Recommended reading

Paul and I frequently have date night at Page One, our local and locally-owned bookstore, even if neither one of us is in need of reading material--we just wander around for a while, maybe buying something, maybe not. It's just a nice way for us to spend an evening.

While we were there in late May, I saw the book The Worst Hard Time on the bestsellers shelf and was intrigued by the title. Upon opening it up, one of the first things I read was Dalhart which was the closest big town near my hometown (big being a relative term--6000 or so people but it was way more than the 400 in Texline). The book chronicles the Dust Bowl era, focusing on the towns of Dalhart, TX, Clayton, NM, and Boise City, OK. It explains the causes of the dust storms that were a result of both a horrific drought and extreme farming. Millions of acres of range were plowed in the 20's and when the rains stopped coming in the early 30's, much of that land was left barren which in turn fueled the dusters that blew through the Plains.

I'm not normally one to recommend books--strange given my position as a librarian but I know that just because I enjoy a book doesn't mean others will and I'm always a little worried that someone will think I'm idiot for liking a certain book, etc. Even when the students ask, I just give a synopsis of the book and let them decide.

But I'm honestly having a very hard time not gushing about this book to every single person I know. I'm sure much of that has to do with the fact that it's talking about where I grew up and some of the names (Coon, Herzstein) are name I recognize from Dalhart and Clayton. Aside from that, it's just absolutely amazing to me the conditions that lead to the "Dirty Thirties" and just how tough (obstinate?) these people were to survive a decade basically unable to do anything with their farms. I think I knew on some level how difficult it was--my grandparents were farmers in Texas and Oklahoma and had talked about it. We'd cover the topic in American history in high school and I'm sure I'd heard people talk about it when I was growing up. But it wasn't until I was actually reading this book that is talking about the area where I grew up that it has really sunk in as to how bad things honestly were. Paul has taken to rolling his eyes whenever I pick it up to read because he knows he's about to get a history lesson that he really doesn't want.

I took the book with me in June when I went to Amarillo and was staying with my maternal grandparents. I hadn't started reading the book at the time but I wanted to show it to them and get their take on the Depression and the Dust Bowl. I'd heard snippets from them as I was growing up but it's always so nice to hear a little bit more. So much of what they said was mirrored in stories told in the book--I'm sure the stories are similar for all the families in the area. My Gran grew up in (help me out here, Mom) Follett, TX--one of the little towns on the map at the front of the book. Her father was the custodian of the school there. I love hearing how Gran would be "sick" during the day so she could go to the custodian closet and visit with her daddy, who died when Gran was 11. Gran said she remembered hearing stories about people basically going crazy because of the wind and the dirt (at which time, both of my grandparents said, "Oh, the wind! The WIND!") One of the ladies in her little hometown grew so tired of it all that she killed her children and herself because the wind and the dirt never stopped. They'd wear wet rags over their mouths and noses to try to keep out the dirt, sometimes to little avail. My Granddad grew up in Cottle County, TX near Paducah in the southeastern part of the Panhandle. His family was farmers--he remembered how black the sky got when one of the storms would roll through. (Both: "Couldn't see your hand in front of your face! Chickens went to roost it was so dark.") He remembers one of the neighbors, Mrs. ----------------, pulling him and his brother Ray into her storm cellar as they were walking home from school. A duster was rolling in and they'd most likely wouldn't have made it home if she hadn't grabbed them.

I've always thought that photographs of farmers taken during the Great Depression look like my family photo album. Granddad starting laughing so hard when I said this that he had tears in his eyes. But it's true and he agreed with me.

My grandparents and great-grandparents definitely had very little during that era. Just as with all of those farmers on the Plains, I'm amazed at their ability to survive in some very dire conditions. My paternal grandmother has said about the Depression that it was hard to know you're poorer when you've never had anything to begin with. Her family lived in southeastern Oklahoma--where many of the "Okies" heading to California were from. Her family chose to stay put--they didn't have the means or the inclination to leave. Paul's maternal grandparents, Owen and Reva, postponed getting married because the Great Depression started as they were graduating high school. Both of them needed to work to save up some money and Reva couldn't do so if they were married. Paul's paternal grandfather was already teaching at the time and took a 50% pay cut (but was happy to have any type of salary since many didn't even have that).

Gran and Granddad gave me their copy of The Grapes of Wrath to read because they were amazed/appalled when I said I'd never read it. I've read lots of other Steinbeck and I think I've seen the movie. They wouldn't buy it and handed me the book with firm directions to read it (and give it back when I'm finished). I'm sure my education on the Great Depression and Dust Bowl will continue when I return the book which is definitely fine by me. I'm thrilled to be able to talk with these survivors and even prouder to be their granddaughter.