Kathryn Tucker Windham

IRST RAFT FTHE JOURNAL OF THE ALABAMA WRITERS’ FORUMD VOL. 5, NO. 3 FALL 1998

Kathryn Tucker Windham: Also in this issue: MORE PLAYWRITING Page 6 Telling Stories of the South OPEN THE DOOR: Page 1 WORKS BY YOUNG WRITERS Page 9 AWF-AUM WRITERS’ AND ASSOCIATES’ COLLOQUIUM, ALABAMA VOICES, AND MORE! ROM THE XECUTIVE IRECTOR ALABAMA F E D WRITERS’ ctober 17, 1998, was a watershed day for poetry in Alabama. FORUM At the same time that the Alabama State Poetry Society was 1998-99 Board of Directors Ocelebrating its 30th anniversary with a daylong PoetryFest in President BirminghamÐbringing together over 200 members and others to revel Brent Davis (Tuscaloosa) in the Word of poetryÐRobert Pinsky, our U.S. Poet Laureate, was vis- Immediate Past President iting Montgomery to fulfill a dream of his own. Norman McMillan (Montevallo) Pinsky visited Montgomery to introduce a staged selection of his Vice-President translation of Dante’s “The Inferno” at the historic Dexter Avenue King Rawlins McKinney (Birmingham) Memorial Baptist Church, just one block from the state capitol. Secretary Jonathan Levi’s production, which features four actors and a violinist, Jay Lamar will travel to Miami, Kansas City, Seattle, Boston and back to New (Auburn) York (where it originated at the 92nd Street Y through the auspices of Treasurer Doug Lindley the Unterberg Poetry Center). Montgomery was the only deep South (Montgomery) stop for “The Inferno.” In the Winter First Draft, we will review the Co-Treasurer production at length. Edward M. George (Montgomery) Regrettably, these events (PoetryFest and “The Inferno” produc- Writers’ Representative Ruth Beaumont Cook tion) conflicted. Many at one event would also have certainly attended (Birmingham) the other, but the point to celebrate is that in Alabama on that day, Writers’ Representative poetry was vigorous, alive, and very, very audible. While he was here, Peter Huggins (Auburn) Mr. Pinsky encouraged Writers’ Forum board members to sponsor a Evelyn H. Blake “Favorite Poem Project” event in Alabama and handed out contact (Montevallo) cards about his national project. By the year 2000, the poet laureate Priscilla Cooper hopes to have in hand nearly 30,000 letters from individuals around the (Birmingham) country that he can present to the Library of Congress documenting the Bettye L. Forbus (Dothan) drive to make poetry readily heard in every corner of America. The William H. Goodson, Jr., M.D. October issue of Life magazine features Mr. Pinsky’s campaign. (Huntsville) William E. Hicks Look for more about Pinsky’s “Favorite Poem Project” in the (Troy) Winter issue of First Draft, but if you would like to write for your own Jean P. McIver (Mobile) event kit, please call the Forum’s office and we’ll be glad to give you Nicole Mitchell the address. Within the next month, the Forum will begin encouraging (Tuscaloosa) and coordinating some of these events. Kellee Reinhart (Tuscaloosa) Breaking news for poetry is an exciting thing–it doesn’t happen a Rick Shelton (Sterrett) lot. Yet, where two or more are gathered in its name, it is there. Frank Toland (Tuskegee) Randall Williams (Montgomery) Executive Director Jeanie Thompson (Montgomery) ASCA Liaison Becky Mullen (Montgomery) First Draft is a vehicle for communication among writers and those interested in literature/publishing in Alabama and elsewhere. We encourage publication news, events Book Reviews Editor information, and story suggestions. First Draft will grow as the needs of writers in Jay Lamar Alabama are identified. Contact: The Alabama WritersÕ Forum, Alabama State Council Editing/Lay-out/Design on the Arts, 201 Monroe Street, Montgomery, AL 36130-1800; 334/242-4076, ext. Wordcraft, Inc. 233; Fax: 334/240-3269; email:[email protected] Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 1

All Things Southern: AN INTERVIEW WITH KATHRYN TUCKER WINDHAM

athryn Tucker Windham knew from an early age that she wanted to be a newspaper reporter. After Kgraduating from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, she set about systematically achieving her goal, first as a stringer for the state’s major dailies, then as a police reporter and feature writer for the Alabama Journal, afternoon paper of the Montgomery Advertiser company. The Southern newsroom of the early 1940s, as Windham chronicles in Odd-Egg Editor (University of Mississippi Press, 1988), Kathryn Tucker Windham at home in Selma,Alabama was not hospitable to women, but she persevered and continued her journalistic career with stints at The JB: You’ve written so many books and you’re known as a Birmingham News, Selma Times-Journal, and as a syndicated writer and storyteller, but Encounters features your photogra- columnist. phy over a broad period of time. Unlike her work as a reporter, many of Windham’s KW: A long time. I really can’t remember when I wasn’t best known adventures were not planned or sought. It interested in photography. I had two older sisters who were a was happenstance, she says, that she became a storyteller, great deal older than I was. I was born the night the youngest a collector of “true” ghost stories, a commentator on one of them graduated from high school. And they had National Public Radio, a photographer with work Kodaks. You didn’t have much money to spend on film and exhibited in museums, the author and actor of a one-woman developing in those days and they both were particular about play about Julia Tutwiler (and twice gave the Alabama the pictures they took. As a child, I was not permitted to Legislature a tongue lashing in that same guise). experiment with their Kodaks. So when I read a sign in the If, as Windham says, these things just happened, it drugstore windowÐPeoples Drug Company in ThomasvilleÐ must be because she is wide open to life, people and that Eastman Kodak Company was going to give a Brownie experiences. Not only does she see stories all around her, Kodak to every child who was twelve years old in 1930, if she pursues them. Others may exaggerate for effect, but not you got there in time, well, I got very excited, and I was her. Kathryn Tucker Windham’s tales are elucidated by her sitting on the sidewalk curb in front of Peoples Drug keen mind and warm wit, and at the same time tempered Company before the sun came up the morning of the by her reporter’s dedication to facts. Windham is not a bit coy when she says in this interview, at age 79, that she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. As long as pleasant happenstance leads her destiny, let’s hope she never grows up. ed.

Joey Brackner, folklife program manager of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviewed Windham in 1997, while her recently published book, Encounters, was in production. Photographs by Katie Lamar Smith. 2 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

giveaway. I was the first one in line, and I got my Brownie had told me wonderful stories. They needed to have their pic- camera. It opened a whole new world. It was mine. Some of tures perserved, they were a part of life for me. the photographs that I took with it are in exhibits, which is JB: In looking at the photographs and the stories that go with kind of remarkable. them in Encounters, it occurred to me that unlike a lot of JB: And several are in this book. Alabama writers you seem to be indelibly associated with KW: Yes. I wish I still had that camera. I don’t know what land and the people on the land. You seem to want to cover happened to it. You lose things through the years. I graduated yourself up in southernness and Alabama. to more complex cameras but I really think the pictures I KW: I just could not imagine living anywhere else. This is took with that Brownie may be the best ones I’ve ever taken. home, Alabama. ’Course we drift over into Mississippi and JB: Was that the camera that you actually sent back and they Georgia, a little bit of Tennessee, not much of Florida. We developed the film? should have had the panhandle of Florida, you know, it KW: No, no. You took the roll out and took it down to Mr. belongs to us. I don’t know how we let them get it. This is Rich Anderson’s photographic studio and he developed it the part of the country where I feel at home. I understand for you. His hands were brown from the developing fluids what people say when they use these expressions that some- and chemicals that he used. And he was hunched over from one else might not understand. I know what they’re talking looking in that big camera on a tripod that he used to take about. I just love the people; they’re wonderful. There are everybody’s picture in that whole part of the country. One of still storytellers and they take time to tell stories. They enjoy my projects in recent years, and one I’ve themselves. We southerners like ourselves. failed completely in, is trying to locate his That may be a true mark of a southerner. negatives. He’s dead and of course his shop We like sharing ourselves with other people is closed, but somebody ought to have those and swapping experiences and talking, just negatives. They would span 60 years of a lit- ... the pictures I plain talking. tle country town. I just can’t think that any- JB: You are a writer and a storyteller. body would throw all those away, but they took with that There’s that obvious connection between may have. the two but not every writer is a storyteller JB: You’re a storyteller, a writer, and a pho- Brownie may be and vice versa. Why do you think you are tographer. Do you think a picture’s worth a both? thousand words? the best ones KW: Well, it’s quite by accident. I’ve only KW: Well, I took a lot of pictures when I been a storyteller in the last, well, since the was a newspaper reporter. I liked to illustrate I’ve ever taken. 1970s. You know that was late in my life. It my own stories. Sometimes a photographer never occurred to me that I was a story- understands exactly what you want and teller. I had always been a writer and writ- sometimes they just miss, with the best ing things that interested me. I got invited intentions. I know many of the photographers were much to tell stories at the National Storytelling Festival. I thought better than I was technically but I knew what I wanted to they had the wrong person. I tried to tell them that they want- show. So several of the pictures in my exhibits were made ed my daughter who has a master’s in drama and theatre and when I was a newspaper reporter to help me tell my story. I so forth. They were sure they wanted me and I had never told think in nearly every picture you see there are questions you stories like that before. It was a big joke because the man want to ask about it. Who were these people? What were who runs the festival is named Jimmy Smith, was in they doing? What interested you in taking this photograph? Jonesboro, and you know Smith and Jonesboro and a Those stories just blend beautifully, photographs and story- national festival that no one had ever heard of. I thought telling. someone was teasing me about this. It was a big joke and everybody laughed about it. Then they sent the airplane ticket JB: What criteria were you using when you chose the pho- to fly up there and tell stories. I thought, well if they’re fool tographs for Encounters? enough to send it I’m fool enough to go. So I went up and KW: A lot of times it was because they stirred some memo- told stories and had a good time and I’ve been doing it ever ries for me. I began to think about the times in which those since. pictures were made and what prompted the taking of those JB: Once you got up there and started telling stories it didn’t pictures and who those people were. Most of them are long seem all that strange to you. dead and I got to thinking about some of those people who Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 3 We southerners like ourselves. …sharing ourselves with other people …just plain talking.

