Yesterday, I arrived in Jefferson just in time time to attend the Author/Speaker/Media  Reception sponsored by the House of Seasons Bed & Breakfast on South Alley Street. Leonarto DeVino, aka church Gray, had a hilarious presentation of his book, The Da Vino Code.  If you love thematic playfulness with words, you will love his book. I met so many cool authors from so many places. Kathy Patrick asked me to play my guitar and sing a couple of songs, then I accompanied a wonderful singer, Wava as she sang a couple of songs.    After more wine and cheese/snacks, we moved on to the Bull Durham Playhouse in Jefferson for  a gumbo supper.   Today is full of workshops at the United Methodist Church here, and tomorrow’s sessions will be at the  Jefferson High School.  Tonight, we’ll attend dinner theatre:  The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon at the Bull Durham Playhouse.

Last night, I met a fascinating writer, Rosemary Poole-Carter.  I also obtained her new novel, Women of Magdalene. Here is a short summary from the back cover:

“The women of Magdalene are dying and no one seems to care, least of the haughty Dr. Kingston, the director of the genteel Ladies’ Lunatic Asylum.  Set in the shattered post-Civil War South, Women of Magdalene is a beautiful tale of deception, betrayal, greed and self-sacrifice.”

I’ll give a full review after I’m finished reading it.

Sometime ago, I think after watching the movie Gladiator, I did some reading on Marcus Aurelius. That reading inspired this poem.

The Color of Our Imagination

A person’s life is dyed with the color of his imagination—Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180).

Marcus Aurelius was much more like us than you think,
Writer, thinker, burdened with duties he didn’t relish,
A man with a firm sense of responsibility,
Worn out from fighting, defending a crumbling empire,
Forced to watch the collapse of the Pax Romana.
We’ve done all of that in our own way.

He was a stoic by necessity and choice,
Believing the soul to be the
Active elements of air and fire,
Believing the soul to be a *tabular rasa,
Accepting fate with eagerness, believing that
Whatever happens, must happen,
That inner freedom is attained when
Detached from that not in our power.
Survival tactics we should remember.

His writing shows that
He knew much of life and love,
I think this quote was written for us,
For we found each other through
The colors of our imagination,
And it dyed our lives with
Colors we’d never seen,
Feelings we’d never had,
Beginning a journey we
Thought we’d never dare.
Aurelius believed that the natural
Had its own innate beauty,
And every time I see you,
I know it’s the truth.
You are the color of my imagination.

Book News: Today I’m traveling to Jefferson, Texas for Kathy Patrick’s Girlfriend Weekend. This is advertised as the biggest and best book lover’s  and book club convention in the South. So many talented writers will be there, and I’m looking forward to meeting them and learning from them.  I’m sure I’ll have much to report in my future posts. From Jefferson, I’m taking advantage of the long holiday and driving to my parents’ house in Kemp, Oklahoma to help them with some chores.

What I’m Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  I read about 80 pages last night before the powers of darkness overpowered me and I fell asleep. This book was a gift from my daughter. (I’m so glad I raised a reader!) Of course, I must also read Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.  My friend Michele, an extremely talented, Gifted English teacher in Assumption Parish, said she’d soon give me a report on the book and the movie.

School Programs:  My calendar (see my personal website, rickeypittman.com) is filling up fast with signings at bookstores, programs at schools and libraries, and with other events. I’m working on several new programs to do, including one for Texas about Juan Seguin, one about Hank Williams (for arts schools perhaps), and one on the Scots-Irish in America. The Scots-Irish in America program is the one I hope to begin as early as March, in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day.

1. I will be costumed (in my kilt)

2. I will have a show and tell table that so far has Scottish/Irish flags, peat, tartans, Celtic cross, as well as photos of claymores, bagpipes (both Irish and Highland) heather, thistle, and William Wallace.

