I love the music of Beth Patterson, a performer well known in Celtic music circles. Not long ago, I obtained one of her CD’s, Take Some Fire. You can check out the CD, hear some sample music, and learn about Beth here: http://www.littlebluemen.com/beth.asp
She is a talented bouzouki player, witty, brilliant lyricist, and beautiful. If you get a chance to see her live you should. She plays a few time a year here in Monroe, Louisiana at Enoch’s, our favorite Irish pub, and she will be performing at the Celtic Festival October 7-8 here as well. To give you just a sample of her talent, here are the lyrics to her song “Balance of This Dance” from the Take Some Fire CD.

They say two mountains in this lifetime
May share a range, but never meet
But Mohamed, he knows where to find me
He knows every crevice, cliff, and peak

Reality is relative
But this ache for you cuts to the core
And it’s realer than anything
I’d ever thought I’d felt before

Oh, heed the music tonight
And pray, disregard the former
Stolen glances, whirling dances
Can gradually lead your thoughts astray

From every wandering eye
To every forbidden corner
I will seek you through the crowds at night
And help you find your way.

Land-lover, wildwood creature
Lead me to this sacred place
As I’m drowning in a sea of fantasy
Rapture seizes control of your face

But you’re the balance of this dance now
I secretly smile and await your cue
Take your hand, exit stage left
Hidden in aesthetic perfection with you.

I REALLY like doing readings of my writing, and not only because I sell some books. I like the dynamics, the energy, the learning that takes place every time I do one. Also, when I read out loud, I always find some lines I could have written better or differently. Once or twice, I’ve found passages that just flat needed revision.

Anyway, I have readings these readings scheduled: Two groups of the SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans) in Lafayette, Sept. 12 and Oct. 3 respectively. Both groups want me to bring my guitar and perform some Confederate tunes. Then another reading is scheduled for October 23, at the West Ouachita Library, 6:00 pm. Stories of the Confederate South seems to be gathering some followers. I’ve had a couple of reading groups interested in using the book for one of their group’s readings. We’ll see.

I subscribe to The Writer’s Chronicle and the first article I read this month was written by Sybil Baker and entitled, “Lost Generations: The American Expatriate Writer.” As I have always been a fan of most of the writers she mentions and whose work she analyzes, I found the article extremely interesting. Ms. Baker is somewhat an expatriate writer herself, having traveled extensively and teaching English now in Korea at Yonsei University. She has a great website too. You can take a look here: http://www.sybilbaker.com/home.html. After reading the article, scanning her bio and website, I decided I would definitely place her fiction on my reading list.

Some of the expatriate writers she analyzes are Joyce, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Bowles–all of whom have influenced me greatly. She also discusses the new expatriates and their work. This is the kind of writing I like to discover–thoughtful, well documented, and original.

Right when I start to feel optimism about the good we can do with our students, some adult comes along and hurts the kids and our work in public education again. I teach gifted English at Bastrop High School in Morehouse Parish in Northeast Louisiana. Well, it seems our football team has to forfeit its State Championship because of ineligible players. Evidently there was an accusation against our school about some of our players (hurricane victims) . I want to say more, but I must have patience and wait for the results of our appeal. As of yet, we don’t know who our accusers are, or even for sure what the charges were specifically. LHSAA (There’s an interesting Acronym. A friend told me it stood for . . .No, I said I would wait before commenting.)

And I will wait. I’m too angry to write objectively on this. All I know for sure is, in the football year after Katrina, our community helped some boys who happened to be good football players, but according to LHSAA, we did it wrong. (I wonder how many hurricane victim kids LHSAA directly helped. No, don’t get me started.) So what do the pompous idiots do? After a savage witch hunt, they punish everyone they can–including the kids. It’s sad, but I’m sure the LHSAA officials feel self-righteous and proud of their achievements.

