Dorianne Laux to read on Wednesday, March 31.

The award-winning poet Dorianne Laux will visit the McCullers Center on Wednesday, Marc h 31, as a part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit. At 4:00 in the afternoon, at the McCullers House, Ms. Laux will lead an informal discussion. Then, at 7:30 in the evening, at International House on main campus, Ms. Laux will give a formal reading. Everybody is cordially invited to both these free events, which are sponsored in part by a grant from the Grassroots Arts Project, Georgia Council for the Arts. CSU's Capital Campaign also kicks in in a major way, as with all McCullers Center projects. (Thank you, CSU Capital Campaign!)

Happy Birthday, 10!

The Carson McCullers Center today recognizes the birthday of Carson's good buddy Tennessee Williams, who was born on this date in 1911, in "that other" Columbus -- You know, the one in Mississippi. It was Tennessee who suggested to Carson that she write the stage version of The Member of the Wedding. The two were friends from the time they met in 1946 until Carson died in 1967.

I thoroughly enjoyed ...

... teaching "Carson McCullers" to eighth graders at Veterans Memorial Middle School in Columbus -- all day long today. Having read "Correspondence" and "Sucker," this terrific group of young Columbusites produced TONS of thoughtful questions and comments about both Carson and her work. Thanks, students at VMMS, for a great day -- and special thanks to student teacher Holly Bishop for giving me this opportunity.

-- Cathy (aka "Ms. Fussell")

Photos from last night's reading ...

Featured readers at last night's Faculty-Student Reading Series event were Dr. Joseph Francavilla ...

and Wyolene Solomon ...Thanks, Joe and Wyolene, for very nice readings. And thanks to everyone who came out for the event.

Welcome, Henry Real Bird!

The Japanese magnolia in the front yard bloomed just in time for the arrival of Montana's poet laureate, Henry Real Bird, who will give a reading tomorrow night, Thursday, March 18, 6:30 PM at the Columbus Public Library. The reading will be followed by a reception at the McCullers House. Everybody is cordially invited to this free event.

Events of the past few days ...

On Monday night the "Three B's Book Club" met at the McCullers House and enjoyed an evening of lively discussion and refreshments. The members had read Clock Without Hands and had lots to say about the similarities between fictional "Milan" and our real town of Columbus. They had lots to say about other subjects, too. ;-)

Thanks to Laura Walker for arranging the visit.
Wednesday afternoon's event was a reading and discussion by poet Heather Cousins, from Athens. I got so busy listening to Heather that I forgot to take the photo I'd intended to take there in the McCullers House, with folks in attendance and all that -- so I took a photo when we went out to supper afterwards. Here's Heather, on the left, with her good friend and my colleague at CSU, Angela Greene, at the front door of Deorio's.

Thanks, Heather, for a fine reading -- and to Angela, for hookin' us up with Heather.
Thanks to everybody who attended, too, and to my colleague Nick Norwood for coordinating the visit.

-- Cathy

Recent Gifts

I've fallen in love with this little cup which Thornton Jordan recently brought in. It's from a restaurant that used to be in downtown Columbus, one that some folks thought might be part of Carson's inspiration for the New York Cafe in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. When I look at this cup I can't help but picture Mr. Singer's sipping coffee from it.

***

Richard Tucker and Wyolene Solomon are at it again! Those two, who have contributed more than 400 volumes to the reading library at the McCullers House, and for whom the reading library is now named, showed up last week with a whole trove of "new" materials, including these ORIGINAL posters:


Click on the photo to enlarge it and you can see the phrase "leave the children at home" right to the left of Marlon Brando's face. There's also the applied "RESTRICTED to persons 18 years of age or over" sticker right below that. I do hereby confess that, coincidentally, I myself had JUST turned 18 when the movie was released, and I remember sneaking off from home to catch my first glimpse of "adult literature" on the screen. Fun!

My McCullers class at CSU has just finished reading REFLECTIONS, and seeing the film, so we particularly enjoyed the poster.

This poster for The Member of the Wedding proves that the phrase "sex sells" ain't nothin' new. Would you EVER have designed that poster for MEMBER?

Sincere thanks to Thornton, and to Richard, and to Wyolene -- for these very important additions to the Carson McCullers collection.

-- Cathy