Families are the pride of Mississippi. In the Magnolia State many players on high school football teams were preceded by their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and cousins. Coaches often coach their own sons and sons of former players. Generations of Mississippians are linked by this fraternal connection to this hometown team. As a result, legacies are created.

Gridiron Glory captures some of Mississippi’s football legacies in photographs of Jay Lacoste (Gulfport) and his son Paul (Jackson Prep), Ken Toler (Inverness) and his son Ken, Jr. (Jackson Prep). Coach Robert Morgan and his three sons, Rob, Brett and Josh (Warren Central) and the rich legacy of Olive Branch with the Brigance, Pool and Samsel families.

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The ultimate producer of Magnolia football legacies–The University of South Panola–is represented by a number of action packed photos. Jim Drewry, whose coaching career spanned six decades, producing a multitude of player and coach legacies, is honored with a two-page color photo leading his Booneville Blue Devils onto the field at a State Championship game.

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If you are a football fan, Gridiron Glory will entertain you with its unique collection of photographs, many of which have never been made public.

-Mike

The Frascognas will be signing Gridiron Glory this evening at 5:00.

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Like most of us, John Grisham bumbled around a lot until he found his niche in the world. Not like most us, he became the best-selling author we know today. His essay gives us a glimpse into this young-hearted journey.

“My career sputtered along with little to add to the resume. Retail caught my attention, primarily because it was indoors, clean, air-conditioned, much softer than, say, asphalt or plumbing, and I applied for a job at a Sears store in the mall. The only opening was in men’s underwear, and since I was in college and needed the money, I reluctantly hired on. It was humiliating . . . I tried to quit but they gave me a raise. Evidently, the position was difficult to fill. I asked to be transferred to toys, then to appliances, but they said no and gave me another raise. (These were not big pay hikes, mind you.) I became abrupt with customers, and I am compelled to say here that Sears had the nicest customers in the world. But I didn’t care. I was rude and surly and was written up on a occasion by the ‘shoppers,’ spies hired by Sears to buy things and fill out reports. One of these ‘shoppers’ asked if he could try on a pair of boxers. I said no, said it was obvious to me that the boxers in question were much too small for his rather ample rear-end. I handed him a pair of XLs, said I was sure they would fit fine, and he didn’t need to be trying on our brand new underwear. He took offense. I got written up, but they still wouldn’t transfer me. I asked for lawn care. No. I finally quit when a customer with obvious hygienic deficiencies insisted on returning a three-pack of low-cut briefs. Other minimum wage paid jobs came and went, none as exciting as selling underwear.” (109-110)

Editor Sonny Brewer will have a signing and reading for Don’t Quit Your Day Job on Wednesday, December 1st.

Read an excerpt from an essay by Pat Conroy.

Signed copies of John Grisham’s new novel, The Confession, are available!

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One of the most heated high school football rivalries in America takes place every year in southeast Mississippi. As one long time Mississippi high school football fan stated, “Turn out the lights, lock the doors, hide the women and children because West Jones and Wayne County are playing football tonight.”

Here is what the Mustangs and War Eagles say about each other. According to a former West Jones Mustang football player, “Instead of War Eagles, we like to call them War Chickens. Our fans wear KFC buckets on their heads.” A former Mustang cheerleader commented, “They have big trucks and coon dogs.”

Wayne County War Eagles fans say, “West Jones are the rich boys; they view us as the country hicks.” Another War Eagle fan comments, “Yes sir, West Jones sees us as rednecks and ole country bumpkins.”

However, there is one thing War Eagle and Mustang fans can agree on. The West Jones and Wayne County rivalry is why the game of football was invented because it cannot get any better. The fans and players from each team may hate each other (in a football way) but they love the rivalry. Go War Chickens!

The Frascognas will be signing Gridiron Glory at Lemuria on Wednesday, November 17th at 5:00.

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This is book nerddom at its finest. I fell in love with Vladimir Nabokov after reading Lolita in college (no chuckles, now). Humbert Humbert’s perversion notwithstanding, Nabokov’s prose is like a kick in the head for me — when I read a single sentence by him I want to throw the book down and write something myself. Though I lack the discipline required of a writer, the best books — those that come closest to making me feel writing isn’t so much a discipline as it is a tapping into the essence of lyricism, with the perfect balance of playfulness and reverence, make me want to write so bad. And everything I’ve read by Nabokov does. After Lolita I read Laughter in the Dark (or Camera Obscura), then Despair, then Pnin, Ada, and when The Original of Laura — Nabokov’s last, incomplete novel, written on 138 index cards — came out last year in a really amazing format designed by Chip Kidd, I snatched it up. Though I am too rigidly pro first edition to punch out the perforated reproduced index cards, the way the book was put together really is delightful.

So someone came up to the desk the other day to get a copy, and along with The Original of Laura they had a book called The Ada Poems by Cynthia Zarin. It had to be more than a coincidence, I thought, and sure enough: Zarin used as the inspiration for her fifth book of poetry Nabokov’s Ada, or Ardor. It may be my adoration of T. S. Eliot’s poetry that makes me sympathetic to the idea of structuralism, but I think most artists whether they be novelists, poets, painters, are going to agree that the role of tradition, respecting the work that came before theirs and making use of it, is important. In an obvious way, Zarin’s poems brought me back to the experience of reading Nabokov, though not just because the voice of many of her poems was that precocious character, Ada. It was more that her words, their playfulness and precision, reminded me of Nabokov’s. I’m really enjoying reading these poems, and I’ll likely go back and read her earlier collections, as well.

For more on Nabokov read Lisa’s blog on The Original of Laura here.

Gridiron Glory has captured some of the classic moments in one of the most fascinating high school rivalries in Mississippi–the Jackson Academy Raiders and the Jackson Prep Patriots. This annual gridiron classic is more competitive than others because it often involves people in the same household. It’s one room in the house versus another room down the hall. Members of the same family can become mortal enemies (at least for one day) over the outcome of the JA-Prep game.

The origin of the rivalry began in 1984 and the intensity of the game keeps accelerating like a rocket to the moon. The 2010 game was broadcast by Fox South Sports and televised to 13 million viewers in seven states. Each game has been a classic in its own right in the joy of victory for one team and a bitter disappointment for the other. All in all, it is high school football at its finest for players, parents and fans.

The Frascognas will be signing Gridiron Glory at Lemuria on Wednesday, November 17th at 5:00.

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