3. With guitar and vocals, I will perform Scottish or Irish music. I’m currently working on my song list, which will vary according to age group in the schools,  but it will include songs about Scottish and Irish history, St. Patrick, war, immigration, mythology, and love songs.

4. If the program is extended, I’ll show my young scholars how to make their own children’s book in a creative writing exercise or read/write about some of the Scottish, Welsh, and Irish writers I hope to introduce to them.

In short, this program will be packed with information and activities!

Yesterday, most of the day was spent on the phone or sending emails relating to my writing business. I did manage to set up several new signings/programs. I also signed my contract my contract with Louisiana Delta Community College, created and copied my syllabus, and resumed my teaching duties. This semester I am teaching ENG 101. They seem like a friendly group of students. The class is MW from 5:00-6:15 pm. We covered the syllabus, had an introductory writing exercise (which I need to read and mark before Wednesday) and read an essay by Camille Paglia I like to use in 101 entitled, “Rock as Art.”

An Aside:

I received a letter from a Fort Worth Librarian who wants me to come to her school for a program. This great quote was in her signature:

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.”

G. K. Chesterton

Book Tour News:

I’ll be in Jefferson, Texas, from Thursday until Sunday for Kathy Patrick’s annual book and author gala. Patrick, who began her literary career through the nation’s first hair/book salon, has been featured in Oxford American Magazine and on Oprah. I’ve attended this event since it first began, and this year I’m scheduled to sign books and be a member of the “Blue Bayou” Panel Discussion, Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Here are the other authors scheduled for the same particular panel:

Moderator: Will Clarke, The Worthy: A Ghost’s Story, Simon & Schuster
Kim Sunee, Trail of Crumbs, Grand Central Publishing.
N. M. Kelby, Whale Season: A Novel, Three Rivers Press
Rosemary Poole-Carter, Women of Magdalene, Kunati, Inc.
Rickey Pittman, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House
Stories of the Confederate South, both by Pelican Publishing.
Lyn LeJeune, The Beatitudes: Book I, iUniverse.com
Wava Everton – Musical Artist

Here is a new review of my children’s book. The reviewer is Cassie A. Barrow. It was published in the November/December 2007 issue of the Confederate Veteran. 

Book Review for Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House by Rickey Pittman. Children’s Book, illustrated, 28 pp., 2007. Pelican Publishing Company, 1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, LA 70053, $15.95 plus shipping.

Throughout history there are incidents and events that are forgotten or overlooked by time. Jim Limber Davis is one such story that few people would recognize. There are ample primary sources to support his account with the Davis family, but many politically correct historians say he is only a legend.

Rickey Pittman, author of Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House, weaves the tale about this young boy who was a member of the Davis family until the Union army removed Jim by force from his loved ones. Due to the fact that the author takes liberty to add dialogue to this story, the publication is considered a historical fiction; yet, the story line is completely factual. Details such as the President Davis registering Jim as a free black child and becoming Jim’s legal guardian can be proven.

Mr. Pittman allows the chronicle of Jim Limber Davis’s story to come to life for the reader. The story is captivating and informative. The book also contains detailed pictures by Judith Hierstein to help its young audience visualize what the words are portraying. One such illustration is of the First Lady, Varina Davis, reading a night time story to her biological children and Jim. Even though this book is primarily for elementary aged children, readers of any age would find the story fascinating.

Mr. Pittman ends the book with an Epilogue to Parents by stating, “Jim Limber Davis’s disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of the War Between the States. The Davis family searched for Jim for many years, but they never found him. Many scholars and historians have continued the search, but they have failed to discover the fate of Jim Limber, a black orphan in the Confederate White House.” Even though Jim’s life may have been left out of history books, he should never be forgotten. Jim Limber Davis, A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House keeps his memory alive in an informative yet fun way.

