Leaving Kentucky in the Broad Daylight

Growing up in rural Kentucky in the 1960s-1970s may sound like a walk through Mayberry to some and in many ways, it was. The atmosphere was specific to the time and to the changes in process as a nation emerged from the restrictive 1950s in heated pursuit of the American Dream, which was still alive and well, even among the poverty dwellers. Old men still played checkers in front of the mom and pop store, which sold cold Cokes in a bottle from a red chest cooler with a bottle opener built into the side. As civil rights tension increased in he rest of the world, Katrina and her classmates cooed and ooohed over the integration of a Filipino child and an African-American child into their community. While America recoiled from the near miss of the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of a beloved president, Katrina's mother would sneak and watch American Bandstand while her husband was at work and Katrina spent her time with a ghostly child. The Chapman family may have been poor in the purse, but they were rich in stories. You will laugh and cry in the same moment as Katrina share her memories of growing up with a eccentric (her aunt calls it "oddly turned") family including a father who was a walking country music encyclopedia to a mother who could make any occurrence into a tall tale. "Leaving Kentucky in the Broad Daylight" details Katrina's life growing up in Pleasant Ridge, Kentucky and presents her memoirs until the point that she left home in 1978. You will follow her through ups and downs of life, including frequent attacks by a mynah bird, raising her brothers while her father worked and her mother was chronically ill, and an unexpected teenage pregnancy. Including over 80 personal photographs, you will grow up with Katrina as you page through the ups and downs of her life as a reluctant Southern belle. This book will be followed by the sequel called I Aim to Misbehave, due out in Fall of 2014, covering Katrina's life after leaving home until present day.