O Shenandoah! Distilled Spirits

Gerald Price -- a teacher, coach and artisan -- works and lives in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the state's oldest town and one that beckons the traveller with its historic charm. His ancestors were amongst the first to settle in this region, not only as Cherokee but as Europeans in the 1700s, and belonged briefly to the eastern area of Tennessee that petitioned to be the 14th state of the Union as Franklin, named after founding father Benjamin Franklin. They fought in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 before joining the Union, as did East Tennessee initially in seeking again and unsuccessfully to become officially a separate government and peoples, during the War Between The States. Contact him via email at ebgbzz@gmail.com.

Graphic above: Photograph of official document recognizing Gerald Price as a Franklinite descendent; Click for Tipton-Haynes Historic Site

"Watchtower" by Gerald Price

Should I ever, speaking through
this body, this pen,
say I have lived, loved and lavished
in this life?
Call me a liar, say the truth is not in me,
for naked came my heart
from my mother's womb, and cold
it has grown with each exposure.
I die with each sunset and am born
on the morrow.
Hid within my shell, strong within
my fort,
I face the present.
Peering from my ramparts,
I seldom venture
to open those iron gates
and let loose my heart
to ramble.
I am old, the future hides
and I mourn the past.
A dirge plays in my heart.
I search from my watchtower,
lonely,
condemned to mortality.

Where the heck am I? -- Whisk me away

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email countryrag@yahoo.com.