As school begins today, I think of how so many of my students do not have a guiding philosophy for their life. Even many, if not most, of this age’s adults lack ideals that give them focus and sharpen virtue.  I collect quotations. (Please send me your favorite ones). Though I’ll probably add to this list, here are some proverbs and quotations that have always been important to me, and ones I try to live by:

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still likes you.”–Source unknown.

“Experience is not the best teacher, just the hardest teacher.”–Source unknown

“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”–Ernest Hemingway

“We should not maliciously use truth to inflict injury upon others.”–(James Lee Burke says this is from St. Augustine.)

“Money answers all things.”–Ecclesiastes 10:19

“Do the hardest tasks first.”–Unknown

Thursday morning, I traveled to Bernice, Louisiana. According to the city’s website, the area is known as the “big woods” for its large stands of huge virgin pine, which Captain C.C. Henderson planned to take advantage of by means of his Arkansas Southern Railroad, the first railway in the parish. A railroad depot was built soon after, and today it has been restored and houses the Depot Museum with a collection of Bernice memorabilia.

Bernice extends the invitation to come and personally visit the Depot Museum and the Capt. Henderson Caboose Museum. Also, stop by the Town Hall to visit and have a cup of coffee. The Tourist Center is located directly beside the Town Hall.”

At the invitation of Violet, staff writer for the Bernice Banner, I spoke at the Bernice Business Club, a group of professionals who operate very much like a chamber of commerce. I spoke about writing, played my guitar and sang a few songs, and signed some books. They were a wonderful group of people and very interested in my writing about America’s Civil War. I also received a tentative invitation to perform at the annual Corney Creek festival in April and to speak to the Historical Society at a later time.  I was able to meet so many interesting people, including Mayor Hicks, and Mr. Miner Patton, former police chief and former mayor.

Before the luncheon, I stopped in at the Children’s museum (Bernice Depot Museum & Captain Henderson Kids’ Caboose) there. It is administered b y the Bernice Historical Society. The railroad depot was built about 1899 and served as a depot until 1984. There are many artifacts and memorabilia related to the railroad, to pioneers and original settlers, and to people of note who have lived in Bernice. Very interesting.

Here is a photo of Gladys Harkins, who runs the museum, followed by a flag of a WWII captured Japanese flag–the first I’ve ever seen. There is also a photo of the museum’s caboose that houses a wonderful collection of old children’s toys and the Corney Creek jail, that really used to be the city’s jail. I met a man in Bernice who had actually been arrested and who had spent the night there.

Thursday night, I spoke at the Arlington, TX SCV camp meeting. I’ll have another post on that. Yesterday, (Friday, August 15) I spent with my father (now 81). It was his birthday. Today, I’ve a signing at the Sherman, TX Books-a-Million.  I’ll return to Louisiana tomorrow and gear up and prepare syllabi for my college classes. I’ve got one at ULM and three at Delta, Monday-Wednesday. More in my next post.

I have selected some quotations from Richard Williams’ fine book, Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man’s Friend, which I reviewed yesterday.  These quotations that may provide new insights into Jackson and pique interest in Williams’ book and the many topics it addresses.

“The North, no less than the South, was responsible and suffered for the evils of slavery” (p. 33)

“Both of Jackson’s great-grandparents had come to America ‘under a seven-year indenture’ ” (74)

“He [Jackson} was an avid reader. By 1861, his library consisted of 122 books . . .” (98)

From reading William’s book (in text and in his notes), you can also learn about:

1) Carter G.  Woodson, a son of a slave who is considered the father of black history and is credited for initiating Black HIstory Month.

2) Uncle Lewis, the first black chaplain for the (Confederate) Army; John Jasper, the first black war-hospital chaplain (for Chimborazo hospital in Richmond).

3) How Jackson’s church, colored Sunday school, and Jackson’s mentors positively affected the future of education and race relations in Virginia.

Here was a great quotation of Frederick Douglas that Williams included:

“Once you learn to read you will forever be free.”

A Review of Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man’s Friend by Richard G. Williams Jr.

