Everything And Nothing

Evening of Literature, Theatre at Old Capitol

A one-night-only theatrical performance at the Old Capitol Museum will feature the work of some of the state’s literary icons. Scenes from William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright will be performed alongside works from contemporary Mississippi writers such as Natasha Trethewey and John Grisham in “Mississippi Talking: An Evening with New Stage Theatre.” The gala event will be held January 14 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. 

In addition to the performance the evening includes wine and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $40 each. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the performance will begin at 6 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 601- 576-6920.

You want a Callback?

A branch of NASA that you've probably never heard of - the Aviation Safety Reporting System - catalogues near-miss air accidents from a branch in Moffett Field in Santa Clara County in California. The ASRS collects voluntarily submitted aviation safety incident/situation reports from pilots, controllers, and others. It's an anonymous, non-punitive reporting system, and highlights are collected in a monthly newsletter, Callback.

Think twice if you're flying soon (like me), but if you still want to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do so here! (Past issues are available here.) The National Transportation Safety Board also catalogs accident reports here.

Donations for North Mississippi Tornado Victims

Mississippians come together in times of need.  Donations, checks, and contributions may be made to the following organizations and communities, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office:   

MEMA

• Donate online at www.msdisasterresponse.org

Tippah County

Send contributions for disbursement to the needy citizens to:

• Walnut Fire Department, 27880 MS Hwy 15,Walnut, MS 38683 or
• Three Forks Community Disaster Relief Fund, The People’s Bank, Attn: David Horton, P.O. Box 38, Walnut, MS 38683

Send contributions for rebuilding the Three Forks Fire Department building to: 

• Three Forks VFD Building Fund, The People’s Bank, Attn: David Horton, P.O. Box 38, Walnut, MS 38683

Marshall County

• Drop off supplies at Eddie Smith Multipurpose Center, 235 N. Memphis St., Holly Springs, MS 38635 or First Baptist Church, Volunteer Reception Center, 109 East College St., Holly Springs, MS 38635 (open from 9 a.m to 6 p.m.)

Coahoma County

• Drop off supplies at the Civic Auditorium, 506 East 2^nd St., Clarksdale, MS 38614

Tate County

• Drop off supplies at Senatobia Fire Station #1, 137 N. Front St., Senatobia, MS 38668 
• Suggested items: water, non-perishable foods, blankets, diapers, dog food, personal hygiene items, batteries and flashlights

Benton County

• Drop off supplies at Ashland Church of Christ, 47 Hwy 4 West, Ashland, MS 38603

American Red Cross

• Donate by calling 1-800-REDCROSS
• Donate online at http://www.redcross.org/local/mississippi
• Drop off donations at 9 River Bend Pl., Flowood, MS 30232

Salvation Army

• Donate by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY
• Donate online at https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=national_donation_form

 

Researchers to Visit Residences along Mississippi Gulf Coast March 21, 28

Students representing the School of Social Work at The University of Southern Mississippi will conduct a research study on March 21 and 28 visiting residences in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties.

The data collected will be used for a research study on the adaptation and resilience of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents with regard to psychological implications of different hazards, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

For questions, contact Dr. Bret Blackmon at 228.214.3275.

[ via USM.edu ]

Consuming Desire

by Katrina Vandenberg
from Atlas

I’m not making this up. In Cafe Latte’s wine bar
one of the lovely coeds at the next table
touched John on the arm as if I wasn’t there
and said, Excuse me, sir, but what
is that naughty little dessert?
And I knew from the way he glanced
at the frothy neckline of her blouse,
then immediately cast his eyes on his plate
before giving a fatherly answer,
he would have given up dessert three months
for the chance to feed this one to her.
I was stunned; John was hopeful;
but the girl was hitting on his cake.
Though she told her friend until they left
she did not want any. I wish she wanted
something-my husband, his cake, both at once.
I wish she left insisting
upon the beauty of his hands, his curls,
the sublimeness of strawberries
and angel food. But she was precocious,
and I fear adulthood is the discipline
of being above desire, cultivated
after years of learning what you want
and where and how, after insisting
that you will one day have it. I don’t
ever want to stop noticing a man like the one
at the bar in his loosened tie, reading
the Star Tribune. I don’t want to eat my cake
with a baby spoon to force small bites,
as women’s magazines suggest. And you
don’t want to either, do you? You want a big piece
of this world. You would love to have the whole thing.

 

Theory of Memory

Theory of Memory

by Louise Gluck

Long, long ago, before I was a tormented artist, afflicted
with longing
yet incapable of forming durable attachments, long before this, I
was a glorious
ruler uniting all of a divided country—so I was told by the
fortune-teller
who examined my palm. Great things, she said, are ahead of
you, or perhaps
behind you; it is difficult to be sure. And yet, she added,
what is the difference?
Right now you are a child holding hands with a fortune-
teller. All the
rest is hypothesis and dream.

"Theory of Memory" by Louise Glück, from Faithful and Virtuous Night. © Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. 

[ via Writer's Almanac ]

Hattiesburg American photojournalists hosting photo walks

Starting Saturday, the Hattiesburg American photographers will be hosting a photo walk once a month at various locations around Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt. You'll be able to learn from the experts and shoot some great shots along the way. (No fancy camera needed. Just bring your smartphone even!)

They will also be posting participants' photos in the paper and on social media accounts.

The first photo walk, focusing on fall colors, will take place on the Southern Miss campus at 3:35 p.m. with Eli Baylis. Eli is a Hattiesburg native and graduate of Oak Grove High and Southern Miss.

The next photo walk will be Dec. 13 and will be held downtown with photographer Eric Shelton. Eric is a Columbia native, who also graduated from Southern Miss. Details to come.

And after you've been taken pictures for two months, be sure and enter you best work in the Hattiesburg Arts Council photo contest for amateur photographers.

