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*NEW YORK, NEW YORK!*
I have always had a fascination with New York City. When I grew up, I lived for the movies. I loved those black and white films set in New York with all those glamorous Hollywood stars. Scenes with men in top hats and tails, women resplendent in glittering gowns, diamonds, and ruby red lips going to nightclubs where they dined at little white linen covered tables with lamps illuminating in the center. Savy and suave tuxedo’d waiters whisked drinks to the table with names like Manhattans, Sidecars and for that special occasion, Champagne with corks popped and bubbles exploding and fizzling. Sultry torch singers with hankerchief in hand sang their hearts out and dancers entertained us with their spendiferous costumes and razzle dazzle. Oh, the drama and glamour!
Waiters bringing telephones to the table for personal calls. You could dance the tango, cha cha cha, and ballroom dance to your heart’s desire. Nightclubs with dreamy names like the Rainbow Room or slightly naughty Kit Kat Club. Yes, I always dreamed of New York days and nights and just as saying goes, “bright lights, big city”. Now tell me, where is my limo?
So you can imagine my delight and anticipation when my publisher, Grand Central, announced they were flying me to New York City to speak at Book Expo America. I am also to sign advance copies of my first book ever, “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life”. Small town girl, big city dreams has always been my story. I can hardly wait to visit the BIG APPLE and the largest home of the best in publishing, theater, and arts!
I have been shopping for months looking for just the right ensembles to wear. What a challenge in the land of Wal-Mart and blue light specials here in the East Texas piney woods. With New York City being the fashion Mecca, trying to compete with designer and couture, was I up to the task? Forget Versace, Dior look out! Here in Texas, where we know everything is bigger and better, and we thrive on individuality, I decided to embrace the “Dallas” style. Be prepared for Big Hair, Big Tiaras, KICKASS cowboy boots, and as always with The Pulpwood Queens, Big Reads and BIG TIME FUN! I may never be able to compete with the style and fashion of New York but isn’t it just like they say in writing, “write what you know”? I have decided I will wear what I know. We never take ourselves too seriously, The Pulpwood Queens, but we are damn serious here in the south about reading and literacy. There is no place in the world that loves a story better and the telling of the tale than in the south. As author River Jordan once told me and let me paraphrase her here, “Up north they hide away their crazy people in the attics and closets but here in the south we prop our eccentric characters up on the front porch for all to see.” Go River Go! Prop me up against the bookshelf and let me die!
We hope to send that message home dear readers, as we sashay down the book publisher rows of aisles. Yes, we do read EVERYWHERE in America, not just the East and West coasts! And who better, than a southern, blonde Texas hairdresser, and yes avid reader, to send that message to the big guns in publishing! Look out world, here come the Pulpwood Queens “where tiaras are mandatory and reading good books is the RULE!” Our sole mission is to get everybody reading, one person, one book club chapter, one author, and one book at a time. We also want to break some stereotypes and help that yet undiscovered author get discovered in a big way!
When I travel to NYC, my hope is to meet many of you there at Book Expo America. I invite you all to come give me a hug. That is what we do here in the south, we hug. Besides, it just makes you feel good to hug somebody. I also plan to see and experience as much of the city as I possibly can. Below is my itinerary for some of the things my publisher and I have planned. For those of you who will not be attending, I am determined on sending my daily experiences and musings to be posted on my www.pulpwoodqueen.com blog site. Whether you are an armchair traveler or travel in person, books can take you wonderful places. I know my life has always been all about the stories and all about the books. And just like one of my favorite children’s books by Dr. Seuss, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”
To read daily blogs of my trip to New York City, please go to www.pulpwoodqueen.com. To pre-order Kathy L. Patrick’s book and learn more of Beauty and the Book and The Pulpwood Queens, please go to the official website, www.beautyandthebook.com To read news of Jefferson, Texas and the surrounding area, please go to www.marioncountytexas.com
Tiara wearing, Book , and Book Expo America sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
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Are You My Mother?
Remember that popular Dr. Seuss book, “Are You My Mother?”. I must have read it to my girls a kazillion times when they were little. They would laugh when the little big eyed bird would ask the bulldozer if it was his mother? Or the cow? Then finally the little bird found it’s mother who had been out catching a worm for her little baby bird, a very reassuring ending. “Again, momma, ” my baby birds would cry, “Read it again.”
That was many years ago but as Mother’s Day rolled around again this past Sunday I remembered fondly reading that book and asking myself the new question, “What makes a good mother?” Both my girls were gone on Mother’s Day. One on a end of school Jefferson Junior High student council educational trip to Atlanta, Georgia. I had been receiving phone calls daily giving a blow by blow account of each and every stop along the way. “Mom, Mom, we’re at the CNN studios in Atlanta.”It was very early my friends. Barely awake, I mumbled, “That’s nice Madeleine.”
“Mom, mom, I think we might get to see that old guy. You know the old guy?”“Do you mean Anderson Cooper, Madeleine. But he’s not that old, he just has prematurely grey hair.”“No, mom, mom, that old guy that interviews authors.”“Oh, Madeleine, you mean Larry King?”“Yeah, mom, that old dude.”
By now I’m laughing as I’m thinking it is way too early for this conversation about Larry King.On and on the past few days Madeleine would call in, (God Bless cellphones), and give me the latest. Mom, we just went to the Braves Museum and it was the best. I took my picture with Hank Aaron’s’ number and got a baseball, it was so cool and very informative.
Yes, she did say informative and that really got my attention. somehow thought her favorite part of the trip would be visiting the Margaret Mitchell house as how many times had I went on and on about “Gone With the Wind”? But no, her favorite part was Turner Stadium and going on the field.
I learned of her visiting Martin Luther King’s grave and his home and the Georgia Aquarium. By the time she got home, I felt as if I had gone on the trip with her and then of course, we had all the photographs she took of her trip.
Now the whole time this was going on with Madeleine we were in full throes of getting ready for the Jefferson Prom for Lainie. Lainie had designed her own dress and my good friend and Pulpwood Queen Kay Brookshire had created and sewn this prom masterpiece that was a knee length strapless concoction. The bodice was cream with black swirls, full satin skirt with side drapes, and cream tulle peeking out from under the hem. Very French and ooh la la. Now she wore this dress with a vintage black rhinestone necklace, bracelet, black sheer short gloves, cream lace anklets and black pumps. Her corsage was cream roses with black berries, black leather strips attached to a vintage arm cuff created by Timber Guy and florist extraordinaire, Dale Vaughn. Martha Stewart has nothing on the floral designs of Dale Vaughn. Her blonde hair was swept up to the side with side bangs and texture waves. She looked almost too grown up to me as where was my little girl? Her date had on a black pinstriped zoot suit complete with black hat and some kind of, was that a long watch chain. Not sure, but this was more like a theatrical production than prom. Well, she was going with all her friends from the Drama Club, Emily, Adam, Nick and Megan, what more could I expect? A long way from my Gunny Sak oatmeal colored prom dress with baby blue sprigs and sheer floppy hat on my long blonde parted down the middle hair. My date, Randy Click, who was 6’ 7” wore a baby blue ruffled tux. The theme to our prom was the song “Seasons in the Sun”. Lainie’s was suppose to be “Diamonds and Ice” but somewhere along the way they thought that sounded too drug related and changed it up somewhat. I laugh, as my junior year’s prom theme was “Stairway to Heaven”by Led Zeppelin. I guess things haven’t changed too much. Now on prom we left to change into blue jeans and work shirts to head out to a pasture party back in Kansas. All the kids Lainie went with changed to go Cyber bowling then out to eat breakfast at IHOP. As a mother the next day, I laughed as I cleaned out all the UNSPIKED Yahoo chocolate drinks out of my Inferno Red Pacific that I let the kids borrow for the prom night. Whew! I made it through another prom but still have one more for Lainie then Madeleine. My mantra is keep my kids safe, keep my kids safe. Lainie had to work the next day down at the General Store and Madeleine was returning home from Atlanta on the schools chartered bus. Both called to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day. Jay and I went to Lowe’s to buy sealer for the beaded wood walls of my NEW shop location then went to work at the new shop.
As he hooked up the telephone, internet, and television cables, I quietly painted in my new office. I had plenty of time to reflect on what is a mother. I came to this conclusion. A mother is one of the most important person’s in a child’s life. She may be the most important as she carries the child and feathers the nest. Mothers can make or break a child’s spirit. Leave that egg unattended and it may get snatched or broken. We are the ones totally responsible for teaching our children. We give our children wings, teach them how to fly, then send them on their way just like that little baby bird in the Dr. Seuss story. My girls are testing their wings and it seems those trial runs are working out well. They have big dreams, big hopes for the future. Their mother may have been slightly flawed, well make that a total basket case, but they seemed to have turned out pretty darn gosh good. As they flew out the door for school today, I see their futures looking bright. Who knows where they fly and will make their nests? I hope it is not too far but then again I can always fly, right? I would love to hear from you and what you think makes a great mother?Do you have a great mother story? Two of the happiest days of my life were when my girls were born, a miracle that often times I think we forget. Also God’s gift to us to give us that second chance to make things right in the world.
