Retired nurse Joyce Cleveland Barnett, eager to document the nursing
expertise she acquired from years of hard work and experience, set out to create
a community journal of the things she thought people should know entitled ?The
Heritage Line.?
Barnett, 54, retired last year after almost 30 years as a nurse. Although no
longer working, Barnett wanted to continue helping people by offering
informative articles on medical subjects, like autism.
?That's my heartbeat, to raise awareness about various topics that are important
to me, not just me, but the community,? she said. The inaugural issue of The
Heritage Line, which was published this winter, also included a first-person
account of being African in America, a list of where certain famous people
attended college, and a book review.
This commemorative edition of the publication topped 100 pages, and is available
at most branches of the Louisville Free Public Library and Carmichael?s
Bookstores. The issue focused on notable people in the community who Barnett
felt had been forgotten, including the late Mary Ann Fisher and former Kentucky
Colonels basketball star Ron King. Fisher served as an early inspiration for
Barnett?s current project, after some time in the mid-1990s when she used to
driver Fisher around and listen to Fisher?s stories.
In fact, Barnett has had a long passion for writing. She attended poetry open
mikes when she was younger, and wrote a self-published book in 1998.
Locals have been surprised to discover Barnett?s talent. Joanne Smith, who
attends Southern Baptist Church with Barnett said she had no idea her neighbor
was such an accomplished writer until she read ?The Heritage Line.? Smith, 70, a
nursing home resident, reported that others at her nursing home had asked for
copies.
?I think it's wonderful,? said Smith. ?I'm interested in black history. The
thing that was the most interest to me was it wasn't like ?history history,' it
was things that happened? recently.
Although many of the topics addressed in the first issue?s articles are
African-American, Barnett said the heritage in the title refers to all people in
the Kentuckiana area, not just African Americans. She noted that in future
issues of the quarterly, she would like to write about the Hispanic community
but she first plans to put together the May 11 issue on social services and
education, followed by a late-summer edition on spirituality.
Barnett has also planned to run a recurring section profiling notable local
women in an article called ?Good Woman.? The first issue follows ?good woman?
Mikki Walton, an evangelist with a consignment store on First Street, as well as
Kimberly Jackson, a young woman working to get young people into reading through
her job at the Jeffersonville Township Public Library in Indiana. ?I wanted to
select people in the community who are making a contribution to society in some
way,? said Barnett.
Barnett has put about $5,000 of her own funds into the project to print 1,000
copies of the first edition. The publication is free, and writing and editing
will be on a donation basis. Although advertisements are sold, Barnett plans to
continue financing the publication for several years, thanks in part to a
generous donation she received from a friend, as well as her own savings.
Anna Haskins Smith, director of the California Neighborhood Coalition Senior
Activities Program, said, ?I think it's a great thing; I hope she writes more.?