Home Going

Is there anything better than going home?

Last week I got to visit my hometown, see old friends, make new ones, celebrate family, and talk to an awesome group of kids about books and writing.

My visit started at St. George's Episcopal School in Memphis. (Thank you to the lovely folks at NOVEL bookstore for the introduction.)
Absolutely fabulous teachers and a librarian I could have sat and talked to all day long. 

I spoke to a large group first. Their questions were so thoughtful.  One asked if I had any "author friends" and if I did, what did we do. This question always cracks me up. 
I mentioned a few, recommended some excellent books. When I said, Barbara O'Connor, there was an audible gasp.  

Check out the library display. Their class was in the middle of reading THE SMALL ADVENTURE OF POPEYE AND ELVIS.  

Those are rambler models on the library shelves!

Of course, I just HAD to go upstairs to see that the entire hall in front of their classroom was a Coon Dog Cemetery. Straight from the book! 
I believe their teacher even told me she'd visited it, in person, over the summer. 
Did I say these are dedicated teachers?

Such fun kids!

The Group!

Talking about writing THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY, 

which is on Tennessee's Volunteer State Book Awards list this year.

After a drive through the Delta and a quick stop to hang out with my sister and her family, it was off to Delta State University, Cleveland MS, for the Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage Museum's HOME-GOING weekend.

 (Cotton waiting to be picked. Most of it was gone though.)

(Books waiting to be bought. Most of them were gone, too!)

I finally met my Facebook friend Jeu Foon, originally from Forrest City AR, now a California boy, a great writer himself, with such interesting childhood memories.

And Holly Yu, a writer from Rhodes College, Memphis. I met them at the Home Going.  

There were 350 people there to celebrate their heritage and their southern connections.

Here's Jeu, inside the museum, highlighting my book. 
(Thanks, friend!)
 I used the oral histories there to research MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG.

I ate well, talked a lot, made a road trip to Dockery Farms on a blue-sky Delta day.

What a great trip!

And I'll not even complain too much about having to de-ice my car! 

Though I am happy to be home.

Research.

Although I left Mississippi for college a few years ago (hahaha), it's where my family is, where my heart is. Home.

Spending a week here for a reason I'll call research is pretty special.

Even if <research> means sitting on the porch listening and talking.
Riding around places I remember but thought I'd forgotten.
Not writing a single thing down.

This weekend I'll spend time listening to authorities speak about things I'm interested in, and I'll take plenty of notes. 
I'll hang out with a friend of my mama's. 
I'll sit in libraries. 
I may even sit under a tree or two.

Last weekend I took a few pictures. 
I'll share so you can enjoy, too.

Sunset over the Mississippi River. That's Arkansas over there.

 Artifacts unearthed and on display. 

From some deep dark filing cabinet, I assume.

Historic marker unveiled on the campus of Delta State University, the site of my first school. My  memories of nursery school include taking a field trip across campus to see the "Science Museum," which consisted of a two-headed lamb and a tapeworm that had been removed during surgery. A very long tapeworm. I'm sure there was more. That's all I remember.

 

 

I have no idea what I'll do with this thought, but it's percolating. 

Historic Jackson.

 

 

 

Not often that I see this much cotton ready to be picked.

I remember when the fields were full of it though.

Quite beautiful. Even if the stories may not be so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Know what I mean?