Yesterday, I was in Louisville, Kentucky, and spent some time in the Hurstbourne Barnes & Noble bookstore, signing copies of Darwin’s Paradox. Get ‘em while they’re hot and newly autographed, folks!

When I first got into Louisville, I wasn’t sure how to pronounce the name. The standard English pronunciation is “looeeville” (referring to King Louis XVI, for whom the city is named), which is often utilized by political leaders and the media. But most native residents pronounce the city’s name “looavul”— often this degrades further to “luvul”. The name is often pronounced far back in the mouth, in the top of the throat.

Located in north-central Kentucky close to the Indiana border, Louisville is Kentucky‘s largest city. It is ranked as either the 17th or 27th largest city in the United States depending on how the population is calculated. Louisville is famous as the home of “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports”: the Kentucky Derby, the widely watched first race of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Although Louisville is situated in a Southern state, it is influenced by both Midwestern and Southern culture, and is commonly referred to as either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city in the United States.

Louisville was the site of many important innovations through history. Notable residents include inventor Thomas Edison, the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, newscaster Diane Sawyer, and writers Hunter S. Thompson and Sue Grafton. Notable events include the first public viewing place of Edison’s light bulb, the first library open to African Americans in the South, and medical advances including the first human hand transplant, the first self-contained artificial heart transplant, and the development site of the first cervical cancer vaccine.

Louisville had one of the largest slave trades in the United States before the Civil War and much of the city’s initial growth is attributed to that trade. During the Civil War Louisville became a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous campaigns. Despite being surrounded by skirmishes and battles, Louisville itself was never attacked. After 1865, returning Confederate veterans took control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after the war was over.

The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track and 10,000 spectators came to watch Aristides win the race.

On March 27, 1890 the city was devastated and downtown nearly destroyed when an F4 tornado tore through the city at 8:30 pm as part of the Mid-Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak of March 1890. An estimated 74 to 120 people were killed. The city quickly recovered and signs of the tornado were nearly totally absent within a year.

In late January and February of 1937, a month of heavy rain in which 19″ fell prompted what became remembered as the “Great Flood of ’37″. The flood submerged about 70% of the city, power was lost, and it forced the evacuation of 175,000 residents, and also led to fundamental changes in where residents bought houses. Today, the city is protected by numerous flood walls.

Louisville is one cool town! You folks rock! Oh, and: “Louisville, keep it weird!” More in a future post (I met some VERY interesting people, especially at my favorite place, Starbucks!). If you missed my previous post on my “great American journey”, part one of a series entitled “America, You’re Beautiful!” go here. Well, next is Columbus, Ohio…

Prior to going in I had entertained foolish notions of sitting behind a stack of books, bored, as strangers milled past without a glance in my direction. Well, the word bored isn’t in my vocabulary and, besides, that isn’t my style (as those of you who know me would certainly testify; though I’ve been also known to have my shy moments…no really! Especially when it comes to THAT….well, you know…I’m too embarrassed to say…) So, when I arrived, energized with a Starbucks cinnamon latte in hand, I donned my sales robes and made a point of greeting my stranger friends. We all had something in common, after all: we all liked books. Determined to sign off all the books Chapters had been kind enough to get for this event, I hailed the merits of my book (“Look at this beautiful cover!) to one and all like a French market vendor…and soon–to my surprise–my off-key singing voice actually brought people flocking forward and I made friends with some wonderful people (who probably don’t sing). There was Mark, for instance, a young Vancouver student who studied evolution; there was Karyn, an avid science fiction fan and another Karin, also an avid reader; there was Jacek, an aspiring writer who is writing a very interesting YA novel, who came with his son; there was Craig Bowlsby, a local TV show producer (who I wangled an interview with…you’ll see my interview of him here live on this blog later!); there was Kuldip, who wanted to talk philosophy during the whole three hours I was there; and Brenda Carr, another wonderful writer who is currently marketing her mythic fantasy novel (look for it soon!); and so many other wonderful people. My sole journey had become a soul journey. And I did manage to reduce that huge pile of books into a small rubble. It would have dwindled to nothing except that my husband and son wanted to celebrate and successfully lured me away with promises of wine and rich food.

