News

Hindman, KY—Noted author and Kentucky native, Barbara Kingsolver, will be the keynote speaker at Hindman Settlement School’s 36th Annual Appalachian Writers’ Workshop (July 28-Aug 2, 2013), continuing an extraordinary literary tradition that began more than a century ago.

Kingsolver is the author of 14 books and was named one the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest. In 2000 she received the National Humanities Medal for service through the arts. She has received multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, among many others. The Poisonwood Bible was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Orange Prize, and won the national book award of South Africa. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle won numerous prizes including the James Beard award. The Lacuna won the Orange Prize for fiction.

Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, the nation's largest prize for an unpublished first novel. In 2011, Kingsolver was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. Her newest novel, Flight Behavior, was released in November of 2012. She will speak and sign books on Thursday night.

For the past 35 years, many people have made the trek to Hindman to take part in a larger creative community connected by Appalachian culture and history. The Settlement School hosts annual weeklong workshops for writers and those interested in folk arts and culture. This year’s Appalachian Writers’ Workshop includes sessions on Appalachian literature, nonfiction, poetry, short story, memoir, novel and special sessions on songwriting and writing for film and new media. The sessions will be taught by a talented group of published writers who mentor workshop participants, both in groups and individually. See the complete list of staff. The registration and manuscript deadline is May 3, 2013.

The Settlement School will also host its 36th Annual Appalachian Family Folk Week from June 9-15, 2013. This year will feature a number of talented musicians, dancers, storytellers and craftspeople. Among the featured staff this year, Raymond W. McLain will perform with Canadian harmonica whiz, Mike Stevens, five-time "Entertainer Of The Year" for Central Canada and an innovator of bluegrass harmonica. Stevens and McLain play a new and unique combination of musical styles reflecting their background in bluegrass, blues and old time country music. All evening performances and dances are open to the public.

Staff listings for both events are available online and registration materials will be available online soon.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Nonprofit Network 2012 award recipients are Blue Grass Community Foundation of Lexington; Mike Mullins, long-time executive director of Hindman Settlement School; and Steve Jennings, board member with God’s Pantry Food  Bank. KNN will present the awards during the 10th annual Kentucky Nonprofit Leadership Forum luncheon Oct. 25 at the Lexington Convention Center.

Blue Grass Community Foundation was selected as the winner of the 2012 Fifth Third Bank and Dean Dorton Allen Ford Innovative Nonprofit Award. The foundation’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in their region through philanthropy and civic engagement. The organization received the award for their GoodGiving Guide Challenge, a community-wide, online giving challenge whose design is the first of its kind in Central Kentucky. The challenge, aside from doubling the initial goal and raising more than $200,000 for 58 Lexington nonprofits, also raised awareness of the nonprofit sector and the importance of philanthropy, particularly among adults ages 18 to 35.

The Kentucky Nonprofit Network created the Innovative Nonprofit Award to recognize a Kentucky nonprofit organization that implements inventive, nontraditional programs or methods that effectively meet community needs. The award winner was required to demonstrate creativity and vision in finding unique solutions to their community’s issues.

Mike Mullins is the posthumous recipient of the 2012 Energy Insurance Agency and Travelers Insurance Distinguished Nonprofit Leadership Award. Before his death in February, Mullins spent 34 years as the executive director of the Hindman Settlement School. Under his leadership, the school grew from a modest arts and music program to a significant provider of education, cultural heritage and community services in Eastern Kentucky.

Mullins received numerous awards for his personal and professional accomplishments, most recently his induction into the Knott County Hall of Fame in 2010. He was a founding board member of the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation and Leadership East Kentucky and served on the Kentucky Nonprofit Network Advisory Council. Mullins also helped organize and launch the Hindman/Knott County Community Development Initiative, which brought more than $20 million in community projects to the county. He was chosen for the 2012 Energy Insurance and Travelers Insurance Distinguished Nonprofit Leadership Award for his high level of engagement in building community and the revitalization of the Hindman Settlement School to meet the changing needs of the region, as well as for his commitment to the nonprofit sector.