KW: No, it wasn’t strange and it was such an easy start graduated and talked to Margaret Figh who taught folklore because the groups were so small. You see, that festival now there for some 42 years. Do you know her? attracts eight to ten thousand people for the weekend. But JB: I know of her. when I first went up there, which was for the second festival, KW: She’s been dead a good many years. I just went to tell we would have maybe 25 people in a session. her that maybe I had something in my house. We It was just so nice and informal. You could just began to talk about famous Alabama ghosts and talk with them and laugh with them and exchange lamented the fact that their stories had never been with them. There was not the intimidation of stand- collected in one volume to preserve them and for ing in front of a vast audience with microphones and people to enjoy, and we decided we would write a lights and stuff which I hate. I think that’s choked collection of true Alabama ghost tales. Stories where storytelling, what is rare and beautiful in it. you could visit the places where they happened and JB: I guess it was your reputation and success as a the names of the people and everything was accu- storyteller that led you to do the radio work that you rate. Then you could decide what you wanted to have done. believe about the supernatural part, because we did- KW: Well, it just happenedÐI never planned it. I n’t care. Margaret had taught folklore for so long think I was telling stories in Tuscaloosa at Kentuck and had such a vast collection of them, all sorts of at the folk festival and Bo Pittman, who was manag- stories, we had difficulty trying to decide which er of the public radio station, WUAL, heard me tell thirteen to include in the book. We knew, of course, stories and he said he wanted me to do some com- the face in the courthouse window in Carrollton mentaries for the station. I just said no I wasn’t would have to be in there and the hole that won’t interested, I hadn’t really done anything like that. stay filled down in Newton where they hanged the Well, he called me again and I said no and he said Methodist preacher. We wanted stories from all over I’m coming over to your house and we’re going to the state, but we could have filled the book with sto- tape some. You know it’s not courteous to tell some- ries from the Black Belt. We wanted it to be repre- one they can’t come to your house. So he came and sentative of Alabama so we tried to bring in stories taped some recollections. He ran them on that sta- from all parts of the state, and we had a good time tion and people seemed to like them. He sent a tape doing that. She and I thought we were writing a to the national headquarters in Washington and they book for adults and it amazed both of us that it was liked what they heard. I guess for about eighteen children reading that book. months they used my commentaries on National People would ask me, “Now what grade level is Public Radio. Now they’re still used on Alabama this?” And I would say, “Grade level? How do I Public Radio. know?” The words in it, they would say, were long for chil- JB: I guess readers will recognize your writings with the dren and I would say, “We never intended for children to be ghost stories that you collected and published. How did that struggling with them.” But they do. Teachers tell me some- get started? times that Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey is the first book they’ve been able to get a child to read. That makes me KW: It’s real strange. People will say to me, “I’ve read your happy because if you read one book you’re bound to be book.” Of course, I know exactly what they’re talking about. caught up in the magic of reading. Margaret and I were just Though there are many books, it’s always just one book, flabbergasted that we’d written a book for children. Thirteen Alabama Ghosts. I guess it will always be that way though. I think it’s some of the least important stuff I’ve writ- I had such a good time doing it that I just kept on. It ten but it’s entertaining and it does get people interested in became almost an obsession with me. I’ve recovered a little reading, which is important with children. Let’s see, how did bit from it. that get started? Something strange began happening in this JB: The folk traditions that appeal to you and that you have house. Footsteps down that hall, doors opening and closing. I wanted to photograph and write about, were you always don’t know what it was; nobody’s ever seen it. But it kind of interested in them? Did Margaret Figh spark your interest? stirred up my interest in the supernatural. I think everybody’s KW: No, I think I was always interested in them. My father interested in ghost stories. I mean, that’s a universal interest. was just such a wonderful man who broadened my horizon in I had heard them all my life and enjoyed them. Never been so many ways. He would point out things like the folk ways, frightened by them. So I went to Huntingdon where I had the grave shelters, the songs and the foods. He was so aware 4 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs. Thrashing about for something to talk about, I realized they were meeting at the University of Alabama and in Tutwiler Hall. And I thought that was the perfect thing; I’d talk about Julia Tutwiler to the Women’s Clubs. But when I began to look for material for a talk there was almost nothing. Just a little mention in the fourth grade history book, some few newspaper clippings, and that scholarly book about Julia Tutwiler and social issues. “Well, someone ought to write a book about Julia of his surroundings and of people and made me aware. He Tutwiler,” I thought. I didn’t mean to do it, but she wouldn’t used to say to me, “It’s not things in this world that are leave me alone. Seemed like everywhere I went people were important, it’s people. Don’t get hung up on things.” He talking about her or they were singing Alabama, reminding would listen to all sorts of people. You know, they would me of it. I began collecting material and thought, “OK, I’ll come to him because he would listen. Just an amazing man write the book.” I went to Livingston and found that in their with little education. “All you need to do is learn to read,” he library they had some tapes that were done in the 1930s or said. “Then you can learn anything in the world you want to ’40s of people who had known her and told their recollec- know.” tions of her. I don’t think anyone had ever listened to those JB: In looking at Encounters, and being a southerner myself, tapes. I listened to all the tapes and I read everything in the there’s so much that rings true and we share so many inter- library and I talked to everybody in that area. I went to nurs- ests. I’ve noticed you have quite a few images from cemeter- ing homes. I did everything I could to get the material and ies and grave yards as well as references and even pho- ended up with stacks of stuff about her. But she wouldn’t get tographs of homecomings that happened there and I know in a book; I couldn’t organize it into a book. She kept telling that a lot of non-Southeners don’t understand. me, “I want to be alive.” I kept saying, “I can’t write plays, KW: Well, I just love graveyards. I can hardly pass one on a I’ve never written plays and I’m not an actress.” And she highway. I want to stop and see who’s buried there and read prodded me into doing it. Once I started writing it into a play epitaphs. I cannot bear those perpetual care places where one I thought I had done a really good job. I took it to Allen sees a little vase sticking up with plastic flowers in it. I want Rankin. Do you remember him? to mow them all down. There’s a bond with these people JB: Yes. who lived before. You can walk among their graves and KW: He was my dear friend, I just loved Allen. We were sit- touch their headstones and wonder what they thought and ting in his sun room and he was reading the script that I what songs they sang and what they ate. Almost have close thought was just so wonderful and not saying anything, fellowship with them. It’s almost like a reassurance that life which was just like him. I was so impatient to hear him tell does go on and that they knew some of the same joys that me how great it was, and he finally threw the whole thing on you know. There’s nothing sad to me about graveyards, never the floor and said, “Jesus Christ, is that the best you can has been. Live Oak Cemetery here in Selma is one of the write? Start over again.” So, I started over again and finally, I most beautiful cemeteries. Have you ever been there? think it’s a good piece of writing. JB: Yes, I have. [NOTE: KTW replaced Rankin on the staff of the Alabama KW: Then you know how beautiful it is. I like to wonder Journal when he joined the military around 1940. He was “one and read the names and what they wrote about. I think it’s so of the best feature writers I’ve ever read,” she said, and noted sad that we don’t put anything on graves anymoreÐjust the that he later contributed many short pieces to Reader’s Digest.] name and the dates. Impersonal. Our world is becoming so JB: And you enjoyed the performances? impersonal. It’s one of the things that grieves me and one of KW: I have enjoyed the performances. Yes, I have. I don’t the reasons we need storytelling. It is a personal art. guess we will ever produce another woman like her; she was JB: Do you think the value placed on interpersonal relation- amazing. I keep finding things about her. Like this black ships is a southern trait? family near LivingstonÐthe woman told me about how Miss KW: Yes. We southerners are not too embarrassed to talk Julia taught her father. She found out that he and two other about what’s important to us. In fact some of us will talk it young men wanted to teach, and they had to pass the state to death. We’re more open. I’ve been known to cry with a exam for teachers. She tutored them so they could pass that perfect stranger on a bus. But he was southern and he had exam, and did it on campus. I think she had the first integrat- some problems and he needed someone to talk to. ed campus in Alabama, but I don’t know how you would ever JB: To me, as a student of Alabama history, Julia Tutwiler prove it. In my mind I know she did. Well, the woman gave epitomizes a lot of the accomplishments of Alabama and me a list of the accomplishments of the family after this man Alabamians. And you have portrayed her. got to be a teacher. His children and his grandchildren and KW: Yes, she took over my life. his great-grandchildren; Annapolis graduates, doctors, teach- JB: What drew you to her as a subject? ers, lawyers, more professional people and graduates from the best colleges in the country. All because she took time to KW: Happenstance, as my Aunt Bet used to say. A nice hap- teach somebody to read. penstance. I was invited to make a luncheon address for the Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 5 . . .the early things from Gee’s Bend are gone. . . .but there are things that need to be said about Gee’s Bend.

JB: What are your favorites of your books? KW: A Serigamy of Stories is near the top. I also like Alabama: One Big Front Porch. There’s nothing big or moving or touching in it but I like that collection of stories and folklore. And it does surprise me that it still sells. I even like that little thing Count Those Buzzards! Stamp Those Grey Mules!. It still sells. The first thing I ever had published was a cookbook and it has outsold all the rest of my books put together. I have also done some videos. Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. That’s been very successful, and that same company did A Sampling of Southern Superstitions. We toured around a little bit and stamped grey mules and counted buzzards, that kind of thing. They did one called Cooking up StoriesÐme cooking on two hot plates at the Birmingham KATHRYN TUCKER WINDHAM Public Library while I told stories. It was fun. This video BIBLIOGRAPHY stuff also just fell in my lap. It never occurred to me to do 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey anything like that, but it’s been very nice. 13 Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey JB: You’ve accomplished a lot in several different artistic 13 Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey forms, with your literature, with performances, and also with 13 Georgia Ghosts and Jeffrey your photography. Yet I sense there are some projects that Jeffrey Introduces 13 More Southern Ghosts you are interested in doing. Jeffrey’s Latest 13: More Alabama Ghosts KW: Oh, there are so many of them. I keep laughing and Alabama: One Big Front Porch saying I want to decide what I’ll be when I grow up. I don’t University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa know when I’ll get grown up with 80 breathing down my neck. I’m not through with Gee’s Bend. There’s something A Serigamy of Stories about that place that holds my interest and my desire to tell Odd-Egg Editor the true story. But it never has been probed to its beautiful Southern Cooking to Remember depth. Those people are changing and the ones who are the Treasured Alabama Recipes heart of Bend, so many have died. I miss them. They had Count Those Buzzards! Stamp Those Grey Mules! customs and expressions and songs that need to be preserved. A Sampling of Selma Stories Dean Olive Stone was at Huntingdon College when it University of Mississippi Press was a women’s college. Well, in the late 1920s or early 1930s she spent a great deal of time in Gee’s Bend making Encounters recordings which have been lost. She took photographs and Twice Blessed did recordings. The people down there still remember her. Black Belt Press, Montgomery She was one of the first with an academic background who My Name is Julia went in there, but accepting, loving and understanding of the Birmingham Public Library people, too. All of what she did is gone. That’s one of my great griefs, that the early things from Gee’s Bend are gone. On Videotape People go there and write such superficial stuff about them, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey but there are things that need to be said about Gee’s Bend. A Sampling of Southern Superstitions Cooking up Stories NOTE: Gee’s Bend is an isolated Wilcox County community On Audiotape which was, until the past few decades, occupied almost solely Alabama Folktales by the descendants of slaves. Their customs and traditions JeffreyÐFive volumes of ghost stories have long been of interest to folklorists and historians. RecollectionsÐFive tapes of public radio stories

Read more about Gee’s Bend on “The Back Page” 6 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998 MORE CONTEMPORARY ALABAMA PLAYWRIGHTS Words to be Seen …And Heard

labama has long been known as a place of interesting commented, “The play goes through changes at each reading. personalities, both actual and fictional, so it is a good There were lots of revisions after the first, and there will be Aplace for generating playwrights. Charlotte Higgins more after this one. Lurleen is still developing.” of Fairfield drew on the women of her own family for the When the reading is finished, the actors move away and characters in her Exiting I-59: On the Back Roads With Some Lebow takes one of their chairs to face the audience. She Edgy Southern Women. “My mother has twelve sisters, and asks them questions: Were there any times when you felt I love going back home to family reunions and just listening disengaged? Times that you drifted away? Did the main to the talk. What is actually said by real people is so much character keep your attention, or was your attention diverted better than what I could dream in my imagination,” she said. by other strong characters? Did the ending work? As the Higgins has taken her one-woman show to New Mexico, audience answers her questions, Lebow makes careful notes; San Francisco and New York City’s Off-Off Broadway she does not attempt to defend her play against the criticism theatres. She says people from all over relate to her she receives. She is interested, indeed grateful, for the feed- characters because they are dealing with common back. As she said, there will be more revisions problems and universal themes. Higgins interacts before the play opens, and this opportunity to both with the audience whenever possible, and is often hear the play and garner audience reaction has asked questions about her characters: “Have you helped her immensely. ever worked in a nursing home?” “No.” “Well, you The ultimate professional experience, for got it just right.” many playwrights, is to have a play read or Barbara Lebow had no firsthand experience workshopped in New York. Playwright and with her subject, Lurleen Burns Wallace, novelist William Cobb of Montevallo has had Alabama’s only woman governor. She is grateful three plays performed at the H.B. Playwright’s for the help she received in researching Lurleen, to Foundation Theatre in Greenwich Village. The William Cobb premiere March 23 through July 24 at the Alabama three formed a cycle; Sunday’s Child was per- Shakespeare Festival. “The Wallace children and Lurleen’s formed in the spring of 1987, with Celeste Holm in the lead; best friend have been very open with me. Nobody’s ever A Place of Springs was performed the next spring; and Early told Lurleen’s story before. I couldn’t have done it without Rains was done in the summer of 1988. Bill Cobb says of the their help,” she said. Lebow’s play shows Lurleen as a naive time he spent in New York, “I loved it. I was able to go there teen overwhelmed by the cocky, ambitious, college man for the casting, to be at rehearsals, and to rewrite as we went. George Wallace and later as a 41-year-old woman of convic- All three plays were successful, well received.” (Sunday’s tion, dying of cancer. Admitting that some of the scenes in Child has been performed the most; Cobb revised it and had the play are painfully honest, Lebow said of her character, a staged reading at Southern Playworks in Birmingham in “She keeps getting stronger throughout the play. I couldn’t the summer of 1997.) show her gaining in strength unless I showed where she The opportunity of working with professional actors started from.” (some famous and others not) was great, he says, calling The fact that playwriting is “all in the ear,” makes a read- them the “hardest working people I’ve ever known.” He was ing of immense value to the playwright. Without impressed with the seriousness the actors brought to their costumes, scenery and lighting to set the scene, the actors craft and the respect they held for the words they were given sit with scripts and read the play aloud. The power of the to speak. “I learned a hell of a lot from the experience,” he words and the skill of the actors must be enough to convey reminisced, especially about moving action through a scene, the message. a lesson which he put to good use in his next novel, A Walk Lurleen was in its second reading when Lebow Through Fire (William Morrow & Co., 1992). Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 7

by Sunshine Huff

TEACHING/LEARNING THE CRAFT Theatre Department, which offers two playwriting courses. One of them is required for all theatre majors. Neeley Charlotte Higgins travels to Alabama frequently to explained, “It’s important for actors, in fact, everyone lecture, appear on playwriting panels and conduct workshops. involved with the stage, to know how a play is put together.” She performed part of Exiting I-59 at the Southern Culture It’s almost a necessity for a playwright to have been Celebration of Advent Episcopal School in Birmingham involved in theatre to make a go of it, Neeley said. He during February 1998. Heather McCutchen has worked emphasized the practical considerations: “So many beginning with students in the New Playwright’s Program at the playwrights do something impossible, like putting seven University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. McCutchen lectured, scene changes in the first 30 minutes.” Neeley has written critiqued students’ work, and worked plays for children and for adults, including a Tennessee on her own play, Baby Showers, as an Williams Competition winner. Among his recent works is early version of the work was present- Double Double Cross Cross, a spoof on the murder mystery ed in a staged reading. The first act genre. was then workshopped; between the R. Eugene Jackson is a prolific playwright and also first and second readings McCutchen’s chairman of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the script changed significantly. University of South Alabama. He says the university setting “McCutchen’s creative process is is perfect for a playwright: “It’s great to be writing plays organic,” said Paul Castagno, associate where you know you will be able to have them produced.” professor of theatre and director of the Heather McCutchen Most of Jackson’s plays are for children, including such titles New Playwright’s pro- as The Nutcracker Ballet-hoo, and Who Can gram. “Writing a play seems daunting for a Fix the Dragon’s Wagon? His The Mardi Gras young writer, so it is very helpful to actually Murders (for adults) is being produced this see how this process happens.” fall and his musical adaptation of Beauty and The New Playwright’s Program is a the Beast, with a Cajun flavor, will be staged place for student and professional playwrights in December. from all over the country to study this special- “Children are a tough audience; believe ized craft. It was established in 1982 with an me, they can spot a phony,” said Betty Pewitt. endowment from the estate of the late Marian Since 1980 Pewitt and actress Jean Pierce Gallaway, who was from 1948-73 Director have collaborated on mostly musical, mostly of Theatre at the University of Alabama. fairy-tale based children’s plays. It was her dream to support the advancement “We saw a need and tried to fill it,” Pewitt of aspiring playwrights and to bring accom- said. Over time they have learned to fill the plished playwrights to the University for lec- needs of Birmingham Children’s Theatre, tures and workshops. The program channels UAB Bookends (small, strictly educational new work into the American College Theatre Birmingham Children’s Theatre and designed to play in limited spaces) and, Festival through state and regional competi- recently produced The Elves and at the other end of the spectrum, Seasoned tions, and has gained a national reputation as a the Shoemaker, adapted by Betty Performers, a seniors’ troupe. venue for readings, workshops and full pro- Pewitt and Jean Pierce. ductions. More than 200 scripts per year are submitted, making the competition fierce. One outstanding VENUES FOR work, an adaptation by Hueytown’s John Erlanger of James ALABAMA PLAYWRIGHTS Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, was first performed There are approximately 39 regional and community at the University. (John Erlanger now writes plays in theatres across the state, according to Melissa “Mel” Chicago.) Other plays written by NPP students and read at Christian, administrative director of ACTS. One that has the University include The Gospel According to Esther, shown particular interest in new playwrights is Theatre Southern Girls, and Killing Mother. Tuscaloosa. It showcases new work through its “Second Newton Neeley is organizing a playwrights’ group under Stage” initiative. One Alabama playwright to have the auspices of the Alabama Conference of Theatre and a production mounted there is Brad Bailey of Birmingham; Speech (ACTS). He would like to see the fledgling group set Theatre Tuscaloosa did his Womenfolks a couple of seasons up readings and other cooperative programs to develop play- ago. writing talent. “There’s a lot being written, but it’s hard for The Southern Writers’ Project (see Summer 1998 First many people to have their plays workshopped and produced,” Draft for more information) of the Alabama Shakespeare he said. Neeley teaches in the University of Montevallo Festival regularly invites people from regional theatres in the 8 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998 Writing and Redemption The Southern Writers’ Project was told he was functionally illiterate; sends professional playwrights into he was involved in petty larceny as a schools to share their experience and child, and once even threw another expertise with students. After the teen ager off a four-story roof, break- playwright’s talk, students try play- ing one of his legs. “I was a wild ani- wrighting exercises in class. The first mal,” he said. “I just knew I had to playwright to participate was Keith change.” His break came when he, at Glover, who was writer in residence 17, submitted a play (inspired by the at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival love of jazz instilled in him by his at the time. Keith also taught two ses- stepfather) to the Young Playwright’s sions of “Writing Our Stories,” the Festival in New York. Although he Forum’s creative writing program for didn’t win, Keith received encourage- incarcerated boys. ment from the founder of the Festival, Keith is a handsome, accom- Gerald Chapman. He went on to study plays, Coming of the Hurricane and plished African-American actor with acting with Lee Strasberg, later land- Thunder Knocking On the Door: A impressive credentials from theater, ing parts in August Wilson’s Fences Blusical Tale of Rhythm and the Blues movies and television. (He even had a and Two Trains Running. have also made an impressive show- recurring part in “As The World Keith’s first play, Dancing on ing nationally. In 1997 he won the Turns.”) He grew up rough in Moonlight, was produced by the New Osborn Award from the American Bessemer. In the seventh grade, he York Shakepeare Festival. Subsequent Theatre Critics Association.

Southeast to its readings and workshops. Lisa and Jeff Adler, several other plays and is now a screenwriter, and Betsy co-artistic directors from Horizon Theatre Company in Dewberry of Birmingham who wrote Flesh and Blood and Atlanta, attended a recent reading, as did Linda Sherbert, Many Things Have Happened Since He Died, And Here Are acting artistic director of the Theatre in the Square in the Highlights. Marietta, Georgia. One of the plays that Southern PlayWorks will produce There are organizations, in addition to the ones already this season is Finding. . . by Bonnie Alice-Louise Morgan, a mentioned, that concentrate exclusively on producing new Montgomery native. The play won the 21st Century work. One is Southern PlayWorks, a joint venture of the Playwright’s Festival in 1995, and was given a month’s run at Birmingham Festival Theatre, the UAB Department of Theatre Row Theatre in New York. It was called a “noir psy- Theatre, and the Library Theatre of the Hoover Public chodrama” by a Birmingham newspaper, which pleased the Library. The director of Southern PlayWorks, Vastine author very much. The blurb in the Southern PlayWorks Stabler, says they produce two to four plays per year; they schedule describes it as “set in the ’40s, in which an attorney do not always premiere the work, but they are new shows, struggles to solve a mystery, complicated by visions from and they are always Southern. The group has worked his pastÐthe memory of a bewitching lover named Rose.” extensively with Lee Shackleford, who has been writer-in- Playwrights like Morgan create compelling characters residence at UAB. In addition to Holmes and Watson, which who come to life on the stages of community and regional was produced Off-Broadway and elsewhere, Shackleford theatres. Are they headed for Broadway? Who knows. But has written a number of liturgical plays. (Stabler points out the current trend toward mega-musicals in the Lloyd-Webber that religious plays are frequently commissioned and can and Disney mode is making good regional theatre and off- offer excellent opportunities for new playwrights.) Broadway playhouses destinations in themselves. Alabama “Our plays come from a variety of sources,” said Stabler. playwrights are likely to be well-represented there in the next “We announce in the newspapers that we are looking for few years. scripts, but generally the bulk of our submissions come through the theater networks we haveÐfor example, we get Sunshine Huff wrote the first installment of this article for the plays sent to us from ASF or from the Horizon Theatre in Summer issue of First Draft. A writer all her professional life, Atlanta.” she moonlighted as costume director for the theatre depart- Stabler has worked with Tom Key, originally from ment of Barnard College and apprenticed with a Broadway Birmingham, well-known for his Cotton Patch Gospel; Sally costume designer while living in New York City. Nemanth, who succeeded at playwriting with Millfire and Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 9 Young Men Find Their Voices through writing; and creative writing teacher Bart Barton praised them for the honesty and energy they brought to class sessions and individual work. Despite limited media access to the event, the story was distributed by the Associated Press and received prominent coverage in the Montgomery Advertiser, Birmingham News, Tuscaloosa News, Florence Times- Daily, and Mobile Press-Register. Tim Lennox of Alabama Public Television’s

Katie Lamar Smith “For the Record” pen the Door, an anthology of aired a segment on ed. “Every effort was made poems and stories from AWF’s Open the Door to include at least one piece of writing Ocreative writing program for which included an Bart Barton by students who were in the class for incarcerated youth, has drawn wide- interview with one four weeks or more,” said Thompson. spread public attention and praise. of the boys, Richard Allen England During the 9-month residency a More than 100 people have requested (Valley), who had been released but number of published writers, most of copies of the book, including a crimi- came back to the campus to take part whom have strong Alabama connec- nal justice professor who plans to use in the book signing. tions, visited the class. Each talked Open the Door as a supplemental text. “Reading their work, I see how about his or her writing experience, Fifteen young authors read selec- important it is for these young men to shared published work and worked tions of their work from the book for a come to grips with their life experi- with the students on a writing exercise. standing-room-only crowd in the ences. I’m glad we have been able to Some of the poems and prose pieces in chapel at Mt. Meigs youth facility on encourage them and give them tools to Open the Door sprang from those September 2. Later they signed books express themselves,” said Jeanie visiting writers’ lessons. Among the and mingled with guests and friends Thompson. guest writers were Charles Gaines, who came to congratulate them. AWF The “Writing Our Stories” pilot Birmingham; Anthony Grooms, Executive Director Jeanie program took place at the Lurleen B. Atlanta; Mark Swanson, Westminster, Thompson presented the first Wallace School on the Mt. South Carolina; and Lex Williford, book to James Dupree, former Meigs campus of DYS. From Tuscaloosa. Others were poets Natasha director of the Alabama November 1997 through July Tretheway, Auburn; and Jeanie Department of Youth Services 1998 writer Bart Barton of Thompson, Montgomery; and play- (DYS), with thanks for his Montgomery taught creative wright, actor and director Keith Glover, “believing in the project and writing two mornings a week Bessemer and New York City. making it a priority.” John in Queen Barker’s classroom. Thompson said the “Writing Our Rickicki, acting DYS director, Students elected to participate Stories” program also provided DYS noted that “a primary purpose in the program and there was with teacher-training workshops, of the program was to bring a waiting list for others to lesson plans that can be used by these young people into a new attend. “We were told that a classroom teachers and a library of means of non-violent self-expression.” waiting list was a first for an academic contemporary poetry, prose and related Rickicki said that the program also program,” Thompson said. As students texts for the Mt. Meigs school’s improved reading comprehension, rotated out of the system, others were permanent collection. writing skills and critical thinking. able to take part in the creative writing “Writing is a good way to deal State Rep. Bill Fuller urged the young experience. with difficult subjects, a productive men to make the most of the positive Open the Door represents the work way of saying ‘I’m here,’ and trying to experiences they had discovered of almost every student who participat- continued on page 10 10 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

YOUNG MEN FIND THEIR VOICES to teach creative writing and a sented arts programs for Continued from page 9 second program starts at the grades K-12; with the Chalkville DYS facility for strongest emphasis on middle understand what that means,” girls. Priscilla Hancock and high school students. Thompson said. Cooper of Birmingham will Cooper’s master’s degree One of the young contributors to teach the Chalkville class. is in international communica- the anthology commented, “I used to Cooper tours nationally as tion from American University wonder how to become a writer, and a performance poet and has in Washington, D.C. Her now I wonder what I am going to been a resident artist in litera- undergraduate majors were write next.” ture and creative dramatics. Priscilla Hancock Cooper journalism and history. She PROGRAM EXPANDED She has professional experi- has taught communication More young people will benefit ence not only as a poet, but as a jour- courses at the University of Montevallo from “Writing Our Stories” this fall nalist, radio and video script and at the University of Louisville in when Bart Barton returns to Mt. Meigs writer/director, copywriter and curricu- Louisville, Kentucky. lum writer. She has created and pre-

APT’s Tim Lennox interviewed Richard Allen England. Acting DYS Director John Rickicki praised the “Writing Our Stories program.

FROM FIRST TIME DETENTION OPEN THE DOOR The first time I walked into Detention Hall, I was trembling and shaking violently. OPEN THE DOOR The first thing I saw was a big gate, On top was the razor wire that glimmered in the sunlight. I kept asking the man if they would Open the door, I want to come in and learn Put me in a one-man room so I All I can. What do you mean, I can’t come in? What, Wouldn’t get beaten up. The huge Tell you why I want to come in? I want Guards kept To come in so I can get an education and make Reassuring me that nothing Something of myself. I don’t want to be one Would happen. I just couldn’t Of those people who live on the streets and who Believe them. I stayed in the one-man cell Could have made it in life. The sign reads for a week. It looked like enter at own risk. Let me enter at my A small isolated room in a psychiatric hospital, own risk. Because when I do enter, I am putting And smelled like a hospital room full the signs that read do not enter, no trespassing, Of dead rotten people. Then they put me In population. private property, dangerous curves and railroad crossing of education aside. If you open The other kids were twice my size. the door, I can do all of these things. I was only eleven years old. If you could Have seen the looks on their faces. So please open the door. They looked like angry bears D.F. Just woken up. M.A. continued on page 21 Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 11

NEWS Hearing Alabama Voices In its fourth year, Alabama Voices 4 p.m., Nov. 10, Frye Gaillard, has written more brings nationally recognized Alabama 1998, State Black than a dozen books. His latest book on authors to public libraries and educa- Archives on the 20th-century Native tional institutions throughout the state. campus of American life and This year poets, novelists, and writers Alabama A&M. culture is called As of creative nonfiction are included in Call Dr. James Long as the Waters the diverse line-up. Fully funded by the Johnson, 205/851- Flow: Native Alabama State Council on the Arts, 5846. Additional Americans in the Alabama Voices IV is sponsored by local support comes South and East. the Alabama Writers’ Forum, the from the Huntsville Lincoln Reading to be Auburn University Center for the Arts Literary Association scheduled in the & Humanities, and the Alabama and the Huntsville Arts Council spring in Atmore. Gaillard African- American Arts Alliance. 3 p.m., November 12, 1998, Call Jay Lamar, Phyllis Alesia Perry spent 16 Alabama Department of Archives 334/844-4947. years as a journalist in Tuskegee, and History (ADAH), Montgomery. Robert Collins is an award-win- Montgomery, and Atlanta, a successful Call 334/242-4363. ning poet who teaches at UAB. His career which includ- Patricia Foster is a writer and chapbooks include ed a Pulitzer Prize editor whose nonfiction books include Lives We Have for a series she co- Minding the Body, Sister to Sister, and Chosen, winner of wrote on infant The Healing Circle. the Tennessee mortality. Perry’s She is at work on a Chapbook Award, first, highly book about growing and The Glass acclaimed novel, up in Alabama. Blower. Stigmata, was 4 p.m., January 7:30 p.m. published by 10, 1999, Parnell January 21, Hale Perry Hyperion and Memorial Public Collins County Public released this fall. Library, Library, 4 p.m., October 18, 1998, Macon Montevallo. Co- Greensboro. Call Carolyn Hemstreet, County-Tuskegee Public Library in Foster sponsored by the 334/624-3409. Tuskegee. Co-sponsored by the University of Nanci Kincaid is the author of Alabama African-American Arts Montevallo. For more information, Crossing Blood, Pretending the Bed Is Alliance. Call 334/727-5192. contact Renee Palmer, 205/665-9207. a Raft, and Balls, a Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, distinguished Carolyn Haines is a former photo- recently published scholar and author, has published journalist who turned to fiction writing novel about the pro- fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Dr. a decade ago. To date, Ms. Haines has fessional and per- Lincoln is internationally known as an written two general sonal life of a foot- authority on the sociology of religion, fiction booksÐ ball coach’s wife. race, and ethnic relations in the U.S. Touched (Dutton, Reading in late His most recent book is Coming 1996) and Summer spring, Houston Through the Fire: Surviving Race and of the Redeemers Love Memorial Place in America (Duke University (Dutton, 1994)Ðas Library, Dothan. Kincaid Press, 1996). well as more than Call Bettye Forbus, Three Appearances: 20 romance and 334/793-9767. 11 a.m., November 10, 1998, mystery novels. University of Alabama in Huntsville, 4 p.m., Feb. 9, Haines sponsored at UAH by the Office of 1999, Bevill State Multicultural Affairs. Community College, Jasper. Call Marthanne Brown, 205/387-5115. 12 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

NEWS WARDED AWF ASSOCIATES MEETING:FEBRUARY 12-13, 1999 AWF A NEA GRANT MEET AND LEARN FROM The Alabama Writers’ Forum has FELLOW ALABAMA WRITERS been awarded a $10,000 grant from the The second statewide meeting of Today,” Robin Behn, Natasha National Endowment for the Arts Alabama Writers’ Forum associ- Tretheway and Jake Berry, with through the ArtsREACH program. ates will be held February 12-13, moderator Jeanie Thompson; and The funding will be used to produce 1999 at Auburn University at “Adapting Fiction to Film,” Bruce and distribute the first Alabama Montgomery in conjunction with Kuerten and John Literary Resources Directory, a the 7th Annual AUM Writers’ DeJulio. publication listing information on Colloquium. “The Alabama Writers’ Coleman Alabama writers, writers’ conferences, Forum and the Continuing Education Barks, poet and and schools and libraries which host division of AUM decided to combine translator of the visiting writers or present literary our two efforts this year so that we 13th century programs. The information will also be could maximize our conference Persian poet Rumi, available on-line. resources,” said Jeanie Thompson. will read on Friday “We often hear from organizations “We are pleased that the audience evening at the that want to hold literary events, and developed for the Writers’ Montgomery from writers who are looking for Coleman Barks Colloquium will be joined with the Museum of Fine opportunities to present and publicize associates of the Forum. This will be Arts. A reception will follow. Helen their work. This publication will meet a fruitful partnership, and one that Norris will read during the Saturday the needs of both groups,” said Jeanie we expect to continue!” morning session. On Saturday, the Thompson. The opening convocation on luncheon program ArtsREACH was designed to Friday will feature Robert Inman will feature read- improve access to the arts for residents reading from his new novel, Dairy ings by Robert in cities, small towns and rural areas. Queen Days. A luncheon will follow, Collins and The program will fund 84 grants total- with a program on “The Art of the Carolyn Haines, ing $733,757 to a wide variety of non- Interview” by University of Alabama 1999-2000 profit and public organizations in 20 English Professor Alabama State states. The nine grants to Alabama arts Don Noble, host Council on the groups amount to more than $87,000. of “Bookmark” on Arts Fellowship Alabama Public Winners in Helen Norris Television. Literature. Both after- Books by authors on the pro- noons will be gram will be available, with plenty of devoted to panel time for autographs, and there will discussions. Topics be exhibits by literary organizations, and presenters Robert Inman journals and presses. include “Why You Should Write “The Alabama Writers’ Forum Juvenile Fiction,” Aileen Henderson has helped us in the past with confer- and Rick Shelton; “Genre’ is Not a ence planning and marketing. It Dirty Word,” seemed like a natural step to join IN MEMORIAM Anne George and forces and produce one larger confer- John Henrick Clarke (1915-1998), Carolyn Haines; ence sponsored by both entities,” professor emeritus of African World “Writing Literary said Pam Stein of AUM’s continuing History at Hunter College in New Fiction and education department. York City, was the author of more Nonfiction,” A brochure with a registration than 50 short stories and author or Michael Martone form will be mailed to all Writers’ editor of more than 20 books. He and Roy Hoffman; Forum associates. If you are not cur- also wrote numerous essays and articles on American history, politics “Diverse Chorus: rently a member, call 334/244-3929 and culture. He was a co-founder of Anne George Southern Poetry or 334/244-3804 for registration the Harlem Quarterly. Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 13 AWF Literary Awards Honor Young Alabama Writers s proud parents and teachers looked on, young writersÐhigh school students from all across AAlabamaÐwere honored by the Writer’s Forum at the annual Literary Arts Awards luncheon in Montgomery last April. The students’ prize winning submissions of poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction and drama were selected from a total of more than 500 entries. Several of the judges for the competition presented awards, including fiction writer William Cobb, Montevallo; poet Sue Scalf, Prattville; and Robert Halli, professor of English at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor for the Atlanta Constitution judged creative nonfiction and playwright Barbara Lebow, also of Atlanta and author of Lurleen, to be premiered at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 1999, judged the drama entries. “Our goal is to recognize young writers as they begin Front row: Emma Black, Morgan Kopaska-Merkel, Amethyst Vineyard, Nikkita their journey,” said Jeanie Thompson. “We hope that this Marie Kind,Alexis Willa Adams; Middle row: Sally Spaulding, Brooke Lowder, Shelba Harden, Candice Bailey, Joe Halli,Wesley Self; Back row: Emma contest will also validate the hard work that creative writing Bolden, Haley Hogan, Jessica Smith, Ben Rogers. and English teachers do. Perhaps through the encouragement of the Literary Arts Awards, more school systems will appre- recognition at a young age that says ‘you are good at what ciate the value of creative writingÐwhich is really about writ- you do.’ ” ing and reading,” she said. “These are our future writers, but also our future teachers, scientists and leaders.” WINNERS Anita Miller Garner, assistant professor of English at the $500 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP University of North Alabama, Florence, receives and screens Emma Bolden, student of Denise Trimm, Alabama School the entries. She said the quantity of entries is growing and of Fine Arts, Birmingham the quality continues to improve. Shelba N. Harden, student of Jane Ellen Stritzinger, One of the 1998 scholarship winners, Emma Bolden, Demopolis High School will have at least one piece included in an anthology of con- Jessica Smith, student of Mary Ann Rygiel, Auburn High temporary Alabama writers being published by Livingston School Press, according to her teacher, Denise Trimm. Trimm said Judge: Dr. Robert Halli, professor of English, the University honors like the literary Arts Awards provide important incen- of Alabama tives for young writers. “It’s great to have that boost, that

Dr. Robert Halli and scholarship recipient Shelba Nancy Strachan accepting from Brent Davis for William Cobb and Brooke Lowder, second place, N. Harden. her student Tom Radcliff, second place, creative fiction. nonfiction. 14 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

1998 LITERARY ARTS AWARDS BY GENRE First place winners receive $150; second place winners receive $75; judge’s special recognition winners receive a certificate. A plaque with the names of winners and teachers is presented to each winner’s school. Winners also receive books by the judges. CREATIVE NONFICTION First Place: Wesley Self, student of Darlene Montgomery, Nikkita Marie Kind, Amethyst Vineyard, Sue Scalf and Joe Bradshaw High School, Florence first place, poetry. judge’s special Halli, judge’s special Second Place: Tom Radcliff, student of Nancy Strachan, St. recognition, poetry. recognition, poetry. Paul’s Episcopal School, Mobile Lydia Brawner, student of Mary Ann Rygiel, Auburn High Third Place: Kimi Jones, student of Jerry Krayer, Hewitt School Trussville High School, Trussville Amanda Murray, student of Jim Palmer, the Altamont Judge: Cynthia Tucker, editorial page School editor, the Atlanta Constitution. Judge: William Cobb, novelist and author of Harry DRAMA Reunited, Somewhere in All This Green, and other works. First Place: Emma Bolden, student of POETRY Denise Trimm, Alabama School of Fine First Place: Nikkita Marie Kind, student of Denise Trimm, Arts Alabama School of Fine Arts Second Place: Ben Rogers, student of Second Place: Alexis Willa Adams, student of Anne-Wyman Mary Ann Rygiel, Auburn High School Black, Alabama School of Fine Arts Judge: Barbara Lebow, playwright and Emma Bolden, Judge’s Special Recognition: Emma Black, student of author of Lurleen. scholarship recipient, Denise Trimm, Alabama School of Fine Arts FICTION won firsts in drama Paula Guilian, student of Jean Arndt and Marsha First Place: Emma Bolden, student of and fiction and judge’s Scarborough, Grissom High School, Huntsville Denise Trimm, Alabama School of Fine special recognition in Candice Bailey, student of Denise Trimm, Alabama School poetry. Arts of Fine Arts Second Place #1: Brooke Lowder, student of Martin Hames, Amethyst Vineyard, student of Denise Trimm, Alabama the Altamont School, Birmingham School of Fine Arts Second Place #2: Sally Spaulding, student of Jim Palmer, Emma Bolden, student of Denise Trimm, Alabama School the Altamont School, Birmingham of Fine Arts Judge’s Special Recognition: Haley Hogan, student of Jon Joe Halli, student of Annette Dudgeon, Tuscaloosa Central Carter, Briarwood Christian High School, Birmingham High School-West Morgan Kopaska-Merkel, student of Annette Dudgeon, Judge: Sue Scalf, poet and author of South by Candlelight Tuscaloosa Central High School - West and other works.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

MAJOR SPONSORS: ADDITIONAL FUNDING PROVIDED BY: Alabama State Council on the ArtsÐ1995, 1996, Southern Progress Corporation, Inc.Ð1997 1997, 1998, 1999 Farmers National BankÐ1997, 1998 Alabama Power Company Foundation, Inc.Ð1995, Colonial BankÐ1998 1996, 1997, 1998 Regions BankÐ1998 Blount Foundation, Inc.Ð1995, 1996, 1997 Compass BankÐ1998 AmSouth BankÐ1998 First National BankÐ1998 Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 15

1999 LITERARY ARTS AWARDS GUIDELINES judges will be announced when the ¥ Chapter(s) from a novel accompa- The deadline for receiving both awards announcement is made. nied by a one page synopsis of the the Literary Awards entries and novel (25-page limit) the Scholarship entries is FORMAT FOR ENTRIES ¥ Vignettes February 12, 1999. Complete ¥ Short drama/screenplay (25-page Submit entries in a 9” x 12” entry guidelines are given below. limit) envelope. Submit clear photocopies Entries not conforming to com- ¥ Scholarly essay or research paper only; students should retain originals. plete guidelines will be disqual- with a creative focus (10-page limit) No manuscripts can be returned. Do ified. not attempt to send entries via fax. Mail all entries, each with an Students’ names should appear only FORMAT FOR PORTFOLIOS entry form, to: on the entry form since all works are Portfolios should be submitted Anita Miller Garner judged anonymously. in duplicate. Students should retain c/o Department of English, All short fiction, drama, and cre- originals. No manuscripts can be Box 5050 ative nonfiction entries should be returned. Make clear photocopies. Do University of North Alabama typed and double-spaced. Poetry not attempt to send entries via fax. Florence, AL 35632-0001 entries may be typed single-spaced or Students’ names should appear only double-spaced. Students must desig- on the entry form. The title page For more information contact nate on the entry form the category should also list the names of the indi- Garner at 256/765-4889 or email for which they wish the work to be vidual works that make up the portfo- at [email protected]. considered. lio with each work’s category desig- nated. CHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY S WARDS IN HOW TO MAIL ENTRIES FOR The literary arts awards are open A to Alabama high school students LITERARY ARTS THE LITERARY ARTS AWARDS grades 9-12, and the scholarships are The scholarship awards in liter- OR SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS IN available to seniors in Alabama high ary arts are open to seniors in good LITERARY ARTS schools. standing in Alabama high schools. Mail entries in envelopes clearly Portfolios placed in consideration of marked “Literary Arts Awards” the scholarship awards in literary arts LITERARY ARTS or “Scholarship Entry” in the will be judged anonymously by a lower left corner. Please do not AWARDS panel of judges from the fields of lit- send works in binders, folders or Creative Nonfiction: 1st place erature and creative writing. Awards any type of cover. Paper clip or ($150), 2nd place ($75), “Judge’s are based solely on merit of works staple pages together. Mail to Special Recognition” submitted. A portfolio of no less than Anita Miller Garner at the Poetry: 1st place ($150), 2nd place 20 pages and no more than 50 pages address above. ($75), “Judge’s Special Recognition” of work from at least two categories Short Fiction: 1st place ($150), 2nd is required. place ($75), “Judge’s Special All entries should be typed and Official announcement of the Recognition” double-spaced, one side only. Poetry Literary Arts Awards and Scholarship Each winner receives a certificate may be single-spaced. Awards will be made in April 1999 at and a book signed by the author. the Literary Arts Award luncheon in Each school receives a plaque listing CATEGORIES FOR Montgomery. winners and their teachers. PORTFOLIO WORK JUDGING ¥ Poetry (three shorter poems, or Writers of national recognition in longer works totaling no more than NOTE: the fields of creative nonfiction, 10 pages) THE ENTRY FORM drama, poetry, and fiction will choose ¥ Short fiction (20-page limit) IS NEW THIS YEAR. the winning entries. The names of the ¥ Creative nonfiction (15-page limit) 16 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

ENTRY FORM 1999 LITERARY ARTS AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION This form takes the place of a cover sheet. You may duplicate it as often as necessary. Please type or print. All entries much have an entry form attached. Do not put student’s name on work submitted. NOTE: Read this whole form before completing it.

Student’s name ______

Student’s address ______

______

Student’s home phone ______Student’s grade ______

Teacher’s name______Teacher’s daytime phone ______

Principal______School phone ______

School ______

School address ______

■ This submission is for Literary Arts Awards. ■ Grades 9-12 eligible. Check one: ■ Creative Nonfiction ■ Drama/Screenplay ■ Fiction ■ Poetry

Title(s) of work submitted:

______

■ This submission is for the Portfolio Scholarship Competition. ■ Seniors Only. Submit between 20-50 pages, in at least two categories. List Categories and Titles of work submitted: Eligible categories are creative nonfiction (15-page limit), drama/screenplay, novel (25-page limit), poetry (10-page limit), scholarly essay (10-page limit), and short fiction (20-page limit).

______

______Mail to: Anita Miller Garner, c/o Department of English, Box 5050, University of North Alabama, Florence, AL 35632-0001 Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 17

Jay Lamar, Book Review Editor REVIEWS Balls examines two of our great pastimes: Quality Paperback’s New Voice Award. by Nanci Kincaid football and the ways of men and The author is at work on her second Algonquin, 1998 women. novel. 396 pp. Cloth, $21.95 Brent Davis is public information man- Pam Kingsbury is an adjunct instructor Two professions automatically ager at the University of Alabama Center in English at the University of North command respect in most Southern for Public Television and Radio and Alabama and member of the Alabama towns: preacher and football coach. In president of the Alabama Writers’ Forum Humanities Foundation Speakers Bureau. Balls we have an board of directors. authentic, first-hand Gone for Good account of the latter Stigmata by Mark Childress by a gifted writer Phyllis Alesia Perry Knopf, 1998 who has been close Hyperion, 1998 370 pp. Cloth, $25 to the game all her 235 pp. Cloth, $21.95 Gone for Good, the latest offering adult life. Like Phyllis Alesia Perry’s Stigmata is a from Mark Childress, is skillfully writ- Kincaid herself, novel filled with dreams, visions, and ten, take-you-away-from-it-all Dixie marries her eventual redemptionÐa memorable escapism. school sweetheart, fairytale for adults. Childress, who lives in Costa Rica, Mac, who becomes Lizzie DuBose sets most of this book in his own tropi- a football coach. is the daughter of an cal backyard. Full of magic and sex (Kincaid’s first husband coached at affluent Tuskegee (and magical sex), many schools, including the University couple. Her father is this is primarily the of Alabama. Her current husband is a doctor and her story of 1970s folk- head coach at the University of mother gives teas rock star Ben Arizona.) Through a host of characters, for charitable orga- “Superman” Willis Kincaid follows this couple as the nizations. At the age and his rollicking, husband’s career takes them to of 14, Lizzie inher- wildly comic adven- Birmingham University (Ham U), a its her maternal tures on a remote fictional college in Alabama, where he grandmother’s quilts, which tell the otherworldly island. ultimately leads one of the nation’s story of the family’s slave ancestors. A subplot involves most prestigious and demanding pro- Her grandmother died before Lizzie his son, Ben Junior, grams. was born and her mother is puzzled and his funny, heartrending search for Balls is an entertaining and com- about why her daughter was selected his missing father. Childress does a pelling book, and football fans will for an inheritance that should have fine job of blending the two. enjoy the stories Kincaid tells about been hers. A disillusioned Superman, flying monomaniacal coaches, obsessed fans, Lizzie has the uncanny ability to to his next concert, veers off course crooked boosters, and self-centered reveal family secrets that she has no and crash lands on a mysterious tropi- athletes. The vivid way she captures rational way of knowing. One evening cal island. No ordinary dot in the the fervor of the fans shows that the she wakes up in a pool of her own ocean, it’s the perfect place for a man author is a keen observer of the game blood. She believes that the blood on to disappear. And it’s home to a collec- and of those in the stands. But the her wrists and back comes from the tion of famous and infamous people book is at its best when Dixie tries slave manacles that she has been from all over the worldÐincluding some to figure out her husband, and one dreaming about. Her horrified parents you thought were dead and buried. The needn’t be a fan to be fascinated with believe that she has attempted suicide. island itself is magical, with talking this exploration. Why is he drawn into Lizzie will spend the next 20 years in monkeys and life-changing natural this world of other men? What is it and out of institutions where therapists springs. Mix this with some crackpots about the locker roomÐa world where aren’t always sympathetic to her claims whose dementia almost defies descrip- Dixie is excludedÐthat allows Mac to of reincarnation and that her scars are tion and you have all the ingredients cry for joy after a victory or embrace healing stigmata. for a big adventure. To read this one, an injured player and weep with him? Upon her return home, Lizzie uses youÐlike our heroÐhave to put the real Yet at home this man she loves, this the quilt-making skills she picked up in world on hold. You also have to sus- man who no doubt loves her, says little occupational therapy to show her par- pend belief in lots of thingsÐincluding other than to make sure that the ents what she could not tell them at age the laws of physics. trustees and big school boosters will be 14. The years of accumulated and Gone for Good is a fun, well-told well-fed and entertained during the cross-generational suffering melt away, adventure story with some thought-pro- post-game party. allowing the family to successfully voking commentary on celebrity, suc- Some readers may be frustrated bury the past. cess, money, love, and sex. with the book’s shifting viewpoints, but Perry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Kincaid skillfully weaves the separate newspaper editor who lives in Atlanta. Editor and writer Susan Swagler is the accounts into an entertaining, thought- Stigmata is a selection of the Book of book columnist for The Birmingham News. ful, and, at times, painful book that the Month Club and a finalist for Many Voices, Many Rooms: A New 18 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

REVIEWS Anthology of Alabama Writers Black Belt Press, 1998 disappears, and Miracle comes to Edited by Philip D. Beidler 112 pp. Hard Cover $29.95; Soft Cover believe herself responsible: that she is a University of Alabama Press, 1998 $19.95; Limited edition of 100 slip- mistake, not a miracle. Dance is a 335 pp. Paper, $22.50 cased, signed and numbered, $100.00 release from her Philip Beidler has done it again. In Alabama’s best friend and fore- growing disorienta- Many Voices, Many Rooms he has most storyteller, Kathryn Tucker tion. But when she tapped the treasure of Alabama writing, Windham, once again shares her won- falls off the edge, a introducing us to new finds and reac- derful capacities for understanding, psychiatrist’s care quainting us with old favorites. appreciating, and enjoying the human and her aunt’s love Just a decade ago, Beidler pro- race in Encounters, a collection of her heal her. duced The Art of Fiction in the Heart own photographic work. Lige Danzy, Nolan has said of Dixie, which became a catalyst for basketmaker, “a fine craftsman,” Uncle in an interview that burgeoning interest Hiram Davis, “the only ex-slave I ever her books are about among scholars and knew,” and many others whose names “young people com- readers exploring she never knew are ing into their own and finding them- the legacy of included. The selves.” Her earlier worksÐIf I Should Alabama literature. book depicts a Die Before I Wake (1994) and Send Me Beidler’s selections wide variety of Down a Miracle (1996 National Book for that volume Southern scenes, Award finalist)Ðalso feature heroes spanned almost 200 many of which we struggling toward years but were lim- will not see maturity through social as well as ited by space and againÐdomino individual dilemmas. permission avail- players on the Joan Nist is Professor Emerita in ability. This new front porch of a Children’s Literature at Auburn volume attempts to complete the earlier country store, University. one, to introduce new discoveries, such mules and plowman heading home as Viola Goode Liddell’s fiction, and to after a day in the fields, and clothes The Black Flower: include writers gaining national promi- hanging to dry on a barbed wire fence, A Novel of the Civil War nence, such as Mary Ward Brown. for example. by Howard Bahr The selections represent the state’s Windham dedicates her book to Owl Books, 1998 literary history and its culture, begin- Eastman Kodak because she never 267 pp. Paper, $12 ning with chapters from The Lost thanked the company for its gift of a From the get-go, Howard Bahr’s Virgin of the South, a “gothic-senti- Brownie camera when she was 12. We The Black Flower puts the reader into mental-historical-picaresque” novel add our thanks, for that present has the fray of the Civil War with 26-year- from the early 1880s, and ranging to benefitted us all as it led to Windham’s old Bushrod Carter, a Mississippi boy contemporary selections that seem to lifelong interest in photography. The faltering far from home, dreaming of reflect the state’s obsession with foot- pictures in this small, well-designed hoe cakes slathered in molasses. ball, Babs Deal’s “We Got to Beat book reflect the photographer’s humor Reminiscent of Cold Mountain Georgia” and Jimmy Buffet’s “Off to and compassion for Alabamians, their simply because it is about the same See the Lizard.” In between, the selec- habits and habitats. This is a book to war and the writing tions provide insight into the changing spend time with and treasure. is as rich with nature of the state, from a segregated Mary Ann Neeley is director of down-home details, world of post-Reconstruction to a soci- Landmarks of Montgomery. Her photo- The Black Flower ety beset with turmoil from Civil graphic history of Montgomery, Capital bores into the dirt Rights marches. Some authors are City Corners, was published in 1997. and the grime and familiar; others are obscure; all are the blood of war. It delightful. Dancing on the Edge is its own book, a Kudos to Phil Beidler for giving by Han Nolan story of people fac- the people of Alabama another literary Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997 ing the facts of war: treasure. 244 pp. Cloth, $16.00 stomach-growling, Elaine Hughes is professor of English at In November 1997, the prestigious breeches-itching, the University of Montevallo. National Book Award for Young heart-hitting combat. People’s Literature was given to Bahr’s characters are swollen with Alabamian Han Nolan for her novel reality: from the Marvelous Dog, a Dancing on the Edge. terrier cur named Old Hundred, to Her teen hero-narrator, Miracle (so legend-creating Jack Bishop, who named because she was delivered from frightens the enemy by running naked her accident-killed mother), lives with through the forest the night before Encounters a spiritualist grandmother and alienated battle, to Virgil C. Johnson, the fiddler, by Kathryn Tucker Windham grandfather. When she is 10, her father to Sam Hook, the chaplain and owner Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 19

REVIEWS of Old Hundred. Even Nebo Gloster, uncover the identity of Eakin’s young imagery convince: “the confines of our the inept conscript, grabs the reader’s model, whose erotic pose displayed far longing,” a retriever retrieving” “alight heart and squeezes, especially in the less modesty than was common in the with the exacting genius of her joy,” a final pages. Victorian era. hunting dragonfly as “a whip tip crack- His pen as deft as a single-shot Eakin’s Mistress is fast-paced ing gnats out of the air.” Enfield long rifle, Bahr creates antici- and, like early John Fowles novels, These poems offer many “a mira- pation, grating in the words them- full of unanticipated twists and turns. cle made from this world,” and selves, as the fighting nears, giving the Bradberry delights in surprising the Hudgins teaches us that miracles can reader what Mailer, Jones, and Crane reader by the piecemeal disclosure of be made from nothing else. have laid out before. The mournful unexpected flaws of ambition, greed, From “Ashes” soul of a soldier and a sound, like the or exaggerated concern for reputation. Eight months her ashes challenged me to grieve. Taps, lingers after the book is put Readers who pay attention to detail, But I kept waiting aside, all the more poignant when the noting whether characters shake or and, as I knew it would, men fighting each other know they stir their martinis, will appreciate the magic should be neighbors, not enemies. Ramsgill solving one of the mysteries leached away, the awe Bahr is so perfect in his descrip- in Eakin’s Mistress by observing withdrew. tions that he makes you ask, “When whether the Chippendale chair in the and I disposed of it, her dust, as we do was the last time I saw a morning glory disputed painting was made in almost all awaken?” He makes solitude live. Not Philadelphia or Boston. the deadÐeven those since Cormac McCarthy’s All the we loved, Pretty Horses have I been swept so Allen Cronenberg is director of the loved utterlyÐ Auburn University Center for the Arts & because they are sheer dust strongly through a narrative by the and should be honored as the dust they are. sheer pull and power of the words Humanities. of a book. POETRY Robert Halli is professor of English at Wayne Greenhaw’s latest book, To Touch Babylon in a Jar: New Poems the University of Alabama. a Rainbow: A Reminiscence, his thir- by Andrew Hudgins teenth, will be published next year by Houghton Mifflin, 1998 Lives We Have Chosen Black Belt Press. 72 pp. Cloth, $22 by Robert Collins In his fifth book of poetry, Babylon In Poems and Plays, Issue #5 (Winner Eakin’s Mistress in a Jar, Andrew Hudgins resecures of the 1998 Tennessee Chapbook Prize) by James Bradberry familiar territory and extends his lines Single copies are $6 from Poems and St. Martin’s Press, 1997 in important ways. Familiarly, many Plays, English Dept. Middle Tennessee 169 pp. Cloth, $19.95 poems relate thematically human and State University, Murphreesboro, A successful architect in the natural forces, but now human history Tennessee 37132 Philadelphia area, James Bradberry, integrates with the An aura of sadness emanates from an Auburn native, established himself living world. Such the fourteen poems of Robert Collins’ as a serious mystery writer with the vision implies a new chapbook, the title of which refers to 1994 publication of The Seventh spirit behind creat- lost souls described in the poem “Those Sacrament, the first book in his Jamie ing and uncreating, Who Have Vanished.” Midlife losses Ramsgill mystery series, followed a and this is Hudgins’ goad the persona of these poems as he year later by Ruins of Civility. most religious col- strives to renew his faith in the world. Ramsgill, also an architect, has a sharp lection. People, As the chapbook continues, how- eye for place and visual detail and a nature, and civiliza- ever, several poems offer acts of imagi- penchant for stumbling into dangerous tions live, die, nation as the solution to emotional and criminal situations. become dust, and, as stagnation. “Always Stay Calm, Never Philadelphia and the Pocono town dust, are breathed in Shout Fire,” “The Editor of Dreams,” of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, are the by the living human as the living world The Magician’s Assistant,” and “The settings for Eakin’s Mistress, the third breathes out. Reciprocity of breathing, Counterfeiter’s Confession” present a Ramsgill mystery. Ramsgill accepts an a recurrent motif, establishes the organ- world made fresh through a renewed offer by an old friend, David Laycutt, ic unity of all. Obliteration and renewal creative vision. to interview for a partnership in his are the same; “death is never wasted.” In the penultimate poem, architectural firm. When Laycutt disap- Babylon in a Jar also presents “Epiphany,” the speaker experiences a pears, along with $75,000 of his firm’s poetry as visual experience. The title moment of connectedness with the money, Ramsgill is drawn into the hunt poem and others fill their pages mas- world’s beauty, but in the final poem, and discovers that Laycutt was proba- sively; poems on vegetation assume the “Running It All Back,” he once again bly mixed up in a scheme to substitute verticality of shoots. In “The reviews the film of his life and finds a forgery for a valuable, uncatalogued, Chinaberry” carefully placed repeti- himself wishing he could “run it all and privately owned Thomas Eakin tions reinforce a discussion of shadow- back” to a place of innocenceÐthe painting. Ramsgill sets out to ascertain ing, and “sprang” springs from line to dream of a prelapsarian existence. the authenticity of the painting and to line. Always, Hudgins’ diction and The other poems in the chapbook belie 20 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