In my research for my children’s picture book about the black Sunday school that Stonewall Jackson taught just before the War Between the States, the most helpful book I’ve found is Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man’s Friend by Richard G. Williams Jr. (Cumberland House Press). The book is thought provoking and reveals Williams’ extensive research–research that brings many surprising and ironic facts to light. The book is objectively written, well-documented, and is a book that not only humanizes Jackson, but also describes the complex relationship between black and white Americans before and during the Civil War. I had known Jackson was a spiritual man, but only after reading this book did I understand how deep his spirituality was. Williams, the author, reveals thorough understanding and knowledge of the scripture and religious history. By analyzing the time period and setting, Jackson’s family and life, the individuals who influenced Jackson, and the individuals he influenced, Williams opens the heart of Jackson and we not only see Jackson the soldier, but Jackson the Christian, the man who out of love for his fellow man risked fines, imprisonment, and ridicule because he wanted to share the gospel with people of color.

If you are a student of America’s Civil War, Williams’ book on Stonewall Jackson is a fine book to add to your collection. You can and should order his book here:

Here is a song, written by Jed Marum, one of America’s top Celtic and Civil War musicians, honoring Stonewall Jackson. If you enjoy or are interested in hearing great music of the Civil War, you need Jed’s CD, “Cross Over the River.” You can order it here:

CROSS OVER THE RIVER
© Jed Marum 2005

CHO: Let us cross over the river
And sit in the shade of the trees
Let us cross over the river
For the day is done
Let us take our ease

Gone are the racket and rattle
Gentle the glow of the sun
Distant the field of the battle
Contented my work here is done
CHO

My soldiers are tired and weary
They’re ragged but their spirits are strong
The years have been bitter and dreary
These hardships they’ve battled so long
CHO

Many’s the home that’s been grieved in
For their loved ones I’ve led into war
Fought and died for what they believed in
So many I’ve brought to this shore
CHO

Gone are the racket and rattle
Gentle the glow of the sun
Distant the field of the battle
Contented my work here is done

In Lexington, Virginia, the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church was founded by Lylburn L. Downing. He knew of Jackson and his work with the colored Sunday school through the memory and testimony of his parents. He determined to honor Jackson. Here is a photo of the stained glass window he designed and commissioned in memory of Stonewall Jackson. At the bottom of the window are the famous last words of Jackson: “Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the tree.”

Famous Confederate Horses of the Civil War

The following is an article of mine written for T.G.I.F. Weekend Bandit in Denison, Texas
Residents of North Texas and Indian Territory have always been fond of horses. As you may know, it was in our part of the nation that the Chickasaw horse, a superior riding breed, was developed. You can see a photo and read all about the Chickasaw horse in this article on the website of the Chickasaw

Here are some famous Confederate horses and their famous riders that I found listed at this site: (This excellent site has tons of interesting information about the Civil War, what we Southerners call the War of Northern Aggression).

Belle Boyd – Fleeter – was ridden by this famous Confederate spy.
Maj. Gen. William B. Bate – Black Hawk – was ridden by this general.
Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne – Dixie– this battle steed was killed at Perryville while being ridden by General Cleburne.
Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell – Rifle – a much cherished steed.
Nathan Bedford Forrest – King Philip – possibly the favorite horse of Forrest, who also owned and rode Roderick and Highlander.
Capt. W I. Rasin.- Beauregard – who survived until 1883, was ridden to Appomattox by Rasin.
Stonewall Jackson – Old Sorrel – formerly a Union officer’s mount, was acquired by Jackson at Harpers Ferry when she was about eleven years old. Because the mare was so small that Jackson’s feet nearly dragged the ground, she was often known as Little Sorrel. Little Sorrel Lane in Somers, Connecticut, commemorates the animal Jackson was riding when he was mortally wounded.
Brig. Gen. Adam R. Johnson – Joe Smith – was ridden by the general.
Gen. Albert S. Johnston – Fire-eater – a splendid bay thoroughbred ridden by Johnston when he was killed at Shiloh.
Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee – Nellie Gray – this mare was numbered among the dead at Opequon.
Gen. Robert E. Lee – Traveller – by all odds this best-known horse of the war was Lee’s favorite. Earlier he owned and rode Richmond, Brown-Roan, Lucy Long, and Ajax. Traveller is the purported author of a ghost-written volume that depicts the Civil War as seen through equine eyes.
Col. E G. Skinner – Old Fox – ridden by this Col of the First Virginia Infantry.
Maj. Gen. Jeb Stuart – Virginia – credited with having prevented the capture of by jumping an enormous ditch. In addition to the mare, Stuart frequently rode Highfly.
M. Jeff Thompson – Sardanapalus – favorite mount of this partisan of Missouri.

