My Cat Spit McGee (copy)

My husband has a favorite quote he loves to spout after seeing a cat’s eyes glow unworldly. “Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces?” The quote is from True Grit by Charles Portis and describes how his main character, Mattie Ross, distrusts cats when compared to the innocence of ponies.

Please, do not get me wrong. My husband loves cats. It wasn’t an overnight change, though. It took time before he learned the benefits. Our first cat, Lucy, was also his first attempt at getting to know the smarter pet. The discerning pet that picks its owners very carefully, our Lucy was slow to love but loyal to the core.

Hubby thought it incredible that I could get Lucy to play fetch with a bread twister or hide-n-seek in the monkey grass. She came when she was called and greeted us when we came home. She even flicked her tail when excited, reminding us of a dog’s wag. Yet, when her eyes shifted, Bam! He would utter it without even knowing, “Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces?” 

Willie Morris was the same way. He grew up with all manners of dogs and loved them with delight, but he was about to marry a cat lover! He didn’t just dislike cats, he loathed them. How in the world would he be able to function with a cat in the house?

The dreaded day happened on what was supposed to be a joyous and calm Christmas. The cat came from under the tree with a little red bow around its neck. A gift from his grown son David to Willie’s new bride, the kitten was found cold and starving on the side of Highway 51 in the Delta. I picture Willie lifting his feet off the floor in disgust.

She was named Rivers Applewhite after one of Morris’ childhood friends who is also featured in his book, My Dog Skip. He was allowed to name her since he was obviously left out of the gift giving loop and his bride was smitten.

Rivers grew to be a smart cat, but she was no dog. She did not play fetch. She did not come when called. Instead, she took to hiding. Once she was found nestled between The Brothers Karamazov and Down and Out in London and Paris.

Willie was also unable to get her affections. “When I picked her up, she would not stay with me. Why could she not at least show even the most modest indications that she was happy to see me and to greet me when I was gone for several days? This puzzled and angered me. ‘Cats ain’t dogs,’ I would shout accusingly at the Cat Woman.”

Rivers soon gave birth to a cat that forever changed Willie’s mind about pets. My Cat Spit McGee is a mature look at a man’s struggle to accept the cold, hard fact that he was becoming a dreaded cat lover.

My Cat Spit McGee (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-cat-spit-mcgee-copy.html

North Toward Home (copy)

The more I read Willie Morris, the more I like him. I am alternating between North Toward Home and My Dog Skip. What tickles me is that he is an early recycler. He took stories from his 1967 memoir, North Toward Home, and repackaged them into the commercially successful 1995, My Dog Skip.

Morris received Skip while in the third grade. The dog was a distraction since Morris seemed confused over the loss of his aunt Sue. He writes that he stood in front of her casket trying his hardest to memorize her face. There was a mole under her eye that he had never noticed in conversation. He stood long after the family moved to the cars and she was wheeled out.

Some of Morris’ happiest memories dealt with his grand aunts, Mag and Sue. Both were “old maid” sisters living with his grandmother, Marion, in Jackson, Miss. For Morris, Mag and Sue were endless entertainment.

When Morris was eight he sent off for an “ultra-mike” for two dollars. It looked like a regular radio mike and when hooked into an electrical outlet would allow the user to broadcast their voice from the family radio.

“I would hook up this instrument in the back room while Mag and Sue sat listening to the radio in the parlor. Then I would say, ‘We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. The Yankees are coming! They are ten minutes away from Raymond! I repeat: the Yankee soldiers are on their way!’ Then Mag and Sue, holding their dresses above their knees for better running, would leap out of their chairs and dash to my grandmother: ‘Marion, Marion, did you hear? They’re comin’! They’re on their way!’”

Marion calmed their spirits and told them it was just the boy playing around. Morris said they would go back to their chairs in the parlor and listen again to their show. After a wait of 2-3 hours, he could do the same thing again and the aunts produced the same reaction.

It was Percy, Marion’s trusted house servant that recognized Morris’ sadness. After the casket was shut and the burial in the old family plot through, Percy consoled him with, “Now don’t you be sad.” He took little Morris’ hand and led him through the doors of Woolworth to reward him with a toy.

“That day I remember I promised myself that if Percy ever died, I would shoot myself, with the pistol my father kept under his mattress at home. But I knew that Percy would never die.”

Skip joined the family two weeks later.

North Toward Home (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2014/07/north-toward-home-copy.html

Literary Tour - Willie Morris - Fall 2014 (copy)

I am so excited! Northwest is offering the first ever author study and hometown tour featuring Willie Morris this Fall as a continuing education class for local educators. Participants will receive 1.5 continuing education units (CEUs) for two short classes and a day long trip to Yazoo City celebrating his writings.

The two classes will focus on five books: Good Old Boy, My Dog Skip, Good Old Boy and the Witch of Yazoo City, North Toward Home, and Conversations with Willie Morris.