Written by Cassie A. Barrow

Book Signing News:

I had a successful signing at the Books-A-Million in Baton Rouge, another sell-out and as usual made some new friends and good contacts. I was so busy that I neglected to take any photos. I returned home late last night, played my guitar a little and crashed out. This morning, I sent two articles in to TGIF Weekend Bandit, for my column on the Civil War in Indian Territory and North Texas. Today, I hope to do some creative writing, work on learning some new songs, and of course attend to my list of endless tasks associated with the writing business.
Tomorrow, I resume teaching my classes at Delta. Thursday through Sunday, I’ll be in Jefferson, Texas, for Kathy Patrick’s Girlfriend Weekend. I’m scheduled to be on a couple of panels, and I’ll have a table there to sell some books. This is always a fun and profitable weekend for me. However, I will try to post a blog entry every day.

North Texas During the Civil War: Life in the Corridor

This is a short excerpt from a novel in progress. It portrays a member of the 23rd Texas Cavalry returning home on furlough during the last year of the Civil War. I have set my novel to take place in Jack, Parker, and Young counties, an area of Texas heavily raided by the Kiowa and Comanche. The wide swath of land the raiders followed from Texas up into Oklahoma, Kansas, etc. ,was known as the Corridor. In this excerpt, my protagonist, Micah, comes upon a young boy after he crosses the Trinity River.

After Micah crossed the Trinity River, he reined his horse to a halt and watched the small, brown human speck weaving erratically toward him through the mesquite trees and grass. Micah studied the youngster and determined him to be about six years of age and a Mexican.
Micah nudged his horse on, holding him to a slow gait. The wind had shifted to the north, and it bit his neck and back and the gusts gnawed their way through his tattered gray-wool greatcoat. Micah thought the northern had arrived early. The gusts rocked the creaking, bobbing mesquite boughs and roared in his ear as they blasted past him. As the wind wended its way past him, it whistled sharply with notes as shrill as an eagle-bone flute in a Kiowa Ghost Dance. He pulled his felt hat down further on his head and tightened the drawstring.
As Micah neared the boy, he saw brown eyes that spoke of terror and loss and sadness. Without stopping his horse, Micah bent over and scooped the little one from the ground. The boy’s teeth rattled and he quivered in Micah’s arms like a captured rabbit. He wore only a nightshirt, and his legs were blue from the cold and lacerated from mesquite thorns. Micah reached for the Federal issue blanket tied to the back of his saddle, unfastened it, and wrapped it around the boy, and they rode on toward Jacksboro. The wild-eyed boy clung to Micah’s neck and buried his sobbing face in his shirt.
“Shhh. Shhh, hijo,” Micah whispered. “I ain’t gonna hurt you. ¿Donde está su paredes?”
The boy turned his face toward his right shoulder and pointed to the west. “Alla.” He sobbed again.
“Comanches?”
“Si. Mi padre dice son Comanches.”

In just a few minutes, I’m on the way to the Books-A-Million in Baton Rouge for a signing. I hope I’ll make some contacts for programs, as the money an author makes from royalties of signings is not worth the gas expense. Likely I’ll spend the dark morning drive listening to music as I don’t have any more books on CD. Last driving trip, I listened to Son Volt and Jerry Jeff Walker. Today, who knows? One of the songs on the Walker CD was this one, which I intend to learn for one of my shows.  I found the lyrics here: http://members.vpchat.com/SouthernComfort-/MissOnMyMind.html

Mississippi, You’re On My Mind

I think I see a wagon rutted road
With the weeds growing tall between the tracks
And along one side runs a rusty barbed wire fence
And beyond that sits an old tar paper shack

Mississippi you’re on my mind
Mississippi you’re on my mind
Oh, Mississippi you’re on my mind

I think I hear a noisy old John Deere
In a field specked with dirty cotton lint
And below the field runs a little shady creek
And there you’ll find the cool green leaves of mint

Mississippi you’re on my mind
Mississippi you’re on my mind
Oh, Mississippi you’re on my mind

I think I smell the honeysuckle vine
The heavy sweetness like to make me sick
And the dogs, my God, they’re hungry all the time
And the snakes are sleeping where the weeds are thick

