Today, 8 January, would have been Elvis Presley’s 80th birthday. In remembrance of his fascinating life we’re sharing a slideshow from the beautiful images in Elvis Presley: A Southern Life by Joel Williamson. How did this Southern boy make it from Nashville and Vegas, to Grafenwoehr and the White House?
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Elvis with his parents, 1950. Joseph A. Tunzi/ JAT Publishing.
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Elvis Presley with Scotty and Bill poster, Cape Girardeau, Mo., July 1955. Taken at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Hawk, photographer. Available via Flikr.
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Elvis on his way to fame at the Louisiana Hayride, 1956. LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections.
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An impromptu session with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 4, 1956. Originally published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Courtesy of the Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library & Information Center.
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Headline and 1956 photo from article on Elvis and Mae Axton, who wrote “Heartbreak Hotel,” just after the record sold 1 million copies, 1956. Published in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Courtesy of the Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library & Information Center.
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Elvis Presley in Grafenwoehr, 1958. Courtesy of U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr.
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The façade of Graceland in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
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Elvis during his ’68 Comeback Special on NBC. Available via Joseph A. Tunzi/ JAT
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Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding at the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas, May 1, 1967. Available via Getty.
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Priscilla and Elvis at a dinner. Memphis and Shelby County Room, Available via Memphis Public Library & Information Center.
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Elvis after a performance in Las Vegas, January or February 1970. Available via Joseph A. Tunzi/ JAT Publishing.
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Elvis rehearsing in Las Vegas for his 1970 documentary, “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is. Available via Joseph A. Tunzi/ JAT Publishing.
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Elvis Presley meets President Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970. White House Chief Photographer Oliver F. Atkins. General Services Administration. National Archives and Records Service. Office of Presidential Libraries. Office of Presidential Papers. Collection RN-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration), 01/20/1969–08/09/1974.
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Marquee of the International Hotel, Las Vegas, 1971. Available via Joseph A. Tunzi/ JAT Publishing.
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From just behind the gates at Graceland, a look at the mourners gathered on the day Elvis died, as the police try to hold back the crowds, August 16, 1977. Photographed by Saul Brown. Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library & Information Center.
Featured image credit: Headline and 1956 photo from article on Elvis and Mae Axton, who wrote “Heartbreak Hotel,” just after the record sold 1 million copies, 1956. Published in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Courtesy of the Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library & Information Center.
The post Elvis: a life in pictures appeared first on OUPblog.
By Caitlin Tyler-Richards
This summer, our editor-in-chief Kathy Nasstrom is taking a well-deserved break, and leaving the Oral History Review and related cat-herding in the hands of the extremely capable Stephanie Gilmore. As some may have read in the Oral History Association’s most recent newsletter, Stephanie is a multitalented historian who works to combat sexual assault on university campuses. With a PhD in comparative women’s history from the Ohio State University, she is the author of Groundswell: Grassroots Feminist Activism in Postwar America (Routledge, 2013), as well as many essays on sexuality and social activism. She serves as associate editor at The Feminist Wire and newsletter editor of the Committee of LGBT Historians’ biannual newsletter. She is also a member of the editorial collective at Feminist Studies.
A few weeks ago, I chatted with Stephanie about her experience with oral history, activist work and her plans for the OHR. I started with the most important and hard hitting question: “When did you first become interested in oral history?” Like many in the field, Stephanie told me she has always enjoyed listening to people talk about their lives and experience. She recalled one assignment in a undergrad women’s history course when she interviewed her own mother. While an admittedly simple approach to oral history, the experience drove home for Stephanie “that everyone has her own stories and experiences that can contribute to and complicate a larger history of a group.” This sentiment grew as Stephanie continued to work with women’s stories. She told me, “It was when I was working on my MA thesis on the Memphis chapter of NOW that I really came into the power and potential of oral histories. What I had learned about the women’s movement in its 1970s heydays was based on histories grounded in New York, Boston, and Chicago. These histories were often told as “national” histories of the US women’s movement. When I started studying feminist activism in Memphis, I discovered feminists whose lives were nothing like their counterparts in the North. The archival material was fairly rich, but only in talking to Memphis feminists about their lives and work did I actually learn how important southern identity was to them and to their activism.”