Speaking of souls, Mel over at Monday Morning Power (see my last post), who bestowed upon me the badge for a “winning attitude”, would be proud of me. He recently gave me another gift: the gift of friendship (see below). This is how Mel explains it:

“I didn’t start blogging until May of this year. As you may know, the reason I started blogging was to have a vehicle to put out my “Empowerment Process,” which I have been posting in installments. However, what I got was a home for friendships that I feel are as real as the ones in my “real” life. For this I am more thankful than words can express.”

“There is something very special and unique about blogging friendships. In “real” life we all have to first get by the physical and superficial aspects of each other before we can get into who we are, really. In “real” life there is so much bull shit that we have to put up with, that sometimes developing true friends becomes very difficult. I feel that with blogging friendships there are no superficial aspects to it; the barriers do not exist. We open up in our writings as to who we really are. We bare ourselves and say “this is me.” For many of us this is the only way that we can truly express ourselves, our opinions, our strengths and our fears. I have also discovered a level of INTEGRITY amongst bloggers that I have not found in “real” life.”

Thank you, Mel! You are a wonderful friend. I, in turn bestow this gift to all my blogging friends on MyBlogLog and Blogcatalog, my blogging communities. You folks ALL rock! I’d like to specifically mention the following bloggers who have added so much to make this place a home for me:

Jean-Luc (The Federation)…for your loyalty…(and being so SEXY)

Karen (Nameless Grace)…for your impeccable grace (and for always correcting my spelling! But mostly for your love and faith in me)

Tricia (Modern Matriarch)…for your justice and diligence (and clever mind…you make me think)

WalksFarWoman (Kissing the Dogwood)…for your compassion (and wonderful sense of humor…you make me smile)

Bob (Somerset Bob’s Place)…for your honor and integrity (and all those drinks you sent me on Facebook!)

Deborah (Climate of our Future)…for your indomitable spirit (and ALL those MEMEs…geez! You know I love ‘em! …

Adria (In Cing)…for your joy and clarity (and endless enthusiasm)

Erik (AuthorsDen)…for your incredible sincerity (and stubbornness! I love our discussions! You keep me honest and I hope you keep doing so…)

Theresa Lucas (Fantasy and Sci-Fi Lovin’ Blog)…for your impeccable mind (and warped sense of humor!)

Mel (Monday Morning Power)…for your positive attitude (and rather twisted sense of humor!)

Jennifer (Random Synaptic Transfers)…for your kind friendship (and warped sense of humor…wait…there’s a wierd trend happening here…WARP NINE, MR. SPOCK!)

Virginia (Sumptuosity)…for your generosity (and all those beers we slugged back…and will slug back in the future! You slugger, you!)

Lynda (Reality Skimming)…for your sincere and down-to-earth goodness (and your crazy wonderful laugh)

Princess Haiku (Princess Haiku)…for your poetic wisdom (and astute calmness)

Melanie (A Quiet Symphony)…for your beautiful words (and REALLY twisted sense of humor!)

Jon (Chimeric Day Dreams)…for your gentle wisdom and beautiful mind (and beautiful everything.)

Heather (Heather Dugan)…for your kind spirit (and your incredible voice!…Hey, maybe we should do an audio book…oh, we ARE? GREAT!)

Margaret…(who doesn’t even have a blog!) for your incredible and steadfast loyalty and friendship for aeons (God knows how you could stand me that long!)

more to come…there are so many of you!…

And here they are! Bloggers who welcomed me so long ago, when I first began blogging. Bloggers who welcomed me with kind advice as my blog clunked along on its new wobbly legs. Bloggers who provided comments and words of encouragement, challenges and amazing humor on my posts. People like:

I’m so looking forward to meeting more bloggers out there and making friends with you.