Tiara wearing, book sharing, and one proud momma,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
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We Caught the Best Kind of RASH!
Every month I select a book, an author, whose work I find outstanding. They must be well written, give a new voice to literature, and be willing to venture to our neck of the woods. They also must be an author who is yet undiscovered in a big way. Author, Ron Rash was our special guest this month of May! I assure you, he will be famous soon. He is a writer to watch.
Ron is a poet who teaches creative writing and Appalachia studies at a southern university. He has never roamed to far from thearea in which he has been raised other than book tours. The first time Iand the Pulpwood Queens heard Ron read aloud to our book club we were hooked. If there has ever been an author who gave voice to literature, it is Ron Rash. That southern inflection and knowing just when to pauseand continue makes him a master at storytelling in its finest. The Pulpwood Queens voted Ron Rash our favorite read aloud author and I could not wait to have him back. I selected The World Made Straight as our Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection and this was no easy read. This book addressed what happens when you take away rural peoples livelihood of being farmers that also happen to lack in education. We have ageneration of young people growing up trying to figure out what to do with too much time and no means of support. They turn to other cash crops which aren’t so legal.
I wanted to address the ever-growing population of our country, the rural south, that are at poverty level and no means of support. We havea generation of youth turning to drugs as a means of escape and support. Here in East Texas and my Marion County, we have a 39% of adult illiteracy. Most of these people live in the rural areas of the county with no means of transportation. These folks have children and have no skills to teach their children to do better. Education and literacy is the key to abject poverty, but how do we reach these people. Ron’s book raised questions of basically good people growing upand making bad choices. Our conversation was very lively and thought provoking.
There is no longer a black and white world just like their is no longer black and white television. We live in a world that is all shades of grey. Just this week a major story hit the front page of The DallasMorning News and my community. Crystal meth is now being made to flavor strawberry called sometimes Strawberry Quick to entice children in to anasty and horrendous drug habit. Made to look like the popular children’s candy Pop Rocks. Scary as I came from the generation of penny candy and getting your ten cents worth at the local candy counterat the grocery store. Candy that can now kill and ruin the lives of children. Books can enlighten and educate as well as entertain. Though Ron wrote a tough book, at least we are now all on the same page as what we can do as a book club to be aware of the dangers for our future generations.
Ron also wrote Chemistry and other Stories, a short story collection that I chose as our Bonus Book Club Selection published by Picador. I have to thank this publishing house for sending Ron to us yet again as you see he is a two time Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection author. I would like to think I personally discovered Ron Rash but this is one Rash I wish to share with all of you. You would be doing yourself agreat disservice by not reading his wonderful books. In fact, Iencouraged the Queens to read his entire body of work as this author is amazing. Poetry, short stories, novels, he has something for everybodyand the best part is every book is a treasure.
We will have up on our website shortly at www.beautyandthebook.com the video interview I did with Ron Rash at my Beauty and the Book. And I must encourage you as a reader if he is in your neighborhood to go hearRon read in person. I know it was one of my most treasured authorminutes, listening to Ron Rash READ!
Next up, Kathy L. Patrick as a mom, what motherhood means to me and end of the school adventures with my two children, no make that my blossoming young women. With Mother’s Day just behind me, I think I now know what love is.
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JAYBIRD!
I get this phone call out of the blue.
“This is Kathy!”
“Kathy, this is Rue McClanahan, calling from Manhattan. Do you know who this is?”
Did I know who this is? Absolutely! Besides books, music, art, I love the theater. Rue McClanahan is a star of stage and screen. She probably has become most famous by her role on televisions /Golden Girls/ where she played the southern sex kitten Blanche Devereux. I have loved Rue McClanahan! She is smart, sexy, and always made me laugh out loud. I have always felt that an actor that can make you laugh out loud had major talent. It is easy to make someone cry but to laugh, now that is a gift.
We talked for quite some time. In fact, I was talking to Rue on my cell phone in my car in front of my shop so long that a couple who had gone into my shop for a haircut came back out to find me still on the phone. John and Debbie Chamberlain and I had quite a laugh over that, well we had a lot to say. Mostly, we were scheduling a time for Rue to come visit my book club, The Pulpwood Queens for a book signing of her latest,/ My First Five Husbands…And the Ones Who Got Away! / Great title and really much, much more than her life in marriage. This book was her memoir and I found the book fascinating.
The morning of the day I was to pick her and her assistant, Kathy up at the airport, my husband kissed me and wished me “Happy Anniversary”. I gasped and realized I had done it again. I had forgotten our big day when we got married 19 years before. Jay laughed as it has been our own running joke, either he forgets or I do. Sometimes we both forget and I think this is mainly because we married one Sunday evening on the sly thinking we were escaping everybody’s radar. We eloped. Now that is another story that I will tell at maybe our 50th Anniversary!
Rue came to Jefferson, Texas and besides treating her to lunch at The Hamburger Store and the best pie ever, I actually got to do Rue’s hair. What a pleasure! To say that her event which I called /An Evening with Rue/ was a success is an understatement. At the last minute, due to the fact that the sky was about to fall with a torrential storm and the numbers of presold tickets where climbing, we decided to move the event to the Banker’s Building generously donated to us for this event by The First National Bank of Hughes Springs here in Jefferson. We brought in extra chairs loaned to us by Jimmy Moore owner of East Texas Forest Products and got 13 volunteers from the Jefferson High School Drama Department to help run the event.
Rue loved the drama kids and to one boy in particular she gasped and stated, “Why Kathy, he is the spitting image of a young Rock Hudson.” I think Adam Brooks will never be the same. She even talked about the striking resemblance the next day. But the thing that impressed me the most was she gave each and every one of those kids an autograph after signing well over 100 books and having umpteen photographs with each and every attendee. Rue McClanahan is a trooper!
Rue had requested that I put on a skit just for her and we did. My best friends. Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guy, Pam McGregor, Carol Lancaster Lucky and Fred McKenzie helped me put together a skit that we titled /The Pulpwood Gals /as a tribute e to Rue starring on /The Golden Girls./ We were three middle age sisters, Earleen (me), Pearleen (Carol), and Sherleen (Pam) Boudreaux who had all come back to live with our MeeMaw (played hilariously by Fred) in her double wide trailer on Caddo Lake just outside of Jefferson, Texas.
You may go to www.easttexastownsonline.com to scroll down and view photos from the event. Photographer, Ron Munden has truly captured these “golden” moments and the photos are also available for purchase.
Now you may wonder what my husband did on our anniversary since I was so involved in the Rue McClanahan event? He was filming the event for your enjoyment and you may click on the link below to watch our skit or you may go to www.beautyandthebook.com and click on Videos to watch that Academy Award winning performance. Well, at least an East Texas Academy Award Winning performance, ha ha ha!
Rue’s book is climbing the charts and I certainly hope you will read her book. A fascinating life from a fascinating person and sends home the message that reading can be a wonderful entertainment. The following morning my friend and Pulpwood Queen Margie Dilday of Monroe, Louisiana escorted Rue and her assistant Kathy on to the rental car place with me in Marshall. As it took them quite awhile to get a car ready, we had plenty of time to chat and recap our event. Then Rue spotted this woman diligently working in the service department of the car dealership where we were to pick up the car. Rue told me, “I have to reward that woman in some way.” We walked across the parking and entered the building. As we approached this woman sweeping, I called, “Excuse me, I have someone I would like you meet.”
Rue asked her, “Have you ever watched The Golden Girls on television?”
“Yes ma’am,” she replied.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, ma’am, you are Rue McClanahan.” Then it was our turn to be surprised.
“Ma’am, aren’t you from Ardmore, Oklahoma?”
“Well yes I am,” Rue answered surprised.
“Well ma,am I’m from just outside of Ardmore, Wilson, Oklahoma and they have all your things there in the museum. Your clothes and things.”
We found out her name was Nancy and Rue signed a Cadillac catalog from the dealership and gave it to the young woman with the broom. As we said our goodbyes, I had goosebumps. Of all the people to choose to go out of her way to meet, a fellow Oklahoma girl. You know that some things are just meant to be.
I live for the days when we have authors grace our doors. I think Rue McClanahan was truly my first brush with dealing with a major celebrity, a real live STAR! Quite frankly, it was a little frightening how many people recognized her and then asked for an autograph. From the moment she arrived at the airport to the minute she drove off in the rental car to continue her book tour we were approached by people wanting her autograph. I asked her about her about just that and she told me that that just comes with the territory. I hope I am that gracious at 73. Through her small acts of kindness I felt besides earning that “star” quality she also deserved a halo!
