In Left-Right-Left: A Memoir, Teri Darnell tells deeply personal stories of how her family survived despite social and cultural differences coupled with a father who was mentally ill and violent.
The Darnell story begins with her ancestor’s life on the family farm with a woman chasing grandfather who was murdered on a river boat, to her parents finding aspiration after the Korean War. Teri’s parents migrated to Cleveland from rural Appalachia to chase the American dream of prosperity. The stories unfold as Teri’s dad struggles with PTSD, alcoholism, poverty, trauma, and domestic violence. One job leads to another as they move from the city to the country, back to Appalachia, then into the city again. Ultimately, Teri struggled through her fear of failure to be the first in her family to go to college at night in the Air Force to achieve a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Business Administration while attending night school and working sixty hours a week at a fortune 50 company. She recently retired to pursue her passion in photography.
A deeply personal memoir, Left-Right-Left is the story of how grit and grind can lead to upward mobility. Urban Appalachians are usually not rich and famous. They are the men and women who worked in the factories or hauled fuel across America to keep the economy alive. Many longed for going home to Appalachia as their children and grandchildren grew up in the city, towns, or the suburbs. The Urban Appalachians helped shape the life and culture of American cities in the last half of this century.