Polishing Southern Tarnish
Well, I declare. Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays must have my double-first-name aunts on speed dial for their second offering...
The Mirror Within
Recently, I saw a marquee at a local retail establishment that read: If you want to correct your child's behavior, correct her example—you.
Reza Aslan on Islam
Reza Aslan, the internationally acclaimed author of "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam" (Random House, 2005, $25.95), will speak in Jackson on Wednesday, Feb. 22, as part of the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series. A native of Iran, Aslan has a master's of theological studies from Harvard and is a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He will reflect on Islam, the fastest-growing religion in the world, challenging the "clash of civilizations" mentality and the "hijacking" of his faith by power-hungry demagogues, self-serving clergy, and radical fundamentalists.
Vivian M. Kelly
Vivian M. Kelly, 42, always knew she wanted to write. A favorite school teacher in Edwards encouraged her to never give up on her dreams, advice she took to heart. "When Love Ain't Enough" (GNE Books, $16.95), the first of her planned series of novels, deals with realizing that one's sexuality is a treasured asset, not a stereotypical weapon to be wielded by others bent on destroying you.
[Geek] Don't Ask "Y": A Vision Of The Unmanned World
I have to profess an undying affection for "what if" stories—what if the British had won the Revolutionary War, what if Napoleon had not lost at Waterloo—and the comic book genre is full of these stories. What if Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four? What if Superman's rocket had landed on Earth in Russia?
[Geek] Comic Crisis!
Comic fans are used to company-wide crossovers interrupting the usual plotlines in favor of an ill-contrived tie-in. The main characters take a break from the action of the special event to check their answering-machine messages, or the big battle is viewed in the distance from a window. These crossovers typically occur once a year or every other year for the big two comic producers, DC and Marvel. However, DC has taken a radical approach to their upcoming summer event, "Infinite Crisis."
[Comics] Because Nobody Else Will
"Desolation Jones" is the newest series coming from the mind of critically acclaimed writer Warren Ellis and former "Promethea" artist J.H. Williams (who co-created "Desolation Jones" with Ellis).
[Halloween] Cool Costumes and General Stupidity
For adults like me, Oct. 31 is a great day. And, no, it's not because my youngest son will turn 26 that day and thankfully be too old for the draft Dubya assures us will not ever happen. (Talk about scary.) It's because Oct. 31 is Halloween, a chance for adults to create costumes, to frighten others and to get scared silly—all in fun.
White Noise
From the four pages of acknowledgements to chapters like "Why I'm a Virgin" and "Who Will Stand Up for Old People," Ben Ferguson's first book "It's My America Too" (William Morrow, 2004, $23.95) seems more concerned with impressing those aforementioned "old people" than providing a voice for a largely un-categorized generation. At no point does Ferguson drop the pretense of being a good little Southern boy to address his generationhe's too busy pandering to the grownups. He uses words like "whippersnapper" and "youngblood" to describe people his age. He opens every chapter with giant, grayscale American flag clip art. It is almost inconceivable that someone Ben Ferguson's age could be this comically out of touch with, well, people his age.
Our Three Writers
On the Web site for the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series, about its Sept. 30 offering of Southern writers, there's the question: "How much better does it get than this?" You get the rare chance, beginning at 7:30 p.m. that night, to hear three superb Southern writers and humorists speak—Roy Blount Jr., Julia Reed and Jill Conner Browne—and answer questions from the audience.
Sweet Home Paradox
"Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South." You can tell by the title of this book what it's going to be about, right? Not exactly. What we have in Mark Kemp's new book (Free Press, 2004, $26) is much more than what it appears to be on the surface—it's a cathartic treatise on the author's life in and with the music of his formative and adult years and the musicians who brought it to him. It's a story much like that of other Southerners who were born in 1960, whether they're guys or gals. That's because for some Southerners, questioning the status quo of race and the acceptability of the changes in music after the British invasion and with the rise of Southern rock came naturally, much to the chagrin of their families, much to the confusion of themselves at times. Kemp wasn't satisfied to float through life; he looked for anchors to hold him and platforms from which to make the jump to the next step. For him, music was both.
[Rev] Burning Car
By the time you read this, you will have missed Burning Man. You will have missed the blistering heat and dust on the playa, an ancient lake bed where revelers camp in the Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada. You missed the various wacky theme camps with names like Barbie Death Camp and Wine Bistro or the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet, and their attendant freewheeling sexual exploits and barter society values. And of course, the pyrotechnics that make Burning Man what it is—the torching of a giant humanoid sculpture—was missed. But most of all, you will have missed the art cars.
Signifying Plenty
I admit that I haven't finished reading every essay in Ellen Douglas' amazing new book. I simply can't bear for it to end. I read a couple of lines, then close my eyes to let them fully sink in. It is almost unbearable to be so entertained and challenged.
The Altar of Football
Across the country, college football fans just got started planning their lives around their team's schedule. New York Times reporter Warren St. John, born in Birmingham in 1970 into a University of Alabama football-fan-family, shows in his new book, "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania" (Crown, 2004, $24), that he thoroughly understands that statement. For St. John, there's nothing out-of-the-ordinary about believing that Bear Bryant's a deity, nor is it strange to feel high as a kite when your team wins or so low as to be underneath the abused sod of the field if they don't.
[Rev] Rogues of the Driving World
Do you have any idea what it involves to be the maid of honor at a wedding? Me neither, but I'm going to be one in my sister's wedding in a few weeks, so I hustled down to the public library to check out what Emily Post has to say about it. Basically, I have to give my sister the equivalent of a bachelor's party, hold her bouquet while she puts the ring on her husband's finger, and generally make sure she doesn't have a heart attack.