Monday, February 15, 2021

"One of the Best Memoirs I have ever read." : FREE - Alien in the Delta - FREE until Friday Febr...

"One of the Best Memoirs I have ever read." : FREE - Alien in the Delta - FREE until Friday Febr...: Alien in the Delta CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Alien in the Delta  by Thankful Strother is a memoir of notable events and observations from...

FREE - Alien in the Delta - FREE until Friday February 19, 2021

Alien in the Delta

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Alien in the Delta by Thankful Strother is a memoir of notable events and observations from the author's life. It is a short, yet entertaining book which gives readers a glimpse into a particular period of American history.


An Air Force veteran recounts his unlikely rise from rural poverty to the upper-middle class.

Born in the Arkansas Delta in 1943, living in the 60's segregated rural South, Strother was the seventh child of poor parents. In his hometown, prejudice and inequality were practice openly. "Even though I loved the people in my community, I disliked intensely almost everything about where I grew up. I always felt out-of-place." As soon as he graduated from high school, he rushed to join the Air Force like his older brother Curtis. Experiencing racism from whites in the South while he was wearing his Air Force uniform--proof that he was willing to fight and die for the United States--brought home the discrimination Strother would face throughout his life. But the Air Force provided him the opportunity to live abroad in West Germany, where, removed from the American dynamics of black and white, he was able to experience something closer to racial equality. Strother did not let the expectations of others hold him back from pursuing the American dream. In his book, which features some family photographs, the author recounts attending night school to become a computer programmer, getting a job with a major corporation, working his way up to salesman and then district manager, and investing in real estate. Strother skillfully summons his memories using simple, direct prose: "When Papa went to the bank to withdraw his money, it was closed and out of business. After that, he started to keep his money in Prince Albert tobacco containers, which he would bury around his house." There's a soothing rhythm to the narration. Strother does a remarkable job of bringing the reader into his world.

Strother's memoir covers family, early childhood, a stint in the US Air Force, an interracial, international marriage, the adventures of an apartment building owner and corporate sales manager.

While Strother led an accomplished life, the achievements were not flashy ones. Readers will likely end up feeling that his life worked out nicely.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

**FREE TODAY** SATURDAY 11/21/2020

The Adult: Alien in the Delta

Growing up on Welfare

I will never forget the word “Commodities.” My father would go to the county’s food-distribution site to pick up our family’s share of government food when I was in elementary school; we called it commodities. Today it is called food stamps. You couldn’t hide your poverty back then; it was out there for everyone to see. You had to stand in line to claim your portions of food. Sometimes, the line was so long that it would curve around the corner of the block. It was a reminder that you couldn’t even feed your loved ones without the help of the government. It was embarrassing and humiliating for most people to stand in that line. The only consolation was that almost every family in town was standing there. Even though most families received some assistance, the children would make jokes and tease each other about eating commodity cheese. Once each month, my father went to pick up various items: sugar, powdered milk, flour, butter, canned meat, and yes, commodity cheese. Almost every family in Arkansas received some assistance from the government in the 1950's.

My parents also received Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) money for my care. To receive aid, you had to live below the poverty line. During the time that I was on welfare, a social worker would visit our house every six months. The worker would spend time questioning my parents about how they had used the money on me. The social worker would speak to me alone, away from my parents. She had a long list of questions that she asked me. The issues were mostly about the ADC money spent on food, clothing, and shelter. I always resented being put in a position to report on my parents. The ADC checks stopped when I turned sixteen years old.