with the main characters during performances.�
The five arias on the CD, �complete with a 34-piece orchestra and six of the finest opera voices in the nation,� Johnathon says, �are from Act One of the two-act opera. The three main characters are Guthrie and his two best friends, Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson.�
The CD includes three additional songs, recorded live, which will be part of the final production, due out this fall.
CDs are available at www.WoodyGuthrieOpera.com.
May is National Beef Month, so Kentucky Living and the Kentucky Beef Council are celebrating!
Chef Shawn Ward of Jack Fry�s, a Louisville landmark established in 1933, will demonstrate live the art of preparing tasty lean beef recipes. He has received many awards and his recipes have appeared in Bon Appetit and Southern Living.
You�re invited to taste the dishes and become part of the Kentucky Living podcast at Sullivan University in Louisville, where Secrets of Bluegrass Chefs is filmed.
Thursday, May 17, 6 p.m.
$10, includes tastings and swag bag
Register here.
Seating is limited.
