**In Spite of!...but because Of!**

<p>West Shawmut Ala. 1954 a kinder gentler more peaceful time in life and society. (Gas was 22 cents a gallon). This is a community memoir chronicling detailing reflecting upon some of those memorable events experiences adventures of youthful yesterdays. <br />West Shawmut Ala. A nondescript smalltown quaint folksy community nestled in southeastern Sweet Home Alabama not even a dot on the Ala. Map but yet a village haven of genuine love hope dreams and aspirations for its perhaps 1000 inhabitants. <br />“It’s not too far from the West Point Ga. Kia automotive plant. A hoot hollar and a skip from Valley Ala.” <br />Submerged in the heart of backwoods Chambers County right across the Georgia/Alabama boundary line and the Chattahoochee River resides the West Shawmut community. <br />“In Spite Of!” is a time captured portrait of humble beginnings transformed to hardworking determination overcoming impoverished circumstances with academic achievement and obstacles overturned by divine intervention and fate. <br />Kerry “The Hawk” Meadows transports the reader to a kinder gentler more peaceful time in life to a quiet leave your door open community of neighborly downhome homegrown genuine “sit on the front porch” Yall sit a spell” real folks. <br />The detailed imagery is steeped in thoughtful homespun language and old school relics as old as rabbit ear antennae wrapped in aluminum foil outhouses and 8 track cassette tapes.</p>