The tour of Yazoo City will start with a visit to the Sam Olden Yazoo Historical Society Museum, a walk in Glenwood Cemetery where the witch of Yazoo and Morris are buried, lunch at Ubon’s Barbeque (a Memphis in May award-winning treat), and walking amongst the historic homes and churches that Morris mentions in his books.

In the last two weeks, I have met some truly nice people who thought the world of Morris. Jesse Kelley, an instructional librarian at Delta State, volunteered to help with the first class because he has read everything Morris wrote and wants to learn more. Our scholar for the second class is Dr. Katherine (Kate) Cochran. She knew him and his wife, and teaches his works in her Southern Literature class at the University of Southern Mississippi.

I had lunch with Larry Wells, owner of Yoknapatawpha Press, who was excited that Morris was being taught at NWCC. Over chicken salad, he shared many stories about Mississippi authors such as William Faulkner, Barry Hannah, his wife Dean, and himself. Wells has written three novels: Rommel and the Rebel, Rommel’s Peace, and Let the Band Play Dixie. He edited and published the photo-biography, William Faulkner: The Cofield Collection, and scripted a TV film documentary Return to the River (Mississippi ETV) which won a 1994 Emmy for Best Regional Broadcast.

Larry and his late wife, Dean Faulkner Wells, taught English at Northwest from 1975-79. In 1978 Morris asked them to contact Chancellor Porter Fortune and see if Ole Miss would be interested in hiring him.

Willie Morris was the first writer-in-residence at Ole Miss, but before he accepted the position he needed reassurance about the move. He struggled with the idea of moving from the constant on of New York City to the possible off of Oxford. It took an Ole Miss tailgate party and football weekend to convince him that Oxford could be just as exciting.

Throughout our meal, Larry portrayed Morris as a brilliant but sometimes eccentric writer, and a highly creative practical joker, but also a gentle soul who thought the world of Mississippi and its people. He and Morris were driving to Oxford from Yazoo City when a Miss. highway patrolman stopped them. After the officer read Morris’ license, he asked if he was speaking with the author Willie Morris. Larry said this was the happiest he had ever seen Willie, not because the officer did not ticket him but because he recognized him.

Literary Tour - Willie Morris - Fall 2014 (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2014/07/literary-tour-willie-morris-fall-2014.html

Eat Drink Delta (copy)

My mouth is watering! Every time I pick up Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler’s Journey through the Soul of the South by Susan Puckett with photographs by Langdon Clay, my stomach growls. Having fixated on the scrumptious crawdaddies on the cover, I am surprised drool does not stream from my mouth.

Not only does this book rouse my hunger for the various and unusual foods (tamales and kibbee) of the region, but it rouses my desire to hop in the plane and day-visit each and every destination. A little known fact: when you fly into a small airport the fixed-based operator usually has a courtesy car to offer you. Most are beat up ex-police cruisers, but these cars are good enough to get one to town and back. Put a couple of dollars in the tank and Bob’s your uncle.

Anyhoo, the book’s format is as if the reader is starting in the north and traveling south. The first night’s stay is Memphis “fancy” at the Peabody with a list of walkable good eats. Go right across the street to the Rendezvous or climb the fire escape to Itta Bena on Beale. Hail a taxi to Cooper and Young for the communal tables of the Beauty Shop or sit at Acre Restaurant, the hottest gastronomic ticket in town. It’s all good!

The author includes recipes for barbecue accompaniments such as Leonard’s Memphis Style Slaw and Alcenia’s (on North Main) Sweet Potato Pie. Want to freshen your palate before the meal? She provides mixers such as the Peabody Hotel’s Blue Suede Shoes Martini and The Presbyterian. Sorry, pit masters, no barbecue secrets are divulged in these pages.

Next stop, Tunica and environs such as Uncle Henry’s Place Inn and Restaurant at Moon Lake or The Hollywood, a honky-tonk that opened 1969 in bustling Hollywood, Miss. Puckett points out that both Hollywood and Moon Lake have literary ties with Grisham mentioning the former eatery and Tennessee Williams speaking of the latter.  

The one Hill town mentioned is Como. I chuckle at the words “hill town” having run every road in that small berg and the one hill is when I cross the railroad tracks, but I digress. I enjoyed reading the Longreen Fox Hunt and Blessing of the Hounds Breakfast section with the Longreen Fox Hunt Hot Curried Fruit recipe as an old-fashioned accoutrement. Speaking of old-fashioned, the Tomato Aspic recipe is on page 162.

Other towns on the stop include Cleveland, Greenville, Leland, Greenwood, Yazoo City and Vicksburg. I am dying to try Lusco’s in Greenwood, which sounds like the secret garden of culinary delight. Susan Puckett is a native of Jackson, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book go to fund the Puckett Family Journalism Scholarship at the University of Mississippi.

Eat Drink Delta (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2014/06/eat-drink-delta-copy.html