Arkansas Blog

This conspiracy to put all projects downtown will not come as a surprise to the rest of Little Rock.

The non-compete agreement with surrounding communities might, however.

I love Little Rock. Don't live there, but come every chance I can. I know it's got its problems, but if you read the papers of other metro areas, ours aren't really different. That being said, I wouldn't think that being envied by Jackson, MS is something we should crow about. Thank God for Mississippi and all.

Why don't the two towns get together and work on getting an interstate built between LR and Jackson?

Thank God for Mississippi? Hear it all the time, but often wonder why in God's name we Arkies think we can look down our noses at our Miss-sippy friends. They're far ahead of us in so many ways. I wish we had half as much mileage of good, divided highway as they have. And I wish we had their Gulf coast with fresh seafood and shipbuilding jobs; and a congressional delegation as strong as theirs. Miss-sippy folk ain't nearly as uptight as we are, either; The good times roll with drankin', casinos and such while our Legislature and people are too 'fraid of preachers and goin' to hail to allow statewide gamblin'. Miss-sippy's easily our match or better when it comes to improved racial relations, too; far more blacks elected to office there than here. Of course, far more blacks down there, but still.

And until we can produce the likes of Billy Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Hodding Carter, Shelby Foote, Ellen Gilchrist, and John Grisham, we'd better not turn up our noses at their writers and other artists. Oh, and Jack Butler! If you haven't read that ole Alligator, Miss-sippy boy's "Living in Little Rock with Miss Little Rock," you've missed a real treat. So, bottom line: Don't go pickin' on Miss-sippy, y'all! I'll always have a special place in my big ole thumpin' heart for that state. Ya see, I fell in love with the cutest little weather girl down there in Jackson town long time ago. And then one day she went away. And I thought I'd die. But I didn't. And when I didn't, I said, "Is that all there is to a weather girl, is THAT all there is?" Judy Moon, where th' hell are you these days, hon? reallawyer, that interstate 'tween LR and Jackson would be nice!

I like MIssissippi but the writers you mentioned couldn't carry the water for one Charles Portis, the south's most under-appreciated writer. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and read Gringos.

Love my Charles Portis collection, scrapper72. His entire works are on my shelves and I've read 'em all. Have never had the pleasure of meeting Portis, but interestingly, my parents and his were good friends going all the way back to the early 1950s. If memory serves, the elder Portis was the school superintendent at Hamburg. Could be wrong about this, but believe his mom wrote for the local paper down there. And it seems like there was at least one other Portis son; Jonathan, maybe? Anyway, according to my dad, the elder Portis wasn't enamored of the idea of his son being a writer of fiction; feared the boy would starve to death. Think he even worried for awhile after True Grit; ya know, beginner's luck and all that. Sometimes we surprise our parents, don't we.

I love Little Rock and I can understand others feeling the same. How else can you explain all of these Yankees moving here?

durangokid,

May we all have been, or will be, such pleasant surprises to our parents. Help me out...I think I've read all of his works, but I believe he's written only 4 novels (we should all be so prolific). Besides the two mentioned, I remember Dogs of the South. What is the other one, and and I'm correct on the number?

durangokid,

I'll see your Ellen Gilchrist with a Donald Harington and raise you a Frank Stanford. I'll also note how many of those Mississippi writers--Gilchrist, Butler, Jim Whitehead--came to Arkansas to flourish.

scrapper72, three or four Portis fans I know somehow missed Masters of Atlantis, written 25 years or so ago. You may have missed it, too. The others I have are Norwood, True Grit, Dog of the South, and Gringos. Somewhere I read or heard that Portis is working on another book, but I've heard nothing more and have seen no evidence of anything new. But surely he has at least one more novel inside his head trying to get out. Hope so. It's been a long time since Gringos.

John A., I'll have to take your word about Harington and Stanford. Must confess I've not gotten around to them, but you've stirred up an interest. And, yeah, some of those Miss-sippy writers have come over here to the Land of Opportunity to flourish; sort of like Arkansas-born Grisham crossing the river to Miss-sippy to prosper. Wherever they settled, we're fortunate to have 'em all.

Want to make both of you aware of a relatively unknown Arkansas writer who really has great promise. He's Clyde Allen Rodgers of Crawfordsville who's written "Lives of Quiet Desperation," a book that reflects an important and interesting era of Arkansas history. Far better than Grisham's "A Painted House." Entertaining and informative from start to finish. Great story line, character development, and flow. Check it out.

durangokid,

Oh, my! You have a wonderful experience ahead of you. I'd recommend starting on Harington with either _The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks: A Novel_ or _The Choiring of the Trees_. If you prefer non-fiction, _Let Us Build Us A CIty_ is pretty fine. As for Stanford, there isn't a single published poem by him that isn't wonderful. The too-thin selection from the UAF press, _The Light the Dead See_, is as good a place as any to start.

Thanks, JohnAArkansawyer! You've sold me on those guys. Will definitely give 'em a read.

I am a first-time blogger. I just wanted to thank JohnA. for his nice comments about my novel, "Lives of Quiet Desperation". My name is Clyde Rodgers, and I was surprised to find my book mentioned on this site. John, I really appreciate what you said about my story.

I jus figured out that it was Durangokid who recommended my book. Thanks, man. I am glad you enjoyed the story, and I apprecaite the kind words.