This magazine offers interviews, short stories and articles with a general focus on childhood in Appalachia. Two interviews include: "Creative Response to Life-Pauline Cheek," by Jane Harris Woodside, and "Insights and Experience: A Talk with Eliot Wigginton," by Pauline Binkley Cheek. Short stories include: "Thief in the…

Baptists' propensity for splitting apart arises from the faith's avowed love of theological argument. Gives an overview of Baptist denominations, and identifies the main issues that divide them: atonement, predestination, the nature and origins of good and evil, worship practices, church governance, gender issues, and other social and cultural…

Former West Virginia athletes reminisce about participating in sports and growing up in rural Appalachia and how these experiences influenced their future. These athletes were taught the values of strict fairness and consistent discipline, which were crucial to team success and prepared them for life after sports. (LP)

Assesses the distinguished coaching career of Cam Henderson, who won over 611 games in 36 seasons of college basketball and coached over 151 college football wins at West Virginia colleges, mainly at Marshall University (Huntington). His influence has been so pervasive that Marshall University's basketball arena is named in his honor. (LP)

Novelist Mary Lee Settle reminiscences about growing up in an Appalachian coal mining town and how she uses her life experiences as a back drop for developing stories and characters for her novels. She discusses family history, coal mine violence, and the proud heritage and culture of Appalachians. (LP)

Discusses the importance of high school basketball in rural West Virginia and what it felt like to win and to lose. Reflects on how playing team sports builds character, and suggests that, although life goes on regardless of game outcomes, it is still difficult to think of high school basketball as just a game. (LP)

Recounts the history of the first subsistence community founded under the National Industrial Recovery Act during the Great Depression. Arthurdale, West Virginia, provided unemployed workers with rural homes on small plots where they could grow food and supply other needs through part-time industrial employment. A progressive community school…

Bernie Bickerstaff discusses how growing up as an African-American athlete in rural Kentucky prepared him to become the general manager of the Denver Nuggets. Triumphing over the area's racial segregation, poverty, and mining perils gave him a sense of strength that enabled him to overcome barriers in advancing his career. (LP)

This issue of "Now and Then" focuses on black Appalachians, their culture, and their history. It contains local histories, articles, and poems and short stories by Appalachian blacks. Articles include: "A Mountain Artist's Landscape," a profile of artist Rita Bradley by Pat Arnow; "A Part and Apart," a profile of…