| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... |
Story review: Little Green Frog Car/A read aloud experience Chris Murphy's Little Green Frog Car: A new writer discovered by my Mom, Geniece Marcum, makes for read-aloud experiences remembered. A second congratulations is sent to the newly discovered writer Chris Murphy! The childhood memory of his little green frog car is delightful. - Linda For Sunday with CM readers: Chris Murphy: Humor - Reflections from my Past: My First Driving Experience. Posted August 23, 2013 By Linda Waggener Mom told my husband Ed and me about a new friend in town who'd wondered aloud in her presence whether he could write his memories down as she'd done in her book, "The Best of Senior Quest". She shared the entertaining memory he'd told her he would like to write and we enjoyed it. Mom said she'd told him to just write it down and see if he couldn't do it. The next day Mom brought home a manuscript, and read the story aloud after we'd finished a supper of pinto beans, ripe red tomatoes and hot buttered biscuits. It kept us riveted to every word Chris Murphy had written and brought out the newspaper man in Ed who asked Mom to see if Chris might allow his story to be shared with CM readers. By the next day, Chris had not only put his story into words but had agreed to let us post the story on ColumbiaMagazine.com. Ed said the experience of hearing the story read aloud had reminded him of the first time we learned of John Kennedy Toole's book Confederacy of Dunces because it, too, was a read aloud experience, shared on a road trip. We have a respect for sharing literature together by reading it aloud in a small group. Respect, because we don't practice it enough. But when we do, it's better than any entertainment at a movie theater or on television. The late Donald Pedigo was among those who raised our level of appreciation for the practice. The first time was at a dinner party at our house, and after we all cleared the table and put away the dishes, he walked over to our "library," a set of shelves with perhaps 200-300 books, and in seconds spotted an anthology of American poems and started reading Robert Frost. Donald had such a delivery that he could have read the South Central Kentucky Rural Telephone Directory and people would listen. But this was more, he read "Walking through the Woods in Snow Time," in front of our hearth with a burning fire he'd built On that cold Kentucky winter night our small group included Donald and Becky Edwards Pedigo and our young sons Pen and Tom and Ed and me. As Donald read we were all transfixed (to borrow Shamarie Claiborne's word from The Holler) and transported from Kentucky into snowy New England - without ever leaving Fortune Street. In the earliest years of our marriage, Pete and Edith Walker and Ed and I were occasional guests at the Giles' home. Memories we took away were of Henry's warmth and humor, of Janice's great skills (in addition to being a famous writer) at preparing simple meals served in an unforgettable style - lightly breaded bream right out of the lake by their house; the fish served with poke and sour cream and pretty holy cornbread baked in a skillet with strips of bacon on the bottom, a coleslaw or salad with fresh ingredients from Houchens' and hot coffee and a variety of iced or ice cold drinks including my favorite - cold water right from Spout Springs. The meals were memorable, but the conversations afterward were more so, in that Mrs. Giles' would tell us about the next book to be published, and would read passages - her descriptive power was pure poetry - and keep us enthralled; but if a new work of hers were not at hand, she would turn to Henry's books, and read passages from "G.I. Journal of Sgt. Giles," while we listened. Once I asked Mrs. Giles to answer the question I'd wondered since childhood, "how does a person get to be a writer?" She told me you simply sit down in the same place every day and you write. There's nothing simple about sitting down and writing. It's hard work. But a natural writer is called to it, just like Chris Murphy was when he wondered if he could write his memories. With those memories from visits with the Gileses, it seems totally fitting that "Kentuckians Reading Kentuckians" has become one of the best attended events at their cabin, the historic Giles House, at the annual fall celebration in Knifley. One of the best moment's of the Cafe on the Square have been the series of Poetry Nights there. Mom and Ed were there once and were enthralled by Darlene Campbell's reading of "These Hands." It was better than anything he said he'd heard on NPR - even Bailey White, our favorite read-aloud writer on public radio. And Ed said when he heard Billy Joe Fudge there he understood for the first time the tremendous talent he has and how correct Billy Joe is in saying that poetry simply has to be read aloud to be appreciated - whether one is critiquing one's own work or reading one's own work in public, as he did at the Cafe. So it was when Chris Bennett's first chapter of "Rivermen of the Cumberland," crossed Ed's desk. "Come here," Ed demanded, "you've got to hear this." And even though I never like that imperative tone, I reluctantly went, heard that first passage and knew that yes, ColumbiaMagazine.com was so lucky to "discover" this great natural storyteller who put his thoughts into words, shared them and is now a published author in his book by that name. And so it was with My Little Green Frog Car. Mom listened to a young man's memory, encouraged him, then brought his words home and read them aloud to us. It was amazing to hear it, and to remember Ed's rule on anything audible, "Total Audience Silence is the ultimate applause." When a quiet happens, he says, that's a sign of something big. Chris Murphy got total silence while Mom read his memories. We're waiting for the next chapter, to read aloud, at the supper table after Mom shares another story of her day or remembers a story from her childhood, her career as a newspaper editor, or paints a word portrait of a Metcalfe County character as only she can do. I've told her how proud I am of her for being an encourager for Chris. Now, we can anticipate a read-aloud of the next chapter of an author who has already contributed so much with My Little Green Frog Car. - Linda This story was posted on 2013-08-25 06:25:07
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
New birthday added at 3:41amCT to already big August 25 list Chuck Hinman: IJMA. Chuck Cryptographer CU's Technology Training Center will offer Cosmetology Certificate Program Peg Schaeffer sends Wish List for Sugarfoot Farm Rescue Sami has been adopted; Class Ad #12205 retired Homecoming Sun., Aug. 25, 2013, at Cornerstone Freewill Baptist Plum Point Baptist Church invites all to organization meeting of Awana Clubs Wants more from My Little Green Frog Car story writer US Pony Club chapter organizational meeting Sat., Oct. 5, 2013 Homecoming: Plum Point Church is Sun., Sept. 8, 2013 View even more articles in topic News |
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
|