April in Missouri -for the Literary-Minded

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Blank Slate Press, Bonniebrook, Branson, Columbia, creativity, Kansas City, Missouri, Missouri Writers Guild, St. Louis, Unbound Book Festival, writing

There are lots of literary events going on in Missouri next month, some of which I’m involved with, some not. If you enjoy reading or writing, climb in the car and take a spring road trip!

First, there’s the Afternoon of Authors with Blank Slate Press event April 2, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Central Library in downtown St. Louis. I’ll be joining two other BSP authors to talk about writing and to read from our work. I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll read from my most recently published book, This Old World, or from my work-in-progress, which I’m getting close to completing. I’m also looking forward to sharing some time with Cynthia Graham and John Ryan.

Next up will be the season-opening open house at the Bonniebrook Gallery, Museum, and Homestead near Branson on April 16. I don’t think I’ll be able to make that event as I have work-related travel, but I’m eager to get down there sometime this spring or summer. The open house runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will include exhibits, craft demonstrations and vendors, presentations, and musical performances. Here’s a link to an earlier post about that event, including a schedule.

Then the following Saturday is the Unbound Book Festival here in Columbia. This is the initial year for that festival, and it looks very promising.

Finally, at the end of the month, is the annual conference of the Missouri Writers’ Guild. This year’s conference is in Kansas City, and includes workshops, master classes, opportunities to meet with editors and agents, and nonstop networking! I’ve been going to the MWG conference for years and always come away with something valuable, whether it’s an insight on craft, a new thought on marketing, or an important contact. Anybody who wants to take his or her writing to the next level needs to check out this conference.

So change your oil and buckle your seatbelt! It’s time to hit the road for literary adventure.

 

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On Confederates and Confederate Symbols

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Boone County, Civil War, Columbia, history, memorials, Missouri, war

The current controversy over Confederate markers and symbols has come to Columbia, in the form of the “Confederate rock” which sat in the center of the University of Missouri campus when I was an undergraduate, was quietly and unceremoniously whisked out of sight during an earlier period of racial turmoil, and wound up a few years later on the lawn of the Boone County Courthouse. Now a petition is circulating to have the rock removed.

I completely support the idea of removing the Confederate battle flag from state monuments and public areas; the flag was appropriated by racist groups in the 1950s and 1960s to become an unmistakable symbol of hatred and intimidation. (For proof, check out this image of the flag’s use during the 1957 Arkansas desegregation battle.) But the monuments and other commemorations present a more complicated issue.

Descendants of Confederate veterans defend the monuments, statues, and other such emblems as non-racist commemorations of their ancestors’ valor and sacrifice. And there is no doubt that many thousands of soldiers for the Confederacy fought for their side while having little or no sympathy for the institution of slavery. But even so, the cause of the war was slavery. The claim of “states’ rights” being the cause of the war is unpersuasive; if anything, the Southern states were angered by states in the Northeast exercising their rights by refusing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. Any doubt that slavery was not the principal cause of the war can be dispelled by reading Alexander Stephens’ “Cornerstone” speech, considered to be the “Confederate Declaration of Independence.”

So how to commemorate brave men who fought for an evil cause? Especially in states that participated in the rebellion? The plaque on the Confederate Rock seems bland enough: “To honor the valor and patriotism of Confederate veterans of Boone County.” But what’s patriotic about declaring war on your own country? Especially when the cause of that rebellion was the stated desire to maintain millions of Americans in subjugation? Is this something to be honored or embarrassed about?

The post-Civil War years in Missouri were characterized in Aaron Astor’s book Rebels on the Border as a time of “retroactive secession,” in which the state’s mixed association with the Confederacy was reinterpreted to reinforce ideas of white supremacy and white cultural superiority that had been unexamined on both sides during the war itself, but which then came under attack because of rising black political assertiveness. The erection of monuments does not happen free of a political context, and those monuments carry that stain today.

Confederate monuments are not like other war memorials, which commemorate occasions of national solidarity and effort. On battlefields and in cemeteries, the monuments appropriately recognize human sacrifice and bravery; on the courthouse lawn, they inappropriately fix a time of national agony as something uncomplicatedly worthy of honor. The rock belongs in a cemetery, not a place of public business.

