Bastrop High School has two Parent-Teacher days a year. The students love them because it’s another day off. Teachers have a diversity of feelings about these days. Some are openly hostile, saying that such days are a waste of time, another Sisyphean task dumped on teachers who already have too many rocks to move around. Others wish the meetings could be held at night, which is the only time the working parents could come. Some love these days, as it allows them to talk and socialize with their fellow teachers. Most teachers like to talk school-shop, and some have perfected the art of gossip, so for these, it is an exciting day.

Then there are those like myself who are ambivalent, who use the time to read, write, catch up on grading of papers, and thinking time. It’s good to find this little island of peace in a work day after a week of fighting the powers of ignorance and darkness. (Those powers are mighty, too!) I’m taking my laptop and my new copy of The Road Road by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is always dark, but I do believe this is his darkest novel yet. The setting is a post-apocalyptic dystopian America. I may get to grading the papers. A diligent man would grade the papers first, then read and write. I’m not always diligent though, and it is hard to consign myself to hours of grunt work when I have lines of poetry and images of beauty swirling through my mind.

Our first parent-teacher conference is today from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We teachers are assigned a table in the cafeteria where we are to sit with our gradebooks and talk with any parents who are concerned enough to come to the school and meet their child’s teachers. On these parent-teacher days, I usually speak with an average one parent an hour, so I’ll see about 6-7, for about two minutes each.

Last night, I did a reading from Stories of the Confederate South for a Sons of Confederate Veterans organization in Abbeville, Louisiana. There were only a dozen in attendance, but they all bought books, and through some of the individuals there, I set up future writing/music related activities.

They were an interesting group of men–articulate, walking historical encyclopedias, and extremely passionate regarding their convictions. One man was the first heliocopter pilot I’ve ever met. I’ll have to get with him–I could tell he had stories in him. There was a man who owns a bookstore, Patti’s Book Nook, who is now going to order my books. His website is http://www.pattisbooknook.com/. Another member is prominent in the Scottish Society circles. I ran out of time before I could really get to know any of them, but I do hope to return. This camp has a link, you can go to it and learn something about them. www.geocities.com/ccduster Anyway, I did the reading, then I played and sang some Southern and Irish tunes. I had to leave at 8;00 pm after my presentation, as Monroe is 200 miles north. I packed up my books and guitar and reached my house at midnight, tired but energized for my writing work.

This afternoon, I’m writing this at a little coffee shop called The Courtyard, in Abbeville, Louisiana. Abbeville is a few miles south of Lafayette. The atmosphere of the café is so Southern that I can’t help but love it. They have free wireless, but as luck would have it, “the little box died” and the manager said they were waiting for another. I’m doing a reading from Stories of the Confederate South at 6:00 at the Golden Corral Steakhouse, but as I arrived at 3:00, I decided that exploring the quaint town of Abbeville would be a better option than sleeping in my truck. As I meandered my way to the town square, I came upon this coffee shop. Great coffee, and plenty of metal tables and chairs fill the inside of this very old building. There’s plants, a nymph statue with a fountain, and a huge, very old safe in the corner. Six tall bookshelves behind me are filled with paperbacks. Someone reads in this town. The café evidently has some sort of book club (allowing trade-ins) and the books are for sale. As I’m the only customer at 4:00 in the afternoon, it’s hard for me to judge how effective their efforts to promote literacy are. The café even has tables and chairs outside for us smokers (truly, a dying breed). Yet, the temperature is in the 90’s here today, so I opted to stay inside where it’s cool.

Tonight, I’m scheduled to do a reading and play some tunes on my guitar for the local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. I’ve decided to do the reading first tonight, so I can be sure to have time to sell some books and promote my children’s book coming out in the spring. Next post, I’ll tell you how the reading went and what I learned from the experience.

My birthday, Sept. 23, is officially the first day of fall. I love the fall, with its winds and coolness. Here in Monroe, Louisiana, the weather vacillates between hot and what should be fall weather, but at least we’re past the 100 degree days. Fall is a meditative season for me. I always write a fall poem, but for the past few years it’s been written while waiting on a college class. Since I’m no longer teaching at a college, I’ve got to make other arrangments for that annual poem. Today was supposed to be cool, but it’s not. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll have the weather I need to write that poem.

Northeast20Louisiana20Celtic20Festival
Here is where you can see a photo of our Scots-Irish band, Angus Duhbghall. On the sidebar click on performers. We had over 2,000 attend the first year of the festival last fall, and we’re expecting more this year. Check out the other performers. Some of them I intend to write more about.

Today, the edge of fall is in the air. I helped my best friend with his deer stands and other chores yesterday. I love the South, and when I’m out in the woods, I truly see and feel the South’s beauty. Today, I have my own chores, a Scottish Society meeting, band practice, and hopefully I can squeeze in some writing business time. Not much time for a creative writing window though. And I hate that. Since our band is playing at at the Northeast Louisiana Celtic Fest, http://nelacelticfest.org/ we need lots of practice. We laid down the instrumentals for our demo CD and Tom is going to lay down the voice this week. Then I’ll really start pushing the band.

Tonight I’ll try to read another chapter in Running with Scissors, which I’ve found to be a hilarious read.

Someone posted a very nice review of Stories of the Confederate South on Amazon. This review made my day. Just when you think no one is reading or thinking about your work. I also have a review coming up in Road Trips Magazine, a cultural magazine here in North Louisiana. Tonight I have a reading in Lafayette. Next post, I ‘ll tell you all about it.

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.