Brooklyn Trip

Here we stand in the very spot where once stood the famous #7 Middagh Street House, also known as "February House." For a while in 1940, the house was occupied by Carson McCullers and a whole slew of other creative folks, including W.H. Auden, George Davis, Richard Wright, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, and Gypsy Rose Lee.

Pictured left to right are: Cathy Fussell, Leslie Lanning, Amanda Todd, Ty Deane, Rachel Thornell, Sammy Eugenio, Kim Crowell, Chris Beyer, Sarah Hulbert, Leslie Pinckard, Aaron Sanders (peeping around), Rebecca Holman, Orion Wertz, and, on the far right, two New York artists who joined us for the visit to the Middagh Street site -- Wendy and Alvin Eng. Alvin is a playwright who has been inspired by McCullers' work.

After we visited the Middagh Street site and the beautiful Brooklyn Heights neighborhood where so many, many writers have lived, we ventured over into DUMBO for a visit with Phenix Citizen-turned-New-York-artist MIKE HOWARD, pictured below outside his studio, talking with CSU students Leslie Lanning, Amanda Todd, Leslie Pinckard and Sammy Eugenio.

... joined by Rachel Thornell.

Thanks, Mike, for a great tour!

CSU Students and Faculty at Bowery Poetry Club

On Wednesday evening, May 26, several CSU students and faculty members read at The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. Here are some photos:

Chris Beyer

Kim Crowell


Aaron Sanders
Sabrina is a former student who moved to New York a few months ago. She heard that we were reading and asked to join us. Of course, we were happy to have her with us. Other readers were Rebecca Holman, Scott Wilkerson, and Amanda Todd. I'm afraid that my photos of them were failed -- but you know the light in the room was too tricky for my limited photography skills.

Watching our students read on a stage in New York was indeed a proud moment for me, and I sincerely thank my colleague Aaron Sanders for arranging this terrific opportunity.

Live from New York,
-- Cathy

More New York

This is a photo I took this morning of 321 West 11th Street, in Greenwich Village, Carson and Reeves' first apartment in New York. They moved into this building in 1940, immediately following the success of the publication of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Here's a photo of the CSU group, all dressed up for an opening at Heidi Cho Gallery in Chelsea, on Thursday night. Thanks to Mike Howard for the invite.

That black-and-white was entirely an accident, but I like it so much that I kept it. I thought the group looked smashin' in color, too, so ...

CSU in New York

Inspired by Carson's own youthful defection from Columbus to New York, back in the mid-1930s, ten Columbus State University students and three faculty members left ye olde Richards Hall parking lot last Saturday afternoon, bound for the Big Apple where we'll spend three weeks immersing ourselves in all that is New York. Here's a photo of a few members of the group, in front of the Museum of the American Indian, which is housed in the old U.S. Customs House, an incredible space in and of itself:
Carson herself traveled by train from Columbus to Savannah, where she boarded a ship (as in BOAT) that took her to New York. We didn't quite re-enact that jaunt, but we did ride the CSU Cougar bus to Atlanta where we took an eight-hour AMTRAK ride to New York's Penn Station, and then cabs to our dorms at NYU.

Stay tuned for more photos and reports.

Yet Another Celebrity McCullers Fan ...

The young British actor Robert Pattinson (Twilight and Harry Potter) recently announced on Oprah that Carson McCullers is his favorite writer, and that McCullers is "the greatest American writer." He cited The Ballad of the Sad Cafe as his favorite book, and he brought onto the set a vintage copy.

Here's a clip.

A Carson Feast

On May 3, the last day of this semester's classes at CSU, I and the members of my McCullers course celebrated the end of the semester with a covered dish supper featuring foods referenced in the works of McCullers. The menu included baked ham, sweet potato souffle, black-eyed peas, Country Captain (not named by McCullers, but thoroughly described -- twice in her works), two different cakes (one of which, most appropriately, was baked on Monday and failed*), macaroni and cheese, homemade cookies, fried chicken, baked cornbread, lots of other wonderful dishes, and, the contribution that turned out to be the piece-de-resistance of the entire supper, Jonathan Lapp's ASPARAGUS -- a dish which converted even those who had previously thought themselves averse to the aforenamed spears. (One consumer noted, "It didn't hurt that they were pan-fried in about two pounds of butter.") Here's a photo of Jonathan, in the kitchen at 1519 Stark, Carson's mama's kitchen, workin' his magic:
I tried to take more photos, but my photo-takin' abilities failed even more miserably than the cake did.

Students also turned in their academic McCullers projects, which included:
* interviews with local folks who knew Carson;
* transcription and analysis of the very important (and very long) Carson McCullers/Tennessee Williams session at the 92nd Street Y in New York, in 1954;
* in-depth analysis of vintage film footage of McCullers;
* primary research of a 1950 television show which featured McCullers;
* an academic paper on the subject of "Carson McCullers and Black Mammy Stereotypes";
* a paper on "References to Visual Art in the Work of Carson McCullers";
* a podcast introduction to Carson McCullers; and
* a podcast driving tour of "Carson McCullers' Columbus" (derived from the brochure produced in 2002 by Historic Columbus Foundation).

These projects, along with some from previous years, are available for perusal at the Smith-McCullers House.

Thank y'all, students o' mine, for a wonderful semester of McCullers immersion.

-- Ms. Fussell

* from The Member of the Wedding: "The afternoon was like the center of the cake that Berenice had baked last Monday, a cake which failed. The old Frankie had been glad the cake had failed, not out of spite, but because she loved these fallen cakes best. She enjoyed the damp, gooey richness near the center, and did not understand why grown people thought such cakes a failure. It was a loaf cake, that last Monday, with the edges risen light and high and the middle moist and altogether fallen -- after the bright, high morning the afternoon was dense and solid as the center of that cake."

Spring Visitors

The Smith-McCullers House has been privileged to have hosted a number of groups during late April and early May. Pictured here are members of the Columbus Men's Garden Club, who visited on April 20:


I really had a terrific time talking with these very learned gentlemen about all things Carson, all things Columbus, and, well, other subjects, too! Please come back soon, Columbus Men's Garden Club. You're welcome any time. Special thanks to Mr. Joe Posey and Dr. Jack Lawler for arranging the event.

A few days after the men's visit, the ladies showed up! :-) On April 27 the Adelphia Study Club met at the Smith-McCullers House. I'm afraid that I failed to take a photo! And that's a cryin' shame, 'cause the ladies looked so nice! We had ourselves a good conversation or two, you can be sure. Truly, Adelphia, thanks much for your support; we would love to have you back any time. Special thanks to Mrs. Fran Merritt and Mrs. Frances McCluskey for organizing the event.

-- Cathy