The Mississippi Book Festival
Places known first for their humanitarian issues followed by other negative facts and statistics like poverty, a high concentration of wealth among few (high Gini Coefficient), poor public education, high rates of teen pregnancy, corrupt politicians, etc seem rear great artists. It was once explained to me that Russians define their nationalism not by politicians or leaders, but by their artists. I've come to see Mississippi similarly.
As a Mississippian I'd much rather talk to you about William Faulkner, Larry Brown, Walter Anderson, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Glennray Tutor, Wyatt Waters, Jere Allen, George Ohr, Morgan Freeman, B.B. King, Robert Johnson, Mose Allison, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, and the many other artists and upcoming artists you'll hear about. The list above is far from complete, but you've likely heard of the ones included.
I know intellectually that all places might produce artists because we humans are all artists if we just get out of our own way. Too many of us get hampered by or believe the crap radio station in our mind or coming from someone we shouldn't tune-in to telling us our work is dismal and will never improve. That aside, I find it glorious, the artistry and work that comes from places, that from most angles just seem like a hot mess. I love that despite and perhaps because of that hot mess we have people that make things so soulful and beautiful that other people around the world, outside our hot mess, embrace it.
The Mississippi Book Festival celebrates part of the artistic heritage that all Mississippians can be proud of sharing. It is a thin, but deep slice of our culture that we can hold up proudly. So, let me show you what it looked like this summer, the second year of the festival's existence.
Meet the Makers
Authors, publishers, and booksellers set up tents. Some authors and others related to the publishing industry gave talks and hosted a few workshops. Most of the publishers and authors were set up outside in the streets around the Capitol Building. Workshops and panels were hosted inside the capitol building and in a building across the street.
Our friend Julie Wetzel set up a table outside showcasing her two fantasy series. One follows along with a young woman who finds herself pulled into the realm of vampires, faeries, werewolves, and leprechauns to name a few of the mythical creatures that become part of her modern world. Julie's second series follows a group of people who can morph into dragons. Pretty cool stuff and fun escapes.
Local bookstores and publishers also set up tents.
One of my favorite tents to visit was for Big House Books. They're a non-profit that supplies prisons with books. Many people who serve prison terms return to society and yet our system fails to help them become better citizens once released. So, this organization tries to help provide books to help convicts learn and to help them pass the long hours in a peaceful way. Our friend Kelsey provides a brief introduction below:
The Capitol Building
I finally went inside the Capitol Building. The guards were super nice and seemed to handle he crowd really well. The rotunda area was really pretty and contained some interesting artwork and craftsmanship inside. My favorite part though were the anachronistic sinks for washing one's hands upon arriving on horseback. Each landing along the ascent to the dome has at least two of these ornate, yet simple shallow sinks. I love these little reminders of what previous modes of transportation required in the material culture.
Then, of course there is the dome:
Cha-cha-cha Changes
A large and beautiful sculpture rests upon a equally large marble encased pedestal at the entrance to the Capitol Building. It is a memorial to the fallen Confederate soldiers. To the soldiers of most wars, I do not hold a grudge. No army is entirely built of those who understand or even go willingly. However, I'm not sure our state's rebellious past should greet our legislatures and visitors in such a glorious manner. Our civil war was a horrendous bloody mess and not unique to young countries or those made up of people living upon different economy bases. The United States was less than 100 years old and so one could take the long view and see it as a particularly painful growing pain. If only our state capitol could have different giant memorial to great things the state has done since that bloody mess, like medical breakthroughs or our immense musical legacy or any number of accomplishments that Mississippians brought about as U.S. citizens and without such divisive racial overtones.
With those thoughts rumbling through my head I was quite happy to see the school tents and among them the historically black college Tougaloo set up on the Capitol lawn. Things have progressed and will continue to do so. If the state government can build upon those instead of looking back at a mythical and romanticized past then perhaps we could be less of a hot mess.
I'll leave you with the wise observations of Marshall Ramsey:
I'll leave you with the wise observations of Marshall Ramsey:
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