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Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley

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Living in the Woods in a Tree is an intimate glimpse into the turbulent life of Texas music legend Blaze Foley (1949--1989), seen through the eyes of Sybil Rosen, the woman for whom he wrote his most widely known song, “If I Could Only Fly." It captures the exuberance of their fleeting idyll in a tree house in the Georgia woods during the countercultural 1970s. Rosen offers a firsthand witnessing of Foley’s transformation from a reticent hippie musician to the enigmatic singer/songwriter who would live and die outside society's rules. While Foley's own performances are only recently being released, his songs have been covered by Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine. When he first encountered “If I Could Only Fly," Merle Haggard called it “the best country song I've heard in fifteen years." In a work that is part-memoir, part-biography, Rosen struggles to finally come to terms with Foley's myth and her role in its creation. Her tracing of his impact on her life navigates a lovers' roadmap along the permeable boundary between life and death. A must-read for all Blaze Foley and Texas music fans, as well as romantics of all ages, Living in the Woods in a …
Date: October 15, 2008
Creator: Rosen, Sybil
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Angela Bynum, November 16, 2007

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Interview with Angela Bynum, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Bynum's personal experiences of childhood and education in California and Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Army, basic and advanced training as a motor transport operator, training in avoidance of improvised explosive devices, and transport missions between Iraq and Kuwait. Bynum also discusses her inability to withstand Airborne training, the decision to leave active duty in 2002, her use of the GI Bill benefits to attend Tarrant Community College, the 2004 call-up from reserve duty and deployment to Iraq, her family's concerns regarding deployment, and aspects of daily life for American soldiers stationed in Iraq.
Date: November 16, 2007
Creator: Castillo, Vogel & Bynum, Angela
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Seth Bailey, December 12, 2007

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Interview with Seth Bailey, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Bailey's personal experiences of childhood and education in Athens, Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Army, basic training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, including experiences in Ranger Indoctrination Program and injuries sustained in "jump school," as well as his combat experiences in Karbala, Ramadi, and Al Asad. Bailey also talks about his family's tradition of military service, his assignment to a unit in Darmstadt, Germany, his deployment to Iraq and performance of long-range surveillance missions, continuing struggles with injury from basic training, with the Army health care system, and with substance abuse. Additionally, Bailey discusses his treatment at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, being discharged from the Army, returning to Arlington, Texas, and gives his opinions regarding the benefits of military service and regarding women in the military.
Date: December 12, 2007
Creator: Russell, Amy & Bailey, Seth
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William J. Bates, February 7, 2001

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Interview with Navy veteran William J. Bates including personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, youth and education, the Navy Aviation Cadet Program, flight training, leaving naval aviation and attending Midshipman's School, being assigned to APc-21, operations off the coast of New Guinea with the VII Amphibious Force, providing escort duty for LCTs during assaults along the coast of New Guinea, the sinking of APc-21 by Japanese planes off New Britain Island, recuperating in New Guinea, returning to the States and being assigned to ATR-22, transferring to fleet tug ARA-182 as commanding officer, having convoy duty in the South Pacific, riding out a typhoon, disposing of Navy equipment after the war, and returning to the States.
Date: February 7, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bates, William J.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John L. Bates, Jr., September 21, 2003

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Interview with attorney and Army veteran John L. Bates Jr. The Interview includes Bates' personal experiences in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, Officer Candidate School, being selected for the Counter Intelligence Corps, British Intelligence School, assignment to Kweiyang, China, the end of the war and his transfer to the War Crimes Section as an Assistant Theater Judge Advocate, his assignment to Hankow to investigate the executions of three of Jimmy Doolittle's pilots and to Formosa to investigate war crimes, dealing with Japanese military personnel accused of committing atrocities against Allied POWs on Formosa, and his postwar career in the Army Reserve.
Date: September 21, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bates, John L., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Pamela Bradbury, April 28, 1990

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Interview with Pamela Bradbury, a dietician from Cedartown, Georgia. Bradbury was working at the Schofield Barracks hospital on Oahu during the attack on Pearl Harbor; she recounts her education, a hospital internship requiring a year of service for the Army, assignment to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, conditions and work at the hospital there, the morning of December 7th, care for the wounded, the evening and following day, restrictions on food, the impact on local Japanese, rumors of sabotage and invasion, and her later work in the war.
Date: April 28, 1990
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Bradbury, Pamela
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Arthur Hofstein, October 30, 2007

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Interview with Arthur Hofstein, a Army WWII veteran from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hofstein discusses the lead up to war, being drafted, training to be a radio operator, departure for the European Theater, landing in France and first action at Mars-la-Tour, the Battle of the Bulge, German prisoners and civilians, advancing into Germany, the liberation of Dachau, letters, and life after the war. In appendix are various materials and photographs related to Hofstein and his service.
Date: October 30, 2007
Creator: Decoster, Charlotte & Hofstein, Arthur I.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Reverend Michael Piazza, March 22, 2007

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Transcript of an interview with Reverend Michael Piazza, pastor of the Dallas Cathedral of Hope. Reverend Piazza discusses conversion from Catholicism to the Methodist Church, decision to enter ministry, the process of coming out, volunteer work, and development of outreach and social justice ministries, and decision to leave and affiliate with United Church of Christ denomination.
Date: March 22, 2007
Creator: Mims, Michael & Piazza, Michael, 1954-
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Estelle Adams, July 5, 2014

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Interview with Estelle Adams discussing her life growing up in Wheelock, Texas as well as her grandparents who left Georgia and other extended family members. She also talks about her experiences teaching in various Texas towns, including a segregated school in Bryan, Texas and being transferred to a school in Dallas, Texas during integration.
Date: July 5, 2014
Creator: Smith, Tiffany & Adams, Estelle Mitchell
System: The Portal to Texas History