Dust and iron with Woody and Ken

Not those everyday under-the-bed dust bunnies this time; I'm talking about The Dust Bowl. I'd been hearing stories from my relatives about The Dust Bowl for years before I heard of the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gotham Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and all those other corporate advertising name bowls.

Not sure how it happened, but I'm listening to Woody Guthrie's only novel, House of Earth, in the car. Actor Johnny Depp and historian Douglas Brinkley edited the previously unpublished novel for the centennial of Guthrie's birth. Will Patton narrates the very earthy novel. The manuscript had been in the special collections of the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa.

While I press my spring clothes after their long and crumpled languish in the ironing basket, I'm watching Ken Burns' Dust Bowl.  Someday I'll get back to my family archive project, including photos of my mother growing up in the Dirty Thirties.

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder