Calling Me Home

by Julie Kibler

THE HEART IS a demanding tenant; it frequently makes a strong argument against common sense.

Ohio had no statute against intermarriage. It had been legal for whites and Negroes to marry there since 1887. In fact, it had only been illegal for a few years at the beginning of the Civil War. Kentucky’s law against intermarriage, on the other hand, had been in effect since the state was constituted.

being a hairstylist was kind of like being an unlicensed therapist.

I have always thought this was probably the. case.

People could even go to fair exhibits and see the babies behind glass in the incubators. The admittance fees paid for their medical care.

I learned about this in the good book The Light of Luna Park by Armstrong.

thinking of the past and how they might have changed it.

These little sundown towns had been established everywhere—north or south of the Mason-Dixon Line, east or west of the Great Divide.

Some men are just plain bad news. Then there are good men. They’ll do. Then there are good men you love. If you find one of the last kind, you’d better hang on to him with everything you have.”

makes you more of a man to cry.

I also know you’re still a child in ways. You’re going to do some more dumb things before you’re all grown.