I’m not too sure what Jay thought of our 19th Anniversary but I had a blast. Jay has just resigned himself to the fact that he has married an obsessed reader. Anyway I can honestly say our marriage has never been boring, high drama to say the least. Now we are on to our next events with author, Ron Rash who I will be taking to visit our Shreveport, Louisiana chapter the evening of May 7th. Then again he will be featured Tuesday night, 6:30 p.m. at Beauty and the Book in Jefferson hosted by our Pulpwood Queens of East Texas. Ron has two books I have selected as Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selections, The World Made Straight and Chemistry and other Stories and being sent to us by Picador. Yes, the Jaybird will be filming that event too! Thank God Jay is not one who got away, ha ha! The official press release will be forthcoming but in the meantime go to our official website for all news pertaining to Beauty and the Book, The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs, and book and author events.
Also if you are in the area, stop by and visit me at Beauty and the Book! I have these leopardlicious postcards that my publisher, Grand Central Publishing has sent to me to hand out to promote my up-and-coming book release, The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life. I would love to give you one and more if you promise to send them to all your friends! And if you see Jay tell him he is a saint for putting up with me. I know he would greatly appreciate it! Thank God he believes that reading and literacy are important too even when his wife booked an author event on their anniversary!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing, Kathy L. Patrick Hairdresser to the Authors Beauty and the Book 210 West Austin Jefferson, Texas 75657 903-665-7520 www.beautyandthebook.com , official website of The Pulpwood Queens www.pulpwoodqueen.com , official blog site of The Pulpwood Queens
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Reading Is NOT Important?
What did I just say? I will say it again as even I cannot believe it. Reading is NOT important. In fact, that is exactly what is being said by a favorite southern newspaper. The Atlanta Journal Constitution let go their book editor and is discontinuing their book section. Yes, you heard me right. A newspaper has decided that books, reading, and literacy are not important. In fact, having a book section is bad business, those pages are just not selling enough newspapers. They are considering plugging in The New York Times Book Reviews. I don’t know, but if I wanted to read The New York Times Book Reviews I would subscribe to The New York Times or check it out online for goodness sake.
Book reviews are not selling enough newspapers? Sensational news stories and color photos help sell papers. Why not just do a whole newspaper in pictures, maybe add some coloring pages. I also believe comics are something that everybody reads. What is happening to America? Here there are some of us doing everything we possibly can to promote reading in our homes, schools, book clubs, communities, and literacy not-for-profits and yet one of the leading southern newspapers wants to cut costs by doing way with the section that deals with reading?
As a bookseller, a reader, and now an author, I have always thought that The Atlanta Journal Constitution was the newspaper to look to for the best in good reads, known for it’s book section and book reviews. That newspaper has been considered one of the premier book review sections in the country especially for southern authors and readers. Sorry for the pun, but looks like covering books is gone with the wind.
Read the petition below that was sent to me by Shannon Byrne and look and see who has signed this petition. That is right, I am number 244. I was awed by all the authors and their comments. Feel free to sign and post a comment, I did. In this day and age I am dumbfounded by a newspaper that does not want to support books and reading. I thank God for The Marshall News Messenger everyday. Not one day goes by that they do not have a story on literacy, usually three or more. And guess what? They are both under the Cox newspaper umbrella. Go figure.
Tiara wearing and as God is my witness, book sharing, Kathy L. Patrick Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs www.beautyandthebook.com To: The Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s recent decision to eliminate its book editor position and, possibly, its book review section is demoralizing beyond words. The AJC’s book section is one of the best-edited literary pages in the country. It provides Atlanta, which ranks #15 on the University of Wisconsin’s list of most literate cities in the U.S., with a powerful and necessary cultural dialogue. Under the astute guidance of the section’s editor Teresa Weaver, the books page has demonstrated an admirable commitment to both literature and nonfiction works which have grappled with some of America’s most complicated issues and themes.
Not only has the AJC’s book section helped to champion such important writers as Edward P. Jones, William T. Vollmann, and Colm Toibin, not to mention Paul Hendrickson and Monica Ali all of whom are now recognized as major literary voices, but it has struck a fine balance by also letting readers know, through in-depth interviews and event listings, about more popular authors who make Atlanta a stop on their book tours. If the major newspaper in a major market like Atlanta lacks a book section, then we may soon be missing authors, too, when publishers decide not to send their writers to a city where the primary forum of ideas and review is ignoring them.
I am a subscriber to and/or a frequent reader of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and I want the AJC to continue publishing a book section edited by Teresa Weaver that gives Atlanta a unique, thoughtful approach to books, one that represents a diverse array of voices, and is not simply fed by wire copy from the Associated Press or the New York Times.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
View Current Signatures
The Help Protect Atlanta’s Book Review Petition to The Atlanta Journal Constitution was created by and written by National Book Critics Circle (NBCCAtlanta@hotmail.com) . This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
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THE LADY WITH THE ALLIGATOR PURSE
When I was little, I always had a purse. I believe my first ones were the obligatory ones my mother purchased for me when my mother took me and my sisters to Zenisheck’s Department store or Frock and Bonnet to buy our Easter accessories; hat, gloves and purse. We then carried those little white bags every Sunday to church and for special occasions. They were very special and made us feel so grown up as our mother, grandmother, and all the women we knew carried handbags that were filled with wondrous things.
My grandmother’s handbag she carried in the crook of her arm. It was always black. Inside she had a handkerchief, a coin purse, lipstick, and these amazing little boxes of prescription pills. I loved to open and close the little boxes and look at the different colored pills. Of course, to me they looked like candy and then one day the temptation was just too great. I ate some of the little yellow ones. They were awful and bitter and my grandmother made a frantic call to Dr. Caitlin to find out what to do. Evidently, I was safe. I remember something about them being liver pills. I never ever took another pill. Mysterious, these handbags.
We even at recess jumped rope to the rhyme about a lady with an alligator purse. I always wanted an alligator purse and so now, I do.
The Lady with the Alligator Purse
Miss Lucy had a baby,
His name was Tiny Tim.
She put him in the bathtub,
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water.
He ate up all the soap.
He tried to eat the bathtub,
But it wouldn’t go down his throat.
Miss Lucy called the doctor,
Miss Lucy called the nurse.
Miss Lucy called the lady
With the alligator purse.
“Mumps,” said the doctor.
“Measles,” said the nurse.
“Hiccups,” said the lady
With the alligator purse.
Out went the doctor.
Out went the nurse.
Out went the lady
With the alligator purse.
I have been collecting handbags and purses ever since. Therefore, when I heard from an author named Barbara Hagerty and how she had written a book on the history of Handbags, I was intrigued. How Barbara heard about me is a more amazing story. I had had my friend and author, Pat Conroy’s new wife to my shop, Cassandra King. I had discovered Cassandra’s first book at the Mid-South Bookseller’s Association Convention in New Orleans, Making Waves in Zion. The story was about a young woman who inherits her aunt’s house and beauty salon in the south. The book seemed perfect for my book club, The Pulpwood Queens, and me as I have the only Hair Salon/Bookstore in the country, Beauty and the Book.
The publisher soon thereafter sent Cassandra to my shop and I wanted to give her something special. Something that would let her know just how much I love Pat Conroy and something that would be a celebration of their new life together. I gave her a purse. This purse was handmade by my friend and Pulpwood Queen, Constance Muller, artist and handbag designer. This purse was called a Floralina and they are doll purses, little fairy like dolls each wearing one of kind dresses where the dress skirt unzips in the back to hold are your special little things with a little matching cloth handle. These purses are for special occasions. My daughters and I have now collected nine of them. I gave her one to carry for special occasions.
Evidently, she carried it one day when she had lunch with her friend and author, Barbara Hagerty. Barbara just had to know where she got the purse, as she wanted to feature it in her book, Handbags: A Peek Inside A Woman’s Most Trusted Accessory. Four of Constance’s’ little Floralina were featured in the book. I had both Barbara and Constance in for a Floralina trunk show and book signing. That was years ago.
You can imagine my delight when Constance and her mother, Lois bopped into my shop to tell me that there was going to be a gallery show of the purses at the Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council building in Texarkana. We traveled to Texarkana to see that exhibit this past Tuesday with my fellow bookseller, Fred McKenzie in tow. After a delightful lunch at the local eatery, The Cobbler Shop, we headed to TRAHCS. You can imagine our delight when we spied Constance’s floral festooned Floralina all in luscious shades of pinks in the glass display case. Interestingly enough, besides purses, there were vintage hats and dresses displayed on the walls. Constance took many photos to send to Barbara Hagerty of the gallery exhibit. Several of those she has sent to me for you to view below. This exhibit is traveling the country. For more information go to www.barbarahagerty.com or to www.constancemullerdesigns.com. I also got Constance to sign a limited quantity of the book Handbags to sell in my shop. To order your own signed copy, please go to my shopping page.