The Energy Insurance Agency and Travelers Insurance Distinguished Nonprofit Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership among Kentucky nonprofit chief executives. The award recognizes achievement in the areas of strategic leadership, community building, ethical integrity, innovation and commitment to strengthening the nonprofit sector.

Steve Jennings, board president  of God’s Pantry Food Bank, was selected as the recipient of the 2012 PNC Bank and Mountjoy Chilton Medley Outstanding Board Leadership Award. Jennings, a certified public accountant for Crowe  Horwath, served as God’s Pantry Food Bank board president from 2010-2012. Under his leadership, God’s Pantry launched a successful capital campaign, raising $3.6 million and building a 46,000-square-foot warehouse in Winchester to increase capacity.

This inaugural award highlights the work of a strategic-thinking board leader who works cooperatively with other board members and the executive director to further the mission of the organization and is actively committed to best practices and succession planning.

The Kentucky Nonprofit Network is the commonwealth’s association of nonprofit organizations and is an outreach program of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. It serves and advances Kentucky’s nonprofit sector through educational opportunities, consulting services, and resources for organizations and their leaders.

Additional information is available at http://www.kynonprofitforum.org or by calling 859-257-2542.

Hindman, KY | The board of directors of Hindman Settlement School has announced the selection of Brent D. Hutchinson as the school’s new executive director. He succeeds the late Mike Mullins, who served in that capacity for 34 years. Hutchinson will formally begin his duties in mid-October.

“We are honored that Brent was drawn to serve and to continue to build on the legacy that is Hindman Settlement School. We believe he has the vision, passion, integrity and skill to lead us forward as we start a new chapter for our school,” says Glenn D. Leveridge, chair of Hindman Settlement School’s board of directors.

For the past seven years, Hutchinson has served as Lead Pastor for Ministry Leadership at Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Prior to that, he served as an events coordinator for LifeWay Christian Resources, which included curriculum development and training as well as designing and coordinating programs. Hutchinson’s professional life has been devoted to helping people develop to their full potential through educational, institutional and community settings. He has worked primarily in the nonprofit sector and has strong administrative skills, as well as experience leading and developing staffs, executing strategic vision, and building networks.

Hutchinson grew up in Lawrence County, where his family has lived for generations. His wife of 17 years, Gwen, has family deeply rooted in southern Floyd County. They have two boys, Adam (9) and Miles (4). Hutchinson has an MS in Family Studies from the University of Kentucky and a BA in Social Science from Morehead State University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Leadership Studies at Dallas Baptist University, with an emphasis on servant, public and cultural leadership. As a volunteer, he has worked with the Living Hope Community Center in Cape Town South Africa to lead aid teams in working with families suffering from poverty, lack of education, unemployment and HIV.

“I am excited and inspired by the vital role that Hindman Settlement School plays in bringing together people and organizations to address educational needs and to honor the rich cultural heritage of Eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian region. There has never been a more important time to exercise our collective creativity to ensure that Eastern Kentuckians have the opportunity to determine their own destiny,” says Hutchinson.

Hindman Settlement School recently celebrated its 110th year. Its mission is to provide education and service opportunities for people of the mountains, while keeping them mindful of their heritage. The Settlement School offers education and service programs that address critical needs of the region’s youth and adults, promote cultural awareness and build upon Appalachia’s rich cultural heritage. For more information, visit www.HindmanSettlement.org.

We apologize but these workshops have been cancelled due to lack of participation.

Malcolm J. Wilson, Bristol, Tennessee digital artist/photographer and Harlan County Kentucky native, will lead a series of digital photography workshops October 10 − October 13 at Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, Kentucky. The workshops, each one-day in length, will focus on High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, photo book making and preparation of photos files for storage and archival display. Drawing inspiration from the historic Settlement School campus and the heritage of the city of Hindman, students will have the opportunity to capture the splendor of Appalachia in the fall, using the Settlement School and Hindman as backdrops.