I’m currently in Oklahoma, taking care of my parents after my mom’s surgery, but I was able to make this short post. Like my first list of types of Southern people, this list will likely expand. I would love to have your suggestions, so write me at rickeyp@bayou.com.   Southerners like their food. Yankees like Southern food. Some foods are unique, distinctive, and are a part of the fabric and milieu of the South. Much can happen at a meal, or be explained or discovered at a meal.  You’re likely to encounter these foods in any Southern writer’s book. I tried to select food-words that are distinctly Southern.

1. chicory: An ingredient in some blends of Louisiana coffee. You can read more about chicory here:

2. mint julep: Traditional drink of the South. (sometimes spelled “julip”)  Here is a site of the recipe:

3. grits – coarsely ground corn meal. Here’s a site: http://www.grits.com/

4. Po Boy – a traditional Louisiana submarine sandwich. Can be made of meat or seafood–catfish, oysters, shrimp.  Bread is usually French.

5. Tabasco – The legendary king of pepper sauce! Here is their site: http://www.tabasco.com/main.cfm

6. Muscadine (sometimes muscadime) Wild (and sometimes cultivated) grapes of the Southeast. Called the Passion fruit of the South.  Makes a fine wine. Here is a great site: http://www.muscadine.com/

7. Louisiana foods: There is a long list here: Community Coffee, jambala, gumbo, boudin, etouffee,  sauce piquant, and many others.

I’m going to be creating word-banks and word-lists of suggested vocabulary for those writers who wish to write about the South or about Southern people. The first list is of distinctive types of people in the South. These types of people make excellent characters for your stories. However, they need to be studied, researched, thought about, and interviewed (if possible) so that you will avoid the stereotypical images and provide readers with valuable insights into the human condition and human nature. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, so if you think of another type of person, email it to me and I’ll add it to the list with an acknowledgment that you supplied it. rickeyp@bayou.com Likewise, the definitions I supply are simple key words to help you understand and are not meant to be comprehensive.

*Disclaimer: If you’re hyper-politically correct or sensitive, or have an aversion to slang, or if you are overly concerned about offending people by your words, you might want to avoid the lists I’ll be creating. If course, if you are such a person, you don’t have any business wanting to be a writer anyway.

Types of People in the South:

1. *Redneck – Of the Southern White laboring class.

2. Peckerwood – a rural White Southerner

3. Jezebel – A woman or girl of questionable morality. No Southern mother would think of naming her daughter after the wicked queen of Israel. You can read about her in I and II Kings.

4. *Cracker – a poor Southern white (often from Florida or Georgia). Sometimes used in a racially charged manner.

5. Cajun (aka, “Coonass”) French Acadians whom the British expelled from Canada. They landed in South Louisiana, forever changing the Louisiana landscape.

6. Creole – In its pure sense, a creole is a first generation descendant of Spanish or French colonists. The term has become to be used more loosely to describe South Louisiana culture, or people of color. Though some creoles were people of color, color is irrelevant.

7. Southern Belle – Girls raised to be beautiful and charming in the Southern antebellum tradition, stressing the cultivation of beauty and hospitality.

8. Redbone – a person of mixed race in Louisiana, usually black and Native American.

9. Gullah, Geechi – African-Americans who lived (and live) in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia. They speak a Krio-type language. I’m told we gained our words for “gumbo” and for “goober” (peanut) from them. A rich culture worthy of more study.

10. Quadroon – One who is of one-fourth black ancestry.

11. Octoroon – One who is of one-eighth black ancestry.

12. Towhead – a youngster who is blonde

13. Bubba – I’m sure you’ve heard all the bubba jokes by now. A term used to describe Southern men. A synonym of good-ole-boy, though when used in a family is sometimes a term of affection for the oldest male in the family.

14. Traiteur – A healer in French Acadiana. Mentioned sometimes in the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke.

15. Islaños – Of Spanish ancestry from the Canary Islands who settled in Louisiana.

16. Good-ole-boy – Definitions vary. My novel, Red River Fever, is about them. The free online dictionary defines one as, “A man having qualities held to be characteristic of certain Southern white males, such as a relaxed or informal manner, strong loyalty to family and friends, [and often an anti-intellectual bias and intolerant point of view].” I think the part of the definition I put in brackets is debatable. I think it may be sometimes true.

17. Roughnecks – men who work the oil fields.

18. *Hillbillies – from the hill-country of Appalachia.

19. *Gringo – Used by Latins to describe Anglo-Saxons. There is also a legend that the term originates from the Mexican War (1846-1848), when American Soldiers would sing Robert Burns’s “Green Grow the Rashes, O!” Their rough singing was misheard and interpreted as “Gringo.”