Waveland rebuilding City Hall mosaic that Katrina destroyed

Courtesy of a Mississippi Arts Commission grant, the City of Waveland is creating a new mosaic on the wall in front of the City Hall complex on Coleman Avenue. The original mosaic (above), created in 1997 with the help of many of the area residents, was destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Elizabeth Veglia, the project director of the original mosaic, hosted workshops in September and October leading the community in the creation of the new one. The design takes its inspiration from the Waveland logo and the undulating waves within it. Included in the design will be the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, buildings from the past and new ones that have replaced them, and the local sea and land images that are iconic to our region.  

Mississippi Poet Laureate at USM

Mississippi Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will appear in Hattiesburg on Thursday, Nov. 6,  for a performance with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

Trethewey, the former U.S. poet laureate, will participate in a concert entitled "Made in America" at 7:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium on the USM campus.

Trethewey will narrate the orchestral version of her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Native Guard. The music was composed by USM alumnus Joseph Britain.

The book contains elegies to her mother, who died while Trethewey was in college, and a sonnet sequence in the voice of a black soldier fighting in the Civil War.

  

Poke Salad (Sometimes) Daily Update: #LeaveAPawPrint

I will use this (sometimes) daily update to collect all of

the interesting things I found throughout the day.

 

It's my own recipe, but, as always, I hope you find it tasty too!

Eat your greens. They're good for you!

The Northwest Rankin Middle School is doing something that makes me so excited: They are reading a book (A Long Walk to Water), trying to make a difference (raising $15,000 so a village in South Sudan can have a well), AND using social media to help (through a Twitter account and the #LeaveAPawPrint hashtag). THREE of my favorite things! If you're excited too and want to help, you can donate here. If you have more time than money, share their message on social media to help out!

Speaking of teachers, I heard an interesting segment on NPR One this week on classroom discipline and how no one really teaches teachers about how to control a class. Before I taught writing in college during my assistantship for my master's degree, I witnessed a psychology PhD student lose control of an intro to statistics class he was teaching and I was taking. I learned more about what NOT to do as a teacher in that class then I did about statistics. And, sadly, he had good intentions. He was not a bad guy or a bad teacher. He just conceded control of his class and could NOT be a good teacher.

October 25th was Make a Difference Day, but if you want to continue making a difference and you're a Mississippi hunter, you may want to find out more about Hunters Harvest (and use some of your bounty to feed the hungry).

Mississippi’s strong record of producing football greatness shined on last weekend as Peyton Manning broke an NFL record that was held by Mississippian Brett Favre beforehand. Manning threw his 510th touchdown pass in last Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, leading the Broncos to a 42 to 17 victory. Favre’s number was 508.

“Just want to say congratulations on breaking the touchdown record,” said Favre in a video on nfl.com. “Well deserved. Not surprised, and hopefully many more to come for you.”

I like both LSU and Ole Miss (and Mississippi State even too!). But no matter who's playing, I'm definitely a fan of using the word "slobberknocker" much more in sports writing.
Halloween is this Friday - and it seems like if you don't dress up, YOU will be in the minority. No need to spend all that money though, just make your own costume! Goth Barbie might be a good one. Barbie sales are plummeting downward, excepting these Barbies with fangs and fishnets. Go figure...

Mark your calendar for a benefit for harp great, Greg "Fingers" Taylor. It will take place on November 8 in downtown Clarksdale from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.. This harmonica festival will honor Taylor's music and will raise funds for his mounting medical bills.

Bands scheduled to perform are Mitch Kashmar, Johnny Sansone, Watermelon Slim, Blind Mississippi Morris, Deak Harp & Lee Williams Juke Joint Duo, Billy Gibson, Terry "Harmonica" Bean, Bill Abel & Jon Popper, Carson Diersing, Kilborn Alley Band, Reverend Robert, and Heather Crosse. Hosted by Deak's Harmonica Emporium, the Pink Bar, and Delta Blues Museum, the event will take place at the Delta Blues Museum Stage located next to the Delta Blues Museum. Taylor played the harmonica in Jimmy Buffett's band and on Buffett's records for many years.

Wristbands are $25 at the gate, and $20 in advance. No coolers or outside drinks allowed, food and beer will be sold on site at Pink Bar. There will also be a harmonica workshop on the preceding Friday at Deak's Harp Emporium. For more information and for tickets, visit www.mississippisaxophonefestival.com.

If you would like to subscribe by email to this update, click here.

Poke Salad (Sometimes) Daily Update: Two Hot Tamales

I will use this (sometimes) daily update to collect all of the interesting things I found throughout the day (for work and play). It's my own recipe, but, as always, I hope you find it tasty too! (Eat your greens. They're good for you!)




Betty Lynn Cameron, Main Street Greenville Executive Director and Delta Hot Tamale Festival Coordinator, swears you can't say the words "hot tamale" without smiling. She convinced me of it this weekend.

In 2012, Greenville held its inaugural hot tamale festival. In 2013, it was officially declared the Hot Tamale Capital of the World. But my husband and I took a birthday trip in December of 2010 to try Scott's Hot Tamales - not knowing the infamy to come for our food trek. I had read an article in Southern Living about Scott's Hot Tamales and wanted a road trip for our birthday weekend, so we took off.




In addition to hot tamales, we were in search of every thrift store, flea market and secondhand store we could find on the way. Once we got to Greenville and started hitting the thrift stores, folks would as where we were from and why we were visiting. I'd tell them the Scott's Hot Tamales story. And every time, someone would point me to some other tamale place that REALLY had the best hot tamales but that would never make Southern Living. Some regular stop-in stores and some along the lines of "Go to the house at the end of the street. Turn left and go down a dirt road. Knock on the door three times and ask for Ralph." Before this trip, I had no idea tamales were such a big deal in the Delta. I had had my share of tamales with knock-you-naked margaritas on the patio at Fat Mama's (and did right before this trip too).




