"Man Of Constant Sorrow"--Work of Fiction Based On the Song Lyrics and Covers From the Soggy Bottom Boys and Charm City Devils

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. (Disclaimer copied and pasted from TVTropes.org)

©2013 Nicole Czarnecki. All rights reserved by the author. "Man Of Constant Sorrow" is listed as "Traditional" and written from 1888-1913 according to Wikipedia, and thus has no copyright date or has an expired copyright. The cover by the Soggy Bottom Boys was copyrighted in 2002, and the cover by the Charm City Devils in 2012. The lyrics are in the public domain.

The author has done thorough- and accurate-research, and used prior knowledge to the best of her knowledge and ability.

Lyrics taken from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/soggy_bottom_boys/i_am_a_man_of_constant_sorrow.html at the time of the writing of this work. 

A reference list of sources used for specific information (not common-knowledge, general, non-copyrightable or public-domain information*) at the time of this writing can be found at the end of this work. (*e.g., language is not copyrightable)

(In constant sorrow all through his days)

I am a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where I was born and raised

(The place where he was born and raised)

For six long years I've been in trouble
No pleasure here on Earth I found
For in this world I'm bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now

(He has no friends to help him now)

It's fare-thee-well my old true lover
I never expect to see you again
For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I'll die upon this train

(Perhaps he'll die upon this train)

You can bury me in some deep valley
For many years where I may lay
And you may learn to love another
While I am sleeping in my grave

(While he is sleeping in his grave)

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you never will see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I'll meet you on God's golden shore

(He'll meet you on God's golden shore)

Chapter 1

"Out; out!" they screamed. And that was that--Kehillath Kodesh Adas Israel had kicked him out, sat shiva for him, and sent him packing. He mumbled, "You can't even get your damned Hebrew right!" So much for Liberal, or Progressive, or Tolerant, or Inclusive, or whatever-the-Hell "Judaism" they called it, anyway--besides, they had to liberalize (really, bastardize) the Hebrew, anyway: it was "Kehillat-Kodesh Adat Yisra'el", anyway. 

He was angry enough that he couldn't think clearly. How dare they deal with him in that manner! "Liberal" in zayn tuchus! "Progresiv" in zayn tuchus! "Tolera'nt" in zayn tuchus! "Far kirev" in zayn tuchus! He wasn't a cursing man, but fury raged within him--he had been treated in such a shlekht shteyger, and he was a Levite! How dare those Yisra'elim! How dare those 'am-ha'aretz! How dare those minim!

He used the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to catch a train as far away from Louisville as possible--to somewhere, to anywhere, and to somewhere and anywhere but Louisville. He just didn't know where. Un "Brith Sholom" in zayn tuchus--an adat-l'hab'rit-shalom surely wouldn't kick an ish l'shalom out of any "Brith Sholom"--which, to him, would still and always be "Kehillat-Kodesh Adat Yisra'el", "Holy Community of the Congregation of Israel". 

Chapter 2

40 years later, and his life had completely changed--he was born when his now-ex congregation was founded, of age when the Emancipation Proclamation was made (for Sefer-B'Midbar read "Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by the descent from their fathers, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel."), and now of age plus a score of years. Incidentally--or perhaps not so--, he was of the same number of years as Moses when Moses' life changed--as the New Testament read, "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong , he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed , and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not."

As Moses' life had changed over the course of a day, so also did the life of this Levite. He hadn't intended to change his life overnight--or, since his conversion happened during the day and as he thus joked to himself, "overday". He took a covered wagon to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then a train to Baltimore, Maryland. Finding no church with which he was satisfied or any Hebrew Christian congregation, he worshiped alone in his home on the Jewish and the traditional Christian Sabbaths--Saturday and Sunday, although some Christians observed their Sabbath on Saturday like the Jews did.

Then one day, he received a mysterious letter: "Mister Leve, a rumor concerning you is as such--that your Jewish neighbors have spied on you, since they have suspected you to be a Hebrew Christian among them. The rumor is also that you worship alone. ' Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised ;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching .'

"Mister Leve, if you insist on worshiping in your home, then I insist that we start a congregation in your home--for I am a Hebrew Christian myself, and many establish congregations within various' congregants' homes. The rumor, by the way, continues that your former congregation is Brith Sholom of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations--which, as I have heard and as I mention incidentally, has congregants among it that called their denomination of Judaism "Liberal" or "Progressive" before the Union itself did (and I would credit them as prescient and clairvoyant in that matter if only their denomination were "liberal" and "progressive", for who can have true liberty in worship and progress in his growth of faith without first having liberty and growth in Yeshua our Messiah?")

"Therefore, I propose that we found a congregation in your home and christen it 'Kehillat-Kodesh b'Chofesh-Ha'Emet'--'Holy Congregation In Freedom of the Truth'. By the way, I have no knowledge of how fluent you are in Hebrew; so I hope that you don't mind that I transliterated and translated my Hebrew name for your congregation for you.

"Shalom b'HaShem-Yeshua Mishichenu--Peace In the Name of Jesus our Messiah."

[To be continued...]

