PAT CHANEY
Bio
I am a child of the Sixties; 50% Hippie and 50% Militant with a Bohemian flair. My career as a Healthcare Claims Configuration Consultant allowed me to travel all over the U.S.....saw many places and things that inspire my writing.
Stories (24)
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Reflections: Leaving Little Rock [Part One]
In the Fall of ’98 I did a Consulting Project in Little Rock Arkansas home of the Famous ‘Little Rock Nine’ who Integrated Central High School in 1957. These Nine Human Beings have always been heroes of mine, I have often wondered if I myself would have been as Brave in their shoes.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Humans
Reflections: Salt Lake City Situation
In the early nineties I decided to take an Audit Assignment for a large Insurance Company in Salt Lake City mainly because I’d never been there and I wanted to stay on the Left Coast. One of the perks of working for a National Healthcare Consulting Company was you could pretty much pick and choose where you wanted to go.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Wander
Reflections: Spirits & Things in Colorado Springs
The winter of 98, I was on a project in Colorado Springs with a very diverse group of colleagues, some I was meeting for the first time. It was my first time in this city and I found it refreshing with beautiful mountains and, of course, it was snowing when I arrived.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Horror
Reflections: Bucket of Blood OKC
The summer of 1996 I accepted a travel assignment in Oklahoma City; it was a year after the Oklahoma Bombing. My sweet Mama grew up in Oklahoma and I wanted to see where she had grown up because we’d never got an opportunity to visit. I promised her I would do a road trip to McAlester and Wewoka her hometown.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Wander
The Singing Black Cowboy Blues
"Away out there in Kansas So many miles Away The Colored Folks are Flocking ‘Cause they’re getting better Pay" I was exposed to all genres of music growing up in the diverse San Joaquin Valley of Central California. My parents on both sides listened to Country Western Music. My uncle, Ford Chaney, was the first Black Singing Cowboy I knew, and he could Yodel with the best of them. As a kid I thought the Yodeling was hella funny, but as an adult I realized how talented and unique it was. To this day, I think of County Western Music as Blues with a twang; they are both a vehicle for storytelling.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Beat
The Black Cowboys: Melanin Metamorphosis
Early American Western Cowboys descended from a blend of Spaniards, Criollos, and Native Americans. The Wild West was wide open and people from all over were pouring in while the getting was good to stake new homes and fortunes. This was the initial mixing of the so called Melting Pot; Go West Young Man!
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in The Swamp
Herb Jeffries: Hollywood's Original Black Singing Cowboy
Herb Jeffries was born in 1913 of a Black Father of Sicilian Descent and an Irish mother, in a 1920 Census Document he was described as ‘Mulatto.’ He grew up as a ‘Ghetto Baby’ in a diverse neighborhood in Detroit and was not exposed to severe Racism early on. He began singing as a teenager and later dropped out of school after The Wall Street Crash of 1929 to hopefully earn a living as a Singer.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Geeks
Woody Strode on to American Movie Screens in 1941
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode was one of the first Black TV Cowboys who grabbed my attention as a kid, firstly because he resembled my Uncle Ford, who was the only Black Cowboy I knew and secondly because he was one of the few on TV and in movies in the Sixties.
By PAT CHANEY6 years ago in Geeks