Reading can take you wonderful places and help you also discover beautiful things. A purse is, says Hagerty, “more than a mere utilitarian container, a purse is, I realize, an extension of the person who carries it, a miniature portrait in cloth, beads, plastic, leather or feathers.” The last two Floralina I purchased from Constance I let my daughters select for their birthdays. Helaina chose a black dressed Floralina with an Evening at the Opera theme. Madeleine chose a wedding Floralina. I am sure both will be carried on those very special occasions.
What do you keep in your purse? You would not believe what I found when I dumped the contents just now on the floor. Here is my inventory:
Billfold
Antique Mirror
Lipstick and various makeup
Paint color sample cards
Granite Crystals to add sparkle to paint
Paint Can opener
Tweezers
Infamous Video
Business cards
Phone Charger
Yesterday’s Marshall News Messenger
Discount coupon for Chico’s
Easter card from my Mother
Cell phone
Almost ten dollars in change
Black Cat Adhesive Bandages with Free Toy Inside
Sonic straw
Watch batteries
Troll doll
Travel hairpiece
Coated black rubber bands
Key chain with many keys and bling
One fancy swanky earring
Assorted pens crumbled bank and purchase receipts
Notebook with names of those who purchased tickets for Rue McClanahan event
Advanced galley for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Yorday.
Yes, that all came from my purse and it is big. Not sure what those contents tell about me but I am sure someone can tell me. Do you have a purse story? I would love to hear from you. Happy Spring and if you are in or near Texarkana, treat yourself to this special galley show. For more information on TRAHCS go to www.arts.state.tx.us/CalTCA/calendar.cfm?&AssocID=639&header=1
Tiara wearing, Book, and Purse sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens
P.S. And my favorite purse bedside’s Constance’s Floralina? A vintage black handbag redesigned with an Elvis theme complete with Elvis, guitars, tiaras and leopard lining made especially for me from author, Ruby Ann Boxcar significant other, Kevin, make-up artist and hair designer extraordinaire!
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Karaoke! What Does Karaoke Mean?
Friday afternoon I decided that I would have a birthday party for my husband, the Jaybird. I, as usual, fly by the seat of my skirt as his birthday was that night. It kind of snuck up on me.
We were all in the shop trying to figure out to what to buy a man who always buys himself anything that he really wants. Cologne, no, won’t wear it. A tie, been done a kazillion times. More than half the things I have bought him through the years and still in the box, in a drawer, or hanging in the closet.
For Christmas, I finally thought I had found him something he really wanted, a Tractor Supply megajama tool chest on wheels. Christmas morning I pointed to the back of my car as the thing was so heavy I could not get it out to hide in the garage for Christmas morning. Somehow, he hauled it out of the back of my Inferno Red Pacifica and proceeded to put all his tools inside. He spent all morning organizing his tools in that chest. I haven’t seen him go near it since.
So for his 46th I went all out, we were taking him to Auntie Skinner’s Riverboat Club in Jefferson for a night of Karaoke. I gave Jay part of his birthday gift, some Navy blue Crocs RX. We have a new podiatrist in town that has opened a shoe store called Footsteps and these shoes leave all other shoes on the rack. They may not be as stunning as Manolo Blanick’s or Jimmy Chou’s but as far as comfort, sublime.
I dropped Jay off at the bar as I ran to the Hamburger Store to buy some pies. Who says you need a cake for a birthday! It’s always pie for Jay, as pie does not get any better than this. I picked up two three-berry with rhubarb and ran to Brookshire’s to get some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream and some candles.
When I walked into Auntie Skinner’s Jay was sitting at the bar with Mary Hileman. Now Mary is one of our favorite Jeffersonians, her son was my husband’s roommate at the University of Texas in Austin. His name is Jay too. We then moved to a table that Robbie, who was tending bar, had set up for us. I noticed this guy getting the Karaoke all set up. He seemed very gung-ho dancing and bopping around as he set up all the equipment. We ordered dinner, as we knew everybody was all coming a different time. Ballgames were in full swing in Jefferson and most of our friends had kids in tournaments. They would be in after the games.
Just as our food was served here came 88-year-old Fred McKenzie, my fellow bookseller, then my sister Karen and her husband, Richard. Jay told everyone at the table, “You know you are over the hill when an 88 year old gives you at 46 years old an over the hill card. Auntie Bev arrived just as the Karaoke began. I have never seen such a wide variety of Karaoke singers, professional Karaoke singers. They each had their own CD’s and would demand, “Track 7, and skip the intro”. All ages of singers, all types of dress from a guy wearing all black with red roses embroidered on his shirt, kind of a Mexican looking Elvis. Then this other dude caught our eye in the whitest, tightest jeans we had ever seen. He had on a white fringed shirt, black knee high cowboy boots, and a black cowboy hat. We could not take our eyes off this guy. The Karaoke guy started the evening singing some head banger song then a montage of Generation X’ers singing everything from David Allen Coe’s “You Never Call Me by My Name” to Evanescence’s “Call Me When You’re Sober”. Then Elvis took the stage.
The Elvis guy kind of had the look and kind of had the sound but as the evening progressed, he seemed to get better. I mean he had the dance moves but I am afraid that everybody rather had their beer goggles on. When he sang “Suspicious Minds”, Jay hollered at all of us at the table that if we closed our eyes, we could almost imagine being at Graceland. I yelled “NOT” as we all burst in laughter.
More friends showed up and then the guy in the black and white cowboy outfit took the stage. We had all been waiting to see what kind of talent he would display. You could have heard a pin drop as he took the stage. Evidently, everybody else was as curious too. He mumbled something about not being much of a singer. I thought, hmmm, with all these professional Karaoke singers in the building, this was a strange way to begin his performance. What happened next was something nobody expected to happen or ever hear or see in their lifetime.
The opening strains of “In the Jungle” began and then in that high pitched tone he sang, “In the village, the sleepy village, the lion sleeps tonight”. The crowd was dumbfounded. My sister leaned in and said, “Man, those pants must be really tight!” We just lost it. We laughed until we cried. That song was the last song in the world I ever dreamed that guy would sing.
As I looked around at everybody laughing and having a great time, I looked at Jay. It wasn’t a fancy birthday party, or one that you could put down in the history books, but we were surrounded by the people we love and everybody was having a blast. Jay may have not got that perfect “present” but he was presently having a very good time.
Birthdays are special and I hope that Jay remembers this birthday as a really great one. Later on our daughter joined us and I remember feeling that ole parent pride as she sang Peggy Lee’s “Fever”. Our friend Jim Gallant even took the stage with a big ole stogie and sang “Mack the Knife”. After the pie was shared, the ice cream had melted, we gathered the gifts, and headed for the house.
We will be talking about the cowboy, the night, and Elvis for days to come. I still laugh out loud when the main Karaoke guy yelled, “Elvis has left the building.” These are the stories that we treasure, and share, and pass on. And isn’t it always like my favorite quote, “The world is made up of stories, not atoms.” So why don’t you comment and share a story with me. A story that made you laugh until you cried, something unusual that may have happened to you, or that favorite birthday moment. I look forward to hearing from you.
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com www.pulpwoodqueen.com
P.S. For those of you that would like to know, karaoke means singing to prerecorded music. It’s a form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing popular songs accompanied by a prerecorded music from a machine that may also display the words on a video screen.
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ANYBODY GOT ANY BOXES? BEAUTY AND THE BOOK MOVES UPTOWN!
My landlord stopped by for a haircut a couple weeks ago. She had previously told me that the historic house was going to be placed on the market, would I be interested in buying the property. Unfortunately, the price was so out of my price range, I had to decline. I knew the day would finally come when she was going to find a buyer for the house. Indeed it did because as she was about to leave my shop she told me, “I don’t know how to tell you this but I have two gentlemen who are buying my building.” Yes, it’s true, Beauty and the Book and The Pulpwood Queens Book Club home and headquarters is moving again!
I feel like I have come full circle. I just finished my first book ever, The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life to be published by Warner Books. The book begins with my former boss telling me, “I don’t know how to tell you this but we are going to have to let you go.” As your life goes flashing before your eyes and you see images of doom and gloom, I have to remind myself what I told everybody in my book. “When one door closes, another window of opportunity will fly right open”. And, it has? Moreover, this one has a picture window with the most incredible view!
