Irene Latham's Blog, page 172

SOME THOUGHTS ON STEPSONS

When I first started dating Paul, oh about twenty-one years ago, I was immediately smitten. But I had seen a little bit of the underside of the world by that time and kept waiting for the moment when he would reveal to me some big secret, some something that would mark him as less perfect than I imagined him to be. I spun all sorts of scenarios in my mind, and the one my psyche seemed most attached to was that either he was married, or that he had some kids out there somewhere that I would be asked to love.

As it turns out, there was no wife or kids. He really was perfect. And even if there had been kids out there, he still would have been perfect. But it probably would have been more challenging to mesh our lives.

Twenty-one years later I am still fascinated by this role of stepparent, and how it can play out in a million different ways, depending on personality and circumstances and other factors. In my mind, I love those imaginary children beyond belief, because they are his. But who's to say? I haven't walked in those shoes.

Which I guess is why I was continually moved to tears when I read Rick Bragg's latest book THE PRINCE OF FROGTOWN.


Here's the description on the back cover: "Inspired by Rick Bragg's love for his stepson, THE PRINCE OF FROGTOWN also chronicles his own journey into fatherhood, as he learns to avoid the pitfalls of his forebearers. With candor, insight, and tremendous humor, Bragg seamlessly weaves these luminous narrative threads together and delivers an unforgettable rumination about fathers and sons."

I love this. LOVE it. This book makes me want to write. This book reminds me of all the reasons we MUST write. And all those section called "The Boy"? I have listened to them again and again. And then I bought the book in print so I could read them again and again. Check it out.

And for Poetry Friday, I'd like to share a poem about a stepmother from my latest collection THE COLOR OF LOST ROOMS. Don't forget to visit Liz in Ink for Roundup!


Anne Moynet Audubon, Long Before Birds of America


This boy would dart off before dawn,
climb trees, examine eggs, take out
his little pencil and draw the birds in flight.

When I'd meet him at the arbor with tea
and cookies, he'd share the bounty
of pockets: egg shells, nests of curling

leaves, feathers of every color. So what
if his cheeks stayed smudged and he rarely
made it in time for supper? For those

of you who'll say, he was not yours,
I ask you: Does the Earth not belong
to the sky? Does the shore not love

the ocean, even as it crashes upon it?
Does the bluebird not sit on the nest,
even if the egg is speckled instead of pale?

- Irene Latham

A VIEW FROM SATURDAY

Actually, I took this picture last Wednesday. It's a Bradford pear tree, and those of you who live in the south know these trees are very popular for landscape design. At least the were when we built this house over a dozen years ago.

Since Wednesday it's rained, and the blossoms have started to fall off as green shoots move in, and the sky has turned to cold steel. But wasn't it gorgeous??

The reasons I'm posting this pic now, on Sunday, because it's how I felt yesterday (Saturday) when I spent the day in Chattanooga with my sister Lynn.

I have written here before how Lynn is the best give I ever got. It's still true. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without her sweet smile and irreverence and patient ear.

Yesterday, over lunch at Tony's, and before shopping at the North Shore, I unleashed the Crazy Lady who lives in my head... that one battling with story ideas and direction and characters that don't want to stay in their places.

Now you writers know how you cannot dump your madness on just anyone. It's so very personal, and it's such a raw place, with many acres of swampland called Doubt. There's also the Confusion Mountains and the I Want it NOW Ocean. And my sister Lynn is a fortress, a bunker, a Swiss Family Treehouse.

Because she is NOT a writer, I'm not sure she will ever know how many times she's saved my life. All I can do is keep saying THANK YOU.

So, thanks, sweet sister. And the Italian Cream Cake was delicious too.

MEET SEAN GRISWOLD, STARRING LINDSEY LEAVITT

You know how great it is when a dear friend writes a book that you absolutely adore?

Lindsey Leavitt's SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD is one of those book for me. And it releases TODAY. Y'all don't want to miss this book. Mainly because the love interest (whom I secretly call SS for Sweet Sean...maybe because I not-so-secretly call Lindsey LL. And her #3 daughter LLL. Yes, this is how creative I am.) is The Boy every girl should be lucky enough to meet. And obsess over. And eventually marry.


I've got my Sean. And my goal as a mom is for my three sons to be Seans as well. (Here they are with me as we celebrated my birthday this past weekend.) Can you just feel my heart bursting with maternal pride? Yep, you mothers of wee ones. You still burst when they get taller than you.

So, meet Sean Griswold, LL's latest creation. And check out Lindsey's blog for insider information on why she chose to write about MS and a bike ride and a boy who rose in a bike ride for MS.