For nearly 20 years, Wilson has worked with digital photography. Before moving to Bristol, Tennessee several years ago, he worked as a commercial photographer in Cincinnati for 19 years. He currently uses his digital photography skills in advertising and marketing work and for his personal fine arts projects. His photography has been exhibited in the Appalachian region and nationally and his work is included in permanent collections at University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Southeast Community College Appalachian Archives, and The Kennedy Center Gallery and Archives in Washington, DC.

“With the explosive growth and automation of digital cameras in the last few years, so many people now have access to the convenience and ease of digital photography,” says Wilson. “Students are always looking for effective ways to display their work on walls, in books and online. There is also an ever-increasing interest in HDR photography. We will address all these during the workshops, giving participants the skills needed to shoot HDR, produce a bookstore quality photo book that they can sell online and hang a professional gallery exhibit.”

Workshop student’s fieldwork will include visits to local Hindman businesses, parks, scenic vistas and the settlement school campus. The workshops will begin on Wednesday, October 10 with a meet and greet reception.

During the first workshop, Thursday, October 11, students will immerse themselves in HDR photography. HDR is digitally akin to the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams to create tremendous detail in a photograph. HDR can be applied to both color and black and white digital work producing extremely detailed photographs. Fieldwork will be a requirement during this session and participants are urged to bring cameras and tripods. In most cases, low-end, point-and-shoot cameras will not work for HDR processing.

Friday, October 12, students will learn how to design, produce and sell photo books using tools like iPhoto, Aperture, Adobe Lightroom and self-contained book making programs from book publishing companies like Blurb and My Publisher. Participants will learn how easy it can be to produce everything from a single coffee table book to selling multiple copies online. Students taking this workshop are encouraged to bring a laptop computer and a library of images from which they will create their very own books.

Saturday, October 13, students will learn the fundamentals of printing high quality exhibit photographs, storing photos in albums and creating matted exhibits of their work. This workshop will generate an exhibit at the school with a public reception for the artists on Saturday evening.

Students should have a basic understanding of digital photography and have familiarity with the basic controls of their equipment. Students should also have basic computer skills including the understanding of copy/paste. Workshops stress the importance of creativity, not technology.

The cost of each daily workshop is $100 and the full program is only $250. Students from outside Hindman can stay on campus in dormitory style housing. The cost is $35/night single occupancy and $25/night double occupancy. Housing will be available for Wednesday night October 10 through Saturday night, October 13. The workshop fees include breakfast. All other meals will be the responsibility of the participants. Attendees should bring their own digital camera, tripods, laptops and other photo equipment. A non-refundable deposit of $100 will be applied to the cost of the workshop at the time of registration.

Hindman Settlement School is located in Hindman, Kentucky. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America. The Settlement School’s mission is “to provide education and service opportunities for people of the mountains, while keeping them mindful of their heritage.” The Settlement’s major work today includes education and service programs that address critical needs of the region’s youth and adults, promote cultural awareness and build upon Appalachia’s rich cultural heritage.

Class size is limited for each workshop. For more information or to register for classes, call 606.785.5475 or send an email to Holly Baldridge. Registration forms and a detailed schedule are available at www.hindmansettlement.org/photoworkshop.

by Jennifer Even Melton

To understand how Hindman Settlement School's dyslexia program was an answer to our prayers, journey with me back to the year 2000 for a typical afternoon of reviewing spelling words with our son, Robert Melton.

“The first word is ‘duck’,” I said as I uneasily glanced at the weekly list of 20 second grade spelling words.

“k... u… c… d?” Robert said hesitatingly.

“D…D… Duck,” I said, scarcely hiding my exasperation. “Pay attention, Robert!”

“I’m trying Mom,” he growled. “Duck… K... U… Oh I don’t know!” He slammed his open hands on the table.

“Robert,” I sighed, with my last ounce of patience, “Just listen… D…Uh…CK…”

He jammed the point of his pencil into the table, splintering the entire pencil. “I just can’t do it!” he screamed.

“Fine.” I barely managed to choke out the word as I got up and left the dining room table, my eyes filling with hot tears.

