The Soviet Union and Lincoln County USA

The author, an eighth generation West Virginian, visited the Soviet Union on his way home from the Peace Corps. Back home in West Virginia he moved to Lincoln County and parlayed a chemical engineering degree into a teaching position. For twenty-two years he taught high school physical science, chemistry and physics in a rural Lincoln County school. In those twenty-two years he experienced frightening similarities between the Soviet Union and corrupt Lincoln County politics. During that time, six public officials were sentenced to prison for vote fraud. And those are just the ones that were caught. To discredit opponents of mountain top removal strip mining, an out of state coal operator claimed that Lincoln County had been infiltrated by communists. Those were the days before terrorists had replaced communists as the worst of enemies. There was the brutality of the state police and one memorable bloody, mid-night walk down Main Street. "A sudden bright flash to my right. Red bricks reeled up. People screamed. Light came between moving legs. I was strangely calm for thinking they were going to stomp me to death." Despite attempts by politicians to fire him, the author had a wonderful time living and teaching in Lincoln County. Experiences in the Peace Corps and Lincoln County taught him that there are genes for intelligence, art, and athleticism regardless of socio-economic or racial differences. His classes involved hands-on activities, live demonstrations, discussions, debates and no boring lectures. He witnessed his students discover the first amendment and actually heard a chorus of "Oh no!" when the bell rang to end a class. A student wrote that, "Thanks to you I'm the cynical, liberal, nut job that I am today." Imagonna: Peace Corps Memories, also by Julian Martin, can be purchased on Amazon.com.