I came back from the trip and immediately started googling hot tamales and the Delta. At the time, I found a Delta Hot Tamale Trail was in the works and learned a little about the history of the tamale in the Delta.



The Southern Foodways Alliance says Greenville has more hot tamale restaurants and/or food stations than any other city in Mississippi! So, of course, I had to add visiting the Delta Hot Tamale Festival to my must-do list.



Because I heart hot tamales, the Mississippi Delta and Greenville!

(OK, OK. AND a knock-you-naked margarita with a hot tamale on Fat Mama's patio!)

Regardless of where you get your tamales, remember they freeze very well. Buy extra and stash them away!

I have added making my own hot tamales from scratch to my culinary to-do list this year. I'll have to report back on my experiments! Subscribe to my Poke Salad (Sometimes) Daily Updates and read past updates here.

Poke Salad Daily Update: October 14, 2014 (Money isn't everything.)

I will use this daily update to collect all of the interesting things I found throughout the day (for work and play). It's my own recipe, but, as always, I hope you find it tasty too! If you would like to receive the updates via email, subscribe here. (Eat your greens. They're good for you!)

Mississippi State spends millions less on football than the average power-conference school—and yet the Bulldogs are now the new No. 1 team in college football. So says the Wall Street Journal.

MSU spent $15.3 million on football in fiscal 2013, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. That makes Mississippi State thriftier than every SEC member. Alabama spent $41.5 million on football expenses. It allocates almost as much for coaches’ salaries ($11.8 million) as Mississippi State does for its entire football program.

Speaking of money not being everything, be sure to support Empty Bowls on World Food Day this Thursday to help end hunger in Starkville. This weekend, Starkville will play host to The Preparathon and Garden Fest. Also, Natchez is putting on their famous Great Mississippi River Balloon Race this weekend and Greenville is getting ready for their Delta Hot Tamale Festival.

Halloween is getting closer and closer and you HAVE to see these Pumpkinsteins! (If, like me, you are nowhere near L.A., here's a Frankenstein costume and lots more Halloween ideas.)

I'm determined to get set up to check out e-books from my library by the end of this month. I keep hearing about how easy it is, but I've never done it. My library offered this resource for free online books that I don't have to check out (when I was trying to figure out how to access the ones I do have to check out). If you need some reading material, here are 10 Books Business Owners Should Read. And, if you're a baseball fan, you won't want to miss former Clarion-Ledger Sportswriter Mike Christiansen's new book, Of Mudcat, Boo, The Rope and Oilcan. He'll be signing copies on Thursday at Lemuria and on Friday at the Book Mart Cafe in Starkville. (It would be a great Christmas gift to sock away now.)

Confession: I have not read the book yet. I cannot tolerate much baseball on TV and my favorite thing about watching a real game is nachos. With extra jalapenoes. Now football...that's a whole 'nother story!

Speaking of nachos (or really un-nachos), I leave you with this hilarious video ofwhat happens when second graders are FORCED to try a seven-course, $220 tasting meal from a fancy restaurant in Brooklyn. (It reminds me of the time I spent hours making homemade mac and cheese for my six-year-old...he promptly turned his nose up after the first bite and asked for the Easy Mac. Ugh.)

Poke Salad Daily Update: October 13, 2014 (Poetry is not dead.)

Poke salad is a bit like moonshine. Everyone has their own definition - and their own recipe. I will use this daily update to collect all of the interesting things I found throughout the day (for work and play). It's my own recipe, but, as always, I hope you find it tasty too!

Poetry is not dead.

Brett Favre wrote a birthday poem to Dale Earnhardt Jr. It's pretty good:

"There once was a man from Carolina / As a driver there's none that were finer / At 40 years old, you're brave and you're bold / But watch it Dale, there's a young guy behind you."

Dale obviously liked it too ('cause he tweeted a link and all). Even though he could have just as well reminded Brett how hard a time he had at letting go of it all at the end. Speaking of at the end, Lucinda Williams 84-year-old father lost his ability to write poetry due to Alzheimer's - so she put one of his poems to music on her new album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. (Lucinda Williams once chased Flannery O'Connor's peacocks. This is a luxury of the daughter of the man known as "the Hank Williams of American poetry." Watch Lucinda sing her daddy's poem here.)

The poetry of drones: "The technology of unmanned flight has diversified so rapidly that there are now 1,500 different kinds of drones being manufactured, and they are participants in nearly every type of human endeavor, composing a whole flying-robot ecology so vast that to call every one by the same name can seem absurd." Drones are my current fascination. I have asked Santa for one for Christmas (I've been good!) and my husband has promised to let me hook his GoPro camera up to it. (Just imagine the sunset pictures I'll be able to take then!)

As a child of the 80s, my pride was wounded a bit when I miserably failed on this Ultimate John Hughes Movie Quiz. I consoled myself with pasta. My husband made this Skinny Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bake for supper. It was damn delicious, as the blog's name promised, but I'm not so sure about the "skinny." Perhaps "skinnier" would have been more honest.

Congratulations to Mississippi State for being named No. 1 in the AP poll. (Even Dr. Lou needed more cowbell. ) Ole Miss remained at No. 3. We're all so excited in Mississippi that we've created a new name, Rebel Dawgs, for those of us excited for both teams. (But I'm a USM graduate. You know the real State fans are saying, "Bless their heart. They are just NUMBER THREE." in a hushed, whispery tone.) I never really knew the AP poll was so important, or so political, but it seems there are reporters who wake up early and read a lot on Sunday mornings just to guess what the AP pollsters will decide. There's voting involved and secret handshakes and everything. I pinky swear... (Beware of Mississippi, regardless.)

