America has always harbored an underbelly of grievance. One might argue that grievance is at the heart of our founding. The Declaration of Independence, after all, is nothing if not a list of grievances. Luckily for America, it wasn’t just that. The founders cloaked their grievance in the elevated language of the Enlightenment, staking outContinue reading “Win or Lose, Trump is History”
Author Archives: Culley Holderfield
Culley Holderfield learned to love stories on the front porch of a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. After completing his studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, he found his way to South America and later to Africa and Europe. When not writing or working in community development finance, he spends his time tromping through woods and paddling rivers. His work explores the emotional terrain of loss and place. His novel, Hemlock Hollow (Regal House, 2022), won the Eric Hoffer prize for historical fiction and a New Horizon award for debut fiction.
Reckoning with the Wreckage
“Not in another hundred years, could a disaster happen to the Bat Cave region, no matter how heavy the rains.” —W.S. Fallis, chief engineer of the state highway commission, 1916 In the Bat Cave area, locals have long referenced the Great Flood with trepidation. In 1916, it devastated the region, triggered landslides, destroyed nearly everyContinue reading “Reckoning with the Wreckage”
What I’m reading: Five Books in Which Nature is a Teacher
I recently had the opportunity to write about five of my favorite books for Shepherd.com centered around a theme. I chose the theme of books in which nature is a teacher, though I suppose there are other themes that might equally tie these five books together. Strong female voices. The presence of non-human voices inContinue reading “What I’m reading: Five Books in Which Nature is a Teacher”
George Washington Logan, Unimpeachable Scalawag
It was 1862, and North Carolina was a state divided within a country divided. War raged on distant battlefields. Extreme times required extreme measures. A group of citizens devoted to union and peace or, some simply to maintaining a status quo that war threatened to upend, banded together to form a secret organization to opposeContinue reading “George Washington Logan, Unimpeachable Scalawag”
Looking forward in the Land of Fire and Ice
Iceland has long loomed large on my bucket list, inspired by glimpses of its otherworldly landscape from a two-hour layover twenty years ago. Now, I’ve finally done it, spent a week in Iceland, and “otherworldly” doesn’t do it justice. It is, in fact, quite of this world, as purely elemental a place as any I’veContinue reading “Looking forward in the Land of Fire and Ice”
Institutionalizing the Insurrection
It is 1868 in North Carolina. Imbued with the right to vote bestowed by the 14th amendment and enthusiasm exploding from the rush of new freedom, African-Americans participate in the state constitutional convention, run for and hold public office, and turn out in droves to vote. Many white citizens refuse to accept the outcome ofContinue reading “Institutionalizing the Insurrection”
Halloween Fright
It seems appropriate to be returning to the United States on Halloween Day, after having spent two weeks in Italy. Being abroad let me see truly how frightening the United States is right now. Give me ghouls and goblins. Give me ghosts and zombies. These scare me far less than the specter of disinformation thatContinue reading “Halloween Fright”
Insurrectionist Inclinations
One of the lessons of 2020 is how quickly things can change on a fundamental level. Remember life as it was just one year ago? It seems like a different era entirely. In the face of a global pandemic, our way of being shifted, and nothing seems the same. Another lesson of the last yearContinue reading “Insurrectionist Inclinations”
A Few Red Drops
“Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then—I forget.” Carl Sandburg In July 1919, in the midst of a global pandemic and severe economic disruption, an African-American boy named Eugene Williams crossed an imaginary line between whites and blacks while swimming in Lake Michigan. A group ofContinue reading “A Few Red Drops”
People and Profits
The word “unprecedented” is tossed about a lot these days. Very little in the world is actually unprecedented, including global pandemics. We’ve had them before in 1957, 1968, & 2009. The one we hear the most about is the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide. This novel coronavirus is similarContinue reading “People and Profits”