A Southern Missive

I subscribe to The Writer’s Chronicle and the first article I read this month was written by Sybil Baker and entitled, “Lost Generations: The American Expatriate Writer.” As I have always been a fan of most of the writers she mentions and whose work she analyzes, I found the article extremely interesting. Ms. Baker is somewhat an expatriate writer herself, having traveled extensively and teaching English now in Korea at Yonsei University. She has a great website too. You can take a look here: http://www.sybilbaker.com/home.html. After reading the article, scanning her bio and website, I decided I would definitely place her fiction on my reading list.

Some of the expatriate writers she analyzes are Joyce, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Bowles–all of whom have influenced me greatly. She also discusses the new expatriates and their work. This is the kind of writing I like to discover–thoughtful, well documented, and original.

Right when I start to feel optimism about the good we can do with our students, some adult comes along and hurts the kids and our work in public education again. I teach gifted English at Bastrop High School in Morehouse Parish in Northeast Louisiana. Well, it seems our football team has to forfeit its State Championship because of ineligible players. Evidently there was an accusation against our school about some of our players (hurricane victims) . I want to say more, but I must have patience and wait for the results of our appeal. As of yet, we don’t know who our accusers are, or even for sure what the charges were specifically. LHSAA (There’s an interesting Acronym. A friend told me it stood for . . .No, I said I would wait before commenting.)

And I will wait. I’m too angry to write objectively on this. All I know for sure is, in the football year after Katrina, our community helped some boys who happened to be good football players, but according to LHSAA, we did it wrong. (I wonder how many hurricane victim kids LHSAA directly helped. No, don’t get me started.) So what do the pompous idiots do? After a savage witch hunt, they punish everyone they can–including the kids. It’s sad, but I’m sure the LHSAA officials feel self-righteous and proud of their achievements.

The students were hurricane victims remember. Yes, our school and community helped them–along with many others who did not play football. Once again I am dissillusioned with the bureacrats who run our state and especially those who have anything to do with public education.

I know the sports success of BHS has created enemies–after all, how can a rural, rather underfunded, black-majority high school defeat all the other teams they faced? (Bastrop was winning before the new players arrived. Also, many other schools received football playing students from the Katrina Diaspora.) It is easy to pass judgment on a school with football rules a year after the hurricane, when everyone has forgotten how bad the situation was, how that storm changed everything for us in Louisiana in those first few months afterwards. All kinds of exceptions to state laws and rules were made. When people need to be helped, only the most anal legalist will obsess about trivial interpretation of legalities. I guess we could have left the kids in the shelter.

One lesson: Never underestimate how mean, petty, and jealous people can be. Here’s another lesson for LHSAA and for the jealous people or school lodging complaints against BHS: People will never forget or forgive you for hurting kids. Even if kids did make a mistake, it’s you, the adult, that should know better. A real man doesn’t have to prove his power by beating up on kids. If adults committed a wrong, punish the adults. If it is misinterpretation of a “rule” or even a mistake, correct the individuals involved, but be civil and treat people with respect instead of acting like they’re your inferiors. If this is “sour grapes” or a vendetta, then someone needs to grow up and stop acting like a whining kid who can’t be on first string.

I can imagine the LHSAA leaders talking about how important this current witch hunt is. They would probably say, “It’s all about the kids.”

Yeah, sure.

In January of 2000, Jed Marum began his year by leaving a lucrative career so he could devote himself to his music. His first year as a fulltime musician earned exactly one tenth of what he had earned the year before. To his credit, he hasn’t looked back, and has built a solid career and reputation as one of America’s premier Scots-Irish musicians and is often a headliner at festivals. His schedule is a busy one, with over 150 shows a year—and the number of shows seems to be steadily growing.

In addition to his intense love for and commitment to Scots-Irish music, Marum has another passion—The Civil War. In our interview, I asked Marum how his interest in the War Between the States began. He said, “Once, I was being interviewed by Sunny Meriwether and she introduced me to her audience as an Irish singer who specializes in writing Civil War songs. I started to object saying that the Civil War was just a passing interest, when I realized that it had been passing for 10 years! That’s when I realized I really wasn’t just dabbling at the Civil War stuff, anymore. It had moved to a higher level.”

The fruit of Marum’s passion for this period of American history is his newest CD, Cross Over the River, a twelve-song collection of Irish and Confederate songs released August 4 of this year. This CD presents some of Marum’s finest guitar picking and original lyrics.

There’s something in this CD that stirs the spirit, and just as I was about to suggest the collection would be great music for movies of this period, I found out that Marum has agreed to license two new songs to Lone Chimney Productions for use in their upcoming film, Bloody Dawn. The film is being made for the PBS and History Channel markets and is planned for a 2006 release. The movie focuses on the border wars between Kansas and Missouri surrounding the days of the US Civil War.

The music is acoustic, with Marum on guitar, banjo, and banjola. Musicians performing with him are Jaime Marum on mandolin, Kathleen Jackson on upright bass, Mimi Rogers on fiddle and Ken Fleming on button accordion. Travis Ener and Kathleen Jackson are also featured in background vocals.

The collection’s songs are rich lyrically and musically, and several especially deserve comment. “Monaghan’s Lament,” is a song of an Irish born New Orleans resident, Col. William Monaghan of the 6th Louisiana. The song expresses a soldier’s emotions as he regards a fallen admired leader of one of the South’s most famous fighting units, “The Fighting Tigers.” “One Bloody Friday” is a haunting song, so effectively constructed that it makes the listener feel as if he were riding with Quantrell. “Cross Over the River,” is based on the last words of Stonewall Jackson. With this song, Marum takes us into the soul of a dying hero of the South. In other songs, Marum takes traditional melodies and masterfully creates moving interpretations. For example, I believe Marum’s rendition of the well-known “Shenandoah” to be unique and the best version I’ve heard.

I predict this CD will have strong appeal with Civil War aficionados, reenactors, performers, and anyone who loves good ballads. Just reading the CD’s insert and the background of the songs is an education and it reveals the extent of Marum’s research. Cross Over the River has a large targeted audience and has all the potential for becoming a cult classic. For the musician, Marum has also generously published a songbook containing lyrics and chords for both Cross Over the River and his earlier Civil War CD, Fighting Tigers of Ireland.

Cross Over the River is a collection of original and period music with lyrics that capture the heart of the many Irish who fought for the South. The CD is a reminder that there are many stories buried in history we have not yet heard, and there are emotions connected to that war that we haven’t yet considered. As a writer, Marum is not only skilled—he is honest. He knows that one’s culture and heritage can be lost, and he is determined to give life to long-silent voices. When those of the past fade from our memory and art, then they are truly dead to us. As long as there are writers like Marum who aren’t afraid to tell the stories, the dead will live on and our heritage will not be lost. The Scots-Irish majority who comprised the Confederate Army deserve the tribute of this CD.

You can purchase Cross Over the River here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jedmarum6. Read Marum’s bio, hear samples of his music, and keep up with news about him by checking out his website http://www.jedmarum.com/ or from his blog http://www.myspace.com/jedmarumband.