The Literary Corner: Renegade Writer’s Guild

Published 10:58 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

More Icebreakers
By Felicia Browell
My first Renegades piece was the Six Word Memoir – and I’m going to do something similar here. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, too.
I’ve been out of corporate life for almost four years now, and I don’t miss most parts of that. But I do miss having coworkers and friends to socialize with regularly. Living here in Mocksville, I belong to a wonderful church and to a couple of local clubs. When I finish my classes at DDCC next May, I’ll probably join one or two more. But I honestly don’t get out much. Farming is a lot of work, add in two part-time jobs and school – I don’t have a lot of spare time. Still, getting to know new people is fascinating to me, so in this piece I’m going to share a couple more of my favorite icebreakers.
The first one is the pretty standard – introduce yourself, tell us your job title, and tell us if you could be or do anything next year, what would that be?” Many people did the expected, “I’m Joe, I’m an instructor, and I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for the world.” Uh, okay. But I remember one coworker – who became a very good friend – responding “I’m Angela, I’m a new tech writer, and I want to be a bad a$$ rock star someday.” The whole room cracked up. As I got to know her, I learned that she was working her way out of debilitating depression, and recovering her life after divorce and crushing financial issues. She did it, too, by focusing on the positives in her life, by believing in herself, and finding people who could support her. My answer was less colorful – “I’m Felicia, I’m a tech writer, and I’d love to be hiking the Appalachian Trail with my family next year.” (Still haven’t hiked that trail!)
So, who are you, what do you do with your days, and if you could be or do anything by this time next year, what would that be?
Here’s another one that can be both fun and revealing: if you could spend a day with anyone from any time in history, who would it be and why that person? I asked my mom this too – she said Thomas Jefferson, because he was a thought leader, he could do so many things well, he was problem solver, and truly cared for this country. For me, when we did this at one of the all-hands day-long meetings at that last job, I said Warren Buffet, because I wanted to glean just a little of his wisdom to apply to my own finances! Today, I’d say I’d want to go back a little over two thousand years to spend a day with Jesus and experience that wonder and peace and hope in His presence. What a difference a decade made in my way of thinking, huh?
Who would you choose to spend your day with, and why?
The last one for today … I’ve mentioned before that I’m a writer, which also means I read. I used to read a lot. Like – a lot of books. These days, with the farm work and side jobs, I tend to “read” audio books. If you don’t have Libby, I highly recommend that you download it. It’s free, and all it takes is a library card and a way to log in (I use my phone). In the past three years, I’ve listened to more than a hundred books. This icebreaker is about books. What is the last book you read (or listened to)? I just finished a non-fiction book called To Heaven and Back, by Mary C. Neal, M.D. A true eye-opener and mind-stretcher. I recommend it highly.
What is the last book you finished? Or, which magazine do you read cover to cover? I’m sure you read this paper front to back!
And parents – if your kids read comic books or graphic novels – celebrate! They are READING (graphic novels and comic books are simply well-illustrated books).

John Wilcoxon, Part II
By Linda H. Barnette
According to historian Thomas Tudor, John and Sarah moved to Kentucky sometime between 1778-1782, presumably because they had children there. They are both listed in Tudor’s book about the early settlers of Boonesborough. While I thought that John had gone with Daniel Boone in some of his early explorations of Kentucky, he is not mentioned in Jethro Rumple’s book where he lists the names of the group funded by Richard Henderson of Rowan to go to Kentucky.
John must have come back to Rowan around 1794 because from then until 1798 there are several land records indicating that he sold his properties to various people, including his son William. Most of the land was close to Bear Creek, which would now be in Davie since it was formed from Rowan in 1836.
John died in Rowan in 1798 and is supposedly buried in Joppa, although there was no early marker for him as was the case with many people in those times. After his death, Sarah moved to Kentucky to live with her grandson, Jesse Boone Wilcoxon where she died in 1814. Most sources agree that she was likely buried in Boonesborough.
However, the most interesting thing about this study is that the original log cabin where John and Sarah lived, which was built between 1752 and 1756 on the south end of Bear Creek, has survived until the present time. Over the years it has been incorporated into newer sections of a much larger and newer home. The original part of the house was a 17×33 foot room with floor planks 3 inches thick and over 1 foot wide with a narrow staircase to the attic. That room was used for cooking and eating, and all 11 of the children slept in the attic room. That room was probably built to protect the settlers from Indian attacks. There were no windows in the room, and the steps were reached by way of a step stool with a door that could be pulled up.
According to deeds listed, John and Sarah eventually sold the house in 1787 after their children were grown, to one Andrew Welty, who sold it the next year to John Rowland. Then Rowland sold it to Edward Parker in 1793. Parker remodeled the house and added 2 rooms, kept the house until 1868 when a John Clement of Mocksvlle owned the land but sold it to a Dr. Taylor in 1869. Taylor heirs owned the property for many years until they sold it to a Tennison Lowery. Lowery eventually sold it to the Grier Cotton Gin Company in Statesville in 1948.
Armand Daniel of Mocksville bought the property in 1955 and added to it but kept the original part. The additions he made matched the time in which the house was built. Although he has passed on, the house remains an early example of our history and is still owned by his family as far as I know.
It’s a really great thing to preserve history.

Solid Rock
By E. Bishop
Decoration Day originated in the years following the Civil War, mainly in the South and the Appalachian regions. It is a time to honor the deceased, sometimes putting flowers on graves and holding memorial services or a sermon followed by “dinner on the grounds.” This is a time for families and neighbors to come together and celebrate their shared heritage. Family and community bonds can be strengthened as well as reconnecting with relatives. This was a common practice when I was growing up. Although I don’t remember much about cleaning the graveyard myself, some of my siblings do and we all definitely remember the “dinner on the grounds” at the Cherry Hill Church located close to where we grew up. So, to honor that tradition, my husband and I, along with my sister, Mary and one of her children attended this year’s homecoming on Sunday, July 27, 2025.
A walk in the well-maintained graveyard shows a lot of history with names Miller, Knight, Spry, Swicegood, Wagner, Aaron and many others on grave markers dating back to the early 1870s. There are many life stories, lost to time, here.
A large stone marker stands at the entrance with the inscription:
Show me the manner in which a
Nation or Community Cares for
its dead, and I will measure
with mathematical exactness the
Tender Mercies of its People.
Their respect for the Laws of
The Land and their Loyalty to
High Ideals. William Gladstone
In a classic 1988 sermon preached by Billy Graham in Rochester, NY, he stated that “one of the greatest needs in our world today is hope.” I don’t believe that has changed. Hope is strongly tied to faith and I believe these together enable us to endure hardships which are bound to come our way.
For the 2025 gathering, Beth Miller Berry (President of Cherry Hill Foundation) introduced the speaker, Terry West; his message was on “A Hope Like No Other.” He touched on the difficulties surrounding our current times but that we have to be patient, be faithful in prayer, have hope and we’ll have a great future ahead of us. Once you choose hope, anything is possible.
I cannot sing, but I certainly enjoy listening to the old time hymns as well as new contemporary ones. Quite a few songs have the lyrics of Hope Like No Other; one in particular titled “You Are My Strength” by Reuban Morgan, is uplifting. Give it a listen. For this homecoming, the songs “The Solid Rock” and “Burdens are Lifted at Calvary” were sung. Very fitting for the sermon preached. “My hope is built on nothing less…On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.”
This little church was built with a solid rock foundation (cornerstone laid in 1874) of respect, loyalty, sense of community and hope. The descendants of its original members continue to honor the traditions once a year as they come together for worship and dinner on the grounds. There is hope (like no other) that the young ones in attendance will carry this forward.