“Jim was such a presence,” says Wes. “He loved seeing his students create deep and meaningful work. He couldn’t hide when he was impressed with someone’s writing. So, as his student, you always hoped to see him genuinely excited about your work.”

Like many of the former students we have spoken to over the year for Legacy Corner, Wes also remembers fondly those after-class excursions to High on Rose. Twenty-five years later, Wes is still friends with people who were in his autobiography class at UK with Jim. And, most of them are still writing.

Wes spoke of not getting a gushing response from Jim about his first story for the workshop. But when he shared his second story, Wes to this day remembers exactly what Jim said to him after he read it aloud in class: “Wes . . . are you drinkable?” And a legal, 21 year-old Wes headed to High on Rose for another of many trips to discuss art and life with Jim and his classmates.

“Jim was gracious, inclusive of everyone, and if he saw you were serious about your art, Jim would support you and hold you accountable to creating your very best work. . . he was just genuine in his reactions and expectations for quality, soulful work. He had a way of making you feel comfortable and that allowed you to be vulnerable,” states Wes. He continues, “Jim had a unique way of building community among his students. He helped produce a lot of good writers who are still writing today. I am still friends with many of the students who were in that initial autobiography class.”

What would you say to Jim today if you could? “Simply, thank you,” says Wes. “Thank you for the encouragement and for showing us how to live in a way that is dedicated to the creative life—that showed it was all possible and worthwhile.”

Wes Blake is the author of Pineville Trace, winner of the Etchings Press Novella Prize and featured on Deep South Magazine’s Reading List. Pulitzer Prize finalist author Lee Martin called him a “writer to watch”. His fiction and essays have appeared in Electric Literature, storySouth, and Untelling, among others. He studied writing under Gurney Norman and James Baker Hall. He is part of the visiting faculty at the Bluegrass Writers Studio™ MFA in creative writing program at EKU and lives in Nonesuch, Kentucky with his wife and cats, where they’ve planted 100 trees. He grew up in eastern, western, and central Kentucky and has taught writing, written obituaries, and worked in a Cajun restaurant. Learn more at wesblake.com.