I was at my favorite eatery, The Hamburger Store, with my girls grabbing a bite to eat the other night. We had ended our meal with a slice of their scrumptious three-berry pie with rhubarb topped with Blue Bell ice cream. You have to experience this dessert to believe it! As we paid our check, I noticed Jimmy and Pat Moore leaving too, the owners of East Texas Forest Products. We stopped to chat outside as the Moore’s are just about the nicest folks you will ever meet. They loaned me their brand spanking new double cab cherry red pickup truck and a 27- foot gooseneck trailer for our Pulpwood Queen “KATS” float in the Mardi Gras Parade. (We won the Duke of Hebe Award in the Parade with our rendition of Broadway’s CATS for this year’s theme Classic Tales!) Now they also gave us a barn to decorate our float in and a driver for the parade, hunky Chris McGregor who also just happens to be the son of one of my best friends and Pulpwood Queen Pam McGregor. What more could a Pulpwood Queen want to ride in style in a parade? Besides, nobody ever said, “Yes, ma’am”, anymore sexier than Chris McGregor as he helped me from the crack of dawn get the float ready and tear the float down at the end of the day. Woo, I lost my track of mind there for a second. I took him and his family all out to dinner afterwards to The Hamburger Store. Nothing better to reward yourself and others with than that pie.
Pat and Jimmy Moore did not win Citizens of the Year for nothing my friends. They are one of Jefferson’s finest families, always giving, always with a smile and a big heart. Anyway, Jimmy had heard that I was having to move and told me he thought he had a building that I could use. Would Jay (my husband) and I like to come by and see it?
Now Jimmy has restored the old Texaco filling station right on the old highway that use to run smack dab through the center of town. Absolutely darling with two vintage Texaco trucks parked right out front, every tourist and visitor that visit our historic city stops there for photo opportunities. You can almost picture uniformed Texaco attendants running out to service your car. The place is a snapshot picture back in time. Next door, he tore down the old house and moved in this turn of the century built Gulf storage building. He restored the outside, added a cute front porch, with a perfect view of our fair city. An old rock water garden and fountain that matches the rock Texaco building sits right in the front yard. Jimmy plans to stock it with fish. Now the inside was still like an old unfinished barn of a building. Jay and I took one look and we could see the possibilities. Perfect location and right on Polk Street, which is on the parade route in historic Jefferson. Beautiful views out both the front and back doors. On the front porch, you can see down three main thoroughfares and the building had twice as much space as the house I was in downtown.
After Jay and I talked we met again with Jimmy. Hands were shook and the deal was sealed. Beauty and the Book was moving up the street to 608 Polk Street, Jefferson, Texas, U.S.A!
You all we have been busy. Beauty and the Book is business as usual at 210 West Austin, but on the nights and weekends, we are getting our new little gem of a building ready for the big move. We have currently stripped, sanded the beautiful yet worn heart of pine floors. A little office is off to the side that I am painting in shades or Pulpwood Queen Pinks. The drafting style desk will be leopard and my office will house my Tarzan collection. I told Jimmy that this was it; I did not ever want to have to move again so we are pulling out all the stops on this building. Or should I say Jimmy Moore is as he has hired a contractor to get our building ready in record time.
I think you are going to be really surprised with out new look and home. We plan to have online photos and video of our EXTREME MAKEOVER! I was just up at Music City Texas for the Texas Music Awards and got a big ole bear hug from Head Timber Guy, Richard Bowden who also just happens to be President of Music City. We were talking about the building and I was telling him that I wanted to put a Moon on the bathroom door. Then I got to thinking I would put the Moon and the Stars, in honor of Richard, as that is the name of his house band. Would The Moon and the Stars be willing to come sign my bathroom door? I mean how could you turn down that honor! Richard laughed and said, “How about The Moon and the Stars come play for my RE-RE-Grand Opening! Y’all I hope you are ready. Stay tuned for the continuing saga of Beauty and the Book, home and headquarters for The Pulpwood Queens’, the largest “meeting and discussing’ book club in the world! We are going to have plenty of room and I promise, we’ll leave the porch light on for ya!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Hairdresser to the Authors
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
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All our LIFE is a STAGE!
I grew up with a mother who wanted to be a movie star. She went to Hollywood at 19 to be discovered. My father followed her out there and proposed. My mother was not discovered as Schwab’s Drugstore or any other place in Hollywood. They eventually moved back home, this was in the 1950’s when Marilyn Monroe reigned. All my life I heard, the stories and therefore the stars in my mother’s eyes were burning bright in my little sisters and me. We loved Hollywood, the Oscars, and lived for the movies. I remember at a very young age seeing my very first musical and it was magical.
When I got in high school, we had a new drama teacher, Mr. Peacock. I swear that was his name. He was semi-famous as he was Broadway star Sandy Duncan’s first dance partner. If you have ever seen the film “Waiting for Guffman”, directed and starring Christopher Guest, he was that character. Played by Christopher Guest, he was this Broadway director who now has moved to small town Blaine, Missouri. This film could have been my hometown of Eureka, Kansas, or my new home town of Jefferson, Texas. You have to see that film, as it was the first thing I did when I got off the plane in NYC on my first day as a book publisher’s representative in the city for sales conference. I saw it in a little theater over by The Plaza Hotel and I have never laughed so hard and so loud in my life. I love and adore Christopher Guest and all of hilarious mockumentaries.
Now I cannot actually say the same thing about Mr. Peacock. He was more than a bit over the top and as my dad would say, a bit light in the loafers. It was more of a love/hate relationship. He flunked me one six weeks for Speech class, (which is a whole another story), but at the same time, I could not wait to sign up for The Thespians Club and try out for one of the plays.
I never had the gumption to try out for the big parts in the plays or musicals. I always was cast as the dancer, the sexy nurse, the dancer; you get the picture, the bit parts. I loved it and threw my whole self in productions of “Little Abner”, “Bye Bye Birdie” and various plays. After I married and had my two girls, I read in the paper that there was going to be try-outs for the musical “Meet me in St. Louis”. There were many children’s’ roles in production so I thought as a family project we would all go and try-out. My daughter’s Laine, Madeleine, and I were all cast. I was thrilled, how fun was this going to be. I was more than a bit concerned as to play, if you remember the movie starring Judy Garland, Judy’s older sister who was 19. The young man who was to play my love interest was in high school. Now I was in my 40’s at the time and considered this quite a stretch. I also felt more than a tad uncomfortable batting my eyes and flirting with this young man at play practice.
After the first practice, the next morning I drove to the bank; where his mother worked, and made her give me verbal permission that it was okay for me to play this role with her 16- year-old son. I had read enough stories about older women hitting on high school boys. They went to prison. We had a good laugh about it.
Laine had one of the lead children’s roles in that musical and went on that year to win Best Child Actor in our local WYNOY Awards given out by the Opera House Theater Players. WYNOT is TONY spelled backwards, how clever. She was bitten by the theater bug. Madeleine had a walk on role with one line and we all really just had a blastie blast doing this musical. We were hooked. What fun, what joy!
We went on to all being in another Opera House Player Production “I Remember Mama”. Then I was cast, with two of my other best friends and fellow Pulpwood Queens, Beverly Bradley and Carol Lancaster Lucky, in the hysterical play “Laundry and Bourbon”. Then we all went on to all play in the Excelsior Players “A Christmas Carol”. Some of my happiest days were going to the practices with the girls.
As I got busy running my Beauty and the Book and my Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs and all the other things that I do, I stepped reluctantly off the stage. Actually, I was probably yanked, as I continued to encourage my girls to get involved with their drama departments at their school. Madeleine did her first U.I.L. play this year and got a starring role as the villain in a melodrama, Bertrand Oleander. She was a hoot, looking a like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Snidely Whiplash, in her too big black suit, her twirly black mustache, cape, cane, and top hat. I laughed my fool head off. She won All-Star Cast at their very first U.I.L school competition, “Egad, What a Cad”.
Lainie just got back last night from her U.I.L competition and won Best Actress of all the schools for their high school play, “Gammer Gurton’s Needle”, and now they going to district U.I.L. this Saturday. An amazing feat because she too played a leading role as a boy, Diccon, in that production with all the cast talking in a cockney accent.
Why I decided to write about our theater experiences is because I have seen before my very eyes what happens when you get involved in the arts. The greatest thing a parent can do is teach your children how to fly and then give them wings to go there own way in the world. My girls have gained a confidence that I am not sure they would have had if it had not been for the theater experience. Now as I watch my little birds fly off in the world, I can enjoy the drama that unfolds.
All my life I have been an avid reader. I happen to think playwrights and theater is just another aspect of the reading experience. To read a play or musical and see it come to life before your eyes is a treat for all. When I was a child these, big musical productions would come to the high school. From kindergarten to junior high students would be bused to the high school to join their students to watch “Peter and the Wolf” , “Hans Brinker and the Golden Skates”, and “Toby Tyler”. We each paid 10 cents to see those shows. I will never forget the costumes, the music, and those storybook characters all brought to life.
