self-reliance – The Compromise: An American Novel

Testimony of Work and Interaction

HistoryKayDecember 1, 2021

This cold morning, I am grateful to the midwife who worked in Rigby, Idaho in the winter of 1916. My father, A. Ray Tolman was born into a Mormon enclave in a house with no electricity. My grandmother told stories of how the warm water beside her birthing bed steamed and then froze in the sub-zero temperature. Their stories were framed by children, seasons, and weather conditions. I do the same as I write The Compromise: An American Novel.

Privilege and Self-Reliance

ChallengesKayJune 27, 2020

In my little world, The Compromise looms large and requires greater responsibility. Through the month of June 2020, I revised “Moral Freedom.” It describes a protest in front of the courthouse, Columbia, Missouri, 1845. The potential for collaboration interests me more than violence, so I listened to various sources and found my path.