REVIEWS that dream, and the best of them point Thanksgiving: a Memoir (Black Belt territoryÐfrom alien DNA to beefalos toward a harder but perhaps more Press, 1998) is a little jewel of a book. to cheesecake. In the middleÐor from realistic alternative. Her well-developed sense of drama and the fringeÐthe members of the Writers Jennifer Horne is a poet who lives in her skill with telling detail make its of Mississippi Books (WOMB) Tuscaloosa. clean, unselfconscious prose shine. The women’s writing group solve myster- only awkward thing ies, find love, and finally get published. Hard Facts about the book is its Prediction: a cult following for this by Peter Huggins title; it somehow book will be starting near you. Livingston University Press, 1998 falls shy of the rich- Published to enthusiastic reviews, 59 pp. Paper, $9.95 ness of the story. In Dorothy Herrmann’s Helen Keller: A Peter Huggins’ first volume of spite of that, you’ll Life (Knopf, 1998) is an important poetry, Hard Facts, is a book that does find that within a book for anyone interested in the two things well: it presents keenly few pages you’re woman who is arguably Alabama’s observed experience, and it conveys chest-deep in her most famous native. Born in experience in words equally keen for tales of life in the Tuscumbia in 1880, Keller has been the their precision and memorable quality. Appalachian coal subject of other Huggins breaks away from the musical fields and mining works, notably quality that is traditional for the lyric camps and can’t put them down. William Gibson’s poem in favor of an incisiveness of J. Richard Gruber’s William play The Miracle tone. In “Fear” the speaker contem- Christenberry: The Early Years, 1954- Worker, and the plates the variety of ways in which he 1968 (University of Alabama Press, facts of her life are might encounter death, ranging from 1998) is a significant and thorough well-known. criminal mischief, cracked brake consideration of the artist’s life and Herrmann tells us drums, and insanity. He ends the poem work. Published in cooperation with what we couldn’t with his own fear: the Morris have known, but I say it’s Bierce Museum of might have won- Writing to his wife Art in dered if we’d considered all the impli- And riding off with Pancho Villa Augusta, cations of Keller’s circumstances. Adios, goodbye, you devils. Georgia, and a Acknowledging Keller’s outward The last fear is more compelling catalogue for accomplishments, astounding still, she and encompassing than the rest, a will- the museum’s pushes on to explore the private costs, ful giving over to the impulse toward major compromises, and unsuspected graces madness and misanthropy. Huggins Christenberry of disability, celebrity, and dependency. likes to write toward the end of the exhibition, it Her portrait of this highly intelligent, poem, toward some dramatic or rhetor- explores the Alabama native’s painting, complex woman is fascinating and ical high point. His poem about Ezra photography, and “constructions” both thought-provoking on many levels. Pound, which presents the mad poet in their connection to the culture and rattling his wire cage in Pisa, ends with environment of his native South and in Pound “Silenced by the cricket/Singing the context of major American art First Draft welcomes publication in the dry grass.” The sundry devasta- movements. Full of images of the artist news. Please let us know of books tions that come with time comprises and his work, the book is rich with bio- and journalsÐyour own or those by one of the book’s major themes. This graphical and critical information, as others with connections to theme provides the book with its most well as with Christenberry’s own ideas AlabamaÐyou would like to see compelling tensions and some of its and reflections. reviewed. Contact Jay Lamar at best imagery, found in “How to See the Lizzie Hart, a.k.a. Carolyn 334/844-4947 (Fax 334/844-4949) Invisible” and in the wonderful Haines, author of more than 25 books, in Auburn. “Glendalough,” a moving lyric about including the critically acclaimed the caprice and calamity of history. For Touched and Summer of the these and many other reasons, Hard Redeemers, explores the dark, and Facts is a delight to read. The book hilarious, side of revels in the mind’s play in the arena of writers’ groups and ideas and shows how this arena is vari- television repair in ous and inexhaustible. Shop Talk (KaliOka Scott Ward’s Crucial Beauty won the Press, 1998). This, 1990 Loiederman Poetry Prize. He teach- the first offering es at Eckerd College in Florida. from the newly established KaliOka Press based in BOOKS NOTED Semmes, Alabama, Suzanne Pickett’s Hot Dogs for covers quite a lot of Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 21

FROM OPEN THE DOOR WHEN THINGS GOT Continued from page 10 OUT OF HAND When things got out of hand at times THE VASE I’d go to my special place where I knew He’d never find me. I watched my art teacher as she molded the clay into a vase I would not breathe because of course on the potter’s wheel. God, I don’t have time for this, I thought. I knew what would happen. I did not like Mrs. Dolores at all. She was boring, glum, and He couldn’t see me up under the house, didn’t seem to care for anything but soft art and classical music, But I could hear the creeping of the boards under his feet. all of which I considered boring. I smelled the steak that he had fixed. But one day I stayed behind after the class left school, for He was trying his best to get me. she was my last period. I couldn’t see a thing because it was black as night. “Why do you like this boring stuff?” I finally blurted out. I watched him until he went to bed. “How can you just sit and do this stuff day after day?” I came to eat my food. He would be asleep. Mrs. Dolores looked up from the vase she was molding and As the monster snored and ground his teeth, seemed to be piercing my soul with her grey eyes. I knew I would be safe as long as he slept. “Because I’m good at it and it soothes my soul and calms The smell of the steak was deep in the night. me down,” she answered in a voice that I had never heard from I just couldn’t keep myself from crying. her. It was bright and enthusiastic and her grey eyes seemed to I think about him and now I am safe— glow. He won’t do it anymore because I am a man. God, Mrs. Dolores, your soul should be the calmest in the T.L. world and the most undisturbed soul with the boring stuff you do all the time, I thought. HE WENT TO BUY A PACK OF SMOKES “Listen to me,” Mrs. Dolores went on, “I know you don’t like my class, but you could at least show some appreciation for The bright heat something different than rap music and your Gangsta homies.” Of an Alabama sun “Well I…,” I tried to say. In July “Come here,” she said. Fell from father’s shoulders, I walked over to the potter’s wheel where she was and she Off his bare chest, stood up and let the potter’s wheel stop. And to his feet “You are going to finish this vase, anyway you want to, but As he walked to the store shoeless you are going to finish it,” Mrs. Dolores said. To buy a pack of smokes. I took off my jacket and set my bookbag down. I sat in the Mother said he was crazy stool in front of the wheel and started it. I didn’t know how to The years before I was born finish it, so I looked up at her, puzzled. And I knew it must be true She took my hands in hers. Her hands felt good against If he was anything like mine with the wet, moist clay. She guided my hands with hers, The years after I came. ever so gentle. Her voice, every time I messed up, encouraged Three girls in a car passing by, me, and I saw a side of Mrs. Dolores that I had never seen All strange and maybe beautiful, before. She constantly flashed a bright smile as she helped me. Said they were going to California, And I enjoyed every bit of it. The classical music added to the Did he want to come? calm atmosphere. Finally when we were finished I stood back And just like that he was gone up and admired the vase. With Mrs. Dolores’s help that lump of From mother’s life and mine, clay had turned into a beautiful vase. The child yet born, the son unknown, Leaving his wife without her heart. I.M. He went barefoot everywhere he could, And when I asked, All he said was: “I like to feel the earth.” When he was my father, He was older, And maybe not so crazy, But I would hold his hand tight anyway, So afraid of losing him When we walked along that highway He had walked so long before. R.E. 22 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

CALENDAR QUARTERLY EVENTS Nov. 6ÐAuburn Humanities Center Alford, Mike Florence, and Iris Program, Auburn Rinke-Hammer will read. Admission Oct. 18ÐAlabama Voices Bryding Adams, author of Made in free with a non-perishable food item or Phyllis Perry, Tuskegee Alabama, a book on the history of donation to provide food for the Author Phyllis Alesia Perry will read Alabama’s material culture. Sponsored hungry on Thanksgiving. The reading from her novel, Stigmata, at the Macon by the Auburn University Center for will be in the Hess Abroms Recital County-Tuskegee Public Library at 4 the Arts and Humanities, the program Hall, Alabama School of Fine Arts, at p.m. Call 334/727-5192. will be at Pebble Hill at 4 p.m. Call 7 p.m. Call Denise Trimm at 205/252- Oct. 21ÐAlabama Authors, 334/844-4946. 9241. Alexander City Nov. 10ÐHumanities Center Dec. 2ÐHighland Booksmith, Philip D. Beidler, University of Program, Anniston Birmingham. Alabama professor of English, will Putting Loafing Streams to Work, the Kathryn Tucker Windham will be present a critique of Mary Ward story of Alabama Power Co. dams, will signing copies of her new book, Brown’s Tongues of Flame. The pro- be discussed by author Harvey Encounters, from 3 to 6 p.m., 2255 gram is part of a series sponsored by Jackson III at Westside Baptist Highland Avenue. Call 205/939- the Alabama Humanities Foundation Church at 6 p.m. Sponsored by the 3164. called Today’s Society: Its Beliefs and Anniston Kiwanis Club. Call Dec. 3ÐBankhead Visiting Writers Practices as Portrayed by Alabama 334/844-4946 for information. Series, Tuscaloosa Authors. Classes meet from 1 until 3 Author Franz Lidz will read from his p.m. in the Horizons Unlimited Room Nov. 10ÐAlabama Voices work at 7:30 p.m. in room 205, Smith on the third floor of the Thomas D. C. Eric Lincoln, Huntsville Hall at the University of Alabama. Russell Library on the Central Noted black scholar C. Eric Lincoln, Call 205/348-0766. Alabama Community College campus. author of Through the Fire: Surviving Call Dr. Bill Niedermeier, Race and Place in America, will make Dec. 4ÐASFA Creative Writing 256/825-5535. several appearances. At 11 a.m. he will Students’ Reading, Birmingham be at the University of Alabama Poetry and prose read by young Oct. 28ÐAlabama Authors, Huntsville, hosted by the UAH Office authors, many of whom are winning Alexander City of Multicultural Affairs. At 4 p.m. there literary awards. The reading will be in William Cobb, University of will be an informal discussion and the Hess Abroms Recital Hall, Montevallo English professor and reception at the State Black Archives Alabama School of Fine Arts, at 3 p.m. author in residence, will read from and and Museum on the Alabama A&M For information call Denise Trimm at discuss his novel, A Walk Through Fire. campus. Contact Dr. James Johnson, 205/252-9241. The final program in a series sponsored 205/851-5846. by the Alabama Humanities Dec. 13ÐAuburn Humanities Foundation, the session will meet from Nov. 11ÐUAB Writers’ Series, Center Program, Fairhope 1 until 3 p.m. in the Horizons Birmingham Wayne Flynt, whose latest book is Unlimited Room on the third floor of Fiction writer Abe Fawal will read Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Thomas D. Russell Library on the from his work at 8 p.m. at the UAB the Heart of Dixie, will speak at the Central Alabama Community College Honors House, 1190 10th Avenue S. Fairhope Public Library at 10 a.m. Call Campus. Call Dr. Bill Niedermeier, Call 205/934-5293. 334/844-4946. 256/825-5535. Nov. 12ÐAlabama Voices Dec. 31 DEADLINE Oct. 29ÐWriters Harvest, C. Eric Lincoln, Montgomery Hackney Literary Awards short story Huntsville & Tuscaloosa Dr. Lincoln is well known for his and poetry entries should be post- North Alabama writers will participate scholarly contributions to the sociology marked by this date. Mail to Hackney in a read-in at Alabama A&M in of religion and to the study of race and Literary Awards, Birmingham-Southern Dawson Auditorium at 7 p.m. as part ethnic relations. He will lecture at 3 College, Box 549003, Birmingham, AL of the Share Our Strength national net- p.m. in the Milo B. Howard 35254, call 205/226-4921. Auditorium of the Alabama work to feed the hungry. Contact Dr. Jan. 10, 1999ÐAlabama Voices Virginia Gilbert at 256/464-9130. In Department of Archives and History. Call 334/242-4363. Patricia Foster, Montevallo Tuscaloosa, a reading will be held at Writer and editor Patricia Foster, 7:30 p.m. in room 205, Smith Hall on Nov. 13ÐASFA Creative Writing whose books include Minding the the University of Alabama campus. Department Benefit Reading, Body, Sister to Sister, and The Healing Call the Creative Writing program at Birmingham Circle will read from her work and talk 205/348-0766. Faculty members Denise Wadsworth about her forthcoming memoir of Trimm, Anne-Wyman Black, Bruce growing up in Alabama. Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 23