April 24th, I have one the premier actors of Broadway stage, television, and film coming to my Beauty and the Book, the delightful and vivacious Rue McClanahan to talk about her new book “My First Five Husbands…and The Ones That Got Away”. Rue has asked me to put on a skit just for her, my fellow Pulpwood Queens, and those in attendance. Carol Lancaster Lucky, Pam McGregor, Timber Guy Nelson Collier, and I will be doing just that for all that attend. We call our skit “The Pulpwood Gals” where three middle age sisters come to live with their Meemaw (played by Nelson) in a doublewide trailer on Caddo Lake. It is kind of our East Texas version of “The Golden Girls” as a tribute to Rue McClanahan who starred in that television show as the infamous Blanche.
Tickets are $30.00 and include refreshments and the book for you to have signed personally by Rue. Come support the arts and I can guarantee you will get some good laughs and meet one of most outstanding American actress to walk the stage in theater and grace our film and television screens today! Call 903-665-7520, email me at Kathy@beautyandthebook.com, or stop by Beauty and the Book to get your tickets.
All our life is a stage and I encourage all of you to support your local arts and theater programs. There is nothing more thrilling than to have the lights go down, the audiences grow quiet, and the velvet curtain lift to unveil a story about to unfold.
Tiara wearing, Book and Theater Sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
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SINGING MY HEART OUT!
“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy … but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Quote from the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In my life, I have seen many people who have obsessions. I remember when I was a kid, crazed girls screaming over The Beatles, which I found silly. Teenagers, my daughters age, are going absolutely ballistic these days over the musical group, My Chemical Romance. I have seen grown men dress in women’s lingerie attending day after day the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was first starting work as a hairdresser. Year after year I have viewed at each new release of a Star Wars movie teens, and adults dressing as Luke Skywalker to Darth Vader. I guess we all have secret fan clubs for something or someone. My not-so-secret obsession has always been about authors and their books. My all-time favorite? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee of course.
I do not know when I first read the book. I saw the film first and instantly found myself in the character of Scout. I related so well to the youngest Finch, I became an instant fan of the film. Every spring my mother, sisters, and I would watch the movie piled on our green nubbly divan as the story unfolded on our old black and white Curtis Mathis television. I still get chills when Dill, Jem and Scout all dare each other to go up on to Boo Radley’s porch. We did not have any next door neighbors like the Radley’s. Still, as we moved a lot, we had someone or something that scared the bejesus out of us in our neighborhood. My sisters and honed in on those eccentric characters like flies to honey.
I read this book usually once a year in the spring and it’s that time. As I reread the pages, I am amazed at what new revelations unfold for me at each reading. I highly recommend everybody do the same in this country. The book to me, no matter how many literary analysis’s are done, is just the story that Harper Lee fictionalized of her experiences growing up in Monroeville, Alabama. Do I think she was trying to teach us of social injustice and all the other many tangents that some academia who has studied her work for their doctoral thesis explain in minute detail? Maybe subconsciously, I just happen to think she just told us one of the greatest stories ever told period.
I have collected snippets of information on Harper Lee, the book, and film for years. Not to study and critique her underlying subliminal messages, but as kind of like the scrapbook that my mother kept when she was a teenager of her favorite Hollywood stars. I collect these newspaper clipping and stories just because I loved her written words. Because of course, I did finally discover the book, probably at the Eureka Carnegie Library of my youth back in Kansas when an astute teacher recommended I go there after they overheard me blathering on about the film. When I became an adult and found you could buy books. Lo and behold not just check them out at the library, that was one of the first books I purchased for my ever growing library. My treasures, I think I have about 6 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, each a different printing, different cover, and some commemerating an anniversary edition. I have those books stacked on my bedside table to keep them close and for easy reach for reading. So when I heard that not one but two movies were coming out on Truman Capote and Harper Lee, I could hardly wait in anticipation of their story unfolding on film.
Capote debuted first and won Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar. Then came the film Infamous which if an actor has ever come as close to portraying a character better than Toby Jones as Truman Capote, I’m not sure who it would be. He was Truman Capote. And I thought Phillip Seymour Hoffman had him nailed. Sandra Bullock, before I watched the film, I thought was sorely miscast but I was wrong. She was incredible and it changed my opinion of her as an actress. Her quietness and accent delighted me. Both films were great and that is something I don’t say very often. Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird sets the standard to me for great film. Capote and Infamous in turn follow suit. That must be a first or am I biased as concerning the subject matter. I probably am.
I will continue returning to my reading of To Kill a Mockingbird just as I do every year, much like the birds returning back north in the spring. Yes, I’m singing, singing it’s praises to high heaven. Won’t you join me in reading To Kill a Mockingbird? To me it would be a sin if you didn’t.
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
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SPRING HAS SPRUNG AND IT’S COMING UP BOOKS!
I can hardly sleep when there is a change of seasons. A thrill runs through my body when I see those birds headed back north, first sight of that unexpected color flash of a daffodil bloom, and the mailings of spring advance galley books stacked in my mailbox. Spring for me means NEW BOOKS and I can hardly get the mailers opened fast enough to find the treasures inside to read. The following are books just recently released that give more than the promise of spring for great NEW READS!
Author, teacher, Rickey Pittman has been coming to Beauty and the Book and my author events for years. He was recently here for our annual Girlfriend Weekend and I previewed an advance galley at the literary festival. What a talent and what a story! If you love southern confederate civil war history, Rickey is the man to talk too. His latest book will be a children’s book Jim Limber Davis, a Black Orphan in the Confederate White House.
Check out this link to the recent news story in the Monroe, Louisiana Newspaper: http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/NEWS01/703050313
One author in particular always seems to me, as if she has written her books specifically for my book club. Cassandra King, a three time Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection Author has a new book, The Queen of Broken Hearts which is certain to also become a Pulpwood Queen favorite. I know that if you read just one of Cassandra’s books you will too become a big fan and she is as sweet and intelligent as all of her women characters. We bow to the feet of an author QUEEN! I give her latest book our highest mark, 5 diamonds in our Pulpwood Queen Tiara! Check out her website at: http://www.cassandrakingconroy.com/
When I got an email from Cathryn Michon to help bring books to libraries in Louisiana following the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, I made a plea to my Pulpwood Queen authors to help. And help they did by sending books on to those libraries, authors were very generous to help those in need. Now I just got another email, would I donate books to the Camel Book Mobile? Yes, I would and so should you. Author, Masha Hamilton has written a book called The Camel Book Mobile. Here is some of the copy from her website, http://www.mashahamilton.com/
This is the mantra of Fiona Sweeney, the heroine of Masha Hamilton’s inspiring new novel The Camel Bookmobile, a tale about an American librarian who leaves Brooklyn to work for a relief organization in Africa that sends books on the backs of camels to forgotten villages. Fiona’s intentions are entirely pure but, when the bookmobile causes a feud among the nomadic tribe it aims to help, she realizes her good deeds may come with a high price. Now this book is made for the Pulpwood Queens as we are on a mission to promote literacy. This woman is not only talking the talk, but walking the walk. Do check out that website and won’t you help on her mission, see below.
Book donations for the Camel Library can be mailed to:
Garissa Provincial Library
For Camel Library Librarian in Charge, Rashid M. Farah
P.O. Box 245
Garissa, Kenya
Won’t you spring into action by not only reading good books but promoting literacy too. The authors whose books I read and who grace my doors and book festivals inspire me. They inspire me to get up out of my comfortable winged back recliner where I love to read and write and do some good works too. Let’s clean out the closets and give to those in need. Do we really need to have all this stuff and yes, all these books. My goal this spring is to try to uncomplicate my life a bit and give, give, give. I have so much and so do all of you. Let’s take action this year and do good works.
Tiara wearing and book sharing, Kathy L. Patrick http://www.beautyandthebook.com/, and check out all the NEW Author and Artists links! We’re revamping the website to make it easier for you to navigate and to bring you the best in reading today!
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Those Queens Can Shimmy submitted by Amy Wallen
Loralva got all the way to the Pulpwood Queen Book Festival (http://www.beautyandthebook.com/) and found out that due to one of them glitches that God only knows the true meaning of, MoonPies couldn’t be found for sale. But she made the best of it. How can you not, she figured, when all the ladies are wearing tiaras and her all time favorite of fabrics—leopard skin. She donned her rhinestone-encrusted western vest, grabbed her embroidered bowling bag purse and whooped and hollered all night long at the Hair Ball. She chose her fuschia Carol Channing wig for the occasion and partyed with the likes of Tippy Hedren, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and all sorts of other dead Hollywood types. Those Pulpwood Queens sure know how to boot scoot. The Pulpwood Queen Mum, Kathy Patrick, both proprietress of Beauty and the Book Hair Salon and Bookstore and founder of the Pulpwood Queen weekend was not only Loralva’s favorite tiara-wearing, book-loving queen, but someone to admire considering she traveled everywhere with the back of her car loaded down with a chair in the shape of a giant velour high-heeled leopard skin slide and a bottle of red fingernail polish the size of an armadillo. Plus, that lady knows a good read almost better than Loralva knows a good man. Not to mention she’s probably read just as many books. When Loralva got back to Devine, she climbed up on top of her mobile home, stood right next to her TV antennae, and announced to the entire trailer park that every reader within shouting distance should join the Pulpwood Queen book club.
