The Sage Book Whisperer: September 2014

Well...."Hello"...missed Y'all_but I was on Mind Travel & it was a wonderful Summer trip_many,many places! I packed my Vintage Gladstone Bag_

...Passport,My 2014 Reading List,Quality Wines & Teas,a snack or two_& "Let The Journey Commence"...

First stop...decided to visit Holden Caulfield narrating from his psychiatric facility a few months after the events took place.

I knew I was in trouble...as he babbled on about his long weekend around the late 1940's early 50's _a total of three days_from Pencey's Prep.School in Pennsylvania_then on to his adventures in New York City. Holden's tone varied between disgust,cynicism,bitterness,nostalgic longings, all expressed in a colloquial style of the time. I told myself if he refers to one more thing as G**D*MN...I'm outta here! That was the extent of his vocabulary. Holden's major conflict was his own mind.Part wanted to connect with people on an Adult level (especially to have a sexual encounter)_while the other part rejected adults as phony which made him want to retreat back to own memories of his childhood.So he continues down this road for three days_there's some tender moments & then you just want to say..."Get over yourself Holden"...it could be worst! I decided this was a bad idea to re-visit Holden which I'd visited in my Freshman year of College(1967).

PROFOUND THEN....BORING NOW! Much water has crossed under the bridge_but I still don't understand why it was banned.

I eased pass the 25 Psyche Guards dressed in black at Holden's Psyche Cell door_ with a scary look on my face_the Ward Cleaning Lady directed me to the closest EXIT...I got the hell outta Dodge!!! Whew,glad that's over with!So,I re-packed my Gladstone and headed to the Streets of...

Hooked up with my Brother!Langston Hughes.I knew we were about to get Real...handle some REAL issues of 1934. We lunched at "The Cotton Club"_as they were finally allowing people of color to dine there,they could perform "Jungle Dances" but couldn't eat or drink there. We had a plate of fried chicken,cornbread,green beans,sweet potatoes,collard greens and drank a couple cocktails_then moved on...barely! Meantime he explained his new book....

...As a collection of fourteen stories. The title is derived from the story “Berry,” an account of a young black man who works as a handyman in a home for handicapped children. Berry is exploited and does more than his share of work for a pittance. He cannot understand why this happens and remarks, “The ways of white folks, I mean some white folks, is too much for me. I rekon they must be a few good ones, but most of em ain’t good—least wise they don’t treat me good. And Lawd knows, I ain’t never done nothin’ to them, nothin’ a-tall.”

My favorite was "Cora Unashamed"...Wow! It is a story of an isolated black woman in a small Middle Western town, who stoically survives her own sorrows but in the end lashes out against the hypocrisy of the whites who employ her. In other words she goes CRAY-CRAY at the funeral in the living room of her "Upstanding White Folks"_ in a community where SECRETS were the norm of the day! Hard to find movie(I Scored) but read the story....I am so laughing still at that scene in the Parlour!

Overall, the stories comment on the suffering the black community endures at the hands of white society. I thanked Langston for his Hospitality & Insight...told him I was expected Down South in Stamps,Arkansas for a visit with Maya,Bailey, Uncle Willie &Momma (Grandmother Annie Henderson)_she was making her special "Caramel Cake" of her Quilting Bee Fame.

FYI...the recipe & the story of "THE SLAPPING"starts on page 13-19 in Maya's Cookbook...amazing!

So, I caught the next Greyhound Bus & headed down South! After what seems like days upon days,gazing out of the window at the tallest Pine & Oak Trees ever_I arrived in Stamps,Arkansas. No need for directions because Sister Henderson ran the only African-American General Store in the African American community(for real).Maya,Bailey,Uncle Willie and Sister Henderson were sitting on the front porch waiting..Maya & Bailey in the Swing. Sister Henderson had on one of her freshly washed,starched,sun-dried,and ironed aprons.We went to the backyard _where a Table was adorned with a beautiful "Yo-Yo Quilt Tablecloth."

Yo-Yo Tablecloth

Couldn't wait for my slice of mouthwatering "Caramel Cake". And the story telling began....

Maya describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. That visit ...well it lasted for two days straight (couldn't put the book down)! I loved the Ghost stories, tale of hiding Uncle Willie in the Potato /Onion Bin so the White folks couldn't find a Black man to hang one night,Sister Henderson in Church daring Maya & Bailey to breathe hard_they in return became hysterical with the giggles, how her Daddy rolled his ers/errers when he talked,etc...I vowed to continue Maya's Journey via_

Chronology of autobiographies:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969): Up to 1944 (age 17)
Gather Together in My Name (1974): 1944–48
Singin'and Swingin'and Gettin'Merry Like Christmas (1976): 1949–55
The Heart of a Woman (1981): 1957–62
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986): 1962–65
A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002): 1965–68
Mom & Me& Mom (2013): overview

Watch the full movie on YouTube ...(very hard to find in DVD form):

...it was hard to say Goodbye! BUT...it was time to move on. Move on or maybe Move back?...in TIME that is....to the "Land of Sleepy Hollow".....hehhehehehhe_(in my best Boris Karloff voice).

"The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane" (1858) John Quidor

OMG! I've always loved the Hudson River Valley Landscape Painters of the Mid-19th Century. As a Docent for several years at "The Amon Carter Museum" (Ft.Worth,Texas)_the painting of Thomas Cole & Albert Bierstadt graced the walls & were my favorites! These Artist depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, including the Catskill,Adirondack and the White Mountains.Having lived in the area for awhile...I can confirm it is beautiful!

Time to pack the Gladstone,head back in time to 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown,NY), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow.Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its ghosts and the haunting atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. The most infamous in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during"some nameless battle"of the American Revolutionary War and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head."

The story written by American author Washington Irving was a collection of 34 essays and short stories entitled "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent". Irving was living abroad in Birmingham,England when "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first published in 1820. Along with Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle"_ examples of American fiction with enduring popularity.

I sat around the table at the Tarry Town Tavern with the good ole Boys....The Storyteller commenced_

_while the fire crackled & the Storm brewed outside.Lighting terrified all of the Listeners as we dug in for a frightful night of images of a headless Horseman trying to find his HEAD!!!...

The "Legend" relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. Crane, a Yankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth. Bones, the local hero, vies with Ichabod for Katrina's hand, playing a series of pranks on the jittery schoolmaster, and the fate of Sleepy Hollow's fortune weighs in the balance for some time. The tension between the three is soon brought to a head. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the Van Tassels' homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated........

The BEST movie adaptation I've seen...BAR....NONE is(I scored on Ebay)_

I continued on my journey with the other "Tales"of Washington Irving_with a slow steady pace,anticipating any quick movements of my Cat "Hank" that would scare the-hell-out-of-me.Mission Accomplished!

I took a short "Respite" for an over -the -top- "Afternoon Tea". Moments later...re-packed my Gladstone,a couple of coats/shawls and my Vintage Wellies...