Mississippi you’re on my mind
Mississippi you’re on my mind
Oh, Mississippi you’re on my mind

I think I feel an angry oven heat
The Southern Sun just blazes in the sky
In the dusty weeds an old fat grasshopper jumps
I want to make it to that creek before I fry

Mississippi you’re on my mind
Mississippi you’re on my mind
Oh, Mississippi you’re on my mind

Yesterday was packed solid with writing work–phone calls, emails, etc.  I did set up several new book signing sites.  My calendar is really filling in. Most of the future signings I set up yesterday are in Texas. I also added some schools to my calendar, Lufkin and Waskom. For my complete calendar and information on my school programs, go to rickeypittman.com.

Last night I finished my first novel of the year, Olen Steinhauer’s The Confession.  I found this novel to be a gripping read, reminding me once again how we should eschew the  cultic philosophy of communism. It is a dark and gray world Steinhauer portrays, haunting and surreal, but the reader knows Steinhauer has captured the truth of communist Hungary in the years after WWII.  You will be horrified by the “logic of terror” used by the politicians to control the lives of Hungary’s citizens.

Book Signing News: 

I arrived home last night from a very long day at Jacksonville College in East Texas.  I met so many interesting people and made a great number of contacts, introducing them to my books and to the programs I do in schools.  I did schedule a couple of events that I must place on my calendar on my website, rickeypittman.com. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the Books-A-Million in Baton Rouge. I’ll begin early and will try to stay until the books are all sold.  Then hopefully I will have the time to drive to Ruston to hear Jed Marum perform for the Lee-Jackson Banquet at the Sons of Confederate Veterans camp there.

Book Signing News: 

It’s 4:00 a.m. and in just a minute I’ll be out the door and on the way to the East Texas Library Summit (Region VII) at Jacksonville (Baptist) College in Jacksonville, Texas, where I’ll be the keynote speaker to get the conference off to a good start. The theme is Achieving Excellence. I’ll have a table there and will be showing/selling my books and talking to librarians about my programs I do in schools.  I’m sure I’ll drive back to Monroe tonight.

Friday, I’ve got tons of paperwork and writing to do.Saturday, I’ll be at the Books-A-Million in Baton Rouge. I plan on beginning early Saturday and finishing early enough to drive to Ruston to hear my friend Jed Marum perform at the Lee-Jackson Banquet for the Sons of Confederate Veterans camp there. We’ll see on that one.

Delta Community College and ULM both begin next week, so I’ll have to jump into hyper-speed completing university related tasks. This month I have three writing contests I intend to enter, a new play to make progress on for the arts council in Minden, Louisiana, books to read, and more signings to set up. Yesterday, I set up my first West Coast signing at a Barnes and Noble in Palm Desert, California. It will be on March 22. I’ll have more to say about that trip later.

I’ve judged a poetry contest for the past two years for the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The entries were numbered and nameless and yet both years I chose the poetry of Lisa Reed as the first place winner. I finally met her at a Lee-Jackson Banquet I spoke at last January. Her collection of Southern poetry is entitled Poetry in Gray. After reading her book this week, I decided that the poetry of this beautiful and talented lady needed to be shared. She has her collection divided topically. Her poetry is thoughtful and reflects her love of history, her passion for the South, and is illustrated with a few photographs. If you like Confederate poetry, you will love the poetry of Lisa Reed. I’m thinking of putting a few of her poems to music myself. To order her book, or to ask her questions about her poetry, drop her an email at: Michelemonet@camtel.net

Here is a sample of her poetry, entitled “Before the War”:

Before the war, our simple lives

entwined around simple things,

as the slender vine entwines itself

and nestles to the tree–

protected from the burning sun

and the drying winds.

The aftermath, brought weeds of war

entangled in reconstruction,

and the tender vine lay dormant then,

deep-rooted in the soil . . .

protected from the Northern chill,

in time she will sprout again.