This scene is indelibly etched in my brain. Why this day, I don’t know. It was much like every other afternoon when Robert was in second grade and we devoted hour after hour to trying to master the week’s spelling words. Perhaps I remember this day because it was the day I wrote the note to his teacher explaining that I was no longer going to help Robert with his spelling words because the ordeal was tearing our family apart! I wasn’t being overly dramatic. Day after day, the results—or lack thereof—from this fruitless process literally put our whole family on edge!

Robert was very bright. Everyone seemed to recognize that. So was he just not trying? Was he just trying to make me mad? After hours of testing and evaluation, the school system’s report to me was brief and unhelpful: “Robert has a very high IQ. The highest we’ve seen in this kind of testing. We think he is just anxious.” Well, he wasn’t the only one who was anxious!

Fast forward three years. We had moved from Massachusetts to southeastern Kentucky to be closer to my husband’s family. Robert was now in fifth grade. I was sitting across a desk from a woman at Hindman Settlement School. She had a folder of test results in front of her as she explained to me that the evaluations clearly showed that Robert had dyslexic tendencies—something I’d long suspected, but could not get anyone to confirm. Feelings of relief and tentative optimism filled the room as the woman explained the summer program and after-school tutoring options available through the Hindman program.

Robert eagerly dove into the process or relearning all the letters of the alphabet, how to write them, and the sounds that each letter made—not an easy pill to swallow for an intelligent fifth grader. But after spending six weeks of his summer in Hindman with a group of like-minded kids and warm-hearted tutors, Robert had a new understanding of how and why he learned differently.

So did I. The informational sessions for parents had given my husband and me new insight into how Robert saw the world; and with that new insight came new patience and understanding. One morning at Hindman Settlement School, a speaker stood before a group of parents, holding up a pair of scissors with the points toward the ceiling. “What would you teach your child to call these?” he asked. “Scissors,” the parents murmured. He turned the points of the scissors toward the floor and asked, “Are they still scissors now?” “Yes,” we responded, wondering why he’d ask such a question. “And now?” he said, holding the point of the scissors out to the side. “Are they still scissors?” We all nodded. Then he held up a lower case “b”… which of course became a “d” when turned around and a “p” when inverted. “So,” he concluded, “we teach our children that scissors are scissors, regardless of how we hold them. But the same is not true for the letter ‘b’? How do we explain that to our children?” He had us there.

I think the biggest “ah-ha moment” occurred when another speaker told our group of parents: “Your children are like an Apple computer and teachers are trying to put an IBM PC disk into them. There’s nothing wrong with the computer and nothing wrong with the disk. They are just not compatible. Your kids need a different kind if disk—a different approach to learning.”

This theme pervades the atmosphere at Hindman Settlement School. Everyone Robert encountered in his three summers at the school and in his years of after-school tutoring in our home county helped to instill in him the belief that being dyslexic—learning “differently”—was far from a bad thing. He came to see that dyslexia means he has to do some things differently and work harder at certain tasks. However, he also came to believe that dyslexia was not something to be ashamed of or hide. He never shied away from telling people he was dyslexic. In fact, he often wears his dyslexia like a badge of honor!

Robert at Falling Water, the famous house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in Pennsylvania.

Today, in 2011, Robert is nearing the end of his senior year in high school. He’s taking five AP (advanced placement, college-level) classes. He will graduate near the top of his class at North Laurel High School and has been awarded a substantial, merit-based scholarship to attend Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan in the Fall. He’s enrolled in a challenging five-year Architectural Engineering Program in which he will earn both a bachelors degree and masters degree upon graduation. Just this week we learned that he earned additional scholarship money in an out-of-state scholarship competition to which the university invited only a dozen of the top out-of-state freshman applicants.

When I told Robert I was writing this article, he told me, “Most of my teachers don’t even believe me when I tell them I have an IEP (an individualized education plan) for dyslexia. And one of my teachers was so amazed when she found out that I was dyslexic that she told me I should become a motivational speaker!”

Robert still misreads words and reverses letters. But today he laughs about it. “I’m dyslexic, Mom,” he says with pride, “I’m allowed to read it that way!” And thanks to Hindman Settlement School, he’s been taught the skills and instilled with the self-esteem to thrive with his dyslexia.
 

