J.D. Porter's Blog, page 2

The Evolution of a Novel

I was deputy director of the Toledo Zoo when it celebrated its centennial anniversary in the year 2000. As my team and I planned events, exhibits, and the book that explored the rich history of the zoo, I began to recognize that there was another side to that story—the history we either didn’t know or didn’t want to tell. That is what inspired me to write the history of a fictional zoo. I wanted to tell the whole story.

My first novel, The Menagerie, A Zoo Story (2012), explores the history of the Dotson Park Zoo as it celebrates its centennial anniversary. It is told from the perspective of the present day, but it reaches back in time through two flashback scenes.

The first flashback, over the months prior to the opening of the Dotson Park Zoo in June 1912, introduces the zoo’s first director, Calvin Griffith. Calvin is a widower who is doing his best to raise two children, 16-year-old Raven and 17-year-old Buddy. Raven is a shy, quiet girl who loves animals and is delighted that her father has been asked to run the new zoo. Buddy, on the other hand, is not an animal person. He is confident, cocky, and obcessed with playing baseball. He tells his father he does not want to be a zookeeper. At the conclusion of this section, on the day of the zoo’s grand opening, Raven and her friends are rounding up some foxes that had escaped from their pen while Buddy is running away from home to answer the call of a professional baseball scout.

Twenty-five years later, on Easter weekend in 1937, we meet Calvin and his family again. He is still director of the zoo and his daughter, Raven, is grown with two children. As the family sits down for lunch, Buddy turns up unannounced. It is the first time they have seen him since he ran away. He is disheveled, bearded, and has a sad story to tell of professional baseball, war, and a life with the circus.

After I finished the Menagerie, I wondered what had happened to Raven and Buddy in the intervening years of their lives. I also felt called to expand on my exploration of the human-animal bond with zoo animals by considering two more groups of animals—the animals that share our homes as pets and working animals like horses, mules, and elephants.

In my second novel, The Dogcatcher and The Fox (2020), Raven Griffith is working for the Animal Welfare Association in 1920 Chicago, where dogs are disappearing from the streets. Now, in the third book of my animal trilogy, The Muleskinner and The King, horse wrangler and elephant man Buddy Griffith is in Atlanta, Georgia in 1936 where series of murders threaten to shut down the circus. Buddy is drawn into the investigation and must set aside his focus on the animals he has come to love and help solve the mystery before an innocent man is lynched. Muleskinner is looking for a publisher and will come out in 2025.

Monday Musings – 3 June

As we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day, I find myself wondering what those men who stormed the beaches of Normandy were fighting for. I’ll bet they would say “freedom”. But freedom from what? Probably freedom from tyrants like Adolph Hitler. But what protects us from tyrants like Adolph Hitler? It is the rule of law and our free & fair elections. Something to think about these days.

This Thursday—June 6th, everyone should watch the first ten-minutes of the movie Saving Private Ryan and ask yourself, would those soldiers be proud of the America we live in today?

A Post-Mothers’ Day Musing – 13 May 2024

I’ve written about mothers before: mother elephants who force young males out of the herd when they reach puberty, mother gorillas who allow their youngsters to ride on their backs for years, and my own mother who could, at times, seem as powerful as a hurricane or as gentle as a summer breeze. She could bandage a skinned knee, soothe an injured ego, or send us outside to break a switch off the willow tree so she could use it on our bare behind. Then there is my wife, Karen, who raised our son Ian, helped me raise my other 3 boys, and even found time to provide comfort to an orphan gorilla.

But mothers of today face challenges and opportunities that my generation never dreamed of—from Artificial Intelligence to a changing climate and from space travel to modern medical breakthroughs. So, here’s to the mothers of my grandchildren, Amy and Kelly, who are raising the next generation of Porters. May God grant them the patience to accept the things in their children they cannot change, the courage to change the things that need to be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference. Happy belated Mother’s Day.

Monday Musings – 29 April

I’ve written about this before—about taking time to stop and smell the flowers. But I was reminded of this once again last week when Karen and I visited the Atlanta Botanical Garden. From the Dale Chihuly glass sculptures to the rose garden and from the orchid house to the Alice in Wonderland displays, I was enthralled by the beauty of it all. And I was reminded, once again, how important it is to take some time to appreciate life’s little pleasures.

Monday Musings – 22 April

Earth Day 2024: It sounds like old news—a quaint holiday that allows us to pick up litter, plant a tree, and get on with our lives. But sometimes it feels more like Chicken Little is calling and nobody is listening. Just a few days ago, the streets of Dubai (a city on the edge of the Arabian desert) were flooded after receiving 10 inches of rain—more than double their annual rainfall—in just 24 hours. At the same time, NOAA scientists were reporting that the temperatures of the world’s oceans are quite literally off the charts, resulting in a mass coral reef bleaching event across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. But what is the big news of the week? It’s the trial of Donald Trump.

