Category Archives: Literature

“The Golden Hour: Africa’s Rise and the Challenge for American Diplomacy” is topic of Todd Moss talk at Clinton School today at noon

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As Africa’s prominence on the global stage increases, it offers challenges and opportunities for the US.  Todd Moss will examine this today at noon in a Clinton School address.

Todd Moss is chief operating officer and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Moss also serves as vice president for programs and secretary of the board. In addition to his institutional and fundraising responsibilities, his work focuses on U.S.-Africa relations and financial issues facing sub-Saharan Africa, including policies that affect private investment, debt, and aid. Moss directs the Emerging Africa Project and is currently working on energy in Africa, cash transfers in new oil economies, and new ideas for upgrading US development policy. In the past he led the Center’s work on Nigerian debt, Zimbabwe, the future of the World Bank’s IDA, and the African Development Bank.

Moss served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from May 2007 to October 2008 while on leave from CGD. He originally joined the Center in July 2003 from the World Bank where he served as a consultant and advisor to the Chief Economist in the Africa Region. Prior to joining the Bank, he was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the postgraduate Development Studies Institute. Previously, Moss has worked as an Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and was Assistant Director of U.S. Policy Programs at the Overseas Development Council (ODC). Moss is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and the author of numerous articles and books, including Adventure Capitalism: Globalization and the Political Economy of Stock Markets in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors (Lynne Rienner, 2nd ed., 2011).

Moss is also the author of The Golden Hour  (Penguin/Putnam, 2014), a thriller about American diplomacy and infighting after a coup in West Africa. The novel’s sequel Minute Zero will be released in 2015.

Poetry Month: Peggy Vining and “Arkansas, The Natural State”

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pviningPeggy Vining is Arkansas’s Poet Laureate.  She was appointed to this position in 2003 by Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Since 1963, Vining has been a member of Poet’s Roundtable of Arkansas (PRA) which is associated with the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.  She attributes her writing success to the “wonderful poets of PRA that mentored, encouraged and inspired me to keep writing”.  Vining has served as state PRA President for three separate terms.  She has been director of the Ozark Creative Writers Conference, the Arkansas Writers Conference and still serves on the official Board of each.  She has also served as state President of Arkansas Penwomen and Arkansas Songwriters Association and is a member of Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas.  Her bio is listed in Who’s Who of Editors, Writers and Poets and several other such books and anthologies.  She is presently compiling a collection of her published works entitled “Tethered to the Moment”.

Loved and appreciated for her artistic abilities and her work with children, Vining has nurtured over 6000 pre-schoolers during her teaching career.  For twenty one years, she was Instructor and Director of the UALR Children’s Center having earned a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education.  She has also worked with children’s groups at her church for many years.

Married for over 60 years, Vining cherishes her family; She is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. other of five (four daughters and one son)and grandmother of eleven and Greatgrandmother of eight. Vining is also active in many other community organizations.  A twenty-seven year cancer survivor, she was honored with a “Point of Light Award” from President Bush for her volunteer work with CARTI.

Arkansas, The Natural State

I stood today on top of Petit Jean
And felt a kindredship to all I found,
And I, intrigued by such a lovely scene,
Was grateful for the beauties that abound.
The spirit of a mountain miss was host,
Her phantom figure hovered, light as wind,
And I became enchanted by her ghost,
As we stood on the ledge at river’s bend.
I asked her of her legend and its truth;
Of how she stowed away to sail from France,
Of how she cropped her hair; became uncouth,
To give her love and lover one more chance.
            “It is all truth; the future will proclaim
            My spirit guards this mount which bears my name.”
 
Then, as we talked, my personage subdued,
And I became, as Petit Jean, a ghost,
And with uncanny knowledge I reviewed
Historic deeds of others who could boast,
Of coming to this great green state to live;
To homestead and to plow their plots of land;
To mine the hills; to hunt the woods and give
Their very lives to make it far more grand.
I spoke to men who also came to look
For ways of life upon the river’s road;
They pushed their crafts to every shallow nook
And rounded bends of hardship with each load.
            The Indians told me their tales of woe,
            Of how they battled as both friend and foe.
 
