American Libraries Association’s annual conference was held this past weekend in New Orleans. Librarians went up and down escalators, through never ending corridors to find rooms in a conference center that must be five football fields long. Not complaining, I needed to walk off all the delicious local food and coffee. America might run on Dunkin, but I was fueled by Café Du Monde’s beignets.
Among all the outstanding programs for librarians, one sounded perfect for our summer challenge. It was a panel of authors sponsored by Library Journal titled, “Celebrating Southern Writers.” Library Journal is a trade publication librarians use to order books. I recognized only one author’s name in the bunch, John Hart.
The panel included Mr. Hart, Tayari Jones, Kathleen Kent, Jennifer Niven, Pat MacEnulty, and Kevin Wilson. All of the panel members live in the south, but some were not typical southern authors. One must set her book in the south to be a southern author. All except Pat Conroy, he gets a pass.
One such author is Kathleen Kent. A lovely woman who wrote “The Heretic’s Daughter” that was book talked in June 2009. The setting is Salem, MA where 10-year-old Sarah Carrier watches as her mother Martha is accused of being a witch and goes on trial.
Based on Kent’s own family history, the book was well received and Kent returned to the family lore to write another book titled, “The Wolves of Andover” that appears in paperback as “The Traitor's Wife.” In this book she follows Thomas Carrier who was the husband of Martha and also thought to be the executioner of King Charles I.
Both books are great reads, but I do not consider them southern nor do I consider her a southern author just because she lives in Texas. On the other hand, Pat MacEnulty lives in North Carolina where she sets some of her books, but has a London publisher and most southern readers do not know her body of work.
An audible “Wow” flew from my mouth when I heard she was a student of Harry Crews. It is like finding gold on Nawlin’s Canal Street. I found a woman who writes my favorite sub-genre of the south, Dirty South, and soon her memoir, “Wait Until Tomorrow,” will be devoured like a fresh beignet.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wait Until Tomorrow (copy)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts (re-copy)
South of Baton Rouge sat an obscure little plantation called Indian Camp. Robert Camp ran a highly successful sugar plantation until the Civil War took all his fortunes and left the home and acreage back to the wild. The land was so isolated by the Mississippi River the only inhabitants maintained they had to fight for fishing rights with the mosquitoes who staked their claim in blood.
In 1894 the State of Louisiana took ownership of the property and designated it the Louisiana Leper Home. All Louisiana inhabitants that were diagnosed with the disease were sent to live the rest of their lives in the colony.
“The geography was perfect for outcasts. The plantation was virtually impossible to reach by land: a washed-out road with no outlet, leading to a tiny drop of land that looked like gravity had pulled it into the river’s path. It was known primarily to boat captains who navigated the sharp 180-degree turn in the Mississippi River just south of Baton Rouge.”
At first the residents had to fight with bats and snakes to live within the dilapidated house and slave quarters. They dealt daily with no running water and the very basic in sanitation as they waited for improvements from the state. A doctor from Tulane took notice and requested an order of nuns who arrived in 1896.
By 1914, the site was designated a national leprosarium and President Woodrow Wilson assigned $250,000 for the “care and treatment of people affected with leprosy.”
Today the facility is called Carville and it still houses those unfortunate enough to have contracted Hansen’s disease. On a positive note, the residents are dwindling in number since the disease is lessening and approximately 130 patients now walk the halls.
Because the facility had more beds than occupants, in 1990 the Bureau of Prisons decided to transfer federal inmates to the Federal Medical Center in Carville. On May 3, 1993, Neil White became the newest inmate.
Upon arrival, an inmate cornered him and told him he would be living with lepers now. Oh, and since he was a convict that makes him a lepercon!
“Tell-A-Tale” this coming Thursday, June 30 features Neil White telling his story of serving time in a federal penitentiary that also doubled as a Leper Colony. He will begin his talk at noon and sign paperback books afterwards. The books are $15 and include extra information not included in the hardback. Do not miss your chance to purchase his fascinating book, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Mile Markers (copy)
We have been talking “a lot” about journaling here at the library this week. Jill Thomas Knox presented an excellent program on the subject and many left inspired to tell their own stories either with pencil and paper or through blogging. She also brought examples from her previous students who turned their work into art by making colorful books or scrapbooks.
Jill proved that journaling is not a boring diary with statements like, “I woke up with a pimple on the tip of my nose” or “It rained all day and I was forced to read a book,” but the format contains inspirational thoughts, poetry, doodles, bucket lists, collages, materials, etc. Almost anything goes when it comes to journaling and expressing one’s self.
Last night while perusing the local bookstore, I ran across a journal in the wacky anything-goes category. Kristin Armstrong collected her journal writings (reflections on running) into a book titled Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run.
Armstrong sees her running as, “the perfect parallel for marking the milestones of life.” There are 26 chapters in the book and each chapter discusses a different milestone she has encountered. The beauty of the book is that her milestones are the same as most women whether one runs or not, but it is based on running.