Jesmyn Ward to read at Millsaps

Jesmyn Ward, whose novel Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction, is scheduled to read from her works at 4 p.m. Thursday in room 215 of the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex at Millsaps College.

The reading is free and open to the public.

Ward, now a faculty member at Tulane University, has won five Hopwood Awards, been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and served as the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. All three of her books — two novels (“Salvage the Bones” and “Where the Line Bleeds”) and a memoir (“Men We Reaped”) — are set on the Gulf Coast where she grew up. Shortly after Ward received her master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, and Ward and her family were forced to evacuate. Later, as a professor at the University of New Orleans, Ward drove to and from work through neighborhoods leveled by the storm.

Ward’s memoir confronts five years of her life in which she lost five young men to death. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, it has been named one of the Best Books of 2013 by Publishers Weekly, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, Kirkus Review, New York Magazine and Time Magazine. 

The Livingston Gardener set to film in Jackson, Canton this August

The Livingston Gardener, the first feature film for Jackson native and producer Missy Tanner, will begin shooting this month in Jackson and Canton. It was written and will be directed by Mississippian Rob Ryan. The psychological thriller has a budget of $100,000, which was all raised from Mississippi investors. In the movie, an investigative reporter finds himself at the mercy of a convicted killer during a live, televised prison interview.

Missy Tanner began her career as an actor, starring in local theatre productions and commercials in Mississippi. In 1996 she packed up her car, and drove out West to Los Angeles where she landed speaking roles in several films and TV shows – Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Good Burger, to name a few. While in L.A., she began to pursue a career in advertising and worked for two of the top five film and television advertising firms while working on films like Mission Impossible: III, Lady In The Water and The Reaping. When her daughter was born, Missy decided to move back to Mississippi.

Ryan, a Millsaps graduate, now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has also written a book, Jonestown, along with several other short films, including Murderabilia and Grasshopper.

Tanner has already sold the film to Synergetic Distribution for May 2015 digital download and DVD and is pursuing a theatrical distribution deal.

If you want to keep up with the movie, like their Facebook page. If you want to keep up with all of the movie news in the state, join the mailing list of Film Mississippi here.

[ H/T Sherry Lucas in The Clarion-Ledger ]

B.B. King to Chair Cotton Pickers of America and Sharecroppers Interpretative Center

B.B. King has replaced Maya Angelou as the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cotton Pickers of America and Sharecroppers Interpretative Center - an effort to build a monument in the Mississippi Delta to honor cotton pickers.

Khafre, Inc, based in Indianola, Mississippi, began the effort in 2009 to build the complex to say thanks to those who helped build the cotton empire that fueled the American economy for nearly two centuries., says C. Sade Turnipseed, founder and executive director.

The monument will be 25-feet tall and will be located on 20 acres of cotton fields along Highway 61.

"The Cotton Pickers Monument Complex would not only help heal wounds that have festered for decades, but would also help to empower the generations of family members who have been negatively impacted by this unfortunate era in American history," Khafre said in a statement. "By embracing the shared history of many races and individuals from different social classes, it is Khafre, Inc's sincerest hope and deeply held conviction that this monument/educational center will help bridge deep racial divisions and distrust through education, outreach and recognition of the strength of the human soul. This is truly a historic endeavor that has the rare opportunity of actually transforming lives, communities, and the conversations about race in America and throughout the world."

Khafre, Inc. held weekly sessions throughout this summer to gather memories and oral histories from people with roots in the Delta, especially older African-Americans with first-hand knowledge of work in the cotton fields. If you missed a session, you can add your oral history online here.

If you're interested in helping, you can donate here. To support the cause, you can also buy a miniature of the statue and legacy bricks in the plaza. The group is also accepting art, artifacts, or literary works for inclusion in the soon-to-be-released anthology, The Cotton Pickers of America.

Jackson native publishes The Resurrectionist

Matthew Guinn, who lives in the Jackson area, combines fact and fiction in The Resurrectionist, his Southern Gothic debut novel. (W. W. Norton & Co.; $25.95 hardcover). Based on the true story of Grandison Harris, aka the “Resurrection Man” of Georgia, the novel weaves crime, social commentary and revenge into a moral parable of the South.

Read more from Susan O'Bryan in The Clarion-Ledger here.

On July 13, Guinn will have a hometown book launch at Lemuria Books. On July 16, he will be at Square Books in Oxford. Find his complete book tour schedule here.

Tougaloo Art Colony returns after hiatus

The Tougaloo Art Colony, known as “Hot Art” both for its summer sessions and profile as a hotbed for creativity, returns to the campus this weekend after a year’s absence.

The colony will start with registration on Sunday and continue through July 18, with studio open houses on July 19. Read more from Sherry Lucas in The Clarion-Ledger here.

Register here.

Gorgeous time-lapse is a "Love Letter to the Fog of the San Francisco Bay Area"

Read more here.

Mississippi Hill Country Blues: Photographs by George Mitchell

Corresponding to the release of the book Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967 (Published by University Press of Mississippi, Jackson), the Mississippi Museum of Art will present Mississippi Hill Country Blues: Photographs by George Mitchell, an exhibition of 75 black and white photographs. The exhibition is on view June 29 through September 8, 2013, at the Museum.

The exhibition showcases photographs that George Mitchell captured in the Hill Country of Mississippi over 13 days in the summer of 1967. In addition to the photographs of renowned blues musicians such as Jessie Mae Hemphill, Ada Mae Anderson, R.L. Burnside, and Joe Callicott, exhibition visitors will have the opportunity to hear original field recordings by these musicians as captured by George Mitchell. The recordings and photographs he collected depict the artists and the environments that influenced the Hill Country Blues.