See, too, her account of our Sunday visit to Margaret Mitchell's house in Atlanta. And enjoy this adorable pic of Lindsey posing on the interior staircase. (We tried a pic with a cardboard cut-out of us with teeny tiny Vivian Leigh all decked out in the red velvet dress... alas, that one did not turn out.)

Happy March, everyone!

FIVE FOR FRIDAY

1. It's Poetry Friday! And while I am not able to contribute this week, you should totally get your day off to a good start and head over to Sara at Read Write Believe for Roundup.

2. In the past week I have had speaking engagements at Tuskegee University (for ACETA), Judson College (see previous post), University of Alabama (Women's Resource Center) and today I'll teach a bunch of middle schoolers at University of Montevallo's WRITE IN THE MIDDLE conference. I've so enjoyed making new friends and sharing stories about my experience writing LEAVING GEE'S BEND.

3. Tomorrow is my birthday. 40, baby!! I will be celebrating with some super sweet fellas who said they have some surprises in store. Hmmmm.... I'm not gonna think about it too much because I don't want to accidentally think of the surprise. Hate when that happens.

4. Wait until you see the new quilt I am working on. It's in spring colors and is called "Magic Twist and Stitch 9-Patch." I love how it's turning out!

5. I'm reading an ARC of Kathryn Erskine's THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF MIKE to my youngest, and we are loving it! Kathy and her daughter stayed with us over the summer, so reading this book feels really personal. And Kathy, if you're reading this, Eric paid you a wonderful comment when he said, "Are you sure she's the one who wrote that book?" The voice is THAT authentically Teenage Boy! Wonderful, Kathy.

Happy weekend, All!

JOY AT JUDSON COLLEGE

What a warm welcome I received today at Judson College in Marion, Alabama. Judson has its own china pattern, so this tea cup and saucer will serve as my souvenir. Don't you love it?

After I spoke to a room-full of wonderful young women, I shared a lovely lunch with Sulynn Creswell (whom I adore) of Blackbelt Treasures, Michael Brooks and President David Potts from Judson, author/poet/artist-in-residence Dr. Bille Jean Young (who was kind enough to give me copies of two of her works. I can't wait to read!) and several other gracious faculty and staff. It was such a pleasure to share time with adults so passionate about education and creativity.

Sulynn brought along this broomstick version of Ludelphia that totally warms my heart. She was created at Blackbelt Treasures as part of a recycled art project. What a great idea!

Below is a pic of the three of us: Sulynn, Ludelphia and me. Wishing everyone a joyful day!

COMING SOON: BEACH SEASON

Actually, I'm kind of partial to the beach in fall, when the heat is not nearly so brutal. And I love it at night best of all. There's just something about the cool sand and warm breeze and scurrying crabs -- in the dark. Love it.

We are, however, talking about zipping down with the kids to the beach during spring break. But we've learned from experience not to make any hard and fast plans. We'll just wait and see what the weather is like that week, then decide.

Meanwhile, my new book THE COLOR OF LOST ROOMS contains several beach poems. Today I'd like to share one that was inspired by a painting in the permanent collection at National Museum of Art by Women in Washington, DC. Perhaps you've had a "beach scene" like the one below.

Thanks for reading. And for more wonderful poetry, don't forget to visit Mary Ann at Great Kids Books for Roundup!


Beach Scene
-after the painting by Jane Peterson

Sand in drifts,
parade of skin:
peach, pink,

ruddy, lobster.
Heat prickles,
tempers flare

bare feet sink,
splash, dash
buckets, shovels

tossed aside
for waves,
sea salt, foam.

Ocean grumbles,
roars, later
whispers,

I'm sorry
shhhhh
yes.

FOR THE LOVE OF LINE EDITS

How awesome is this??

Thank you, Nancy Mercado, for wrapping it all up with a colorful ribbon and an artsy note. How could I NOT be inspired to work hard and make DON'T FEED THE BOY the best it can be??

Yep. Sometimes it really is the little things.

Wishing all of you lots of little things today!

WHAT COLOR IS CANCER, AND OTHER THOUGHTS TO PONDER

. for Poetry Friday, I want to tell you about all the juicy goodness spilling from the pages of the latest Birmingham Arts Journal.

There's Maria Coble's poem "What Color is Cancer?" which just might surprise you. (No, it's not black.)

There's Vernon Fowlkes Jr.'s poem "Say We Have Felt This" that addresses sound and touch and begins

Say this is a sound
wired in the hammer
in the ear. Say

There's Jim Reed's piece entitled "How to Murder an Author." (In case you were curious!)

There's Nick McRae's poem about what happens with goldfish entitled "The Ressurrection and the Life."

