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reflections |
updates | featured state
While recently visiting family and friends in southern Missouri,
eastern Tennessee and stopping in
Square
Books in Oxford, Mississippi,
I was reminded that winter has a far-reaching hand and holds much of
America this time of year.
Still,
like many of you, I was warmed by candied apples, pecan pie,
lumpy mashed potatoes and a little whiskey in my hot cider. I’m back
in Cambridge, Massachusetts now, where winter 's grip is
tightening everyday. My hardy New England friends suggest that I
find a “winter hobby”. Most recommend cross-country skiing. I
have decided, however, on flower arranging
and reading from a new angle--that is, with the chair pulled
even closer to the fireplace.
Here
are a few reading suggestions to make your winter warm and cozy...
New On the Site!
State-of-the-Month ~~ Louisiana
Louisiana boosts some
of the most critically acclaimed writers in American Literature.
From authors born there, like
Truman Capote, to those, such as
William Faulkner, impacted by its rich character in a relatively short period of time.
Tennessee Williams
who
grew up in Mississippi and Missouri, found a wealth of
material to write about in New Orleans Once a successful
playwright, Williams adopted the state and divided his time between New York and
Louisiana.
Katherine Anne Porter called Baton Rouge home in her
younger years, and
Robert Penn Warren taught at Louisiana State
University in Baton Rouge. The state also boasts contemporary
writers like
Robert Olen Butler. Though not a southern writer,
Butler writes of life in Louisiana from a Vietnamese's point of view
in the Pulitzer Prize award winning
A Good Scent from a Strange
Mountain.
Did you
know?
~Louisiana
is the only state in the union that does not have counties. Its
political subdivisions are called parishes.
~Louisiana was named in honor of King
Louis XIV.
~Metairie is home to the longest bridge
over water in the world, the Lake Pontchartrain causeway. The
causeway connects Metairie with St. Tammany Parish on the North
Shore. The causeway is 24 miles long.
~Louisiana is the only state that still
refers to the Napoleonic Code in its state law.
See SLR's Louisiana page.
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