The students were hurricane victims remember. Yes, our school and community helped them–along with many others who did not play football. Once again I am dissillusioned with the bureacrats who run our state and especially those who have anything to do with public education.

I know the sports success of BHS has created enemies–after all, how can a rural, rather underfunded, black-majority high school defeat all the other teams they faced? (Bastrop was winning before the new players arrived. Also, many other schools received football playing students from the Katrina Diaspora.) It is easy to pass judgment on a school with football rules a year after the hurricane, when everyone has forgotten how bad the situation was, how that storm changed everything for us in Louisiana in those first few months afterwards. All kinds of exceptions to state laws and rules were made. When people need to be helped, only the most anal legalist will obsess about trivial interpretation of legalities. I guess we could have left the kids in the shelter.

One lesson: Never underestimate how mean, petty, and jealous people can be. Here’s another lesson for LHSAA and for the jealous people or school lodging complaints against BHS: People will never forget or forgive you for hurting kids. Even if kids did make a mistake, it’s you, the adult, that should know better. A real man doesn’t have to prove his power by beating up on kids. If adults committed a wrong, punish the adults. If it is misinterpretation of a “rule” or even a mistake, correct the individuals involved, but be civil and treat people with respect instead of acting like they’re your inferiors. If this is “sour grapes” or a vendetta, then someone needs to grow up and stop acting like a whining kid who can’t be on first string.

I can imagine the LHSAA leaders talking about how important this current witch hunt is. They would probably say, “It’s all about the kids.”

Yeah, sure.

In January of 2000, Jed Marum began his year by leaving a lucrative career so he could devote himself to his music. His first year as a fulltime musician earned exactly one tenth of what he had earned the year before. To his credit, he hasn’t looked back, and has built a solid career and reputation as one of America’s premier Scots-Irish musicians and is often a headliner at festivals. His schedule is a busy one, with over 150 shows a year—and the number of shows seems to be steadily growing.

In addition to his intense love for and commitment to Scots-Irish music, Marum has another passion—The Civil War. In our interview, I asked Marum how his interest in the War Between the States began. He said, “Once, I was being interviewed by Sunny Meriwether and she introduced me to her audience as an Irish singer who specializes in writing Civil War songs. I started to object saying that the Civil War was just a passing interest, when I realized that it had been passing for 10 years! That’s when I realized I really wasn’t just dabbling at the Civil War stuff, anymore. It had moved to a higher level.”

The fruit of Marum’s passion for this period of American history is his newest CD, Cross Over the River, a twelve-song collection of Irish and Confederate songs released August 4 of this year. This CD presents some of Marum’s finest guitar picking and original lyrics.

There’s something in this CD that stirs the spirit, and just as I was about to suggest the collection would be great music for movies of this period, I found out that Marum has agreed to license two new songs to Lone Chimney Productions for use in their upcoming film, Bloody Dawn. The film is being made for the PBS and History Channel markets and is planned for a 2006 release. The movie focuses on the border wars between Kansas and Missouri surrounding the days of the US Civil War.

The music is acoustic, with Marum on guitar, banjo, and banjola. Musicians performing with him are Jaime Marum on mandolin, Kathleen Jackson on upright bass, Mimi Rogers on fiddle and Ken Fleming on button accordion. Travis Ener and Kathleen Jackson are also featured in background vocals.

The collection’s songs are rich lyrically and musically, and several especially deserve comment. “Monaghan’s Lament,” is a song of an Irish born New Orleans resident, Col. William Monaghan of the 6th Louisiana. The song expresses a soldier’s emotions as he regards a fallen admired leader of one of the South’s most famous fighting units, “The Fighting Tigers.” “One Bloody Friday” is a haunting song, so effectively constructed that it makes the listener feel as if he were riding with Quantrell. “Cross Over the River,” is based on the last words of Stonewall Jackson. With this song, Marum takes us into the soul of a dying hero of the South. In other songs, Marum takes traditional melodies and masterfully creates moving interpretations. For example, I believe Marum’s rendition of the well-known “Shenandoah” to be unique and the best version I’ve heard.