They told me how De Soto searched for gold
And, trudging through the swamps to look for it,
As upward, through the mountains and the cold,
He traded with the natives, matching wit.
La Salle then came to claim the Arkansas
But left to join another group of men,
De Tonty came to start, as did John Law,
A river post where trading could begin.
These men with whom I talked could really boast
Of being first to settle on this land,
Of fighting long and hard to save the Post
Where then was housed the laws and all command.
            My spirit saw the past and lived it through,
            A vision of the old when it was new.
 
As history passes, the seasons came in view,
And time and space and beauty knew no date.
I saw each month in its most brilliant hue
And gazed at it as if I tempted fate.
 I looked at Spring and thought it surely best,
For everywhere the land was newly green,
The pristine white of dogwood seemed to test
The worthiness and beauty of each scene.
Then summer came with nesting meadowlarks,
And I beheld the golden days of fun,
As tourists came with camping gear to parks,
And found their pleasures under shade and sun.
            I watched the summer visitors with awe,
            They loved this state of mine . . .this Arkansas.
 
Perhaps they liked spelunking in a cave,
Or digging for a diamond at the mine,
Or floating trips that made of them a slave
To mountain streams, to setting out trotline.
Perhaps they liked the baths at old Hot Springs,
Or climbing under rushing waterfalls,
Or smelling the sweet air that summer brings,
Or listening to whippoorwills’ faint calls.
I think they surely liked the little creeks,
That tumble down deep-set against tall bluffs.
I think they liked the deer and quail that seeks
New hideouts when invaders find their roughs.
            The eager tourists came to see our state
            Because the opportunities are great.
 
Then suddenly, as Autumn took her turn,
The Ozark Hills became a brilliant hue.
In blazing reds the forest seemed to burn
Across the valleys, up the mountains too.
In delta lands I saw vast cotton crops,
And harvest fields of rice, bowed down with grain.
The short-leaf pines were green with heavy tops,
And muscadines hung heavy down the lane.
Then winter came attired in snowfall white,
And lovely landscapes suddenly seemed bare.
The prairie sky was filled with ducks in flight,
And sounds of happy hunters filled the air.
            O Arkansas, which season is your best?
            Each one seems far more lovely than the rest.
 
What makes you great?  I wondered as I looked.
Is it your timber, standing straight and tall?
Is it your rivers wide and roughly crooked?
Is it your lovely Ozarks in the fall?
Is it your heritage that makes you grand,
Your opportunities . . . yet still unknown?
Is it your rich oil fields, or delta land
That makes men proud to choose you for their own?
O Arkansas, I see your very breath,
In hazy clouds that skim your vast terrain.
I know about your struggling with death
And I have felt your birth with labored pain.
            O land of mine, I find you truly great,
No wonder you are called “The Natural State”.

What about BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S? See it tonight at 7 at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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215px-Breakfast_at_TiffanysYou can’t eat breakfast at Tiffany’s, but you can enjoy the classic film tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater which presents the 1961 classic Blake Edwards film. (Be sure and pay attention to a passing reference to Arkansas, too.)

Based on Truman Capote’s novella, the film was one of Audrey Hepburn’s iconic roles.  Joining her in the cast were George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Martin Balsam, Buddy Ebsen and Mickey Rooney.  The film features the famous song “Moon River” which Hepburn sings at one point in the movie.  The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actress (Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay (George Axelrod) and Best Art Direction. It won the Oscars for Best Song – “Moon River” (Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini) and Best Score (Mancini again).

The movie starts at 7pm tonight. Admission is $5. Concessions are available for purchase as well.

(You may not be able to shop at a Tiffany & Co. in person in Little Rock, but you can see Tiffany stained glass at City Hall and the State Capitol, as well as other Tiffany furnishings at the latter.)

A Tin Roof Project Tales from the South: Ruth Coker Burks-the Cemetery Angel

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ruthcokerburksGenerally the first Tuesday of the month is a special Tales from the South called “Tin Roof Project” which involves an autobiography.  While all are special, this one is even more special.

Ruth Coker Burks was a young mother in her 20s when the AIDS epidemic hit Arkansas in the early 1980s. She took it upon herself to care for AIDS patients who were abandoned by their families, and even by medical professionals, who feared the disease. Coker Burks, now 55, has no medical training, but she estimates that she has cared for nearly 1,000 people over the past three decades. She became involved after visiting a friend at a Little Rock hospital where one of the state’s early AIDS patients was dying. “The nurses were drawing straws to see who would go in and check on him,” says Coker Burks. “And so I snuck into his room. And he wanted his mama. And so I marched myself out to the nurses’ station and I said, ‘Can we call his mother?’ And they go, ‘Honey, his mama’s not coming. He’s been here six weeks. Nobody’s coming.’

