Here's something you might be interested in.
come and sit by my side if u love me
do not hasten to bid me adieu
but remember the Red River Valley
and the cowboy who loved you so true
they left Oklahoma with all the rest of the great unwashed...in the 30's...at the height of the great depression...they would soon gain three names to call their own
dustbowlers white trash and Okies...my grandmother had never picked a bole of cotton in her life..she was well married to a man 10 years her senior who owned a construction company
he'd built her a beautiful home...when he married her at 12 in Durant Oklahoma
she bore 12 children for him...3 sets of twins...one set stillborn due to the Spanish Flu epidemic...one set that were so small she slept them in a shoebox near the wood stove and covered them with olive oil everyday...they lived 6 months
when the dust came they could live no longer wee small things
the dust didn't stay outside..it found it's way into every crevasse nook and cranny...and smother them as surely as may have happened if she'd put a hand over their faces
when her husband left to travel 100 miles to get a new contract...he was wished well by the whole family waving on the platform as the train pulled away...he never returned
it was a long time before my grandmother accepted he'd deserted his large family because he couldn't support them anymore
and it wasn't long before that family was living in a tent on other peoples farms and my grandmother was wearing white cotton gloves to try and save her hands from the stickers on the cotton she picked...and the wild blackberries she fed her children day after day
and on foot they moved constantly West...thru Oklahoma...then Texas...then New Mexico
some were lost along the way...i had a 12 year old Aunt Nellie who was so hungry she ate some cheese that was out at a general store they'd gone into...to die quickly because it was laced with cyanide
in New Mexico my mother at 13 was married quickly to a 70 year old man to save her from being taken by the state
my grandmother who was 35 married a 20 year old man who drove the whole family to California...then turned around and went home
my mother had a 3rd grade education..and sent me letters that started 'Deariest Nan"...with every other word misspelled
i didn't know all the hardships they had suffered..had no compassion for their plight...i was out of the home and in an orphanage by the time i was 10
and in my 20's i was fortunate enough to see John Steinbeck's "Grape of Wrath" on TV late one nite when i was working
i was in shock after it was over...and cried off and on for the rest of the nite
it took me 2 days to regain any composure..and then i went and saw my mother and grandmother who were living together at the time
and i apologised profusely for my arrogance and hard heartedness about the kind of people i had perceived them to be...they forgave me ...because that's what family do...but i was ashamed for a long time after that
and understood their clannishness..suspicion of officials...and fear of authorities in general...every direction they looked for help had failed them...they may have had trust at one time...but it was during that time just plain scared out of them
come and sit by my side if u love me
do not hasten to bid me adieu
but remember the Red River Valley
and the cowboy who loved you so true
they left Oklahoma with all the rest of the great unwashed...in the 30's...at the height of the great depression...they would soon gain three names to call their own
dustbowlers white trash and Okies...my grandmother had never picked a bole of cotton in her life..she was well married to a man 10 years her senior who owned a construction company
he'd built her a beautiful home...when he married her at 12 in Durant Oklahoma
she bore 12 children for him...3 sets of twins...one set stillborn due to the Spanish Flu epidemic...one set that were so small she slept them in a shoebox near the wood stove and covered them with olive oil everyday...they lived 6 months
when the dust came they could live no longer wee small things
the dust didn't stay outside..it found it's way into every crevasse nook and cranny...and smother them as surely as may have happened if she'd put a hand over their faces
when her husband left to travel 100 miles to get a new contract...he was wished well by the whole family waving on the platform as the train pulled away...he never returned
it was a long time before my grandmother accepted he'd deserted his large family because he couldn't support them anymore
and it wasn't long before that family was living in a tent on other peoples farms and my grandmother was wearing white cotton gloves to try and save her hands from the stickers on the cotton she picked...and the wild blackberries she fed her children day after day
and on foot they moved constantly West...thru Oklahoma...then Texas...then New Mexico
some were lost along the way...i had a 12 year old Aunt Nellie who was so hungry she ate some cheese that was out at a general store they'd gone into...to die quickly because it was laced with cyanide
in New Mexico my mother at 13 was married quickly to a 70 year old man to save her from being taken by the state
my grandmother who was 35 married a 20 year old man who drove the whole family to California...then turned around and went home
my mother had a 3rd grade education..and sent me letters that started 'Deariest Nan"...with every other word misspelled
i didn't know all the hardships they had suffered..had no compassion for their plight...i was out of the home and in an orphanage by the time i was 10
and in my 20's i was fortunate enough to see John Steinbeck's "Grape of Wrath" on TV late one nite when i was working
i was in shock after it was over...and cried off and on for the rest of the nite
it took me 2 days to regain any composure..and then i went and saw my mother and grandmother who were living together at the time
and i apologised profusely for my arrogance and hard heartedness about the kind of people i had perceived them to be...they forgave me ...because that's what family do...but i was ashamed for a long time after that
and understood their clannishness..suspicion of officials...and fear of authorities in general...every direction they looked for help had failed them...they may have had trust at one time...but it was during that time just plain scared out of them