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Will Clarke Appearing at Beauty and the Book!
Will Clarke Appearing at Beauty and the Book! Jefferson, Texas - March 13th, 6:30 p.m.
Calling all L.S.U. fans! The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas are having a TOGA PARTY to celebrate our special guest author, Will Clarke’s new book “The Worthy”! The event will be at Beauty and the Book a.k.a. Theta Eta Pie, the only Hair Salon/Bookstore now sorority in the country! When I read Will’s book, I thought it screamed the movie “Animal House” meets “Carrie”! The main character is killed in hazing incident as a pledge at his fraternity house. He comes back as a ghost for revenge!
Since Jefferson, Texas has been voted the most haunted small town in Texas I thought the “ghost” character in “The Worthy” would fit in nicely. Will’s first book, “Lord Vishnu’s Love Handles” sold the film rights to the creators of the Academy Award winning film “Sideways’. His new book has sold the film rights too and will be filming in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the L.S.U. campus. Will now lives in Dallas with his wife and two boys but he is a Shreveport, Louisiana native. For more information on Will Clarke, please go to www.booktourvirgin.blogs.com or www.willclarke.com . Since Jefferson, Texas has been voted the most haunted small town in Texas I thought, the “ghost” character in “The Worthy”, would fit in nicely.
Will has sold the film rights for his first book, “Lord Vishnu’s Love Handles” to the creators of the Academy Award winning film “Sideways’. The rights to his new book has also been sold and is currently being filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the L.S.U. campus. Will now lives in Dallas with his wife and two boys but he is a Shreveport, Louisiana native. For more information on Will Clarke, please go to www.booktourvirgin.blogs.com or www.willclarke.com.
Also, our Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection Author of the Month, Margaret Sartor will be calling in to talk to us about her book, “Miss American Pie”. Margaret teaches at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and is nationally exhibited and published photographer. Photographer Tammy Cromer Campbell will be in attendance to capture our “toga” moments! Remember this is Spring Break month and we will have an in turn “worthy” prize for the BEST TOGA attire in attendance and\nit does not include a paddle! Reminds me of the song, “It makes me want to shout, Yeah ee yeah!” Toga on over Pulpwood Queens and bring a “worthy” Louisiana dish for our buffet dinner. Those not members are welcome but there is a $10.00 per person for the event and dinner.
Please call to reserve your ticket for this event, 903-665-7520.
INTERNATIONAL BOOK CLUB AUTHOR EXTRAVAGANZA
July 13 - 15th, 2007As a fundraiser for The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium, Working to preserve and revitalize Shreveport’s Historic Municipal Auditorium, Elvis Presley Avenue, Shreveport, Louisiana 71165, www.stageofthestars.com
Here is the basic information about the first ever-International Book Club Author Extravaganza to be held in Shreveport, Louisiana, July 13 - 15, 2007 that I am putting together as a fundraiser for The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium.
This event will be three days of author panels, sessions, and workshops, and entertainment. Our hope is that this event will be the largest book club gathering in the world and feature some of the best book club authors in the world! Our goal is also to besides promoting literacy; help restore this magnificent historical building back to its full glory! The Municipal Auditorium built in the 1920’s was an Art Deco structure and cultural arts center of the community. Many Broadway plays were performed on its stage and was also the home of The Louisiana Hayride, which gave the auspicious beginnings to such musical legends such as, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, and Dolly Parton. The Municipal gives wonderful historic tours and has fabulous museum that is open to the public. Check www.stageofthestars.com for more information.
Friday, we will feature children’s authors, Saturday, authors of all genres, and Sunday, and inspirational authors. We will also be having writing workshops and special sessions to showcase authors that I have read their books and hand picked for this event. Authors invited to attend are by invitation only as we want the best authors to be represented for what we see as the largest book club gathering in the world!
The main auditorium floor will have the author and publisher tables and Barnes and Noble providing books for sale. We plan to have workshop sessions that will have authors giving demonstrations and writing workshops, and more. Full schedule is in the works and will be posted as soon as possible upon confirmation of authors attending. We will have two nights of entertainment. Friday is to be announced. Saturday night we will have a Dance for Literacy where attendees can come dressed as their favorite author or book character. The opening act will be “The Pink Collar Tour” which is a group of southern women authors who will be telling stories including River Jordan, Kit Frasier, Denise Hildreth, Susan Reinholdt, and me! Sunday we will feature four time Dove nominee and Nashville musical artist and celebrity, Jonathan Pierce! Other authors confirmed at this time are Carolyn Jourdan, Doug Marlette, Michael Morris, Louise Schaeffer, Adrienne Baribeau, Tommy L. Cook, Cassandra King, Will Clarke, Ronlyn Domingue, David Marion Wilkerson, J. Brooks Dann, Jason Headley, Rickey Pittman and many, many more authors in the works.
Starbucks has signed on as one of the vendors. We will be selling vendor tables and independent author tables too that will circle the hallway galleys of two floors that lead to the main auditorium book festival floor. We plan to highlight some of the best vendors in the area with items for sale that will also allow the perfect shopping experience for booklovers and all the festivals attendees. Please contact Mandy Perdue, Executive Director of The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium if you are interested in being a vendor, (see contact information below).
As you enter the Municipal Auditorium, we will have the Box Office for tickets and be featuring The Pulpwood Queens Book Club, The Shreveport Times and so far the not-for-profits The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium, Music City Texas, Shreve/Memorial Library with more to be announced. The NEW Hilton Hotel on the Boardwalk is going to be the OFFICIAL hotel for this event as they are providing free shuttle service to and from the event facility at certain times throughout the book festival. The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium is now offering an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL of $150 to all the book festival events, special sessions, workshops, and entertainment until May 1, 2007. Please contact Mandy Perdue at The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium (see contact information and form below) to purchase your V.I.P Packet! Individual tickets are also available for pre-purchase, (see below) for General Admission Only, Author Workshops, Author Panels, Author Sessions, and Entertainment.
After May 1, 2007, the V.I.P. Packages will available for $250.00.The following sponsorship packages are available to purchase to help support this fundraiser and literacy event with all monies going to The Friends of the Municipal Auditorium:
STAGE OF THE STARS SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES:SUPER STAR SPONSORSHIP V.I.P. PACKAGE $5,000 and up: Top Official Sponsor for all events and includes: Top Billing on all print and media events, book bags and t-shirts ( Largest logo and ad, also will be featured on website, www.beautyandthebook.com), 8 V.I.P. passes to ALL author and book events and corporate table for both Friday and Saturday night entertainment events. Will receive 8 official t-shirts and book bags.
PRODUCER SPONSORSHIP V.I.P. PACKAGE $2,500 and up: Official Sponsor for all events and includes: Billing on all print and media events, book bags and t-shirts (Medium logo and ad, also will be featured on website, www.beautyandthebook.com)4 V.I.P passes to ALL author and book events and to both Friday and Saturday night entertainment events. Will receive 4 official t-shirts and book bags.
DIRECTOR SPONSORSHIP V.I.P PACKAGE $1,000 and up: Billing on all print and media events, book bags and t-shirts (Small logo and ad, also will be featured on website, www.beautyandthebook.com), 2 V.I.P. passes to ALL author and book events and to both Friday and Saturday night entertainment events. Will receive 2 official t-shirts and book bags.
HEADLINER SPONSORSHIP V.I.P PACKAGE $250 (for Authors, Speakers, or Musical Artists):Listing of name on t-shirts, website and program.1 V.I.P. pass to ALL author and book events including Friday and Saturday night entertainment events. Space at author tables on event floor for book signing and will receive one official t-shirt and book bag.
STAGE HAND SPONSORSHIP V.I.P. PACKAGE $250 (for attendees to the event):1 V.I. P pass to all author and book events including Friday and Saturday night entertainment events. Will receive one official t-shirt and book bag.
General Admission Tickets at the Door: $10.00 per person for adults$ 5.00 per person for students. Free for children under 12.
Special Sessions and Author Workshops to be announced: Advance Tickets: $20.00 per person for adults,$10.00 per person for students,$5.00 higher at the door and tickets will be limited so purchase yours today!
Tiara wearing, Book, Author, and Festival sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
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James Patterson PageTurner 2006 Award Winners!
Dear Pulpwood Queens and Beauty and the Booklovers!
