Monthly Archives: November 2019

Race: By the Colors

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I’m posting in one of my favorite categories today, Graphically Said, and with it, and a very brief excerpt from dad’s book, “Bluebell”, showing just how difficult caring for another can be.

Willis Jefferson, a young black man featured in “Bluebell” and several – recent – posts – on – this blog, had been taught to love his fellow human.  At a time when he least expects it, he hears a woman being beaten, and as he’s in the white section of a southern town, knows the race of the victim.  Black men didn’t rush to help Caucasian women in this part of the country during the late 1930’s yet these words from his ‘second’ mom, Rowena Kramer, beat like a hammer in his mind.

Like a First Responder, willing to put their life on the line for another but having to consciously  make that commitment each and every time they respond…

“Willis had no idea of how long he stood rooted in indecision, nor was he ever certain as to who or what ended his hesitation.  With a dread fear of what lay ahead, Willis hurdled the fence, and fixed his gaze on the door of the rear, screened-in porch.”

Next Steps

 

 

Fuel For the Mind

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The McIntyre Family – Early 1950’s
Bill, the writer; Me, Read My Dad’s Stuff Blogger Scott; Susan Elizabeth, my Sister; and Barbara, the Mom!

Dad was living in Covina, a small suburb of Los Angeles during the mid-fifties, and driving trucks to support a wife and two adorable children, when an ‘on-the-job’ experience brought “Bluebell” to life.  And that’s what today’s ‘Bits of Bill‘ post is all about.

What do truckers talk about when they hook up while working?  Dad might have expected to hear one particular driver tell about his route, problems with the truck, or possibly, vacation plans.  But, as he recounted in “The Life and Times of Bluebell”, a look at how the novel became a reality, “The story was given birth…when a fellow driver told of seeing a black man burned at the stake.”

The event had taken place years earlier and today, Dad doesn’t recollect if he was given the details of when and where it happened, but my research backs up that our country was still experiencing similar practices as late as 1950.

Describing those early days of “Bluebell”, dad says, “As with most of my writing, I had no plot in mind, no idea where I might go with such a tale but, no matter, I started writing… in longhand.  At some point, I suppose after writer’s cramp set in, I started using an aging Underwood upright.  That old mill (Navy term) was responsible for the original manuscript, and two re-writes.”

More rewrites, spurred on by the advent of word processors and computers, resulted in today’s tale, a two part novel exceeding 158,000 words featuring “two antagonists: Racial injustice, and anarchy.”

Learn More about “Bluebell”