 "The field research trip that my wife Cathy and I took to Mississippi during the summer of 1967 was one of the most fascinating and memorable experiences of my life," said the artist. "We found, recorded, photographed, and interviewed so many great musicians in this brief period of time that it was almost unbelievable. Just as amazing was how the very nice people in the region welcomed me, volunteered to help me, and made me feel at home."

George Mitchell has recorded and photographed many blues singers across the South in Tennessee, Alabama, and throughout Georgia. While preparing to move from a house he had lived in for 35 years, he rediscovered a large collection of photographs that were taken on that trip to the Mississippi Hill Country. Upon completing its run at the Museum in Jackson, the exhibition will tour the Museum's Statewide Affiliate Network until June 2015.

Over the last decade Oxford's Fat Possum label reissued all of the recordings made by Mitchell in Memphis, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and elsewhere via CDs, LPs, and a boxed set available either on CD or 45rpm singles.

On Tuesday, August 20, 2013, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM, George Mitchell will visit the Museum to participate in a special Unburied Treasures program and book signing of Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967. The program features an artwork from the exhibition, complete with a guided tour of the galleries by the artist, where he talks about the musicians he interviewed and photographed in north Mississippi. Award-winning musician Cedric Burnside will share memories of performing with his grandfather, R. L. Burnside, answer questions, and demonstrate the blues music of the Mississippi Hill Country. This program is free and open to the public.

Here's a Spotify playlist to get you to August...

Pinterest vs. Reality

We have two big oak trees fairly close together in our yard. We have come up with all sorts of things we COULD do here...but then I saw this on Pinterest.

I am in love. With my new life. After this is in my backyard. I imagine all of the elaborate Gatsby-like outdoor parties in my future just from this one addition to my life. I mention casually to my husband that someone on Pinterest has made a table from a door that would look great between our trees. He says to show it to him and he'll see what he can do.

I find it on the Pinterest and bring it on over. He does not seem quite as enthused as me...

"It's a table. That is also a swing."

"Yes. But it's got four rope supports," I note.

"Four rope supports. On one branch. Still makes it a SWING. That you could TRY to eat on... Maybe we could add a support bar between our two trees and that would help with stabilization."

"A support bar?" I cried. "But that would spoil the mood. Look at this picture. Look at the MOOD. A support bar? Totally mood spoiled."

"Look at this picture," he adds. "Notice no one is EATING at this table."

Well, he does have a point.

Hmmm. Maybe I could cover the support bar with a few hundred strands of twinkle lights! ;)

 

Thrift Store Dragon Fly Hooks

Cast iron dragonfly hooks, $5 each. Hanging succulents $12 each.

Green spray paint

New front porch plant hangers are up!

Thrift Store Bird Feeder

$2 for the leg, 50 cents for the tea cup tray

Hot glue gun...

$2.50 for my new birdhouse!

There is Pleasure in the Pathless Woods

By Lord Byron

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
There is society, where none intrudes, 
By the deep sea, and music in its roar: 
I love not man the less, but Nature more, 
From these our interviews, in which I steal 
From all I may be, or have been before, 
To mingle with the Universe, and feel 
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

 

Three Louisiana state parks and one in Mississippi have scheduled New Year's Day hikes in a national program to start the year outdoors and active. Find out more here.

New Year Resolve

by  May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

[ via Writer's Almanac ]

How to tell a leap of faith from a stupid decision

While flipping through the January 2013 O magazine and reading the perfunctory "new year, new you" stories, this sub-headline of Martha Beck's jumped out at me: "How to Tell a Leap of Faith from a Stupid Decision." The slant of the story is that most of the time we don't take chances because of fear, but, I suppose, the advice holds just as true for those of us who tend to leap first and look later. (I can still hear my third-grade teacher, Sister Rose, shaking her head sympathetically and whispering in my ear, "Look before you leap, little one. Look before you leap!")

She points out that it's not unusual for humans to base almost every decision on fear, but "fear-based decisions lead to hollow victories at best, endless regret at worst. Only love-based decisions create lasting happiness."

I was just flipping through a magazine (albeit electronically) a few seconds before, so it took a minute or so for that one to sink in... And then I started thinking about the big decisions I made and tried to determine if they were fear-based or love-based. (And she's the expert and she even admits it's sometimes hard to tell the difference at the time.)

The trick is imagining your world with no fear and making sure the decision is not made on fear of rejection or poverty or looking dumb (or even, sometimes, the fear of succeeding, really).

Need some help? Here's some leaps of faith to get you started in the new year. Take one:

• Leap of Faith (the play)
• Leap of Faith (the movie)
• Leap of Faith (the autobiography)
• Leap of Faith (the song)
• Leap of Faith (the bungee rental)
• Leap of Faith (the TV series)

 

Remembrance of Things Passed...and Things to Come

Gretchen and me

On the way to see Gretchen Peters and Barry Walsh open for John Prine last night, my husband asked, "So how did y'all originally know each other?"

There was a time when I would have covered my mouth and mumbled "on  my blog" or "on  Twitter" because of the strange looks I got - but, now, I have made so many great friends over the years, I say it more like a badge of honor. (And, honestly, I find so many more new cool people online I don't know yet, I've decided that there's just no way to meet all of the cool people before I die and I'll just have to make peace with it and enjoy the ones I have the time to know.)

I don't know exactly when, but at some time in 2007, I received an email from Gretchen that said red was her favorite color, she loved chandeliers, she preferred the window seat to the aisle...and she also had completing Remembrance of Things Past  on her Life List. When I started my Proust of the Day plodding through the book, she finally broke down and wrote to me. She told me she was a singer/songwriter/musician and travelled all the time, but she enjoyed my blog and always tried to keep up with my shenanigans.

Of course, I was beyond flattered. The woman who wrote many country hits for others and was writing herself many folk hits enjoyed MY blog. (I did write way more back then. Eight blog posts a day. Every day. Not quite on that schedule post-Facebook and -Google+ and writing for work blogs all week.)