There's Kory Wells' lovely poem called "Still, My Daughter Wants to Fly."

There's even a poem of mine: "Why Hester Prynne Still Loves the Color Red."

And so much more! I hope you'll check it out. Then, send me your submissions!! Would love to publish some of my Poetry Friday friends.

Speaking of...Carol at Rasco from RIF has Poetry Friday Round up.

EXPLORE THIS

You may not know this, but I am a big fan of reader's theater. I have such fond memories of watching the excitement of my own kids as they participated in reader's theater, and I've even written some vignettes myself for teachers to use in conjunction with LEAVING GEE'S BEND. So I was particularly joyous when I head about Doraine Bennett's new book entitled READER'S THEATER FOR GLOBAL EXPLORERS.

To help celebrate the release of the book, I invited Doraine (who is such a lovely person - seriously, visit her blog)to answer some questions about this fun project.

1. What are the benefits of using Reader's Theater to teach history?
Reader's Theater lets students bring a character, an event, or an unfamiliar culture to life.They have the opportunity to "become" the character without the trappings of an actual play. In order to interpret a character well, the reader has to understand the emotions that character experienced in any given scene. Getting to the bottom of those emotions gives the reader new insight into history. And of course, the side benefit to all reader's theater productions is that students develop fluency.




2. I especially love "The North Pole: Who Was First? (or Did They Really Get There At All?) because of the unexpected way the information is presented. How did you choose that particular viewpoint?

The North Pole was the most difficult of all the scripts I wrote. The entire country was in a uproar over the events. There was controversy, backbiting, accusations swirling around both Peary and Cook. I felt like I couldn't write their story without really understanding it. Cook seemed such a likable guy, I wanted him to have won. But he truly was a scam artist. Unfortunately this fact blinded people to the accomplishments he did make in his understanding and treatment of the Native Americans. Peary on the other hand was an egotistical boor. His original records have still never been released, so there really is some question about whether he actually made it. And of course Matthew Henson was the one who got him as far as he did get. I finally came up with the courtroom scene as a way to present the facts that were known and the ones that were intentionally obscured. I think the ending gives students a great beginning point for discussion.




3. Tell us a bit about your process. How does writing Reader's Theater differ from the other nonfiction work that you have done?
The process of writing reader's theater is more like writing historical fiction than nonfiction, because you are creating a scene. And you must choose one or two simple scenes that convey the essence of the entire story. There's the same amount of research that you would expect in a nonfiction book, the facts are the facts. They are just presented in a different format.



4. You've written a slew of books for the educational market. Tell us how this particular book came to be -- from idea to publication.
I follow the blog of a wonderful nonfiction writer named Nancy I. Sanders. In March 2009, Nancy walked her readers through the process of identifying gaps in a publisher's series of books, and then sending a query to offer a proposal before writing the book. I researched Libraries Unlimited who had a series called Readers Theatre. It's a bit nerve-racking, but I found some of their books in the library and thought--okay, I could do that. I looked at the line of titles and sent an email query to editor asking if she would like to see a proposal for a book on explorers, and two other topics which I can't even remember now. I got an e-mail reply saying yes. So, I picked explorers from my list of topics, took about three months to write a proposal following the guidelines on the website. I included a table of contents and one script. In August, I got a phone call saying they wanted to offer me a contract. They gave me until July 2010 to complete the project. And the book came out in late December 2010.

5. If you could actually live in any of the scenes that you've created for Global Explorers, which story and role would you choose?
I'm really partial to Sir Ernest Shackleton. I think sledding on your bum down a frozen mountain on South Georgia Island with him would have been a hair-raising, exhilarating, once-in-a lifetime memory. Assuming you survived, of course.

YOU'RE INVITED: POETRY RETREAT!

For all of you Poetry Friday folks, I have to tell you about this retreat that I am SO excited about:

Dive Into Poetry Retreat with Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Friday, June 10, 2011 - Sunday, June 12, 2011
Center for New Beginnings, Dahlonega, Georgia 30533

Sponsored by Southern Breeze SCBWI
and arranged by the lovely Robyn Hood Black
manuscript critique is included with registration! (Must be RECEIVED no later than April 25, 2011)

REGISTER HERE

I hope some of you can make it -- it's going to be fantastic! And how fun would it be to meet some of you??

On the theme of invitations, I have two invitation poems to share. They have each had a huge impact on my life, albeit at very different times.

The first, from childhood:

Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er. a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by the fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

-Shel Silverstein

The second, as I entered adulthood. I still keep this one pinned to my bulletin board:

Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.

rest of poem here

- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Anyone else have an "invitation" poem to share? I'd love to hear about it. And don't forget to visit Doraine at Dori Reads for Roundup!