Wyoming Trucks, True Love, and the Weather Channel: A Woman's Adventure

by Jeffe Kennedy

These essays explore the challenges Jeffe Kennedy has faced as a woman, a Westerner, a father-less daughter, a stepmother, a biologist, and a girl with hair of no specific color. From the book's opening in a cornfield, where Kennedy is searching for the twenty-five-year-old site of the plane crash that killed her father, she seems to be in constant motion. She is the feminist adolescent, ashamed to win a prize in home economics who learns to take joy in her pastry skills. She is the scientist struggling with mortality, the liberal learning to shoot a gun. "With cheeky wisdom, Jeffe Kennedy explores the extraordinary moments that transform ordinary lives. No revelation--from the meaning of the death of a parent to being a blonde--is too big or small for this Colorado-born biologist to dissect. Her insights tell us a lot about the way lives enhanced by real convictions are formed."--Vicki Lindner, author of Outlaw Games " Kennedy] writes vividly and with great clarity. Her sensitivity and empathy for other people enhances an unusually authentic ability to establish three-dimensional characterization."--Lee Gutkind, editor, Creative Nonfiction

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826333699
• ISBN13: 9780826333698
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wyoming Trucks: Essays from Found Objects

This book came into my life almost accidentally, and I took my time getting it to the top of the stack. But as soon as I finished it, I wrote Jeffe Kennedy to offer my congratulations for a job superbly done. I now plan to purchase at least three more copies: one for my newlywed nephew in Colorado, because the book has such an emotional impact from a uniquely western point of view; one for my sister and brother-in-law, North Carolinians who have fallen in love with the west; one for a sister who just likes to read, and who, like Kennedy, inherited her husband's children. I list these recipients to illustrate that this book is for everyone. Yes, it's a woman's book, but only in that it was written by a woman. There's a wry voice, full of wisdom from life's lessons learned, ripe with humor and the author's ability to laugh at herself, and perhaps most important, laced with valuable information about the ecology of the region. Webster's defines ecology: The totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment. That's exactly what Kennedy gives us in this book...she's the organism and the many settings in her book are the environment. Buy this book. Read it and pass it on as a gift to someone you love; you'll be giving a gift of hours of pleasurable reading.

A Real Woman's Perspective

Jeffe Kennedy has created a special window on the world. She appears to have the sharp mind of a scientist combined with the beautiful soul of a poet, and this allows her to take us by the hand and lead us to some simple truths about life and death and the world around us - truths which we might otherwise miss. Ms. Kennedy's book is an engaging and revealing journey, and I would recommend it highly.

Entertaining and Liberating

I could not put this book down; I literally read it in one sitting. The fresh new voice of Jeffe Kennedy will make readers laugh and cry. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of her family, lover, and tribulations of being a woman in a male-dominated profession. Jeffe is one to watch! This book of essays should only be the first in a line of fantastic books to come. My favorite chapters include "Appliances," "Girfriends," and "Home Ec."

Wyoming, Trucks, True Love and the Weather Channel

I loved this book! What a delightful documentation of the transformation of a child into a mature woman! I particularly related to her story because she straddles two worlds--the sophisticated life in the city with art and culture, and the Wyoming West of men, trucks and being tough. My own family comes from both those worlds and I found Jeffe's book a validation of my own feelings.Note: I submitted another review on this book about three weeks ago, but have not seen it yet, so am submitting this.