The human race is like a dysfunctional family sitting around the dinner table picking our teeth, calling each other names, and arguing over politics while our house is on fire.

Monday Musings – 15 April

Today is Patriot’s Day in parts of New England. For them, the 3rd Monday in April is a holiday that commemorates the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord. I consider myself a “patriot” because I am a proud American. But unfortunately, the term has been co-opted by white supremacists who call themselves the Patriot Front. They claim their white forefathers conquered this land for white people. Never mind that this nation has been diverse since the beginning; that non-white soldiers have fought and died for our freedom in every war; and non-white citizens have worked, served, and lived here since before white Europeans sailed over here on the Mayflower. Patriot’s Day should be for all of us who make up this wacky, weird, and wonderful nation.

And don’t get me started on what is means to be a Christian these days, because I am one of those, too. I don’t need a special day to remind of what being a Christian is supposed to mean—to LOVE one another (even “patriots”).

Monday Musings – 1 April

This is no April Fool’s joke, my latest book is now available on Kindle. (Coming soon in paperback.)

Come and sit a spell on the bench of a Southern mule wagon, where the twenty-first century meets the nineteenth.

A charming collection of essays that covers with humor and poignancy a wide array of topics, from forgotten but fascinating Georgia history to the finer points of hunting dogs; from preserving the land and appreciating the nature in our own backyards to the merits of a good daily walk; from unique aspects of Southern culture past and present, to what makes us good neighbors and citizens today; and many points in between.

Monday Musings – 25 March

I’m not much for jumping on the bandwagon of the latest celebrity athlete. I’m probably the only sports fan in America that is not in awe of Tiger Woods, LeBron James, or Shohei Ohtani. But I must admit that I enjoy watching Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark. I have been a fan of women’s college basketball for several years as my enthusiasm for the men’s game has dwindled. Women players stay in school long enough for me to learn their names. For many of the college men, it’s one year and done. They can’t wait to turn pro.

The women’s game is just plain fun to watch. It is more finesse and less muscle, more pick and roll than slam dunk. In the women’s game, it’s the impossibly long-range 3-point shot, the no-look bounce pass to the teammate breaking for the basket, and the 3-on-2 fast break that ends in a slick reverse layup. And it doesn’t hurt to have a generational player like Caitlin Clark who takes all of that to the next level—a Pistol Pete with a ponytail. I haven’t enjoyed watching basketball this much since I watched Bird and Magic go head-to-head more than 30-years ago.

Monday Musings – 4 March

It was Saturday, March 5th, 1988, thirty-six years ago tomorrow, that Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo re-opened after a 3-year closure for renovation. I remember the date because I was the zoo director. When I arrived in 1984, the zoo was what I described in my memoir, Lessons from the Zoo, as a “grim place” with chain-link cages and water-filled pits. When I left, four years later, we had raised $20 million to rebuild the entire 24-acre zoo from the ground up. If it had been a home renovation, it would have been called a “tear down”. Along the way, we earned accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we hosted Jane Goodall, and, when we were finished, the animals were walking on grass in natural habitats. It was well on the way to becoming the ZooTampa at Lowry Park of today.

But the zoo wasn’t my finest accomplishment in Tampa. That occurred a mile and a half from the zoo at Seminole Heights Garden Center when I married Karen in August of 1984 – 40 years ago. But that’s a story for another time.

Monday Musings – 26 February

I saw Hamilton at Atlanta’s historic Fox theater on Saturday. Judging by the roar of the crowd when certain characters appeared on stage, Karen and I were the among the few people who had not already seen the play. It was also my first time in the Fox theater so, when I wasn’t enjoying the music, I was in awe of the 1929-era venue.

As for the show—it was kind of genius. Here we were crowded into a darkened theater with nearly 5,000 people, clapping and cheering for a semi-obscure figure from American history—Alexander Hamilton. According to his Wikipedia page, Hamilton was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 during George Washington’s presidency. He is most famous for dying at age 49 of a gunshot wound suffered in a “gentlemen’s duel” with Aaron Burr.

Karen wondered about the first meeting of Lin-Manuel Miranda (the show’s creator) and his financial backers when he described his proposal. “I have this idea for a musical play about Alexander Hamilton. You know, the guy on the ten-dollar bill. It’ll draw from hip hop, R&B, pop, soul, and traditional-style show tunes, AND I’m going to cast non-white actors as the Founding Fathers.”

It sounds crazy, but it totally works. My favorite was Mad King George in his crown and regalia chiding the rebellious colonists. “You’ll be back,” he sang. “Soon, you’ll see.” He might as well have been singing to the audience about the next time Hamilton rolls back to town.