Having left the south for the wild west (law school in Laramie), I still miss the Longleaf Pines, the swamp and Saint Simons Island. I do love being able to see for 50 miles in all directions out here. I just wanted to thank you for your book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood which I accidentally and fortuitously came across through a friend. I loved it and the best part was sharing some of those old stories with my father Troy Kennedy before we lost him. He grew up on a farm just outside Baxley. He remembered a lot about it as did I from my childhood visits to the farm. You may know my cousin Jan Kennedy. She is the DA in Appling County and runs the farm now. I’ve been a long time supporter of the Nature Conservancy and I was especially excited by your accounts of how you and others saved the Moody Swamp. I took my granddaughter there volunteering for TNC once. It is no more than a mile from my cousins place. I have read it several times since and will again - it’s as if I am back there. I cried while reading the chapter on Bachman’s Sparrow. Just wanted to thank you. I will visit the Moody Swamp every time I’m able to get back down there. It’s beauty is there for me and others to absorb, thanks to you and the others who revered Nature enough to save it.
When I worked at the bookstore, my friend Mara – who is now the owner of Fact & Fiction books in Missoula, maintaining the proud local, indie, woman-owned tradition of the store founded in 1986 by the magnificent Barbara Theroux – used to practice her prodigious art skills making things from books. She only used galleys, though, or books arrived too damaged to sell or donate. So they got to live on a while longer as something else, also beautiful.
How many of us have been emotionally saved by our hometown libraries? I suspect many. They were often a place of calm and peace in what could be a chaotic home life. I worry that students today that are addicted to their phones do not experience this same sense of peace.
This art work is wonderful. I cannot wait to try my hand at some book bows!
Love, love, LOVE the creativity and the subject!! My daughters and I spent HOURS in the library in Southern Pines, NC when they were growing up. A cherished memory of a cherished place. Could houses be constructed with old books? Just a thought.
I don’t know if I should feel sad or excited by these sculptures. When I taught high school English, my students loved black out poetry. We used discarded books for the assignment and it always felt painful when tearing a book’s page away from its story.
The art in this story is gorgeous. It was not what I expected from the title, and that inspired me to write an essay of my own, but the photos and the artwork are lovely.
Who decides? My life was changed by a library section I came to call Hippie Lit,, the first Whole Earth Catalog, Free and Underground Press stuff. Most was mimeographed, some written out in longhand, loose teams of paper. These last few years I can't even donate a book to the library, who decides? So grateful that a librarian may the choice to include those works, not trash them or decide to make art and deprive someone of a life changing experience
1) When I was in the 10th grade in Pulaski, TN, and was assigned my 1st research paper (any topic -- my choice), I picked Egyptian embalming. My best source -- and, yes, I checked with the town's funeral home, the school library, and the local library --- was an 1890's encyclopedia set.
2) One of my best road-trips: Cincinnati, using both an old WPA guidebook, checked out from the library (back in the day before libraries threw books away), and an up-to-date AAA guidebook, a series now being discontinued. We enjoyed finding buildings still in use and compating texts and appearance. 3) You can learn more about a literary movement and/or a period of time by reading less than stellar examples from that time.
Was that one sculpture made from a copy of Atlas Shrugged? Just saying.
My cousin has an 82-acre farm (mostly up and down hills and hollers though). On the property is a 130-year old farm house. When remodeling in the kitchen, we found an outer wall layered with old newspapers and magazines. It was a veritable library of homespun wall insulation. Needless to say, not much else got done that day. Between reading the local gossip and marveling at the cost of a bucket of lard in the 1930s, we had no time to continue working.
Having left the south for the wild west (law school in Laramie), I still miss the Longleaf Pines, the swamp and Saint Simons Island. I do love being able to see for 50 miles in all directions out here. I just wanted to thank you for your book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood which I accidentally and fortuitously came across through a friend. I loved it and the best part was sharing some of those old stories with my father Troy Kennedy before we lost him. He grew up on a farm just outside Baxley. He remembered a lot about it as did I from my childhood visits to the farm. You may know my cousin Jan Kennedy. She is the DA in Appling County and runs the farm now. I’ve been a long time supporter of the Nature Conservancy and I was especially excited by your accounts of how you and others saved the Moody Swamp. I took my granddaughter there volunteering for TNC once. It is no more than a mile from my cousins place. I have read it several times since and will again - it’s as if I am back there. I cried while reading the chapter on Bachman’s Sparrow. Just wanted to thank you. I will visit the Moody Swamp every time I’m able to get back down there. It’s beauty is there for me and others to absorb, thanks to you and the others who revered Nature enough to save it.
My best to you, Mary Kennedy
These are wonderful, and so imaginative. Thank you for this photo essay.
When I worked at the bookstore, my friend Mara – who is now the owner of Fact & Fiction books in Missoula, maintaining the proud local, indie, woman-owned tradition of the store founded in 1986 by the magnificent Barbara Theroux – used to practice her prodigious art skills making things from books. She only used galleys, though, or books arrived too damaged to sell or donate. So they got to live on a while longer as something else, also beautiful.
How many of us have been emotionally saved by our hometown libraries? I suspect many. They were often a place of calm and peace in what could be a chaotic home life. I worry that students today that are addicted to their phones do not experience this same sense of peace.
This art work is wonderful. I cannot wait to try my hand at some book bows!
I took a collage class taught by an artist who urged us to not consider potential materials as so precious we couldn't use them. She is right.
Love, love, LOVE the creativity and the subject!! My daughters and I spent HOURS in the library in Southern Pines, NC when they were growing up. A cherished memory of a cherished place. Could houses be constructed with old books? Just a thought.
I don’t know if I should feel sad or excited by these sculptures. When I taught high school English, my students loved black out poetry. We used discarded books for the assignment and it always felt painful when tearing a book’s page away from its story.
The art in this story is gorgeous. It was not what I expected from the title, and that inspired me to write an essay of my own, but the photos and the artwork are lovely.
Who decides? My life was changed by a library section I came to call Hippie Lit,, the first Whole Earth Catalog, Free and Underground Press stuff. Most was mimeographed, some written out in longhand, loose teams of paper. These last few years I can't even donate a book to the library, who decides? So grateful that a librarian may the choice to include those works, not trash them or decide to make art and deprive someone of a life changing experience
1) When I was in the 10th grade in Pulaski, TN, and was assigned my 1st research paper (any topic -- my choice), I picked Egyptian embalming. My best source -- and, yes, I checked with the town's funeral home, the school library, and the local library --- was an 1890's encyclopedia set.
2) One of my best road-trips: Cincinnati, using both an old WPA guidebook, checked out from the library (back in the day before libraries threw books away), and an up-to-date AAA guidebook, a series now being discontinued. We enjoyed finding buildings still in use and compating texts and appearance. 3) You can learn more about a literary movement and/or a period of time by reading less than stellar examples from that time.
The 1890s encyclopedia sets have now all been embalmed & entombed.
Was that one sculpture made from a copy of Atlas Shrugged? Just saying.
My cousin has an 82-acre farm (mostly up and down hills and hollers though). On the property is a 130-year old farm house. When remodeling in the kitchen, we found an outer wall layered with old newspapers and magazines. It was a veritable library of homespun wall insulation. Needless to say, not much else got done that day. Between reading the local gossip and marveling at the cost of a bucket of lard in the 1930s, we had no time to continue working.
Hi Janisse,
Great imaginative book displays. Thanks for sharing them with us followers.
Jeff