Hindman, KY--Susan Barton, the founder of Bright Solutions for Dyslexia and one of America's leading dyslexia experts, will conduct a professional development seminar in Hindman on Monday, May 23 from 6-9 pm at the Hindman United Methodist Church. The event, sponsored by Hindman Settlement School, is free and open to the public.

Barton has developed the Barton Reading & Spelling System, a 10-level system of teaching reading using the Orton-Gillingham methodology. The Barton Reading & Spelling System teaches people from all walks of life how to tutor people with dyslexia. Hindman Settlement School uses the Barton Reading & Spelling System with some of the students in its Summer School and in the Reading Lab Partnership with Knott County Schools.

“Learners with dyslexia struggle with language and it’s related to how the brain is wired,” said Ola Pigman, Director of the Settlement School’s Dyslexia Program. “Our goal is to help parents and teachers identify and work with students who have dyslexia at an early age so they become more successful in their learning experience,” she said.

Susan Barton is trained in seven different Orton-Gillingham-based programs and teaches several graduate-level courses through the University of San Diego.

Register for the free program. For more information, contact the Settlement School at 606.785.4044.

At the recent Kentucky Society DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) state conference in Lexington, State Regent Jessieanne Wells presented a check for $8,300 for the Settlement School’s Reading Lab Partnership with Knott County Schools. An additional $1,000 gift from a generous donor was given to the Settlement School’s executive director, Mike Mullins at the conference, bringing the total for the State Regent’s Project to $9,300 so far.

“We truly appreciate the commitment Kentucky Daughters have made to Hindman Settlement School during the past several years,” Mullins stated. “More children are able to read and excel at learning as a result of your good work.”

During the luncheon on Friday, Knott County student Gracie Thompson and Folk Arts Education program director Randy Wilson performed a couple of songs. Here is Gracie singing "Coal Miner's Daughter."

The DAR Connection
Settlement School cofounder, May Stone was affiliated with the school until her death in 1946. She was among the first generation of women to be active in the DAR. According to a ledger kept by Stone, Hindman Settlement School was receiving gifts from DAR chapters as early as 1904. In 1921 the National Society DAR officially approved the school to receive ongoing support. Daughters have been partners in supporting the school ever since.

This year’s Family Folk Week is dedicated to the memory of photographer and filmmaker George Pickow, who passed away December 10, 2010 at the age of 88. George and his wife, folk singer Jean Ritchie, have been an important part of Family Folk Week since its inception.

Originally trained as a painter, George photographed artists and musicians including folk singers like Josh White, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and, of course, Jean Ritchie, as well as jazz and pop artists like Little Richard, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong and Lena Horne. His photos graced the covers of many albums.

Some of his most striking photographs, in stark black and white, depict an array of artisans and ordinary people around the world plying their trades. You can see a gallery of some of George's photos of Hindman Settlement in the 1950s that Jon Pickow posted recently. George and Jean spent more than a year in Britain and Ireland in 1952-53 collecting original folk songs and documenting folk culture.

George produced films about the Newport folk festival and the American folk revival. His “Oss Oss Wee Oss,” which documented a Cornish folk custom, remains an important ethnographic record. Excerpts were shown recently on a BBC television documentary Still Folk Dancing After All These Years. George also started a small-scale dulcimer making business that supplied the burgeoning folk market and ran Greenhays Recordings.

Jean and their sons, Jon and Peter, survive George.

Available from The University Press of Kentucky--April 2011 152 pages • 5.5 x 8.5 $21.95 cloth 978-0-8131-3372-0 Fiction

Chinaberry
James Still
Edited and with an Introduction
by Silas House

Afterword by Carol Boggess

Celebrated as the “Dean of Appalachian Literature,” James Still has earned the appreciation of audiences in Appalachia and beyond for more than 70 years. The author of the classics River of Earth (1940) and The Wolfpen Poems (1986), Still is known for his careful prose construction and for the poetry of his meticulous, rhythmic style. Upon his death, however, one manuscript remained unpublished. Still’s friends, family and fellow writer Silas House now deliver this story to readers, having assembled and refined the manuscript for publication.