I predict this CD will have strong appeal with Civil War aficionados, reenactors, performers, and anyone who loves good ballads. Just reading the CD’s insert and the background of the songs is an education and it reveals the extent of Marum’s research. Cross Over the River has a large targeted audience and has all the potential for becoming a cult classic. For the musician, Marum has also generously published a songbook containing lyrics and chords for both Cross Over the River and his earlier Civil War CD, Fighting Tigers of Ireland.

Cross Over the River is a collection of original and period music with lyrics that capture the heart of the many Irish who fought for the South. The CD is a reminder that there are many stories buried in history we have not yet heard, and there are emotions connected to that war that we haven’t yet considered. As a writer, Marum is not only skilled—he is honest. He knows that one’s culture and heritage can be lost, and he is determined to give life to long-silent voices. When those of the past fade from our memory and art, then they are truly dead to us. As long as there are writers like Marum who aren’t afraid to tell the stories, the dead will live on and our heritage will not be lost. The Scots-Irish majority who comprised the Confederate Army deserve the tribute of this CD.

You can purchase Cross Over the River here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jedmarum6. Read Marum’s bio, hear samples of his music, and keep up with news about him by checking out his website http://www.jedmarum.com/ or from his blog http://www.myspace.com/jedmarumband.

I am in a Scots-Irish band. We call ourselves Angus Dubhghall. We took the names of two ancient Scottish chieftans, men who were heroes, yet were feared. We’ve been playing locally (that would be Northeast Louisiana) for a while, but this year we will be performing at the Northeast Louisiana Celtic Festival. You can see a photo of our band on this link http://nelacelticfest.org/ (go to performers). I would be the one with the Confederate cap on and playing guitar. Tom McCandlish plays the bodhran and is the lead singer, and his beautiful wife Mary plays the fiddle. We’ve really built quite a song list, and I’ve written a couple of originals. I hope to expand that list of originals. In addition to Scots-Irish music, we can also do a Confederate Civil War music show. Write me if you’d like more information about the band.

Sometimes I think my gifted students need a boost. Like other kids their age, they struggle with image at times. I wrote this nonsense poem as a performance piece to try to cheer them up. It worked! They laughed and had a grand time over it. Yet, as you know, there’s always some truth in humor. Next entry will be on my reading and signing I had at the Ouachita Library last night.

The few, the ignored, the under-funded,
The neglected, the ones administrators know
Will pass the standardized tests,
We are the gifted.
Someday, we nerds will rule the world
We’ll have the last laugh,
We’ll receive the accolades, the money,
We’ll be the employers who will chuckle
When the underachievers of today
struggle to read their employment form.
Yes, we are the gifted, the brightest,
The best of the best!
Don’t you dare lump with the rest.
We’re the creators, the problem solvers,
The scientists who find the cure,
The geniuses who win jeopardy,
The tricksters who you should fear
Because we’re smart enough to not get caught.
We are the gifted.

The first week of school—you think you’re ready for it, but you never are. At least in my district, Morehouse Parish in Northeast Louisiana. This year the disorganization seems worse than usual—not enough desks, student schedule problems, room needs (like Internet hookup and enough electric plugs and air conditioner not working). My students have, to their credit, been well behaved, but 4 of my 6 classes are large, and the other two are my gifted students. Administrators, looking only at numbers, have once again cheated the brightest kids in our school by combining ENG I and II in one class, and ENFG III and IV in another. This amounts in teacher lingo to 6 different preps for lesson plans. Administrators must assume that any class below 20 is an easy class.

As you probably know, Gifted kids have IEP’s, thus each student is to be worked with individually, but with such an arrangement, it is very difficult to do so. I am gifted and AP certified, but even with my massive brain and problem solving tendencies, I’m going to have serious difficulties serving the gifted kids like I should and want to. I don’t know what they were thinking by such an arrangement. It’s like teaching summer school—for a whole year. If I sound frustrated, you are quite right. I must do some research on this topic. Why can’t academics receive the attention that football gets in our district? Don’t they want/see how important the gifted kids are and will be?

