The Fox at Dawn

I’ve been a soup bean connoisseur my whole life, and I know a Luck’s bean when I taste one.

-Mandi Fugate Sheffel from The Nature of Pain

Mandi Fugate Sheffel’s nickname has become “The Appalachian Treasure” and all I can say is that it isn’t bragging if it’s true. For someone who hates the spotlight, she’s had to spend a lot of the last few years squirming in it from all the do-gooding she’s been up to- flood recovery, opening a gorgeous independent bookstore in Hazard, working with the Foundation of Appalachian Kentucky and the Appalachian Arts Alliance. That spotlight only got brighter this fall when her stunning memoir The Nature of Pain was published. I’d gotten to hear and read parts of it as it was developing, but I wasn’t prepared for how powerful it would be as a whole book. I am in awe of the courage it must have taken to write this memoir of personal and regional addiction at the height of the opioid crisis in Eastern Kentucky, ground zero for the aggressive marketing of Oxycontin.  Good lord, your blood will boil reading what Purdue Pharma did to a region already victim to various extractive industries.  Mandi began writing pieces of her book at Hindman Settlement School as a way to manage the grief of losing her beloved cousin whose life was destroyed by addiction. We all have addiction stories- our own or those of people we love.  This book is a gut punch, but it is also full of hope and the possibility of redemption. I hope you will read it. 

Mandi got the news that her book was accepted for publication by University of Kentucky Press the morning of July 27^th 2022 when we were at the Appalachian Writers Workshop at Hindman.  I remember how very happy she was, how very happy and celebratory we all were. What a glorious day and evening that was! But that night all the rain that ever was came pouring out of the mountains and all the creeks and rivers in multiple counties rose over 20 feet in just a couples of hours killing 45 people and destroying countless homes, schools, libraries, churches and businesses. This link will take you to a short piece Mandi wrote that manages to hold worlds of stories about it: https://hindman.org/fireside/titles/troublesome-rising/troublesome-rising-digital-anthology/reflections-mandi-fugate-sheffel/

If you want to buy her book, and I think you should, you really ought to buy it from her own bookstore. It’ll benefit independent bookstores everywhere:https://www.readspottednewt.com/

Brrr! is a sparkly blue Diamine Ink that’s perfect for this snow day home from school.

My Advent Tree this year is dedicated to my writer friends and teachers. I am so grateful for all the light you shine in the darkness.