Part 18 of My Stage32 Submission

Firstly, I have been busy and have not prioritized--e.g., made time for--writing out the family story. Secondly, I have found out a lot more to write down since the last time that I wrote--for example, incidentally (or not incidentally, depending on how you define "incidentally"), Dad did confirm the story regarding Vilmosz. Of course, he made excuses--e.g., how Great-Grandma had one kid (i.e., Grandaunt Helen), then two (Grandaunt Mary Ann), then three (Grandma) and so forth. Nonetheless--and even though the writing occured well after even Grandma was born, since the Nazis didn't invade then-Czechoslovakian and -Hungarian Slovakia until Grandma was three years old--, Dad confirmed that:

1. Women--or at least Great-Grandma Gaydos, even in the 30s and 40s--did have some control over the money after all.
2. Great-Granddad Gaydos was willing to let her help relatives, given--among other factors to consider--that he was a Jew himself, and but for the grace of G-d did Mihal Gajdosz and Katarina "Maria Uscianski" Uszinsky--not to mention his in-law parents--go.
3. Great-Grandma damned well knew what was happening in Europe and refused to help the family, anyway.
4. Among other factors to consider, there are good reasons why Tibor immigrated to Ohio--where other Rusznyaks had immigrated--instead of Pennsylvania--to where he may have immigrated had we not betrayed him and his side (and other sides) of the family--, and never talked to us.

I could go on, but you get the point. Meanwhile, I considered another factor, too:

"' 'Twas the night before Christmas, and...'"

Mass--if we went, anyway, though they did--and traditions about a Polish Catholic Christmas were--so to speak--thrown in there. There was not much--if anything--about the Bible. What we would do with "' 'Twas the night...'", though:

"' 'Twas the night before Christmas, and...'"

Pass the gift around.

"'The stockings were hung 'round the fireplace with care, and..."

Pass the gift around...

"And to all a good night."

Whoever had the gift after all of the "and"s, and the story concluded, got to keep the gift.

So much for Polish-Lithuanian and Czechoslovakian Catholics, huh? I mean, how much more secular for real--or actual--Polish-Lithuanian and Czechoslovakian Catholics can you get--especially, as Aunt Mary related to me one time, it was (as she learned the hard way during a phone call) about tradition and not Jesus?

Part 17 of My Stage32 Submission

While I'm waiting for Bill O'Reilly to come on KABC, I finally have--and have made--time to continue with the anecdotes about Pop-Pop--as I stated, you should see a clear picture emerging. By the way, how often do you get to follow the writer through his or her writing process as he or she is writing? As I'm telling my family story--and indeed, now it can be told (since, after all, Dad claims to he has nothing--or mostly nothing--to hide)--, I also want you to follow my day-to-day--or however-frequent--writing process. Of course, the editors are going to have a heck of a time and process with what I notice already has some inconsistencies in terms of writing style, etc..

Anyway, another anecdote--and one that proves that the family were not even just secular Polish-Lithuanian Catholics. By the way, what compelling reason would Aunt Mary have to lie--which I've asked Dad himself--about anything? Aunt Mary's--and likely Dad's and Uncle Gary's--first knowledge about God and Jesus:

"God damn it, Joan."

"Jesus Christ, Jack--the neighbors will think you're crazy."

And then came the closing of the blinds and chasing around the house. By the way--as I've discussed before--, Aunt Mary was not named for the Virgin Mary--she was named for her grandmothers, Mary Trudniak Czarnecki and Marysia "Mary" Rusnak Gaydos. Also, her name was "Mary Joan"--and Grandma (going against her and Pop-Pop's agreement) deceitfully slipped "Joan" onto the birth certificate--her name was originally going to be "Mary".

So much for Polish Lithuanian--and (in Grandma's case) Czechoslovakian--Catholics, huh? 

Part 16 Of My Stage32 Submission

As the old saying goes, "Now it can be told."--and in this case, I add that I frankly do not care how much trouble I get into. I talked to my dad recently--and yes, I am trying to reconcile with my dad--, and I sadly heard only accusations that Aunt Mary has "mental problems" and is actually angry that Pop-Pop did not preserve Great-Grandma's life with extreme measures. Nonetheless--if Dad is to be believed--, that medical records indicate that Great-Grandma was "bleeding from the rectum" only confirm that Aunt Mary wtanted exactly what Great-Grandma wanted--that is, for Great-Grandma to die at home as Great-Grandma herself requested.

As for Aunt Mary having mental problems, I can assure you that--based on other stories which I have heard and experiences that I have had--Aunt Mary has no mental problems whatsoever. As I stated, Great-Grandma Czarnecki's murder will become important when I jump back to how Pop-Pop treated others--and so I jump back.

By the way, Grandma laughed when telling the following anecdote. When she and Pop-Pop were dating--in the 1950s, when dating was much more exclusive than it is now--, Pop-Pop took someone else to a New Year's dance when Grandma could not go to the dance due to a curfew that her mom set. Why Grandma would, meanwhile, I do not know--whether she was nervous or hiding pain behind laughter, or actually thought that it was funny is left up to my best guess at this point. Nonetheless, it showed me that Pop-Pop would not bother to wait for his girl or just enjoy the time with friends instead of cheating on her.

As for another anecdote--besides the "those" anecdote--, I myself experienced this one:

Pop-Pop: "...and the Orientals--"

Dad: "Asians, Dad!"

Pop-Pop: "Anyway, the ASIANS..."

I do not buy that a former IRS Agent and Crypto Jew did not know better or just slipped up--after all, his brother Tony deliberately (as I found out later) deliberately moved away from Sugar Notch to (in part) escape the racism and lack of diversity there.

As for another self-experienced anecdote:

Pop-Pop: "There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq"

Dad: "The weapons were moved to Syria"

...

Dad: "You can't change history, Dad!"

Hold on for more anecdotes--and did I not tell you that Great-Grandma's murder is important in light of how Pop-Pop treats others? See if you can see a clear picture emerging.