Stephanie had a similar experience working on her recently published book, Groundswell: “In Groundswell, I traced feminist activism through NOW in the 1970s and early 1980s in Memphis, Columbus, and San Francisco. Only through oral histories could I really understand how feminist activism shaped and was shaped by geographical location. For example, only in talking to Memphis feminists about their lives and work did I actually learn how important southern identity was to them and to their activism. But even more importantly, I found that archives could and would only tell me part of the histories I was looking to share and analyze. None of the people in my book are media ‘stars,’ but they were the rank-and-file movers of the women’s movement for equality and liberation. I could only find them by looking locally, and then by moving out of the archives and into people’s homes, coffeehouses, libraries, and other places I collected oral histories.”
Sophie Gilmore. © Sophie Gilmore. Do not reproduce without permission.
I learned that Stephanie uses oral history not only to study past feminists, but also to engage in her own activist work. After spending nearly a decade teaching, Stephanie became interested in issues outside the classroom — namely, how students react to and combat sexual violence in their everyday lives. At the moment, she is especially interested in understanding the gap between government and nonprofit research, which suggests approximately 1 in 5 women will experience sexual assault while at school, and Cleary Center documents, which report that little to no sexual assault occurs on university and college campuses. In order to understand the disconnect, Stephanie works with women, students of color and LGBTQ students who did not report their sexual assault experiences. She told me she did this for two reasons in particular, “On one hand, institutions can learn a great deal from these students and can start addressing the problem of underreporting sexual violence. But I also seek to elevate the voices of those who have been most marginalized in and beyond the academy. There is a tremendous amount of attention devoted to the issue of sexual violence on college campuses, and we are wise to listen to those who have been the victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence as we contemplate and enact solutions.” Stephanie also wanted to let readers know that she gives lectures and workshops on this topic. She welcomes anyone interested in learning more about her programs to contact her through her website, www.stephaniegilmorephd.com.
The more I learned about Stephanie, the clearer it became why OHA director Cliff Kuhn contacted her about the OHR position. When I asked how she felt about coming to work with the journal, she responded, “I’m delighted to think even more explicitly and historically about the connections between social movement activism and oral history as a legacy of social justice work. I owe so much of my own professional success to feminist, queer, and antiracist activism AND to oral history – and I have been able to learn and see how activism and history are intimately related. Editing a journal is a tremendous amount of work, but the opportunity to continue shaping the field of oral history as it relates to social justice activism is thrilling!”
She certainly sounded excited to join the OHR, but what exactly did she have in mind for the journal? “What’s in store? We will continue the short-form initiative that Kathy Nasstrom initiated – it is so exciting to hear from scholars, activists, and oral history practitioners about new developments, theoretical questions, and the like – things that are not quite a traditional article-length publication but relevant and important nonetheless. But we will also be taking on a couple of new ventures.”
Such as?
“The 50th anniversary of the Oral History Association is upon us, and Teresa Barnett has agreed to help facilitate a special section of the journal to commemorate; It is a good time to see where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going. We are also calling for papers for a OHR special issue, “Listening to and Learning from LGBTQ Lives.” The immediate interest in the call suggests that we are onto a good idea here! And of course, we are always excited to see what our readers submit – so if people have ideas for short- or long-form articles, roundtables, or the like, please let me know!”
All in all readers, I think we’re in for a great time. Welcome to the team, Stephanie!
Caitlin Tyler-Richards is the editorial/media assistant at the Oral History Review. When not sharing profound witticisms at @OralHistReview, Caitlin pursues a PhD in African History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research revolves around the intersection of West African history, literature and identity construction, as well as a fledgling interest in digital humanities. Before coming to Madison, Caitlin worked for the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown University.
The Oral History Review, published by the Oral History Association, is the U.S. journal of record for the theory and practice of oral history. Its primary mission is to explore the nature and significance of oral history and advance understanding of the field among scholars, educators, practitioners, and the general public. Follow them on Twitter at @oralhistreview, like them on Facebook, add them to your circles on Google Plus, follow them on Tumblr, listen to them on Soundcloud, or follow their latest OUPblog posts via email or RSS to preview, learn, connect, discover, and study oral history.
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The post Welcome to the OHR, Stephanie Gilmore appeared first on OUPblog.
On our way to
"Memphis" yesterday we stopped in the Fashion District, rode the crowded elevator to the second floor of
Mood, and shopped where the Project Runway stars shop—got lost among countless bolts of fabric (does anyone actually know how many bolts of fabric lie supine at Mood?). Oh, this was a great thing to do. Yes, I did come home with Mood feathers and a T-shirt. Next we went to Parsons and stood inside its skinny lobby. All so that I could say (to any who would listen; will you listen?): I stood among the vapors of
Mondo and
Austin.
"Memphis" was just what I needed yesterday—third-row orchestra seats, center, thanks to my brother. I loved the storyline of this show, surged ecstatic about the stage sets, felt the hammering heart of the big dance numbers, totally dug that gospel choir. I loved the two big guys who danced like there are no dance rules and who sang with such peppy abandon.
Just before the show began, I received a note from my agent, Amy Rennert (who always remembers), and another from Tamra Tuller, that dear soul, who was writing to say that my
Small Damages jacket—a sample from the first run—would be waiting for me at home when I returned. It's gorgeous! It's
debossed!! It, in some unpossess-able way, belongs to me. And at this dark hour, dawn, I am still trying to figure out how to take a photograph of it so that you can
see what the fabulous Michael Green calls its "special touches." Philomel made an investment in this jacket. It shows. "You need to frame that one," my husband, the artist of inscrutable high standards, said.
On the bus home from NYC, our son called. He's an extremely happy kid. No, not a kid. He's a young man with the right friends and a bright future and such a knack for analysis and writing that he earned an A plus on a big paper this week. "What did the professor say?" I asked. Quietly, then, never boastful, my son answered.
"Well," he said. "He actually called it awesome."
"
Awesome," I repeated. "
Wow. Was there more?" I have to ask; my kid is immune to bragging and strut.
The book I chose is a historical fiction book about a boy, music and ducks, John Philip Duck by Patricia Polacco.
Title: John Philip Duck
Author/Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Publisher: Philomel Books (Division of Penguin Young Readers)
Ages: 5 & up
Themes: animals, arts, biography, bravery, cause & effect, creativity, diversity, culture, helping others
Opening and Synopsis:
Edward was a sweet boy who lived with his family on a small farm
just outside of Memphis in the foothills of Tennessee. Times were hard.
There was a depression on and money was hard to come by.
Even though Edward was just a kid, he and his father worked at the same hotel in Memphis.
During the work week they stayed at the hotel, but on the weekends they both went home.
From the book jacket: When young Edward first brought his tiny wild duck to the grand hotel where he worked with his pa, his only thought was to keep it hidden. After all, he just needed a warm place for his little pet to stay during the day. Everyone helped to keep his secret.
Until one day, when Mr. Schutt, the blustery hotel manager, discovered the duck swimming in the lobby fountain! Surprised but not defeated, Edward showed Mr. Schutt how his duck could perform, even march to a John Philip Sousa tune. Maybe Edward could train other ducks to do the same. All he needed was Mr. Schutt’s okay-but could he get it in time to save John Philip Duck?
Activities:
Go on Itunes and Spotify and listen to some John Philip Sousa music.
Visit online the Peabody Hotel in Memphis
Coloring pages of ducks
Patricia has some neat activities and free bookmarks at her website
Try a discussion with kids on tricks your favorite pets do. Do any of them like music?
What’s your favorite genre of music? Why?
What I liked about this book: Even though it is historical fiction, this story felt so real to me. It was fun to find out that th
There comes a time when virtual commiseration, applause, counsel and butt-kicking isn’t enough. And so my online critique group, the YAckers, meets in person about once a year.
We live in all parts of the country, and so we vary the meeting place. We try to go where the weather suits the clothes we wish we were wearing, with things to do and see when we can no longer squint at the screen and printed page. Ever since certain noisy people got scolded by hotel security in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we try to rent a house or B&B so we have a place to ourselves. We’ve been to Park City Utah, rural Pennsylvania, and San Antonio. And this year we chose Memphis, TN, where we rented the Lake House, a large house on a small lake in Cordova, TN.
At first, I was cool to the idea of Memphis. After a long winter and cold, rainy, snowy spring, I was ready for beach time. As far as I know, Memphis doesn’t have a beach. But as I read about the city, I was intrigued. There’s a lot of history there, much of it important to me. And music—the kind of throbbing rhythm and blues that gets your body moving in unanticipated ways. Finally, Memphis is warm and blooming in April, a cruel month where I come from.
More importantly, I was just beginning to realize that one of the characters in my current work in progress is FROM Memphis. Who knew?
It was a quick visit—a long weekend, really, and we had four novels to review. We knew we had to prioritize, to focus on good music, good food, and the celebration of a fallen hero.
We visited Graceland, because the Elvis Presley story is fascinating and that man could sing. We ate at the Rendezvous and Gus’s Fried Chicken. We had dinner stage-side at B.B. King’s Blues Club. Afterward, we walked down Beale Street, past narrow alleys spilling music into the street, past signs that said, “drinks to go.” I collected sights, sounds, and memories.
And, of course, we visited the National Civil Rights Museum.
The Civil Rights Museum is located at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated in the bloody year of 1968. King had come to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. The motel rooms have been restored to that period. A wreath marks the spot on the balcony of the motel where he fell, and you can see where somebody replaced the bloodstained concrete.
Displays follow the history of the movement to the present day—including the bus boycotts, the Freedom R
We register new schools and programs at First Book every day; the more programs we can reach, the more good we can do, the more efficient our efforts become and the more easily we can provide high-quality new books.
Last week, a program called The Aunt Rudy Fund registered with First Book. They serve children at The Neighborhood School and Cornerstone Preparatory School, both located in Memphis, Tennessee, and every book they give away includes a bookplate telling the story of Aunt Rudy, in whose memory the fund was started.
Candy Canzoneri shared the story with us, and we thought it was so sweet and charming that we wanted to share it with you:
Every Kid Needs an Aunt Rudy
When I was growing up, my favorite day of the week was Saturday. It was the day my Aunt Rudy rode the bus to downtown Memphis to pay her bills or do whatever shopping she needed. When I got old enough, Aunt Rudy took me along with her.
We’d catch the bus on Southern Avenue, near Buntyn Station. When we went down the Parkways, Aunt Rudy told me stories about riding horses on the bridal paths that used to run along the grassy dividers.
It was a wonderful adventure. We’d do her shopping, have lunch, and then came the best part. Our day always ended in the Book Department at Goldsmith’s. I was allowed to pick out any book I wanted and take it home. This wasn’t just a library book I’d have to read and return, this was a book of my own. Forever.
I still have those books, acquired one by one, week by week: the Black Stallion series, a whole set of Nancy Drew and countless others. I’m all grown up now, but I often read the books my Aunt Rudy gave me many years ago. She gave me the best gift: books. And through books, a love of reading and learning.
When Aunt Rudy died, I thought how lucky I’d been to have her as one of my aunts. And then I thought how unlucky other kids were not to have an Aunt Rudy. Every kid needs and Aunt Rudy. And so, in her memory, here is a book for you. Forever.
Did you ever have an Aunt Rudy in your life? If so, leave a comment below and tell us all about it. Or consider supporting First Book in our efforts to help programs like The Aunt Rudy Fund.
We started our tour of Nashville at The Pancake Pantry, and I had THE most amazing potato pancakes. We visited the Ryman Auditorium next, the original home of The Grand Ole Opry. We only had time to tour one thing in Nashville and picked the Ryman. The tour was fantastic.[If we had the time I would have LOVED to see a show there.]
One of the best descriptions of the Ryman came from a tour guide who said "people courted here." I loved that. But, as it was built as a tabernacle originally, people also worshiped here. Story goes that Thomas Green Ryman, a steamboat captain who profited from the gambling and drinking houses he owned in town, built it for a preacher named Sam P. Jones. Ryman went to heckle the preacher one night, but after hearing him preach in a tent, he decided to construct a space so that Sam would never have to preach in a tent again. $100,000 and 7 years later the Union Gospel Tabernacle was complete.
Hard to say goodbye to Nashville, felt like we could have stayed a while. We swung by Memphis on our way to Natchez. And Sun Studio was our first stop, a recording studio so legendary it gave me goosebumps. "Walk The Line" was recorded there on April 2, 1956:
Mx and I grabbed a quick snack. I ate my first Moon Pie here!
On for some BBQ:
which was SO good, we thought they had put crack in it...WOW. Hated to leave Memphis so soon! Our BBQ buzz lasted all the way to Natchez, and helped us get over the fact that we were about to run out of gas on The Natchez Trace. Isn't it amazing how sinister a place can look, late at night when the needle is one tick from empty? Note to self: gas up BEFORE the ride.
And arrived at the BEAUTIFUL Monmouth Plantation. Ahhhh..... You MUST go there. Must. Friendly staff, great food and the rooms are to die for...
What the canopy looked like above our pampered lil' heads...
Even though we got there at like 1 AM, I had to sit and write at this desk. WOW. As I wrote about our travels, I couldn't help but wonder how many other writers sat down at that desk. I wondered about their lives, their dreams and all the magic and heartache that correspondence can bring.
by terri_brown www.flickr.com
Well, the end of the summer is coming near, and my family and I are getting ready to go on our last hurrah!
We are going to Memphis, and my hubby and stepson will see Graceland for the first time. Then we are going on to Baton Rouge to visit my best friend, Kristin! YAY!
So, I will see you again in blog-land around August 17th.
Hope you are getting to enjoy a last hurrah, too.
Until then, check out these children’s books by Mo Willems. I love anything by him. They are a blast and perfect for the last hurrah!!
See you soon!
Tell me about your last hurrah if you feel like it. Have fun because unfortunately, summer is almost done.
" For reasons I cannot explain
There's some part of me wants to see
Graceland"
Paul Simon
Well friends I'm home from Memphis, TN. The snow sparkles and shimmers outside my window and icicles drip on my neck each time I scoot out the door and I am happy. Happy to be home in my comfy bed, happy to empty my suitcase, happy to have my computer and my routines and regular bedtimes. It was lovely to reconnect as a family for 10 whole days. We'll be back together when the snows melt. (Or maybe sooner considering the persistent snowfall.)
We did visit Graceland and I felt that I was, as the song suggests, pulled there by some inexplicable force. I loved the obvious, the stained glass peacock windows, the mirrored TV room with 3 TV's, the fabric covered walls of the billiards room, the golden seat belt buckles on the airplane.
But the lasting memory is the more subtle fact that this man, this celebrity, this incredibly prolific artist was frozen in time. Elvis was frozen in his youth and as a poor youth he bought a fancy house that is actually pretty small compared to the Extreme Makeover homes of today. We still see him as he was because he and his work never had a chance to evolve. The tour and its information were choreographed to move the thousands of people through his life in a clean and organized manner. The treatment of his death gets one sentence about "heart failure" and "prescription medications." Even as we walk through hallways glistening with gold and platinum awards, we, I feel for him because of what could have been.
We did plenty of other things too. I highly recommend the Pink Palace Museum and the Children's Museum of Memphis. FedEx is headquartered in Memphis and has given a lot of corporate funds to the CMOM which includes a great flight exhibit. We also saw A Year With Frog and Toad at the Orpheum theatre. If you are a parent in Memphis look out for other children's productions, including the Very Hungry Catepillar, coming to the Orpheum later this spring. A huge thank you to the Bricks and the Abbots for taking us in, feeding and treating us like family. Take care of hubby while he's down south for me.
America's first REAL superhero.
Originally done for a Drawergeeks E topic... I pulled him out and dusted him off for one over at SFG.
(there's a few nips and tucks on him here and there for those keeping score)
I'm expecting a phone call from the Memphis lawyers even now...
Paul C.
Okay, okay! Late with the pics, I know, but put it down to traveling six days out of ten! So, as promised, here are some pics from the Southern Festival of Books, which took place in Memphis the weekend of October 13-15 and was a fabulous time! Here's the original report:
SFB Report . . .
I did Memphis!
(Okay, I'm going to go ahead and post this even though I don't have my pics yet, because I'm leaving town again in a couple of days! I'm waiting on the graciousness of my pal, Genetta, who took all the pictures, because I had to leave my camera in Nashville for the Boy Scout Jamboree. So, if you read this now, feel free to check back soon and view accompanying pics.)
So, to start again: I did Memphis!
I've done Memphis before, but Holy Elvis! Things have changed! I lived in Memphis in the early 1980s. I'd gone down there with a job, working in a seafood joint on the river end of Beale Street. Downtown was depressing and blighted-feeling at that time. One of the rules at the restaurant I worked at was that if, after your shift and late at night, you did NOT walk to your car with one of the security guards the restaurant hired for just that purpose, you were FIRED, no questions asked! I lived in Midtown, at the time, near the zoo ad Overton Park, but that was sometimes scary, too. The house I lived in had bars on all the windows and there was a four-corner busstop right outside my bedroom windows!
Shoot ahead into the future twenty-five years . . . Downtown Memphis is now thriving, booming and FUN, FUN, FUN!
My trip to Memphis this weekend was to participate in the Southern Festival of Books, now held every other year there (alternating with Nashville, my home digs). I traveled down with my good bud, Patsi Trollinger (author of PERFECT TIMING), and we stayed at my other gal-pal Genetta's house out in Eads.
The weather was beautiful when we arrived Saturday. Patsi and I drove straight to the Cook Convention Center and Civic Plaza, where we met Genetta. They had North Main blocked off to cars (just the fun old trolleys and horse-drawn carriages were allowed up and down the street). I stopped in at the Author Hospitality Booth and took possession of my bag o'goodies, including a miniature bottle of Jack Daniels, a Moon Pie and a Goo-Goo Cluster! Oh yes, there was a water bottle, too. HA!
It was soon time for my panel, entitled "Coming of Age in the South," with me and my book, THE LEGEND OF ZOEY, Grace Howell and TRUE FRIENDS, Helen Hemphill and LONG GONE DADDY, and Ron Kidd and MONKEY TOWN. Our turnout was good, and in the audience, to my delight, was one of my fave literary luminaries, Kimberly Willis Holt! When the session moderator mentioned she was in the audience, I got all agitated and waved at her! She waved back. When it was my turn to speak, I mentioned that while I hadn't been nervous before, I was now nervous, and then informed Kimberly that no, she had not met me somehwere else and could stop worrying about it! Afterwards, Kimberly and I had a nice chat where she told me that she had, indeed, been wondering where she'd met me! She was a total delight! The fun part of my reading (which was short as I was next to the last and time was running out) was that I picked a couple of new passages that had folks laughing (always good!). My wonderful support group of Genetta and Patsi assured me that people were enjoying themselves and I left them wanting more!
Outside, we sat down to sign books, and I'm relieved to report that I did have some book sales and did sign some books! Even Kimberly Willis Holt bought my book and had me sign it! I was feeling mighty humbled!
One of the interesting phenomena of this event, and I've heard that this goes on at other events, was "Poster Signings." A lot of folks had multiple copies of posters that they would ask the authors to sign. I signed about 25 posters, too! I don't know what they DO with them, but it was fun!
After all that, it was time to make our way to the Author Reception at the Gibson Showcase. Patsi and I took Genetta as our date. We ended up sitting with Susan Vaught (TRIGGER), Ed Sullivan (THE ULTIMATE WEAPON: THE RACE TO DEVELOP THE ATOMIC BOMB) and his lovely wife, Judy, Helen Hemphill, Alethea Kontis (ALPHOOPS! THE DAY Z WENT FIRST) and Jaime Adoff (JIMI & ME), with assorted other folks popping in and out. We had a lovely dinner and cocktails (all gratis), and we had a raucous good time discussing everything from the serious to the sublime, including Sage, the Incontinent Cat, our high school proms, how we met our significant otherages, the North and the South and many points in between, and last, but certainly not least, Silky's Magical Goats. We closed the place down—literally. They were asking us to leave.
Back at Genetta's we had cookies and milk and went to bed. It was LATE!
Sunday was Patsi's panel, "Portraits of Success: Picture Book Biographies of Inspiring Lives." Her panel-mate was Rachel Rodriguez, author of THROUGH GEORGIA'S EYES, and while turnout was lessened by the fact that they were opposite Garrison Keillor, they gave an entertaining presentation, and their moderator, Ellen Ruffin, was wonderfully fun. Patsi and Rachel's lovely picture book biographies are so awesome—fab additions to any school library!
Afterwards, out in the bookstore area, I ran into one of my other literary heroines, Bobbie Ann Mason. I'd sat in on Ms. Mason's talk on her book NANCY CULPEPPER, but I'd ducked out early to go see Patsi. I told Ms. Mason how her book, IN COUNTRY, really inspired me to write about MY dad who was killed in Vietnam. Ms. Mason got teary-eyed and was quite gracious. I appreciated her kindness!
Outside, at Patsi and Rachel's signing table, I had the pleasure of meeting Betsy James (LISTENING AT THE GATE) and having a chat! After Patsi's signing time was over, the three of us hopped aboard a trolley and rode downtown to see what was happening. We ended up at the fabulous Peabody Hotel and while enjoying drinks at the bar, watched the famous ducks leave their fountain for the five o'clock march up the red carpet to the elevator that takes them to the roof and their Duck Mansion in the sky. We ate dinner at Cappriccio's Grille, then headed back to Genetta's house.
Some of the people there that I missed seeing include (but are not limited to): Lynne Berry, Ally Carter, Alan Gratz, Emily Lockhart, Teresa Medeiros, Pat Mora, Doreen Rappaport, Alex Sanchez, Lee Smith, Deborah Wiles and Paul Zelinsky! So many wonderful authors—so little TIME!
Kudos to all the Humanities Tennessee folks, and especially a shout out to Emily Booth Masters, the director of Tennessee Young Writers Programs and my personal contact for the festival! It was great to meet you, however briefly, Emily, at the cocktail reception Saturday night! I hope to see you again soon around Nashville!
I returned home Monday, exhausted and happy to see my kids and, of course, my hubby, Ever-Supportive. I head out again Friday morning at five o'clock for a seven-plus hour trip to Arkansas! In the meantime, prep work, magazine deadlines, library trips and, oh yeah! My kids are on Fall Break, too!
Exhaustedly but happily yours,
XO Candie
And here are the pics, all taken by our wonderful Hostess with the Mostest, Genetta, except for the one on the Trolley, which was taken by a delightful man from Ireland:
"Coming of Age in the South" panel with (from left) Helen Hemphill, Grace Howell, me and Ron Kidd, and our fearless moderator!
Signing Books outside the Cook Convention Center with Ron!
More Signing!
Patsi shows us some racing colors while Rachel looks on!
On the trolley heading for Beale Street!
Me, Patsi and Genetta smiling for the Irish folks!
Quacking with the Peabody Ducks!
Goodbye, Memphis!
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That sounds like a perfect start to a birthday weekend.
Hope the rest of this day is wonderful.
I can't imagine how any day can be better than that yesterday! But best wishes for one just as good in its own way.
Happy birthday! Can't wait to see the book cover, and your whole weekend sounds great -- so far. May today add more delightful things to your list.
I can see you smiling and hear you laughing in these words. I love that you had such a fun day :)