CALENDAR Jan. 21, 1999ÐBankhead Visiting from 7 to 9 p.m. at ShaverÕs Book Writers Series, Tuscaloosa Store at 2362 Whitesburg Drive. For Mary Swander, award-winning poet information, call 205/536-9801. VITAL and nonfiction writer, will be the Coal Huntsville Literary Association mem- Royalty Chairholder in Creative bership is open to anyone. Contact CONTACTS Writing for the spring semester. She Susan Anderson, 8019 Navios Dr., Poets & Writers will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. in Huntsville, AL 35802, 205/881-2935. 72 Spring Street room 205, Smith Hall. Call 205/348- MONTGOMERY New York, NY 10012 0766. For information about the Alabama 212/226-3586 RESERVE THESE DATES African-American Arts Alliance or M-F 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 4, 5, 6, 1999Ð24th Annual readings at Roots and Wings: A Cultural Bookplace, contact Poetry Society of America Symposium on English and 15 Gramercy Park West American Literature, sponsored by Georgette Norman, 334/263-2787 or Gwendolyn Boyd, 334/262-1700; Fax New York, NY 10003 the UA English Department, 212/254-9628 Tuscaloosa. 334/262-8498. Monthly events of the “Magical Muse: The Drama of Alabama African-American Arts National Writers Club Tennessee Williams” is the topic. For Alliance are held at Eight Thirty 1450 South Havana, Suite 620 additional information contact sympo- House, 830 S. Court Street. The Aurora, CO 80012 sium directors Ralph Voss, 205/348- Nommo Study Group meets the second 303/751-7844 8523 or Don Noble, 205/348-4507. Tuesday evening from 6 to 8. The Creative Writers Gathering is the third Associated Writing Programs Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon. 804/683-3839 Feb. 12-13, 1999 A Writers’ and Poetry readings are included in the Associates’ Colloquium, Music in de House/Voices program, PEN Auburn University at 6 to 8 p.m., third Sunday of the month. (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) Montgomery Montgomery Creative Writers meets 212/334-1660 The statewide annual Associates the third Sunday of every month from Meeting of the Alabama Writers’ 2-4 p.m. at the Vaughn Park Church of PEN West Forum will be held in conjunction Christ on Vaughn Rd. The meeting is 213/365-8500 with AUM’s 7th Annual Writers’ open to anyone interested in writing. Colloquium. Contact Jeanie Dues are $12 annually. Contact Donna Mystery Writers of America Thompson at 334/242-4076, Jean Tennis, P.O. Box 230787, 17 East 47th Street, Sixth floor ext. 233. Montgomery, AL 36123-0787, New York, NY 10017 334/244-8920; e-mail poettennis@the- Romance Writers of America link.net ONGOING EVENTS 713/440-6885 TUSCALOOSA BIRMINGHAM The Guild of Professional Writers Science Fiction Writers Birmingham area coffeehouses and for Children meets on the second of America clubs offer regular readings. They Saturday of every month (except P.O. Box 4335 include Celestial Realm Coffee House, August) at the Tuscaloosa Public Spartanburg, SC 29305 2827 Highland Avenue, 205/327-5505 Library from 10 a.m. until 12 noon. and The Highland Booksmith, 2255 Dues are $6 annually. Western Writers of America Highland Avenue, 205/939-3164. Contact Aileen K. Henderson, 416 Bedford HUNTSVILLE Vice-President, GPWC, 10924 Big El Paso, TX 79922 Huntsville Literary Association Hurricane Spur, Brookwood, AL membersÕ groups include the Literary 35453, 205/556-0861. National Writers Union Discussion Group which meets the first SEND US YOUR NEWS 873 Broadway, Suite 203 Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. New York, NY 10003 Write or email AWF with details of Call 205/881-2114 for information. 212/254-0279 your own or other Alabama writersÕ The Fiction WritersÕ Group meets at 7 honors and accomplishments. International Women’s p.m. on the third Wednesday of the Write: Alabama WritersÕ Forum, month. Phone 205/882-2348 for details. Writing Guild 201 Monroe St., Montgomery, AL On the fourth Tuesday of the month, 212/737-7536 36130-1800; the Poetry Writing Workshop is held email: [email protected]. 24 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

ANNOUNCEMENTS ONTESTS the winners. Refunds for withdrawn Publishing Co. in September 1999. C entries will only be given through Mail entries to The Richard Phillips PRIZE HONORS December 31. Please do not send cash. Poetry Prize, P.O. Box 121, Watts, RANDALL JARRELL Call 205/226-4921 for more infor- Oklahoma 74964. Postmark deadline November 1, 1998 mation. Mail entries to Hackney The winner of the ninth annual Literary Awards, Birmingham-Southern CALLS FOR Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize will College, Box 549003, Birmingham, AL SUBMISSIONS 35254. receive a $1,000 prize, publication in CHAPBOOK SERIES SEEKS WRITERS Parnassus: Poetry in Review, and a YOUNG WRITERS’ New Dawn Unlimited, publisher of reading and reception. LITERARY AWARDS Alternative Harmonies literary journal, Submit two copies of one to three Postmark deadline January 15, 1999. is currently accepting manuscripts for unpublished poems, not to exceed ten next year’s “NDU Presents” chapbook pages total, and a cover sheet with The Alabama School of Fine Arts series. Authors selected earn 100-200 name, address, phone numbers and is sponsoring a creative writing contest copies. The first chapbook from New poem titles. Names should not appear open to all Alabama students in grades Dawn was a collection of poetry by on the manuscript. No manuscripts will five through twelve. Work may be any Jerri Dawn Buckingham Hardesty be returned. Entry fee is $7. Send entry length and on any subject. Prizes will called Bloom of the Muse. Errol to N.C. Writers’ Network, 3501 Hwy. be awarded for poetry, short fiction, Miller’s The Evening of Seasons will 54 West, Studio C, Chapel Hill, NC and creative nonfiction in each of three be released this fall. Each is available 27516. Winners will be announced in divisions: grades 5 through 7, grades 8 for $5, including postage. February. and 9 and grades 10 through 12. Prizes will be given in each category and each NDU is also accepting poems and ALABAMA’S PRESTIGIOUS division; $100 for first place, $50 for artwork for a theme anthology, HACKNEY AWARDS second place and $25 for third place. Southern Girls. Send $1 per entry or Postmark deadline December 31, 1998 Entries must include a cover sheet 50 cents a page for stories, or send $10 for unlimited entries. Pay for Southern The Hackney Awards offer $5,000 listing the student’s name, address, Girls is two copies for each submission in prizes for poetry and short stories phone number, school, grade, English used. Submissions and inquiries should ($2,500 for national and $2,500 for teacher’s name, category entered and be directed to New Dawn Unlimited, state level; $600 for first, $400 for sec- title of each work submitted. The stu- Route 1 Box 219C, Brierfield, AL ond and $250 for third place). Winners dent’s name should not appear any- 35035. will be announced at the Birmingham- where on the work itself. Entries must be typed on 8 1/2” x 11” white paper Southern College Writing Today NEW PLAYWRIGHTS SOUGHT Conference on March 12-13, 1999. and stapled. No notebooks or binders The New Playwrights Program, an will be accepted. Mail entries to Short Story length should not adjunct to the University of Alabama’s Creative Writing Contest, Alabama exceed 5,000 words per story. Poetry M.F.A. program in playwriting and School of Fine Arts, 1800 8th Avenue should not exceed 50 lines per entry; dramaturgy, welcomes submissions more than one poem may be submitted. North, Birmingham, AL 35203. For further information call the ASFA from unproduced, first time writers. Please remit $10 per entry. Funded through the Gallaway Poetry and short story entries from Creative Writing Department at 205/252-9241 or email Endowment, the program provides Alabama will be entered in the state financial support for the development contest unless specified for the national [email protected] or of new plays, including stipends, competition. Entries can be judged in [email protected] expenses, travel funds and other fund- only one category, not both state and PHILLIPS POETRY PRIZE ing. “We are especially interested in national. ANNOUNCED encouraging the work of Alabama Short story manuscripts should be Postmark deadline January 31, 1999 typed and double-spaced. Poetry playwrights,” said Paul Castagno, entries should be typed. Each entry Manuscripts of 30-50 pages of director and dramaturg. submitted must have two copies of the poetry in any theme or form are being All formats are welcome, from cover sheet listing the title of the work, sought and should be submitted with a short one-acts to full-length produc- author’s address and telephone number cover sheet bearing the poet’s name, tions and from traditional to post- and category of the work. The author’s brief biography and contact informa- modern. Dramas with dance are of name must not appear on the actual tion. A $1,000 award will be given to particular interest. Musicals are also pages of the manuscript. the winner of the Richard Phillips considered. Poetry Prize within 90 days of the Enclose a self-addressed, stamped Writers may submit a detailed postmark deadline. The winning manu- envelope if you wish to receive a list of query letter and synopsis and/or com- script will be published by the Phillips Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 25

ANNOUNCEMENTS pleted script. Include a properly-sized SUBMISSIONS SOUGHT FOR submissions of short fiction, self- SASE with postage if you would like A MEMORY BOOK contained novel excerpts and poetry your script returned. Submissions are KaliOka Press has issued a call for with a feel for the Southeast. accepted each year between August 15 stories for a proposed 1999 Send up to 10 pages of fiction and and April 15. For more information collection featuring memories of up to 40 lines of poetry with name, contact Dr. Paul Castagno, director, Òmeetings, lunches, dinners, conversa- address, phone or fax number and New Playwrights Program, UA tions, collaborations or some shared word count on the title page. Department of Theatre and Dance, P.O. experience with Eugene Walter.Ó Manuscripts should be clear, double- Box 87239, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. Walter died March 29 in Mobile, spaced and previously unpublished. where he was born. An award-winning LonzieÕs acquires first-time rights and BEYOND DOGGEREL GOES novelist, poet, lyricist, film actor and pays three copies. The first issue is due TO COLLEGE editor, Walter developed friendships this summer; the second is planned for Beyond Doggerel, which previous- and working relationships throughout next winter. Mail submissions to E.H. ly published poems by K-grade 12 the United States and Europe. Goree, editor, LonzieÕs Fried Chicken personnel, seeks poetry submissions on ÒThe stories can be funny or seri- Literary Magazine, P.O. Box 189, any subject and in any form from four- ous, but they should be true,Ó Lynn, NC 28750. year and community college instruc- explained Carolyn Haines, president of AMARYLLIS BLOOMS tors. Poems 10 to 20 lines long are pre- the press. Rebecca Barrett, vice presi- ferred. Submissions for the next issue, Published by the Chunnenuggee dent of KaliOka, said the collection Literary Society, Inc., Amaryllis is to be published in the fall of 1999, will will be called Moments with Eugene be read in January and February. Send looking for poetry, reviews, short and all profits will go to the Eugene fiction, ÒexperimentsÓ and non- poems and college affiliation with Walter Memorial Fund. SASE to Claire T. Feild, editor, Beyond scholastic essays. Manuscripts are read ÒWeÕre taking submissions now,Ó year-round. Send three copies of previ- Doggerel, 1141 Knollwood Court, Haines said. ÒThere is no word length Auburn, Alabama 36830-6126. ously-unpublished work to Amaryllis, and no specific style. What we want to P.O. Box 6330, Carolyn Station, BACK TO SCHOOL do is capture Eugene in the mirror held Montgomery, AL 36106-0330. Be sure WITH HECTOR STREET up by his friends.Ó Submissions should to enclose a self-addressed, stamped All currently enrolled Alabama be typewritten, double-spaced and sent envelope if you want your writing high school students are invited to sub- to KaliOka Press at 2486 Ellen Drive, returned. mit poetry, short fiction, drama and Semmes, AL 36575. For more information, call Carolyn Haines at HARMONIOUS PROGRESSIONS creative nonfiction for the second vol- Alternative Harmonies Literary ume of Hector Street: Alabama’s High 334/649-9456 or Rebecca Barrett at 334/666-6529. and Arts Magazine needs poetry, short School Literary Journal. Work should fiction, prose, photos, essays and draw- be typed, doubled-spaced, submitted in SOUTHERN EXPERIMENTS ings to fill about 40 pages quarterly. duplicate, and accompanied by a cover New Orleans Review has Send $1 per entry or 50 cents a page sheet listing author’s name, address, announced a February 1, 1999 for stories, or send $10 for unlimited phone number, school, year of gradua- deadline for its next special issue about entries and receive a copy of the tion, and the title(s) of work(s). Other ÒThe Other South.Ó Editors Bill upcoming issue. Pay for contributors is than titles, no identification should Lavender and Ralph Adamo are seek- one copy for each submission used. appear on submissions. Individual ing experimental poetry, fiction, non- Annual subscription is $15. Send pieces of prose and drama should be no fiction and graphic arts by southerners, submissions and inquiries to: New longer than 15 pages. as well essays on southern writing and Dawn Unlimited, Route 1 Box 219C, Enclose a self-addressed stamped regionalism. Works selected will be Brierfield, AL 35035. The first in a envelope for return of work and read- published in an expanded issue next series of chapbooks from New Dawn is ers’ comments. Authors whose work spring. Queries may be sent to a collection of poetry by Jerri Dawn appears in Hector Street will receive [email protected], but submissions Buckingham Hardesty called Bloom two copies of the journal. Deadline for should be hard copies sent to: The of the Muse. It is available for $5, the fall 1999 issue is June 10, 1999. Other South, New Orleans Review, Box including postage. Copies of the first volume of Hector 195, Loyola University, New Orleans, Street are available for $5. Send your LA 70118. LITERARY MARKET NEWS name, address and payment to Hector The Literary Network News, LONZIE’S HOT AND CRISPY Street, P.O. Box 71628, Tuscaloosa, AL Canadian and international online mar- 35407. For further information, call LonzieÕs Fried Chicken, which bills ket publication for writers, publishes editor Joseph H. Halli, 205/533-3737. itself as Òa Journal of accessible monthly and offers up-to-date market Southern fiction and poetry,Ó welcomes listings. The Literary Network also 26 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

