One thing that I really liked about the Wordpress blog was its "categories". I miss having categories to put different blog posts into, you know?
Anyway, I just read a press release about another former VISTA Volunteer turned writer, who's doing some great things, and I wanted to pass this along to you.
His name is John C. Redfern and he's an ecconomist an author who did three years in VISTA. Right now he's touring the "main streets" of the USA for his book. Here's an excerpt of the press release I read:
7 Palmyras existed at one time in Illinois including his present hometown in Macoupin County and the extinct Palmyra in Wabash County. In September, John is the guest speaker about his Palmyras USA tour at the historical society in Bedford KY.
Also, he will appear in the "Old Pioneer Days" parade this year that focuses upon Palmyra Iowa in Warren. Redfern has traveled throughout the country touring mainstreet communities from Maine to California. The historic grand tour has included 20 of the Palmyras with a future southern Palmyras tour planned. He is gathering the additional final research info for “PALMYRAS USA.”
The author describes the book as a microcosm of mainstreet America. The chapters include the toured Palmyras and the toured mainstreet communities giving a narrative history and future. The conclusion details the truths about modern development and the reform recommendations. John's web sites detail his French-American autobiography, his popular small-press publications, the mainstream media news grand tour stories, and the mainstreet U.S.A. slideshow.
Redfern has traveled throughout the country touring mainstreet communities from Maine to California. The historic grand tour has included 20 of the Palmyras with a future southern Palmyras tour planned. He is gathering the additional final research info for “PALMYRAS USA" The author describes the book as a microcosm of mainstreet America."
If you'd like to check out his Website, you can find it here:
http://mainstreetusa.bravehost
And to get in touch with John yourself, to congratulate him or ask him questions, you can reach him at this email addres (to save him from spam, make sure that you put in the appropriate symbols):
JCRedfernataoldotcom
Sounds like a great idea for a book - I may be showing my age, but one of the "cool" things to do when I was a teenager was to "drag" Main street...those of us with cars and driver's licenses would pick up our friends, and we'd drive back and forth along main street - honking and waving at all the people who were walking or sitting on cars. (This of course was in the days before computers and play stations and dvd movie rentals. I spent most of time outside from early morning until it was right up against my curfew.)
And thinking about Main Streets brings back other childhood memories, too. When I was a kid and visited my grandparents for the summer, we always went shopping on Fridays, when gramps got off work - first we'd go to the "5 and Dime" (an early version of Walmart) - a store that had an amazing variety of just about everything, then we'd go to the drug store ( they even had a counter where we could sit and enjoy a "cherry coke" while we sat and waited for the pharmacist to fill gram's heart medicine prescription. After that, we went to the grocery store and then a quick stop at the drive in, for a special treat of fish and chips...
John, thanks for the trip down memory lane that just reading the title of your book gave me...