20. mulatto – of mixed race

21. mestizo – of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry.

*Check this site for more comprehensive insights into these words.

Paint It Black: A Short Review of Janet Fitch’s Novel

Having read and enjoyed White Oleander by Janet Fitch (reviewed on this blog, April 03 2007), I suspected that her novel, Paint It Black (Back Bay Books, Little, Brown & Company) would be a good read also. I was correct. I am reading slower than I used to. Perhaps it is the underlining and the marginal notes slowing me down, but I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. I’ve always loved stories about art, artists, musicians, and writers, and maybe that’s why I was attracted to this story of Josie Tyrell, and the tragedies, loves, and nemeses of her life. The novel is rich in allusions, intense in conflict, and the author’s prose and diction is rich. The novel is a portrait of Los Angeles and its bohemian rock music, film, and art scene. It is also a study of grief (over a suicide); of artists, creativity, and their quests for perfection; of dreams and dreamers; of the heavy hand of guilt; of beauty, love, loss, and sadness; and of how people live in and are supported by the music they listen to. Fitch has amazing and intense insights into the human psyche and heart.

I’ve tried to analyze why this novel affected me so deeply. Maybe it’s because I’ve known nude models like Josie and writers, artists, and musicians like Michael. Perhaps it’s because, like Michael, I am often haunted, and have my own personal demons, demons that refuse to be exorcised.

Here is Fitch’s website: http://literati.net/Fitch/ She is a brilliant and insightful writer. Her writing deserves our attention.

Though there many more I could have selected, here are some of my favorite quotations from Paint it Black:

“Nobody ever really loved a lover. Because love was a private party, and nobody got on the guest list.” (1)
“[E]ven lies could be true, if you knew how to listen.” (27)
“She just kept talking, like a drunk arguing with ghosts . . .”(32)
“How right that the body changed over time, becoming a gallery of scars, a canvass of experience, a testament to life and one’s capacity to endure it.” (67)
“The stupid things you say in the rain, that can’t ever be washed away.” (81)
“Pen had no sense that someone might want to keep her private life private. Privacy wasn’t even a concept. She’d never closed a bathroom door in her life.” (83)
“Each man kills the thing he loves”—Oscar Wilde (This is repeated many times in the novel and has to be a theme).
“It was the way the world really ran, in little signs and signals.” (160)
“Girls were born knowing how destructive the truth could be.” (236)
“Sometimes things that happened were just too solid to move, like some huge bookcase or black breakfront that had dug its legs into the floor over the years.” (272)
“That kind of tenderness couldn’t be permitted to last. Nothing that beautiful could live long. It wasn’t allowed. You only got a taste . . . then you paid for it the rest of your life. Like the guy chained to rock, who stole fire . . . You paid for every second of beauty you managed to steal.” ( 278)
“You gave things away you couldn’t afford to lose. Private things. You showed yourself and you couldn’t take it back.” (306)
“Insomnia and the hulls of dead dreams blowing across the floor of the empty rooms like dry leaves.” (337)
“It was a mistake you could never recover from.” (351)
“(Her soul) A moldy old scrap only fit throwing away, not even the devil would take it on consignment.” (361)
(I love the desert, and I love this quotation Fitch has) “[S]he understood people who’d choose to live like that, isolated in a dry hard terrain, so far from comfort . . . Hard people, whose own company was even more than they could stomach.” (378) And here: “[T]he Arabs invented zero, because they were a desert people, at home with absence. . . This was his landscape, bitter cold, populated only by rocks and strange leafless trees, no softness or mercy, no touch of green.” (411)

Lyrics to “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and theyre all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens every day
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then Ill fade away and not have to face the facts
It’s not easy facing up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the settin sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

Pam Tackett, the GT coordinator and teacher for Union Parish, sent me this list of funnies that her gifted students came up with. Some of them, after tweaking, might make good lines or topics for stories, maybe even a series.  The student’s name who supplied the quotes and created the comments is Codi McAllister, a student of Ms. Tackett’s:

1. SAVE THE WHALES. COLLECT THE WHOLE SET.
No. Free them. They are not a collectors item.
2. A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE IS LIKE, NIGHT.
And a night without moonlight is like, dark.
3. ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU HAVE DIFFERENT FINGERS.
As on the other foot, you have different toes.
4. I JUST GOT LOST IN THOUGHT. IT WASN’T FAMILIAR TERRITORY.
I told you not to let your mind wander, it’s too small to be out on its own.
5. 42.7 PERCENT OF ALL STATISTICS ARE MADE UP ON THE SPOT.
Only 53.6 people just got that.
6. 99 PERCENT OF LAWYERS GIVE THE REST A BAD NAME.
That last 1% doesn’t exist.
7. I FEEL LIKE I’M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE.
It’s better than a perpendicular intersection…
8. HONK IF YOU LOVE PEACE AND QUIET.
BEEP!
9. REMEMBER, HALF THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE BELOW AVERAGE.
The other half are not.
10. HE WHO LAUGHS LAST, THINKS SLOWEST.
Remember that Dustin…
11. DEPRESSION IS MERELY ANGER WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM.
And being angry at someone that’s depressed makes you a cheerleader of sorts….
12. THE EARLY BIRD MAY GET THE WORM, BUT THE SECOND MOUSE GETS THE CHEESE.
If you’re a bird, be an early bird. If you’re a worm, sleep late.
13. I DRIVE WAY TOO FAST TO WORRY ABOUT CHOLESTEROL.
That is why they make cereal bars.
14. SUPPORT BACTERIA. THEY’RE THE ONLY CULTURE SOME PEOPLE HAVE.
FREE THE WHALES!
15. MONDAY IS AN AWFUL WAY TO SPEND 1/7 OF YOUR WEEK.
We should omit it.
16. A CLEAR CONSCIENCE IS USUALLY THE SIGN OF A BAD MEMORY.
A guilty conscience isn’t neccissarily a good thing either.
17. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE, EXCEPT FROM VENDING MACHINES.
And credit cards
18. GET A NEW CAR FOR YOUR SPOUSE. IT’LL BE A GREAT TRADE!
Unless, of course, your spouse divorces you, and wins the car.
19. PLAN TO BE SPONTANEOUS TOMORROW.
Why not spontaneously plan to not be spontaneous?
20. ALWAYS TRY TO BE MODEST, AND BE PROUD OF IT!
OK! I’M MODEST!
21. IF YOU THINK NOBODY CARES, TRY MISSING A COUPLE OF PAYMENTS.
If you don’t get a call, try being depressed, then get someone angry at you.
22. HOW MANY OF YOU BELIEVE IN PSYCHO-KINESIS? RAISE MY HAND.
I already did.
23. OK, SO WHAT’S THE SPEED OF DARK?
87.4 % of that of light.
24. HOW DO YOU TELL WHEN YOU’RE OUT OF INVISIBLE INK?
The write-ee doesn’t understand your message. Could you understand ” Will you go to the da”
25. IF EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING WELL, YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY OVERLOOKED SOMETHING.
Oh yeah…. you’re still here…
26. WHEN EVERYTHING IS COMING YOUR WAY, YOU’RE IN THE WRONG LANE.
If everything is running from you, take a bath.
27. HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN THE FUTURE. LAZINESS PAYS OFF NOW.
however, hard work hurts you now. Laziness hurts you in the future.
28. EVERYONE HAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY. SOME JUST DO NOT HAVE FILM.
Others have no memory card.
29. IF BARBIE IS SO POPULAR, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BUY HER FRIENDS?
Why do you think Barbie is so popular?
30. HOW MUCH DEEPER WOULD THE OCEAN BE WITHOUT SPONGES?
31.2 % of the water in the sponges wouldn’t be in the sponges.
31. EAGLES MAY SOAR, BUT WEASELS DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO JET ENGINES.
And platypuses are God’s sense of humor.
32. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET SCARED HALF TO DEATH TWICE?
Sucks for you.
33. I USED TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND BUT MY BRAINS KEPT FALLING OUT.
Have you checked your pocket?
34. I COULDN’T REPAIR YOUR BRAKES, SO I MADE YOUR HORN LOUDER.
It’s people like you that ruin my peace and quiet! Hey look another bumper sticker. BEEP!
35. WHY DO PSYCHICS HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR YOUR NAME?
You’d know if you were psychic.
36. INSIDE EVERY OLDER PERSON IS A YOUNGER PERSON WONDERING WHAT
HAPPENED.
Yet inside every younger person is an older person thinking, ”what an idiot”
37. JUST REMEMBER – IF THE WORLD DID NOT SUCK, WE WOULD ALL FALL OFF.
Then, because the sun sucks, we’d all be pulled into a fiery death.
38. LIGHT TRAVELS FASTER THAN SOUND, WHICH IS WHY SOME PEOPLE APPEAR BRIGHT UNTIL YOU HEAR THEM SPEAK.
Except for deaf people.