The Peacemaker

Brenda Duffey was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky. She came from a typically large Southern family (six children) that was raised on Kentucky fried chicken (not the same) and conservative Bible Belt philosophy. She received her BA degree in 1967 from a small Baptist college (Kentucky Southern) that is now part of the University of Louisville. In 1986, she received her MSW from the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. Part of the simple, homespun philosophy espoused by her father was hard work and "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" through education. That is why she decided to enter the field of public education after receiving her BA with endorsements in history and English. Ms. Duffey has spent over twenty-five years in the classroom in a variety of educational settings in many states including Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Oregon. Her focus was always on helping students from diverse ethnic groups and economic status attain competence in English communication skills as well as understand themselves and their connection to American society through understanding their past and their collective heritage. Ms. Duffey retired from teaching in 2003. At that time, she was teaching at a correctional facility for adjudicated males in Oregon. The idea for The Peacemaker originated in 1997 when she was teaching a course in Native American history at Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon. After retirement in 2003, Ms. Duffey began work on her first major novel "The Peacemaker" http://kentuckywoman.net. This is a generational saga that tells the "true" story of American history in fictional form. That novel was first published in 2009. Now, Ms. Duffey has completed a sequel to "The Peacemaker" a novel entitled "New Pangaea - An Evolution into the Fifth World." Between novels, Ms. Duffey completed a set of four short stories entitled "Finding New Pangaea." "Springtime Comes to New Pangaea" presents the back story for the main character in "New Pangaea." Other stories include, "Juneteenth" set in Ms. Duffey's old neighborhood of Portland in Louisville and "A Thanksgiving Story." The final story "The Season" is a fantasy set in a fictional land called Mid Pangaea. The main characters in all these stories are adolescent males or females facing coming of age issues. Ms. Duffey also has completed a musical stage production entitled "A Squeaky Wheel Gets Oiled - The Musical." You may visit http://angelbandproductions.com to find more information and connect with Ms. Duffey's blog, You Tube, Facebook and Twitter accounts.