Democrat-Gazette online

Sometimes I think the best thing I can offer readers is a peek into the life of a small-town girl. That is how I think of myself, and in so many ways it is who I am. Who I always have been. Growing up in Ozark was not my choice--no childhood is the child's choice--but I loved it. I always wanted to get back here after college. It is like that Adele song, "River Lea." The mountains are in my roots. The river is in my veins. But the main thing is that I am stuck like super-glue to my family. I prefer Ozark to any other place, but I bet I could be happy other places too, as long as they were there with me.

In some respects, it is not new to feel different from the norm here. Artists, musicians, writers, i.e. creatives aren't usually normal. We are the canaries in the coal mines, the ones standing outside the culture a little (or a lot) observing it, reflecting on it, trying to capture and in some cases change it.

As a child and adolescent, I was counter-culture in that I was so devout in my evangelical Christian faith. I witnessed to people on the playground. Listened to Christian music. Led Bible studies. Never drank or did drugs and advocated abstinence. Back then I was trying to change the culture to be more focused on Jesus in the ways I knew how.

And even though a few people thought I was weird and made fun of my efforts, mostly I was revered. My peers treated me like I was special. They admired me even though I was different. In fact, much of their approval was because I was different. They thought I was close to God.

So even though I felt like a bit of an outsider, it wasn't bad.........

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