Chinaberry, named for the ranch that serves as the centerpiece of the story, is Still’s last and perhaps greatest contribution to American literature. Chinaberry follows a young boy as he travels to Texas from Alabama in search of work on a cotton farm. Upon arriving, he discovers the ranch of Anson and Lurie Winters, a young couple whose lives are defined by hard work, family and tragedy. Still’s entrancing narrative centers on the boy’s experience at the ranch, highlighting the importance of home, whether it is defined by people or a place.

In this celebration of the art of storytelling, Still captures a time and place that are gone forever and introduces the reader to an unforgettable cast of characters, illustrating the impact that one person can have on another. A combination of memoir and imagination, truth and fiction, Chinaberry is a work of art that leaves the reader in awe of Still’s mastery of language and thankful for the lifetime of wisdom that manifests itself in his work.

James Still (1906–2001) was the author of several works of fiction and poetry, including River of Earth, The Wolfpen Poems and From the Mountain, From the Valley.

Silas House is the bestselling author of Clay’s Quilt, The Coal Tattoo, Parchment of Leaves and Eli the Good. House is National Endowment for the Humanities Chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.

“Chinaberry is the capstone of James Still’s extraordinary career. It is brilliant—dark and hilarious by turns, beautiful and chilling, perhaps the most original coming of age story ever written, with a mystery lodged right in the heart of it.” —Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace
 

Hindman Settlement School mourns the passing of former board member and advisory board member, Charlene Farrell, who passed away October 11, 2010 at age 79. Charlene and her husband, Dudley H. Farrell, have been generous supporters of the Settlement School’s dyslexia program. They have not only provided financial support but they’ve opened up their home on many occasions to Settlement School students by hosting field trips to the Cincinnati area. Charlene was a passionate volunteer and she will be greatly missed.

Board member Emeritus, Loyal Jones recently received the Folk Heritage Award as part of the 2010 Kentucky Governor’s Award in the Arts. The Commonwealth’s most prestigious arts awards honor Kentucky individuals, businesses and organizations that make significant contributions to arts in the state. The Folk Heritage award is presented to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding effort to perpetuate and promote Kentucky’s unique artistic traditions.

Debra K. Reynolds and Jack B. Combs stepped down from the board of directors in November. Reynolds is President of Forcht Group of Kentucky and cited time constraints associated with her position. She has served on the board for three years. Combs, who lives in Santa Fe, NM served on the board for 26 years and has been an avid supporter of the Settlement School’s Literacy Through Photography program during summer school. Mike Mullins expressed appreciation for their services.

New Board Members
Multidisciplinary artist Frank X Walker, a native of Danville, KY and Dr. Sherry W. Powers of Bowling Green, KY were elected to the board of directors in November.

Frank X Walker is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and has an MFA in writing from Spalding University. He is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and is a well-respected writer, poet, speaker and teacher. His works have appeared in numerous publications and have been adapted for the stage. Walker has served as founder/Executive Director of the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium, the Program Coordinator of the University of Kentucky's King Cultural Center and the Assistant Director of Purdue University’s Black Cultural Center. The University of Kentucky awarded Walker an honorary Doctorate of Humanities in 2001 for his collective community work and artistic achievements. Transylvania University awarded Walker an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 2002.

Walker regularly teaches in writing programs like Fishtrap in Oregon and SplitRock at the University of Minnesota. He currently serves as Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Kentucky; and is the proud editor and publisher of PLUCK! the new Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture.

Dr. Sherry W. Powers is Director of the School of Teacher Education and Associate Dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at Western Kentucky University. She has an Ed.D. from the University of Kentucky in Instruction and Administration Reading Specialization with special emphasis in sociolinguistics and multicultural education. She has an M.A. from the University of Kentucky in Elementary Education with a Reading Specialization and a B.A. from Asbury College in Social Work and Elementary Education.

Powers was a teacher at Hindman Montessori School at Hindman Settlement School from 1983-1987. Her dissertation topic was “The examination of teacher discourse with four Eastern Kentucky fourth-graders during writing conferences.”