ANNOUNCEMENTS publishes poetry, short fiction, articles, essays and reviews. Printouts available ALABAMA ALABAMA to those not on the internet by sending ITERARY OURNALS ITERARY OURNALS a SASE to: The Literary Network. Box L J L J 31, 2060 Queen St. E., Toronto, Alabama English Black Warrior Review Ontario, Canada M4E 3V7. Requests The scholastic journal of The University of Alabama may be sent by email to tplantos@idi- the Alabama Council of Box 2936 rect.com Teachers of English Tuscaloosa, AL 35486 WOMEN’S WORK 253 Smith Hall 205/348-4518 Shatter the Glass Ceiling, a bi- Troy State University weekly womenÕs business magazine on Troy, AL 36082 Copper Blade Review the internet, is soliciting manuscripts, 334/670-3286 c/o Troy State University-Dothan both fiction and nonfiction. The P.O. Box 8368 magazine covers Òall aspects of a Alabama Literary Review Dothan, AL 36304 womanÕs life, except romance.Ó There Ed Hicks, Editor 334/983-6556, Ext. 397 are sections on health, current events, 253 Smith Hall business, family, humor and literature. Troy State University Elk River Review While the publication does not have Troy, AL 36082 John Chambers, Editor the financial backing to pay writers, it 334/670-3286 606 Coleman Avenue does offer an international readership Athen, AL 35611-3216 in 27 countries. All articles from past Amaryllis issues are placed in the ÒShatter P.O. Box 6330 Negative Capability Archives.Ó Review the magazine at: http:www.theglassceiling.com/shatter Montgomery, AL 36106-0330 Sue Brannon Walker, or look at the entire website at E-mail [email protected] Editor/Publisher http://www.theglassceiling.com 62 Ridgelawn Drive East Astarte Mobile, AL 36608-6166 HYPERTEXT CONTEST The English Department Salt Hill is looking for solid University of Alabama Noccalula literary hypertext fiction, poetry and at Birmingham Shelby Cochran, Editor design. Works may be text only or Birmingham, AL 35294 Gadsden State Community College incorporate multimedia including P.O. Box 227 video, animation, images and sound. The Auburn Circle Gadsden, AL 35902-0227 Submissions must be viewable over Publications Suite Internet browsers such as Netscape 3.0 Foy Union Building POEM and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Accepted work will be posted on the Auburn University, AL 36849 Nancy F. Dillard, Editor Salt Hill site, which can be found at 334/844-4142 c/o English Department http://www-hl.syr.edu/cwp UAH, Huntsville, AL 35899 Send your url address, or your Beyond Doggerel Subscription: POEM, c/o HLA work as an attachment to A Poetry Journal for Dale Griggs [email protected] or address Four-Year and Community 1009 Brookridge Circle an envelope with floppy disks to Salt College Instructors Huntsville, AL 35801 Hill Hypertext Contest. All entries will Claire T. Feild, Editor also be considered for regular posting 1141 Knollwood Court Southern Humanities Review at the site. A $30 payment will be Auburn, AL 36830-6126 Dan Latimer, Dave Haney, made to authors whose work is select- and Margaret Kouidis, Co-editors ed. There is a reading fee of $10. Send Birmingham Poetry Review Department of English checks made payable to Salt Hill to the Bob Collins, Editor Auburn University, AL 36849 Salt Hill Hypertext Contest, Syracuse UAB English Department University English Department, Arts & Humanities Building Syracuse, NY 13244-1170. The Birmingham, AL 35294 deadline is January 31 annually. 205/934-4250 Fall 1998 FIRST DRAFT 27 Choosing the Next Poet Laureate he Poet Laureate Committee of the When you are placing a name when necessary. TAlabama Writers Conclave is now for nomination, remember that the fol- The Poet Laureate is not chosen by receiving nominations for the next Poet lowing are the most desirable qualifica- the number of nominations. The excel- Laureate of Alabama. The election will tions considered by the Poet Laureate lence of his/her work is the overall be held at the August 1999 annual Committee in selecting a nominee to determining factor. meeting of the Conclave, elected by a place before the Conclave members: Choose a Conclave member who majority of the membership present The Poet Laureate must have been will make your recommendation and and voting. Nominations may also be a resident of Alabama for the past 15 send it to: made from the floor at the annual years, and must be able to fund his/her John Curbow meeting, but those nominated must own expenses of office. P.O. Box 277 have previously agreed to serve, and Other criteria looked at by the Wetumpka, AL 23092 meet the qualifications. committee are: The committee is charged with 1. The poet must be the author of the selection of the best nominees poems of high quality as determined by There are several hundred to present to the membership, as the markets to which he/she has sold. members of the Alabama Writers’ provided for in the Code of Alabama, 2. The poet must have a prize record Conclave. Most are from Alabama, S 143, Powell, approved May 5, 1931. at local, state, and national levels. although many states are represent- The elected Poet Laureate will be 3. Poems in his/her collection must ed. Members include fiction and commissioned in a ceremony by the be of high quality. non-fiction writers, novelists and governor. 4. He/she must show long-term ser- short story writers, poets, writers The nominees need not be vice in the field of poetry, literature, of business and scientific works, members of the Conclave. Anyone and the arts in Alabama. freelance journalists, romance can make a recommendation for 5. The poet must show competency in writers, publishers, and teachers. nomination, but a member of the editorial writing and other areas of If you wish to join, send your $15 Conclave must actually place the writing or teaching. check made out to Alabama name in nomination. If you have a 6. The poet must have the ability to Writers’ Conclave to: Harriette person in mind, or have been given a speak, read poems and give programs, Dawkins, AWC Treasurer, 117 name, please make sure you send not and a wilingness to answer such calls Hanover Road, Homewood, AL only the name, but the data, and the as may come for such programs. 35209 known willingness of the person to 7. The poet must be prepared to write serve. poems of a commemorative nature Alabama Poets Receive Recognition Robin Cooper-Stone, a master of publishers of Poetry magazine The Primus St. John. fine arts candidate in creative writing at judges for the 1998 fellowship were Since 1975, Lynx House has the University of Alabama, was select- Joseph Parisi, editor of Poetry and brought out more than 100 poetry and ed as one of two poets nationwide to chairman of the Lilly Fellowship fiction titles. Its authors have received receive a $15,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Committee, and poets David Bottoms the National book Award, Pulitzer Fellowship for 1998. of Marietta, Ga., and John Frederick Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Award, and This is one of the largest awards Nims of Chicago. The fellowships are the Prix de Rome. given to aspiring writers in the U.S. awarded annually. Butler, a native of Kansas, lives in The awardees were Lynx House Press announced Florence where she teaches at the chosen from more than that the 1998 Blue Lynx Poetry Prize University of North Alabama. She has 100 applicants who had has been awarded to Lynne Burris previously published two books of been nominated by their Butler for her book of poetry, Sunday poetry, The Dream Thief and Forever Is department chairs or Afternoons With Tolstoy. The prize car- Easy. She has been an active AWF program directors. ries a cash award of $1,500 and Lynx member, served for many years on the Selection of the House Press will publish the book. board of the Florence Public Library, Cooper-Stone Ruth Lilly Fellowship This is the first year for this award. and was a scholar in the Auburn winners was made by the Modern Nearly 350 entries were judges by a University Humanities project on Poetry Association of Chicago, panel of readers and the final reader, Southern Autobiography. 28 FIRST DRAFT Fall 1998

THE BACK PAGE no one could become a member until he or she seriously seeks the salvation of his or her soul. If the seeking is successful, God “Everybody Got a Right sends the seeker a vision. The vision must be described to the preacher and deacons, and if they believe it to be a true vision to the Tree of Life” from God the person becomes a candidate for baptism. The linton O. Pettway was salvaging fish hooks from a tangle of seeker goes off alone, usually into the woods, to pray and to Cold nets and lines at a landing on the backwaters of the meditate. Sometimes the seeking lasts for weeks before the Alabama River when I stopped to talk to him. prayed-for vision comes. While I was in Gee’s Bend, I heard “I’m fifty-eight years old,” he told me, “and been here all accounts of several visions but none more vivid than the one my life. Named Pettway now, but my family had another name Clinton told that afternoon at the boat landing. Two johnboats, in Carolina. Johnson. Was named Johnson.” As he talked, he cut one half-submerged, were tied in the sandy shallows, and the the rusty hooks loose with his pocket knife and laid them in a current lapping against their metal sides beat a soft cadence for pile on the ground beside him. “When old man Pettway bought Clinton’s story. my great-grandmother in Carolina, her name was Johnson.” He saw himself, he said, in a refrigerated ice house with all Still busy with his hooks, he told the handed-down story of the doors shut and no way out. The huge blocks of ice began his great-grandmother and her baby boy, Saul, who would moving, coming together. He heard men hollering as the ice become Clinton’s grandfather. closed in on them. He prayed hard, and a door opened. As he It seems that soon after Mark Pettway became the owner of continued to pray, other doors opened for him. When he got out, Gee’s Bend, he made preparations to move his large family and two policemen began to chase him and to shoot at him. Clinton their possessions, including his slaves, from North Carolina to started catching the bullets, each one about the size of a golf Alabama, a long and hard journey. When he learned that one of ball, in his hand and dropping them. He kept praying. God his slave women had a new baby, he ordered her to leave the enabled him to jump up and fly over the policemen. Those same child behind. two policemen got a helicopter and began chasing Clinton in it. “But you know how women is about their babies,” Clinton He kept flying and praying. God sent a big wind that blew rusty said. “She couldn’t go off and leave him. So she sewed Saul, her cups and buckets at the helicopter, and then came heavy black baby, up in a mattress ticking and put that mattress in a wagon smoke between Clinton and the helicopter so that his pursuers and brought him on down here. That was my grandfather. Lived could no longer see him. He came down from the sky and lit to be one hundred twenty years old. Didn’t join the church until right at the church door. he was over one hundred. Kept a sound, settled mind, too.” As Clinton was emotionally moved by the telling of his vision, he talked, he shifted a matchstick from the side of his mouth to an account he must have told dozens of times before. He waited the front and back again, back and forth very slowly. to regain his composure. Then he said softly, “After God showed Mention of joining the church reminded Clinton that he had me that vision, I knowed I didn’t have to cross Hell on a spider made a contract with the Lord that if God would get him out of web.” the hospital and get him better, he would go carry His word. “I knowed I had to preach,” he said, “but I was doing every- Excerpted from “Gee’s Bend” in Kathryn Tucker Windham’s thing I could to miss it. Jonah and me are alike. He ended up in book Twice Blessed (Black Belt Press, 1996) the whale and me in the hospital. I ain’t started preaching yet, but I got to. Preaching is one of the worstest things that have to be done. I ain’t saw a preacher yet that wanted to preach. It ain’t what he wanted to do, it’s what he got to do.” He was silent for a moment as he gathered up his fishhooks and put them in a box in his boat. He looked out across the river. Then, almost as if he were practicing a ser- mon, he began to speak. “Everybody in the world got a right to the Tree of Life. Two commandments will get you to Heaven: love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and might and strength; and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s the hardest thing to do. We ain’t exactly doing that.” Clinton was silent so long I thought our conversation had ended. Then he looked up at me and spoke again. “I had a vision when I was a teenager and got religion,” he said. It has long been the rule at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Gee’s Bend that Gee’s Bend Baptizing, from Encounters by Kathryn Tucker Windham,Black Belt Press, 1998. 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