Probably not. But I do.

From the sources I’ve looked at, America has the largest reported prison population in the world. These sources argue that we have become a punitive nation. According to the Department of Justice (see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm), as of June 2005, we have 2,186,230 prisoners in Federal or State prisons or in local jails. (I’m not sure if this number includes the “secret” CIA places and military prisons, etc.) I couldn’t find the number of prison facilities in the U.S., but I do know it is a growing number. Seems to be on its way to becoming big business. I hear people say, “America is the freest nation on earth,” but when I look at prison statistics, something doesn’t make sense. It’s too easy to go to prison here. And since 9/11, it seems to have gotten easier. We’ve replaced morality with “law.” Even the media sometimes talks like a Puritan official. Anyway, here is an excerpt from Oscar Wilde’s poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” I believe Wilde knew something about prison, and this quote certainly gives us something to think about.

“The vilest deeds like poison weeds,
Bloom well in Prison air.
It is only what is good in man
That wastes and withers there.
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,
And the Warder is Despair.”

Here are the lyrics to a song I wrote based on a true account of a prisoner in Point Lookout. I sing it in the key of D.
The song is called, “Cry, Little Artillery Man.” I recorded a speech I made about Jane Perkins at the Louisiana State Convention of the Daughters of the Confederacy. This song is recorded on that CD. You can order the CD from me at rickeyp@bayou.com.

“Cry, Little Arterllery Man”

VERSE 1

Lincoln built a prison
He called it Point Lookout
To the barren sands of Maryland,
He sent soldiers of the South.

They fenced us in with water,
And unmarked deadlines,
50,000 came here,
14,000 died.

There’s a thousand ways to break a man,
And the Yankees know them all,
They kept us cold and hungry,
And tried to make us crawl.

They shot us out of meanness,
And starved us out of spite,
We buried our dead in the sand,
And prayed for them at night.

CHORUS

I’m here at Point Lookout
With all these men in gray,
In frostbit feet and ragged clothes,
With the South so far away.

Abandon hope, ye who enter here,
This place that God has cursed,
In this cold hell at Chesapeake Bay
Lincoln’s devils drive the hearse.

VERSE 2
On a hot July morning,
I heard a baby cry,
A crowd of soldiers stood and cheered,
A few men even cried.

We called him Little Artillery Man
Though there were no cannon there,
We named him for his mama,
Like us, imprisoned there.

Her name was Jane Perkins,
A proud Irish girl
She taught school in Virginia
Till Rebel flags unfurled,

When war came in 61,
Her world changed overnight
She cut her hair, dressed like a man
And signed up for the fight.

CHORUS

So cry, Little Artillery Man,
Wake the men in blue,
Let the Yankees hear your voice,
Make them hear the truth,
Cry, Little Artillery Man,
They’ve taken your mama from you,
Here at Point Lookout,
Babies are prisoners too.

VERSE 3

She fought with Lee for three long years,
With the Danville Artillery,
Till the Yankees took her prisoner,
And sent her here with me.

When you were born, they took her away,
And shackled her in chains.
In Washington, tortured, abused,
She learned there’s many kinds of pain.

When the Yankees were through with her,
Your mama was set free,
She walked back to Virginia,
To the Danville Artillery.

They say she died at Petersburg
Before the war was done.
She fought for the South, and she fought for you,
For you, her only son.

CHORUS

So cry, Little Artillery Man,
Wake the men in blue,
Let the Yankees hear your voice,
Make them hear the truth,
Cry, Little Artillery Man,
They’ve taken your mama from you,
Here at Point Lookout,
Babies are prisoners too.

(End slowly)
Lincoln built a prison
He called it Point Lookout