As an English major and later English teacher at Belhaven, I had the usual memories–looking up at her busy concentration at that manual typewriter as we waited for the #4 bus. But when I encountered her in Jitney #14, our discussion was focused on a mutual friend, garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence. pictured right with her nephew

Years later, on a trip to Washington, my family shared first a cab and then a Greyhound bus to Meridian with Miss Welty, to catch the “Southern Crescent.” As we were going to a Daffodil Convention, we talked about the “square daffodil” which is mentioned in Losing Battles, and I was able to identify it as Narcissus moschatus.

Later, as the train clicked along, our 4-year-old son said, “Mother, I know she’s a famous writer, but doesn’t she know all daffodils are round?”

-Written by Loyce Cain McKenzie

above: Eudora Welty with her mother Chestina from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Understanding is often the key to coping with any problem. With 30 million Americans estimated to have migraines, The Migraine Brain by Dr.  Carolyn Bernstein helps migraine sufferers develop a strategy for dealing with this often debilitating neurological disease.

With helpful anecdotes, patient interviews and the latest in migraine research, Dr. Bernstein helps sufferers to identify their triggers, understand medicines and treatment options, and develop a plan for leading a healthy lifestyle. A migraine sufferer herself, Berstein is not only a specialist in the field but a sympathetic and compassionate care giver. Although I do not suffer from migraines, I do have headaches on a daily basis and I found her holistic approach refreshing. Reading her book I often felt like I was having a real doctor’s visit:

No two people are alike when it comes to migraine, and what works for your friend or neighbor probably won’t work for you. It may take trial and error to find the right mix of treatments for you, but I’m certain that, with some time and thought, you can feel much, much better.

Lastly, her “Migraine Mantras” left an impression on me:

Migraine is a treatable illness–you can feel much better.

You have a right to make your health a priority.

Controlling migraines is 50 percent education and 50 percent treatment.

This review of The Migraine Brain was featured on The Book Shelf of Mississippi’s very own magazine Well-Being. We are proud to contribute to Well-Being and always enjoy working with the Well-Being team. Mississippi is lucky to have such a great magazine and Lemuria has copies to pick-up for free at the Fiction Desk! Well-Being magazine is great way to keep up with local healthy events and fitness activities. You can also follow Well-Being on Facebook.

What is anybody doing to help children born into poverty to get through school, the elusive first stepping stone to success?

Every variation of this question seems to have been asked before, and there is no use hitting on a nail that’s already stuck an inch deep in the wall. Paul Tough’s new book dives straight into answers about what can be done; his message is grounded in clear argument, while providing thorough anecdotes that deconstruct society’s assumptions about education. He details the subtlety of defining “success,” examines the real predictors of success, and debunks our reliance on measures such as ACT scores, which many assume is the end-all be-all of upward mobility. This book offers a new way of seeing education. And all this in good, page-turning nonfiction.

The groundbreaking documentary, Waiting for Superman, came out in 2010. This book, to me, is the crucial next step in the conversation about education. Rather than focusing on structural changes that could, in theory, work, Paul Tough details stories of schools, charismatic students, and charismatic educators that he has spent time with firsthand. His background is in journalism, and he weaves in supplemental evidence from a myriad of fields with the analysis of his fieldwork with children and educators. He makes points that are so obvious as to be often ignored; for instance, he reminds us that even children who are “privileged” in the traditional sense often lack the character traits that predict successful college graduation and fulfilling vocation. If all that schools need is more money, why are many rich kids also dropouts? Never failing to consider the specific details and pitfalls of the research he calls on, Tough makes fresh points. Unlike some writing, though, it doesn’t seem that Tough is making this point just for the sake of making a point about something; this is real reporting and valid skepticism about education researchers’ and reformers’ understanding of education itself.

Tough argues both movingly and convincingly that character traits, and not results taken from tests of any kind in existence or use today, are “how children succeed.” But the message is hopeful. He shows that skills like confidence and resourcefulness can be developed in schools, even for children who missed out on basic nurturing and attention from their parents. There are things that schools and teachers can do to provide a background of capability that is missing for so many children due – very often – to poverty.

Beyond opening my eyes to fresh possibilities for the future of education, this book really helped to distill for me the types of character traits that I need to develop in myself. To sort of paraphrase Tough, these traits are grit, curiosity, confidence and resourcefulness, optimism, and the belief that even when it seems like you can’t face up to the challenge in front of you, intelligence and character can be learned and developed. The argument for what needs to happen within schools can be taken as doubly hopeful: if children can develop skills that were perhaps absent at the beginning of their time in school, then perhaps U.S. schools themselves can develop, too, at this time when the system can seem so hopelessly inefficient.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27.00

By Whitney

The Commitment Engine by John Jantsch, Portfolio, October 2012.

“John’s book is insanely brave and breathtakingly important. Take the time to read it slowly.”

-Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

Commitment determines the liveliness of your business. Commitment cannot be manufactured quickly. It’s not something you can talk about and bingo, it happens. Commitment must be cultivated carefully and nurtured. Commitment requires a clear understanding of your work. Understanding how commitment fits into your workplace culture and into your community determines your focus.

Real life marketing strategy is the core of what a business is. This is the way your community understands your brand. Marketing and customer service is the way your patrons receive what you offer through the effects of your work.

Jantsch’s fine book is divided into three parts:

1. The Path: Clarity

2. The Patron: Culture

3. The Promise: Community

I enjoyed Commitment Engine. While reading I reflected on Lemuria’s path. In doing so, I have become more conscious of our desired future path, a journey to be carved by Lemuria’s hard work and our customer service. We know that the only way for our customers to feel our commitment is to be fully alive in it ourselves.

Lemuria wants to engage you, our community, and help you be a part of our story. Our outreach team, Maggie, Emily and Lisa, make up our effort to go off site wherever you are. Another way we share is through our Remembering Miss Welty blog series. By sharing your story or just reading other stories, you can show our community how much Miss Welty still means to us. For 37 years, I feel like our customers have been part of our Lemuria story. However, we hope we can strengthen our relationship with our community. A total customer experience is our bookstore goal.

In conclusion, Commitment Engine helps you to review your work relationship with purpose and to readdress the meaningful ways your brand and your stories work within your community. Interwoven with clear authentic marketing and a complete brand commitment, reading Jantsch can help you define your real life strategy.

If you are interested in addressing your work commitment individually or as a business, read this book. Commitment Engine can help you understand how to challenge yourself.

About eight years ago I started going to Clarksdale to hear as much music as possible. On my first trip north I found Roger Stolle’s fine store Cat Head. Cat Head is my favorite store in Mississippi. It is funky in a 100% blues way and Roger shares his knowledge freely which makes a visit to Cat Head a 100 percent blues learning experience. Roger’s inventory is about blues books, blues music, blues arts with live blues inside or outside. This institution is about 10 years old. I caught Roger’s attention because I became a good customer and avid spokesman on his behalf of his work. If you haven’t been to Roger’s store, treat yourself. Go and support his efforts with your purchases.

Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc.

I also found Red’s Lounge run by Red Peden. Big Jack Johnson was playing his marvelous blues in this blues mecca and I was baptized into Red’s style of Jukin’.

Language of the Blues by Debra DeSalvo explains the origins of the word juke:

“A juke or juke joint  is a funky little bar (and sometimes brothel) that provides dance music whether from a piano player, a band, or a juke box. The word juke has been traced to the Gullah (Georgia Sea Islands) word joog, meaning disorderly. Joog has been traced in turn to the Bambara tribe’s word dzugu, which means ‘wicked.’ There’s also the Wolof word  dzug which means to misbehave or lead a wild life, and the Bantu juka, which means to rise up and do your own thing. In From Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang, Clarence Major wrote that  ‘jook’ is an ‘African word meaning to jab or poke–as in sexual intercourse, and was also used in the Caribbean.”

For me, a white guy, jook means good music and lots of fun.

As my friendship with Clarksdale and Roger developed I met Jeff Konkel and began stocking Jeff’s fine broke and hungry recordings. Roger and Jeff’s new collaboration is We Juke Up in Here! The DVD is the story of Red, his lounge and the shape of the Delta Jukin’ in the present. Viewing this fine work is a Delta Blues fan’s must.

As my son Austin and his pal Richard became fans of Clarksdale, they also realized the specialness of Roger’s Cat Head Store and its efforts. Austin and Richard were driven to launch their dreams of creating the first legal distillery in Mississippi. They believe in live music and wanted to donate part of their proceeds in support of musician causes. They were tumbling around name brands and took their business proposal to Roger to get his take. Roger was taken back but gave the idea a chance. After a while, Roger graced their project by voicing no objection and Cathead Vodka was born.

Lemuria is very happy to be a part of the Jackson area “We Juke Up in Here” release party.

Jackson’s screening will be held at Cathead Vodka Distillery.

Everyone is welcome!

Join filmmakers Damien Blaylock, Jeff Konkel and Roger Stolle for a screening of their latest film “We Juke Up in Here” at the Cathead Vodka Distillery in Gluckstadt, Mississippi.

Friday, October 26

Food & Drink at 7:00

Screening of “We Juke Up in Here” at 8:00

644 Church Rd Suite 1, Madison, Mississippi 39110

Click here for a map on the Facebook Event Page.

“We Juke Up in Here” is available in a deluxe two-disc collection (DVD with CD soundtrack) at Lemuria. You can purchase in store or order on our website for $29.99 + shipping.

Roger Stolle will also be at Lemuria to sign his book Hidden History of the Mississippi Blues at 5:00. Click here for more info.