On Twitter

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art, blogs, books, Columbia, creativity, fiction, Missouri, Twitter, writing

I am on Twitter, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not mastered the art of communicating on that particular social medium. I’m instinctively reticent about my own life, which a lot of people broadcast on Twitter, and I have a hard time compressing my thoughts into manageable form.

Some of the people I follow on Twitter junk up my feed with random links that don’t add anything, and some engage in continuous self-display that just annoys. Probably my favorite Twitter feed is my friend and fellow Columbia resident Daniel Green, a highly engaged literary critic. He reads widely, thinks a lot about what he has read and written, and posts comments and links that create a great sense of continuing conversation. If you’re at all interested in the state of contemporary literature, you should follow Dan Green.

Favorite Ozarks Books – 4

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Black River, Columbia, Current River, fiction, history, Jacks Fork, Missouri, Ozarks, rivers, Ward Dorrance, writing

This is undoubtedly one of my most prized possessions – an original edition of Ward A. Dorrance’s Three Ozark Streams from 1937, describing his floats on the Black, Jacks Fork, and Current rivers.

Ward Dorrance was an important literary figure in Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century. A collection of short stories that he co-wrote was the first book published by the University of Missouri Press. He was on the faculty at Missouri until, in a shameful display of 1950s bigotry, he was hounded off the faculty and out of the state because of his sexual orientation. You won’t see anything about this disgraceful episode in the “Mizzou” alumni publications, that’s for sure – they go in for the warm nostalgia of Tiger football and the Shack. But Ward A. Dorrance is the true Missouri treasure, and it’s a sad thing that his work has been so neglected over the years.

 

 

 

Prairie Sky

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books, Columbia, creative writing, creativity, Missouri, nonfiction, W. Scott Olsen, writing

When I was working on my master’s degree, I became friends with W. Scott Olsen, then also working on his. We used to sit around the Heidelburg and pontificate in the way that only master’s students in creative writing can.

Now looky here . . . both of us have gone on to successful careers and have new books out! I’ve not yet finished all the essays in Scott’s new one but am excited to! What I’ve read so far is lovely. Hoping to get him down here to do a reading/signing soon.

Here’s a link to the book description and ordering info.

Favorite Ozarks Places – 12

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Boone County, Columbia, favorite_places, Missouri, nature, Ozarks, parks, photography, rivers

The Pinnacles

I try to keep a copy of Beveridge’s Geologic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri in the trunk of my car, much to the chagrin of my traveling companions sometimes. But how else will a person know if there’s a geologic curiosity just a couple of miles off the highway? Geologic Wonders is my Michelin guide, directing me to out-of-the way marvels that speedier travelers miss.

Beveridge calls The Pinnacles (Boone County’s version of them, that is) “a compact outpost of Ozarkia,” a nice turn of phrase from a writer who is usually more prosaic. They are formed by two parallel streams, Silver Fork (seen in the foreground here) and Kelley Branch, which runs just a few feet behind the limestone outcrops seen in the photograph. A few hundred feet downstream, Silver Fork circles around and picks up Kelley Branch, and then winds southward again on its way to Perche Creek and eventually the Missouri River.

When I was attending college, the Pinnacles were a favorite spot to come for a weekend picnic and rock clamber. There wasn’t much hiking — a couple of trails lead along the stream but don’t last — but it was only 12 miles outside of town and felt like home. Technically speaking, they’re not part of the Ozarks, being north of the Missouri River, but they sure look like they belong.

Out-of-Body Experience

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books, Civil War, Columbia, creativity, education, Missouri, Slant of Light, writing

Over my career, I’ve taught thousands of students and used dozens of books in my classes. But it was a new experience for me to walk into a classroom and see all the students with my book! Dr. Anne Mack of the University of Missouri is using it in her English classes, and the students are discussing its literary themes as well as using it as a gateway to research about the Civil War, the Nineteenth Century, and other issues.

I found myself unable to answer many of the students’ questions. Why does Mattie Cunningham only have one arm? Why did Character X have to die in that chapter? I don’t know, it just felt right. I wasn’t trying to be evasive with them. It’s just that my creative process are very intuitive and instinctual, and I rarely have a logical reason for a lot of plot details other than “it felt right.” The story developments that have an analytical reason for being are often the weakest ones.

At the end of each class, I signed books for the students, and it was a particular pleasure to sign the ones that were heavily scribbled in, dog-eared, and festooned with sticky notes. There were a couple of suspiciously pristine copies, but oh well.