Gretchen, Barry and Nigel

Through Gretchen, I met Barry Walsh (her boyfriend at the time and now her husband). And shortly after we all began emailing back and forth, he was coming to Madison, MS, with The Boxtops to play for a concert. We became fast friends too, and I even got to visit with both of them (and their dog, Nigel!) en route to their honeymoon in New Orleans. 

Over the years, through newlsetters and emails and Facebooking and tweeting, I've got to know both of them fairly well. I have read about their kids and their families, so it was especially meaningful to me that I brought my son last night for his first concert...to see Gretchen and Barry! (I told them they are now my son's Night Ranger. And the only reason my father let me go is that I won tickets from the local radio station.) 

If you want to get to know Gretchen and Barry too, sign uf for Gretchen's e-newsletter, like her page on Facebook, and follow her and Barry on Twitter. I have collected all of their songs available on Spotify below in a special Gretchen & Barry Playlist!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

When I took my son to see The Beasts of the Southern Wild, we saw a preview for The Perks of Being a Wallfower. The preview said it was based on a book. It seemed geared towards a teen audience, so I told him we should read the book together and then go see the movie. He rolled his eyes. (After reading the book, not sure I'm quite ready to discuss some of the themes with my 12-year-old son anyways.)

The book is an interesting read. If J.D. Salinger and Nick Hornby had a love child, this book would be it. Music is almost a third character throughout the book. Music and books. (To Kill a Mockingbird, This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, Naked Lunch, Walden, The Fountainhead, The Stranger, Peter Pan, Hamlet.)

And for those days when you need to remember how you felt in that moment, when you were infinite, here is a The Perks of Being a Wallflower playlist - a combo of all of the songs mentioned in the book and songs from the movie's soundtrack too. (I hope I get a gold star!)

A Diamond in the Rough

Shawn Colvin had a lot of great songs, but, sadly, none about a girl named Shawn, as I lamented many years ago. But, since we share the same (weird) first name, I've always felt a kinship regardless.  She added author to her singer/songwriter title with Diamond in the Rough.

I enjoyed the book, and I collected all of the music she mentioned in the book (including her own) in this Spotify playlist. Enjoy!

Now I understand...

I love claw machines. I don't care what they say. 

It's not rigged. It just requires teamwork. Family teamwork. One person at the claw...and a spotter on the side to overcome the distortion of the mirror.

It's only "rigged" when the claw sucks. Which happens often. You put your money in and the claw couldn't pick up a bale of cotton candy, much less a giant SpongeBob.

"In a way, it’s like gambling, but with the added detriment that the player might just be terrible at gauging distance."

It all makes perfect sense now! 

You just leave all the goodies for us spatially challenged gamblers, suckers! ;)

Now Open...

I know that most think Instagram is to photography as frozen dinners are to fine dining. Go ahead. Call me bourgeois...then go and visit my new InstaCanvas Gallery! ;)

The Kindness of Strangers

I'm excited to share that the Black Rose Theatre in Brandon is performing my one-act play, The Kindness of Strangers, July 12-15 during a night of one acts.

The play is a kind of love letter to Streetcar Named Desire and New Orleans - two of my favorite things!

My son was in Black Rose's production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the beginning of the year. I spent a lot of time in the theatre. Sitting. Waiting. Sitting and waiting. And pacing.

At the end, I decided to use the time to write myself instead of just sitting there. I wrote the play in a week while sitting in the back row of the same theatre it will be performed. (Because I found out about the one-act play competion the week before.) It was a very rough draft.

I'm very excited but scared to death. Auditions for the one acts are June 18th and 19th... so if you've been wanting to try out for a play, come on out and be scared WITH me! ;)

The play is attached below. I have to come up with a set that can be moved easily too. If anyone has any ideas of how to create a bar scene inexpensively that can be moved quickly and easily, let me know!

Download Bluemoon

Five Favorite Things

My five favorite things for this week...

1. Google Plus - I love it! It's like the early days of Twitter. Lots of great conversations and I've even met some cool new folks too!
2. Spotify - My playlist addiction is in full force again...making them AND listening to others too.
3. Sopapilla Cheesecake - This recipe tastes like King Cake. My son and I are already plotting our Mardi Gras version with green, yellow and purple sprinkles on top. But, regardless, it's perfect just the way it is already!
4. Dark Chocolate Banana Babies - Yum! I just found these recently. I know I could make my own too, but I don't know if they'd be much better than these!
5. My parents - This coming Saturday I'm taking my son for a weeklong visit with his grandparents. (I'm picking him up the next Saturday. It's a lot of driving.)  But I'm so thankful he has grandparents who he wants to spend a week with and who are excited to be spending a week with him!

Dinner Tonight

Sweet-Hot Chutney-Grilled Chicken

This recipe was courtesy of Serious Eats. And I couldn't find mango chutney at the grocery store, so we used a mango salsa instead. I think the chutney would have clung better to the chicken, but it was still good. (It does have a bit of heat though!) Quinn threw some ears of corn on the grill too with the chicken and I made zucchini fries too!

Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries

This recipe, courtesy of Confections of a Foodie Bride, is a great way to sneak in some veggies with the kids. (If your kids are like my son, dipping anything seems to make it taste better too.)

Philly Cheesesteak Pizza

We had a cookout on Sunday and had steak left over, so I was searching for something different besides steak and eggs or steak quesadillas to make with the yummy leftovers. So, here it is...

This recipe + this recipe =

(Shawn's) Philly Cheesesteak Pizza

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Ranch dressing
12 slices of provolone cheese
Leftover steak (about 2 cups, sliced thinly)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
10 oz. baby bellas, sliced
4 c. mozzarella cheese
Steak seasoning (I used McCormick's Montreal Brand seasoning)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Unroll crescent rolls into rectangles. Place in ungreased 11 1/2 inch x 16 1/2 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Press dough over the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust.  Bake at 375 oven for 11 to 13 minutes or just until golden brown.