It’s OFFICIAL! The James Patterson PageTurner 2006 Awards were announced today and I was one of them! Now there is no stopping me on my literacy promoting adventures! Onward and upward literacy promoting soldiers!
Read below the press release that I have copied and pasted to this letter!
Tiara wearing, Book, and Award sharing, Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Michelle Aielli Heather Rizzo James Patterson Publicity Manager Executive Director of Publicity, Little, Brown & Co. 212-364-1223 212-364-1495
WORD SPREAD WIDER, THE STAKES GREW HIGHER. THIS YEAR’S WINNERS WILL ASTOUND YOU
JAMES PATTERSON ANNOUNCES THE 2006 $500,000 PAGETURNER AWARD WINNERS
New York, NY, March 2, 2007: James Patterson announced today — NEA’s national Read Across America day — the 39 winners of the 2006 James Patterson PageTurner Awards, who will receive cash prizes totaling $500,000. Among the winners are libraries, schools, bookstores, and innovative individuals and organizations that go to extraordinary lengths to spread the joy of books and reading across the country.
From the Washington Center for the Book in Seattle, who started the breakthrough — and now widespread — “One Book” program, to the nonprofit organization 826 National, which works tirelessly to encourage creativity in children of all ages by providing enthralling reading and writing experiences, this year’s winners come from 34 cities in 23 states, and their amazing efforts reach as far as troops stationed in the Middle East and underprivileged children in Botswana, Africa.
Mr. Patterson is also honoring an elementary school principal who got his students geared up about reading by skydiving out of a plane; a New Orleans literary festival that continues to bring excitement and fun to a community still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina; a California “Bookseller of the Year,” dedicated to her cause since 1977, who hosts more than 600 author events a year; a Queens librarian who let kids in her community dye her hair purple to prove that reading actually can be fun; an African American Read-In program that brings in local heroes such as a pro football Hall of Famer turned Supreme Court justice to get the community excited about reading; and a national organization whose mission is to provide as many underprivileged children with their “first book” ever. And the overwhelming list goes on.
James Patterson says, “I love being able to help those who spread the word that reading a book is still one of the great joys in our lives.” This year’s winners truly embody the spirit and energy of the PageTurner Awards — to spread the excitement of books and reading as far and wide as humanly possible. And for that, we salute them all!
The 2006 James Patterson PageTurner Award winners are:
$100,000 PageTurner of the Year Award:
Washington Center for the Book Seattle, WA In 1996, well-known librarian and radio host Nancy Pearl (one of last year’s PageTurner merit winners and the model for a librarian action figure to boot!) helped create a fun, innovative concept: what if one entire city could come together to read, learn about, and enjoy the same book? And so, two years later, “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” was formed — literally bringing the whole city together through the power of one book. Run by the Washington Center for the Book and retitled “Seattle Reads,” this program soon caught on nationwide, and now over 450 different locations across the country, ranging from Los Angeles to the nation’s capital, host their own “One Book” events.
$50,000 PageTurner Champion Awards:
University of Minnesota’s African American Read-In Minneapolis, MN Now in its 18th year, the African American Read-In at the University of Minnesota is an annual celebration aimed at incorporating black literature into the community during Black History Month each February. With literary workshops, school-oriented programs, and noted speakers — like local hero Alan Page, a pro football Hall of Famer and current Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court—the Read-Ins affect at least 12,000 community members each year in Minnesota alone, with the ultimate goal of helping participants to develop a lifelong love of reading together as a family and as a community.
826 National San Francisco, CA Based in San Francisco but with offices in New York, L.A., Seattle, Ann Arbor, and Chicago, this nonprofit organization, cofounded by author Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), is focused on improving children’s reading and writing skills while encouraging creativity. The organization is so popular that even famous funnymen like Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, and Will Ferrell have joined in, lending their names and time to help raise money at 826 fund-raisers across the country.
All Hallows High School Bronx, NY All Hallows High School is located in the poorest congressional district in the United States. Due to a dedicated staff, a required “Drop Everything and Read” (D.E.A.R) program, numerous reading and writing-based curriculums, as well as a strong schoolwide mentoring program, All Hallows High has increased SAT verbal scores by 16% and AP English scores by 40% since its inception. In 1998 the entire graduating class was accepted into four-year colleges, and the school has since maintained a near-perfect college acceptance rate. With national outlets like the Wall Street Journal highlighting their phenomenal progress and visits from the likes of native New Yorker film director Spike Lee, All Hallows High is garnering attention each year for its ability to educate and nurture students to become the best they can be.
First Book Washington, DC First Book was founded in 1992 with the sole mission to get a first book into the hands of every child that comes from an underprivileged family. In their first year they gave out over 12,000 books; now they work with over 1,300 communities nationally, with outreach and book distributions close to 40 million. Countless celebrities, like Reba McEntire, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, and even former Secretary of State Colin Powell have helped to support First Book — named one of ten “Gold Star” charities by Forbes magazine in 2003 — with their worthy cause over the years.
$10,000 PageTurner Par Excellence Awards:
The Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library Nashville, TN Actress/Singer/Songwriter Dolly Parton started this program in 1996 as a way to help children in her hometown realize a love of reading from the earliest age possible. The idea has grown into an initiative that gives out over 2.5 million books annually. Currently, over 600 cities in 40 states have implemented the Imagination Library. In 2000, Dolly received an Association of American Publishers (AAP) honor, and just last year she donated the proceeds of her cookbook sales to benefit the library.
Family Literacy Foundation San Diego, CA Since winning a 2005 James Patterson PageTurner award, the Family Literacy Foundation has increased its outreach by almost 100,000 people. Through its main reading-related programs, United Through Reading, Building Bridges with Books, and Youth Reading Role Models, the foundation has clocked over 204,000 volunteer hours working to reinforce and foster relationships between children and their parents, family members, and friends through reading. Even First Lady Laura Bush has become involved, serving as the honorary chair of the United Through Reading program, which allows deployed U.S. soldiers to read books to their children via video, enabling troops to stay connected with their loved ones back home.
Books for Boys at the Children’s Village Dobbs Ferry, NY Another 2005 James Patterson PageTurner winner, Books for Boys at the Children’s Village is a unique and innovative program that utilizes a staff of teachers, librarians, and volunteers to read and share books with at-risk youth ages 6-21. Their projects include a visiting author series, internship programs that allow college students to work with the boys over the summer, and various mentoring programs. Even CSI: New York actor-author Hill Harper stopped by recently to read and talk to the boys!
Pam Shelton, Botswana Book Project Botswana, Africa Pam Shelton is a United States citizen who quit her job after 25 years as a Vermont librarian to move to the African country of Botswana. Pam set out to create much-needed libraries in schools throughout Botswana. Her mission was to get books shipped into the country so that children of all ages could learn to read — something they can’t do if they do not have the resources — and it proved to be no small feat. With the help of Books for Africa, she has brought and distributed more than 300,000 books in Botswana in just under 10 years.
Behind the Book New York, NY The nonprofit organization Behind the Book works with low-income youth in New York City public schools, grades K-12. Its motto is “Creating opportunities for tomorrow through creative reading experiences today.” The organization reinforces the excitement and importance of reading while emphasizing literacy skills and offering unwavering support to children working to further their education. Behind the Book was honored last year as a James Patterson PageTurner winner, and since then the organization has almost doubled its outreach.
Purvis J. Behan P.S. 11 Brooklyn, NY P.S. 11 is a New York City public school located in Brooklyn. A Title 1 school (set to ensure the academic achievement of the underprivileged) with close to 500 pre-K to fifth-grade students, the school lacks the necessary funds and donations to keep its library and classrooms stocked with books. Despite this, the school has continuously dedicated its time and energy to promote reading and literacy not only to the students, but to their parents and community as well. It holds an annual Book Bash for all students (which has raised thousands of dollars to improve the school’s library) as well as an annual Pajama Party (hugely popular with the students, who come to the gym-turned-huge-slumber-party dressed in their pajamas) and Read-a-thons aimed to teach kids that reading is an important, lifelong, and, most of all, fun part of their futures.
$5,000 PageTurner Award winners: Listed in alphabetical order
2nd Chance Books, Austin Public Libr
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This was my third year to attend Girl Friend Weekend. I wouldn’t miss it!!! I loved every minute of it. I must tell Marshall thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We all had a wonderful time in your city. We everyone felt so welcome and it was a
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What a fabulous time I had at the Pulpwood Queens’ Girlfriend Weekend and the “Hair Ball.” When else would I get to wear a glimmery turquoise gown to match the cover of my novel, HOT WATER, and a turquoise wig! A whole new meaning to
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Back home here in San Diego, when I tell folks about the leopardicous, tiara-donning, rhinestone-blazened Pulpwood Queens, they blink, drop their jaw, say “nooooo!” and then ask how they can get invited. Then I tell them about the Hair Ball
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