I was excited when I saw the title. I am looking for inspiration while running my first marathon. Yes, I mean “while running.” I am inspired to do it, but I know I will need to up the ante of inspiration at mile 15 or mile 20. Having run 4 half marathons, I find it hard to stay focused when I am dog-tired.
It takes more than the training of leg and arm muscles. One has to train the mind or trick the mind into staying the course. For instance, I just tricked my mind by writing that I am running a marathon. We all know that is easier said than done, but once it appears in ink I have to commit. (Insert your committed joke here.)
In the book, each chapter can be a mantra as one runs the marathon. The first chapter is titled “Warm Up” and the author gives a brief introduction of herself. I can use the words to remind me to take it slow and easy in the first mile instead of running fast by getting caught up in the race momentum.
Other chapter titles include: Play, Friendship, Purpose, Passion, Pace, Fear, and Peace. Ironically, chapter 20 is titled “The Wall.” This book may not be a normal journal, but I find it an imaginative way to record one’s bumps and scratches on the road of life.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
State of the Mule Contest (copy)
Husband sought me out last night under the carport and exclaimed, “I found it!”
Not realizing something was lost, I was a little confused, “Found what?”
“Read the last sentence of the first paragraph,” he said as he stood over me grinning.
I took The Dog of the South by Charles Portis from his hands and read. "Through a tangle of branches I saw a dead mule." It was official. His beloved, all-time-favorite author had entered "Southern Literature" status. The dead mule (known in literary terms as Equine Gothic) appears in his work and now I must recognize the greatness that is Portis.
Who? The man who wrote True Grit, that is who. A comic genius (my husband’s words) wrote Southern odyssey or oddity (my words) books where a man usually down on his luck travels to procure a missing object such as his car in The Dog of the South and $70 dollars in Norwood. I highly suggest them for the Southern Reading Challenge if one is looking for quirky.
What makes a dead mule a sign of classic Southern literature? Jerry Leath Mills, in his essay The Dead Mule Rides Again explains, “there is indeed a single, simple, litmus-like test for the quality of southernness in literature, one easily formulated into a question to be asked of any literary text and whose answer may be taken as definitive, delimiting, and final. The test is: Is there a dead mule in it?”
Mills goes on to cite the many afflictions a mule may suffer and from the exact text said mule succumbs. There is asphyxiation, beating, collision with a vehicle, decapitation, drowning, fall from a cliff, freezing, gunshot wound, hanging, rabies, stab wound, overwork, and old age.
In Portis’ work it is unclear how the mule dies, but the character is to feel a sense of familiarity since he encounters the site in Central America and not his home state of Arkansas.
If you are participating in the Southern Reading Challenge be on the lookout for dead mules. The State of the Mule Contest runs throughout the month of June. When you find said mule call or e-mail me and have the book title, author and page ready for verification. We will draw from entrants and one winner will receive a gift of pecans. Good luck!
Original post...and here!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Run with the Horsemen (copy)
I picked the perfect book to start this summer’s Southern Reading Challenge! Ferrol Sams first book titled, Run with the Horsemen, is set in rural Georgia during the Depression and is loosely based on his own upbringing.
Sams began this book as a journal and it is our hope to inspire others to tell their story through journaling on June 9, at our “Tell-A-Tale” brown-bag lunch led by Senatobia High School instructor, Jill Thomas Knox.
We all have great stories and we live in an appreciative community that still enjoys the oral tradition. Why not take the time to write these stories for future generations to read. In Sams case, the stories were so intimate it worked better to recreate himself as a character and present his final book as a novel.
It is really a trilogy, but I am choosing to read the first and move on to a different author. As a librarian, I need to get a little taste here and there of different authors. When I retire, I will be able to fill in the gaps of my own making. This book leads itself to being read alone and was Georgia’s 2006 “One Book, One Community” program selection.
As mentioned earlier, it is the masked story of Sams own experiences told through the boy. Throughout the book, family names are left out and only nouns remain of the characters. There is the boy, his father and mother, a snuff dipping grandmother, and a grandfather. Some uncles and aunts have names to distinguish their relations to the boy, and all other people mentioned have names and cleverly developed character sketches.
Through reading we learn the boy’s name is Porter Osbourne, Jr. and he is extremely smart. At a young age he masters the art of lying taking cues from his many successful and unsuccessful attempts. Never done in malice, his lying is more a survival tactic since he is small for his age and matures later after high school. The boy will not be bullied.
With each chapter, the boy becomes older and wiser. Sams gives his readers the knowledge of worldly situations such as a father who drinks without the boy having the same privileges. The silly thoughts about sex are slowly crushed with each passing year as we follow the boy’s vast learning curve.
Run with the Horsemen was written in 1982 when Sams was 60-years-old. It is a classic. Do you have a life story that could become a Mississippi classic? Join us June 9, and find out.
