I
have a secret hobby.
I
pick up old photographs in antique stores and thrift shops and research who
they are, posting them online to hopefully reunite them with lost family and
friends. And sometimes, I pick them up just for their aesthetic value and you
can see many of these on my Pinterest boards.
What
a treat to find I’m not alone.
The
Museum of Modern Art in New York has been collecting photographs since around
its inception in 1929. They now have more than 25,000 in the collection, many
of which are “vernacular photography,” or photos “without artistic ambition.”
A
few of these photos — primarily women posing on lawns in good light — make
up the first book in a series by Maira Kalman, Daniel Handler and the museum,
where fun, everyday photos are collected and accented by artwork and prose.
The
first out the gate is “Girls Standing on Lawns,” women posing in the perfect
artist studio for the early- to mid-20th century, with its unlimited
light source and space to be imaginative — or not. Some pose stiffly, others in
wild dress or funny stances. “You don’t have to be self-conscious,” is one line
to match a woman in a fluffy dress besides what looks like high corn in a
backyard. “We’re all fools.”
I
adore this petite creative book, can’t wait for more. In its simplest form of
showcasing women on lawns with the briefest of prose — “Stand for something,
stand for something! Otherwise what do you stand for, why are you even
standing?” — it offers a glimpse into American society that’s both serious and
humorously irreverent.
“We’re
all, all of us, very foolish people standing around,” the authors attest.
And
I love every minute of it.
Wayward Girls
Sadie
is on the verge of adolescence in 1979, living in an idyllic New England suburb
at the start of “The Longings of Wayward Girls” by Karen Brown. She’s both
curious and imaginative and the summer before high school she and her best
friend, Betty, are thrown together with Francie, an awkward girl whose family
is shunned by the neighborhood.
Not
wanting to be associated with a geeky girl, Sadie and Betty play a prank on
Francie, first making up a farm boy that’s supposedly interested in Sadie, then
writing letters from the imagined farm boy to Francie, who replies in turn.
But
Sadie’s imaginary farm boy is actually Ray FIlley, a boy from the neighboring
farm Sadie’s secretly attracted to. Only a few years before, in 1974,
nine-year-old Laura Loomis had disappeared from the same neighborhood, a girl
who looks remarkably like Sadie. Laura was never found. When Sadie and Betty
write (as the farm boy) to Francie that he wishes to run away with her, Francie
disappears as well.
The
girls believe Francie has run away, but as the years pass and neither child is
seen from again, they learn to live with their guilty secret. As an adult,
Sadie marries and has two children of her own. One day, Ray Filley returns to
town and an attraction develops between them. Sadie must come to grips with her
feelings for her family, Ray, her mother and the past that continues to haunt
her.
The
book bounces back and forth between Sadie’s youth and as an adult, and I found
that style really developed the suspense. Sadie is flawed, selfish and
egotistical at times and when she makes grave mistakes you want to reach into
the book and slap her, which develops the suspense even more. My only complaint
was developments so obvious to Sadie and readers are ignored until the end,
which lessened both the character and the plot in my eyes.
Overall
the book is well written and the story keeps you hanging, wanting for more. A
great summer read!
New releases
The
sixth book in Jana DeLeon’s Ghost-in-Law mystery/romance series, “Chaos inMudbug,” set in a small town in Louisiana, is now available. For this
title and others set in our state, visit http://janadeleon.com/.
A
good book to pick up this summer when you’re wondering what will grow in
mid-year heat is “Deep South: Month-by-Month Gardening Alabama, Louisiana,Mississippi” by Nellie Neal. This handy guide takes you through each month,
detailing information for a variety of plants with breakouts information on
everything from how to grade a lawn to how to transplant during the summer.
Awards
The
Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) and the Louisiana Historical
Association (LHA) awarded Scott P. Marler’s “The Merchants’ Capital: NewOrleans and the Political Economy of the Nineteenth-Century South” (Cambridge
University Press 2013) as the winner of the 2013 Kemper and Leila Williams
Prize in Louisiana History. Marler’s
book covers the period of rapid growth and the following decline of New Orleans
during the antebellum period and beyond. The Kemper and Leila Williams Prize,
named for the founders of The Historic New Orleans Collection, is offered
annually by THNOC and the LHA. Since its inception in 1974, the prize has
recognized excellence in research and writing on Louisiana history. Recipients
receive a cash award of $1,500 and a plaque and are announced at the LHA’s
annual meeting each March. The
hardback book, which retails for $95, is available for purchase at The Shop at
The Collection, 533 Royal St. in New Orleans, www.hnoc.org or (504) 598-7147.
A
list of past Williams Prize recipients and the application information for next
year’s prize are available at www.hnoc.org. Eligible works must explore an
aspect of Louisiana history and culture or place Louisiana subjects in a
regional, national or international context. The deadline for 2014 Williams
Prize submissions is Jan. 15, 2015.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic
Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, and co-author of “Magic’s in
the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing
at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
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