“And so I went back in and he looked up at me and he said, ‘Oh, Mama, I knew you’d come.’ I stayed with him for 13 hours while he took his last breath. I called his mother and I told her that he had died and she said, ‘I’m not burying him.’ So I had him cremated and I brought him home… I’ve buried over 40 people in my family’s cemetery, because their families didn’t want them.”

Ruth Coker Burks has been featured in regional and national publications and shows, including The Arkansas Times, StoryCorp, the BBC, and NPR’s Morning Edition. Originally from Hot Springs, Ruth now lives in Northwest Arkansas with her family.

Tonight’s program will take place at Best Impressions restaurant at the Arkansas Arts Center.  Music will be provided by The Salty Dogs and bluesman Mark Simpson.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $15.  Dinner can be purchased separately.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.  Any tickets still available at the door can be purchased for $20.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on April 16.

Atticus Finch prevails in CALS March Madness Heroes vs. Villains Character Face-Off!

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atticusThe man who has probably single-handedly inspired generations of attorneys was named the winner of the Central Arkansas Library System March Madness Heroes vs. Villains Character Face-Off!

Harper Lee’s Atticus Finch was the winner!

Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Lee based the character on her own father, Amasa Coleman Lee, an Alabama lawyer who, like Atticus Finch, represented black defendants in a highly publicized criminal trial.

Book Magazine’s list of The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 names Finch as the 7th best fictional character of 20th century literature. In 2003, the American Film Institute voted Atticus, as portrayed by Gregory Peck, as the greatest hero in American film.

Poetry Month: Bernie Babcock & “The Sun-Caressed Prairies of Arkansas”

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BabcockBernie_fBernie Babcock was an author and museum founder.  Born in April 1868 in Ohio, she moved with her family to Arkansas as a child.  Marrying and starting a family, she also continued to write, which had been a passion since she was younger.  When her husband died, leaving her with five children, she starting writing for money. She published several temperance novels and later wrote for the Arkansas Democrat.  She also published a magazine and a poetry anthology.

In 1927, after professional curmudgeon H. L. Mencken wrote derisively of Arkansas, she decided to start a museum. The Museum of Natural History and Antiquities was first located in a Main Street storefront.  In 1929, she “gave the City of Little Rock a Christmas present” by giving the museum to the city.  She was associated with the museum until her retirement in 1953.  She moved to Petit Jean Mountain and wrote and painted. After her death in June 1962, she was buried at Oakland Cemetery.

This is her poem “The Sun-Caressed Prairies of Arkansas” which is found in the 1906 book Pictures and Poems Of Arkansas which she co-edited with O. C. Ludwig.

The Sun-Caressed Prairies of Arkansas

From a line on the east
To a line on the west,
Where the green of the field
Meets the blue of the sky,
Stretching boundless and free
As the breast of the sea
The sun-caressed prairies
Of Arkansas lie.

Here acre bounds acre
In rich store of treasure;
Here the grain and the grass
In luxuriance vie;
Here the billowing rice,
For man’s toil pays the price
Where the sun-caressed prairies
Of Arkansas lie.

The meadow lark’s song
And the spring blossom’s grace
Make a poem delighting
The ear and the eye;
But this poem’s meaning
Proves best in the gleaning—
Where the sun-caressed prairies
Of Arkansas lie.

ARKANSAS GIVES today!

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Arkansans have a heart for giving. On April 2, 2015, let’s join together to grow the love for our state’s nonprofit organizations. Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., we’re challenging all Arkansans to give to the charities of their choice.

During this one-day event, each donation you give will help your favorite nonprofit organizations qualify for additional bonus dollars from Arkansas Community Foundation. All participating nonprofits will receive a portion of a $250,000 match pool; the more a nonprofit raises, the more of the bonus dollars it will receive.

There are many worthwhile non-profits participating.  But since this is a Little Rock culture blog, here is a listing of cultural non-profits serving Little Rock which are participating.