While the crust is baking, lightly saute the onion, mushrooms, and green pepper with a small amount of butter or margarine and garlic. (Do not over cook.) Drain and set aside.

Drizzle Ranch dressing on top of crust and spread out with knife. Layer the provolone cheese on top. Spread the steak around and then the veggies on top. Put the mozzarella cheese on top of that and sprinkle with steak seasoning.

Return to oven for 3-6 more minutes until cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.  Makes 12 main dish servings or 48 appetizers.

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Tomatoes

This recipe + this recipe =

(Shawn's) Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Tomatoes

1 lb asparagus, trimmed
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the asparagus and tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Mix together the minced garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and drizzle over the asparagus and tomatoes. Toss to coat completely.

Roast for 25 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

After removing sprinkle with the goat cheese. Serve immediately.

I served it with Sesame Beef. Yum!

Friday Family Fiesta Night

We had this for dinner and dessert tonight. It was all delicious. And a fun Friday Family Fiesta Night.

This recipe is courtesy of Real Mom Kitchen blog. The basic recipe could be easily changed up, and I've already been dreaming up Mediterranean Pizzas and Greek Pizzas. I think cream cheese would be a great base. But this Mexican rendition...I KNOW it works. It was delicious.

Dessert was Sopapilla Cheesecake (another Real Mom recipe). And my son, who loves cheesecake in any and every form, says that this one is his favorite yet. Quentin says this tastes a lot like king cake - so at Mardi Gras we're gonna try it with green, yellow, and purple sprinkles instead of cinnamon sugar!

I didn't plan this, but, somehow, tonight, I have used more Pillsbury Crescent Rolls than I have in the last five years combined! (Obviously Real Moms use refrigerated crescent rolls often!) ;)

I found both of these recipes on Pinterest. Want to see more recipes? Browse through my Yummo and Let Them Eat Cake pins (where these recipes wait permanently now).

It wasn't cheating. It was research...

I can't have candy, unless I've never tried it before and it's a review for this blog. And it's on sale. And last week, the coconut M&Ms were 2/$1 at Kroger. I had been avoiding them for a while. I'm not a big fan of coconut and I just couldn't even figure out how M&Ms could possibly taste coconut successfully.

But, luckily, I was wrong. These taste like mini Almond Joy bars. And they are much softer on the inside than the other M&Ms, so I'm guessing they would do well in baking and in ice cream. (I love mini M&Ms in ice cream but they do get hard as a rock!)

I think I'll have to try this Chocolate Coconut M&M Cookie recipe and report back!

Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

Quinn's father loves angel food cake - and I don't. Which is not really a problem except that I obviously tend to lean towards making sweets I love and I had never made an angel food cake.

Well, now I have. I used this recipe, and, from what people tell me who like angel food cake and think it tastes yummy, it was delicious. (I had some too. It tasted like angel food cake.) ;)

I did think the strawberry sauce I made up on my own was pretty good though. The container was about a pint but seemed a bit larger. I cut the strawberries up in small bites and then put them in a pan with 1/3 cup sugar over medium heat. After they got a little mushy I added a tsp of vanilla and a tbsp of butter and served it warm over the angel food cake.

Happy (sort of) birthday, Lady Liberty!

On this day in 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. Formally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World," she was a gift from France, and was funded by the French people.

Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi first had the idea for a monument to commemorate the friendship between the United States and France in 1865, but he didn't begin actual construction until the early 1870s; he chose Bedloe's Island — now called Liberty Island — because the statue could welcome the boats full of immigrants, who would pass by the statue on the way to Ellis Island. He was delighted to learn that the island was the property of the United States government, which meant all the states — not just New York — could claim equal ownership in the statue.

Lady Liberty is made of sheets of copper over a framework of steel supports; the framework was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame. She was constructed in France and then was disassembled to make her journey to New York, where she was reassembled to her full height of 151 feet, 1 inch. Mounted on her pedestal, she stands 305 feet tall. Her torch was wired for electrical power in 1916. The seven rays of her crown represent the seven seas and the seven continents; the broken shackles at her feet evoke freedom from slavery and oppression; and the tablet in her left hand represents the law. Bartholdi completed her right arm and torch, as well as her head, before the rest of the statue was designed, and the arm went on display in 1876 as part of the United States Centennial celebrations. Liberty's face was modeled after Bartholdi's mother.

Emma Lazarus's oft-quoted sonnet, "The New Colossus" (1883), which was written to raise money for construction of the statue's pedestal, is engraved on a brass plaque inside it:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[ via The Writer's Almanac ]

Asparagus Roll-Ups

 
Image via Fresh Fridge

I pinned this recipe to my Yummo folderr on www.pinterest.com and tried it tonight. It was delicious! I was going to try it with pancetta instead of ham, but the Kroger in Madison didn't have any. They did have thin-sliced smoked pork so I used that instead. I made a few changes to the original recipe...

Asparagus Roll-Ups

Yield: 8 roll-ups

1 bunch asparagus spears, cut down to about 3 1/2-inches with the head
1 (8 oz) package refrigerated crescent rolls
1-2 tablespoons honey mustard
8 thin slices of smoked pork (available near bacon and Canadian bacon)

Preheat the oven to 375˚F.  Spray a  baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Saute the asparagus in a dash of olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook the pork about 2-3 min. on each side.  Meanwhile, separate the crescent roll dough into 8 triangles and lay flat on the baking sheet.  Spread a thin layer of the mustard on each triangle.

Wrap two or three spears together in one piece of pork, then place at the wide end of a dough triangle and roll up the dough.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly golden brown.  Serve warm.

(We had it for supper. I served two as a meal with creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms and sliced tomatoes. YUM!)

Middle Class Blues

Photo by Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski

by Dennis O'Driscoll

He has everything.
A beautiful young wife.
A comfortable home.
A secure job.
A velvet three-piece suite.
A metallic-silver car.
A mahogany cocktail cabinet.
A rugby trophy.
A remote-controlled music centre.
A set of gold clubs under the hallstand.
A fair-haired daughter learning to walk.

What he is afraid of most
and what keeps him tossing some nights
on the electric underblanket,
listening to the antique clock
clicking with disapproval from the landing,
are the stories that begin:
He had everything.
A beautiful young wife.
A comfortable home.
A secure job.
Then one day.

Shower Smoothie



Celebrities happily drop $405 on the Ultimate Total Body Hydra-Dermabrasion Resurfacing treatment at the Ole Henriksen Face/Body Spa in Los Angeles. Ole adapted the recipe for Redbook magazine — and it costs only $10. (Much closer to my pay grade.)

Shower Smoothie

2 oz wet coffee grounds
2 oz Epsom salts
1 ripe avocado, mashed
2 oz plain Greek yogurt
Sunflower seed oil

In a medium bowl, mix coffee grounds and salts. In another, mix avocado and yogurt. Combine the contents of both bowls, stirring thoroughly. Mix in just enough oil to make a smooth — not runny — paste. Now step into the shower, get wet, and turn off the water. Here comes the fun part: “Using the entire palm of each hand, vigorously scrub your body from feet to neck for several minutes,” Henriksen says. When you’re done, just rinse and glow. Bonus: “You’ll feel an immediate lifting and constricting of the skin from the coffee — and incredible smoothness too.

 

Perfectly Summer Dinner

Something about 100 degree temperatures makes you want to eat differently. For me, it brings back childhood boat days of small, light snacks all day (rather than one big meal). Last night, we threw together an admittedly strange combo that just worked somehow.

We started out with this fabulous Watermelon and Feta Salad. (The picture doesn't do it justice - and the watermelon and red onion just do something wonderful to each other.)

We hadn't broke out the fondue pot in a while, so we decided on cheese fondue as the main course, with steamed artichokes on the side. The last time I made fondue I used a recipe that had a strong wine taste and neither of us liked it much, so I tried this recipe (which has no wine at all). It was definitely more to our taste, and it's very basic, so now that we know we like it we can start adding our own touches.

We have grilled and stuffed artichokes and not found any keeper recipes in any of them. So we decided to go back to the basics and just steam the artichokes. (Thanks to the Aiming Low blog for some basic guidelines.) I served it with just a basic butter dipping sauce (1 stick butter melted, 2 tbsp lemon juice, & 1/2 tsp minced garlic).

Some times, when you try all new things for dinner (OK, most of the time), at least one thing is not going to turn out well, but this was just one of those perfectly summer dinners that all came together perfectly!

Cataloging local finds with Pinterest

 

We had to get the oil changed in our cars today (to get ready for our trip to Point Clear, Ala., next week), so, as usual, we walked over to the Lakeland Yard & Garden Center right next door while we were waiting. (And, as usual, we spent too much money on plants. Can't seem to pass a bookstore or a garden center without spending money these days! Sheesh.)

I played with the Pinterest iphone app and tried out its feature of taking pictures and pinning local items. I can see that it would be very useful to help other friends locally find cool things and to remember things that you might want to go back and get later. (I helped a friend make decisions about potential office decorations once and we took pictures and posted them on Flickr, but using the pinterest app would have been much simpler!)

It would also be useful as a local foodie guide. Take pictures and post them. And make the board open so others could post them too!

My only complaint is that sporadically the app just shuts down. It seems to happen more often if you're taking pictures within the app (rather than using the iphone camera and finding the pic in the library).

I hope to use the app more in the coming weeks! Stay tuned! (And see all of my finds at Lakeland Yard & Gard Center here.)

It's time for a Pinterest intervention too...

It's all Rebecca's fault. She sent me the Pinterest invite...probably just knowing that I wouldn't come up for air for weeks!

 

For a girl in love with everything and nothing, it's like a kind of 2.0 (second) home for me! It's basically visual bookmarking, but it feels like a community of folks who all love fashion and food and funky and fun.

And since I'm spending so much time there (instead of here), I guess I'll just have to show you here what I'm doing there from time to time.

 

Here's my Hats Off board. (Don't roll your eyes...you know you SO want that Yoda cap!)

So hat's off to Pinterest for collecting so many fabulous ideas in one place. And hats off to Rebecca Benson for sending me the invite (even if it has led to too many nights of saying, "How could it possibly be midnight already?!").

It's time for an intervention...

Quinn has been on a spray paint rampage outside - pots, wicker furniture, trellises, birdhouses, birdbaths, signs. It's obviously contagious because I've started on the inside now! ;) But not with a new obsession...I have had an owl thing for a while now.

I got this owl at Forget Me Nots in Brandon for $6.

Then spent almost as much for this metallic paint (just 'cause we hadn't tried metallic spray paint yet).

And voila...

I like it...and, as Quinn pointed out, it's now "hand-painted" (as I held the can in my hand and all!). ;)

Tomorrow...bookends!

E&N Notebook, Thursday, April 21

• Move over, man in the moon. Now there's more to see...thanks to the first detailed lunar-surface map.
• A lovely lullaby CD created to help some kids who really need it
• The science of tornadoes
• Magic Fudge
• Enter The Age of Man
• In case you ever wondered what a "real estate novelist" is while singing Piano Man badly too
• The cast of Dr. Who reads celebrity tweets
• What makes music expressive?

God Says Yes To Me

by Kaylin Haught
from The Palm of Your Hand

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes