Roam with Me: Oxford, Mississippi

 This post is about two of my favorite activities -- roaming and reading. And taking lots of photos of literary things!

This is a photo of William Faulkner's bedside bookcase. I recently visited his home in Oxford, Mississippi. It's called Rowan Oak, and he named it that after the rowan tree of Scotland and the live oak of America.

It sits on 33 acres of woodland, and you can walk a trail that connects his house to the University of Mississippi, which I did. It's a beautiful home and ideal for a writer.

There is a five dollar cash-only admission fee to tour the house, but there's a lot to see and appreciate inside, especially for an author and book lover like me. It was a treat to see the rooms in which he wrote his books as well as the room in which he hosted events and the bedrooms where he, his wife, and their daughter slept. 

This and the photo below show Faulkner's library. Above the mantel is a portrait of him done by his mother, Maud Butler Falkner in 1929 -- no, I didn't misspell her last name; William Faulkner added the "u" to his last name in 1918.

This is Faulkner's office, which was added on to the house by Faulkner in 1950. The typewriter sits on a small table that he preferred to use all the time. His mother gave him the table, and he would drag it outside to write also. 

 Below are photos of the plot outline of his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "A Fable," that he wrote on the walls of the office with a graphite pencil and a red grease pencil. 

So far, Faulkner's works have been ones I've struggled to read, but I want to read more, if not all, of his 19 novels and numerous stories. He won the Pulitzer two times -- in 1963 for his final novel, "The Reivers," and in 1955 for "A Fable." He also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. These attest to the power of his writing.

His Nobel acceptance speech is on display at Rowan Oak. 

His speech is exemplary, but I also appreciate his approach to the writing life summer up in the quote below.

In the house is an area where you can listen to Faulkner's speech and you can listen to him pronounce Yoknapatawpha, the Mississippi county he created and used in many of his writings.

The grounds around the house are beautiful and heavily wooded. I highly recommend walking the trail that snakes through the acres between Rowan Oak and the university campus. It leads directly to the art museum on campus.

After visiting Rowan Oak, walking the woodland trail, and viewing some of the art in the museum, the next stop in Oxford was Square Books, one of the premiere independent bookstores in the country. Prior to my visit, though, I thought it was one store, but it's actually FOUR different ones, all located on the beautiful square surrounding the Lafayette Country Courthouse.

Square Books is the original store, but it expanded to add Off Square Books which handles used books, sells hobby books, and has the event space and an eclectic mix of gift items. There is also Square Books Jr. which sells children's books, and Rare Square Books which sells an amazing selection of rare books. To get to that one, you must climb what I affectionately think of as the stairway to heaven.

Since I'm a bit of a collector myself, I spent a lot of time in Rare Square Books, but I don't have the money to purchase the truly rare books. However, I did score a quality copy of The Viking Portable Library's "The Portable Faulkner" and a couple other things. 

In Off Square Books, I got John Cheever's "The Wapshot Chronicle" and "The Wapshot Scandal" in one combined edition by Harper and Row. Here are a few photos of the interior of that amazing bookstore.

At the flagship store of Square Books, I spent a lot of time in the Faulkner area trying to decide which books to buy. I already owned many of his works, so I was able to narrow it down to a couple I didn't have. Here are my purchases, including the copy that I bought at Rare Square Books.

Square Books has an upstairs section -- that's where the Faulkner books are -- that includes a coffee and soda shop. It, and its three counterparts, are worth a visit from any book lover.

This is only a small portion of the photos arrayed throughout the store of authors who have visited and held signings or events at the bookstore.

There is a walkway that cuts through part of a block on the square that Faulkner used a lot. It's now called Faulkner Alley. There is some artwork on display in it.

Oxford's main area is very walkable, and that's exactly what I did. We stayed in the Graduate, a nice hotel only a block from the courthouse square, and we walked to Rowan Oak and through the woods to the campus museum and then back to the main square. Prior to all of that, though, we walked a few blocks in the opposite direction to visit Faulkner's grave in the Oxford Memorial Cemetery. While Google Maps made it very easy for me to find his grave, the cemetery has a sign along the sidewalk that points it out as well.

The hotel has a rooftop bar which also has an outdoors patio that makes for a nice place to sit and unwind after a long day. From there, the courthouse is clearly visible and lit up at night.

A habanero mango margarita to end the day. Yum.

And one last photo of an amazing selection of classic books on a shelf at Rowan Oak.

Roam with me! Mexico, October-November 2023

 Hola. I have sadly neglected this blog, even though I love it and its concept, due to focusing on my own novel writing, promoting those books, and starting and maintaining two Substack publications -- Cognate Cognizance and Tomes and Topics. I'm going to write a long overdue post now.

I'm in the Yucatan part of Mexico. The above photo is of me at the beach in Progreso and sporting the cool cap that I bought at La Isla mall in Merida. Merida is where I've spent the bulk of my time since arriving on October 22nd because my friend, Silvia, lives there. She's the reason I came to Mexico, but I also chose this particular time, so I could see some of the things they do for Day of the Dead. Even though I taught Spanish for 30 long years, I never got to Mexico during the annual Day of the Dead celebration because I was always smack in the middle of the school year and my obligations for it. 

Thus, it's been on my very long list of things I want to see and do for far too long, and I can finally cross it off. Since Merida is in the Yucatan, most of the things they did to celebrate the holiday were steeped in Mayan culture, and even the 10-day celebration was often referred to by its Mayan name of Hanal Pixan.

Due to time constraints, my friend's dialysis that she has to do four times a day, the location of events, and other things, we certainly didn't get to every event that was available -- all free of charge -- during that time, but we attended enough to satisfy my desire to see part of the celebrations. 

The first thing we did was attend one of the nighttime tours of the oldest cemetery in Merida, the General Cemetery, which is located near the international airport. Our Didi driver dropped us off on the wrong side of the huge walled cemetery, though, so we began walking. Fortunately, a young man passing by on the other side of the street in his car saw us walking and assured us we were going in the right direction, but we weren't sure how to traverse a very large and deep rain puddle that covered the entire intersection. Plus, it was still quite a trek, so Silvia asked if he'd take us and we could pay him -- he did! He also returned after we were done with our tour and took us to the main square for the next event we did -- he was very nice, and of course we paid him for his time because he was also an off-duty Uber driver. 

Anyway, back to the cemetery. When we arrived, the first tours were beginning. Each tour was only supposed to have 50 people in it, and we could see right away that there were way more than 50 people there, but suddenly a smaller group broke away from the large group, and Silvia heard the guide saying that it was the English group, so we just walked over to it. A man looked at me and asked if I was on the list. "List? What list?" I asked, certain that we were about to be asked to wait until the next tour started in two hours, but he just said, "Let me get it." He came back with a clipboard and paper, and had me put my name on it, party of two; so I did, and Silvia and I joined the English group for the very first tour of the cemetery.

It really only constituted a small portion of a very extensive cemetery, and I don't recall all the things the guide told us. I wasn't really there for the history lesson anyway -- I have a strange fascination for cemeteries, especially old, large ones. Thus, I mostly just took a lot of photos. A return trip in the daylight would be beneficial, but I don't think it's going to happen on this trip.

So, here are a few of the photos I took in the General Cemetery of Merida.

 After our kind young driver named Manuel returned for us, he took us to the main plaza where the opening ceremony for Hanal Pixan was about to begin. There was a very long line, so we browsed in the Dante bookstore until the line began to move, and then we joined it. Once inside the theater, though, it was hot and crowded and full of copal, a type of incense, that got to both of us, so we didn't stay for the whole thing. Additionally, the speakers were cranked to the highest volume, I think, and it echoed badly in there to the extent that I couldn't understand anything being said anyway. I got enough of the procession, though, to appreciate what was taking place.

A couple nights later, we returned to the street leading to the General Cemetery to view the passing of the 700 ánimas, or reanimated souls, as they came out of the cemetery and reentered the world during the time of the Day of the Dead celebration. The procession was very cool, and the mayor of Merida led it, but afterwards, we had a heck of time getting through the throngs of people to a place where we could arrange a car to come get us. In fact, Silvia's phone battery was exhausted, and my phone wouldn't pick up any service to allow me to arrange a driver, so we had to call her daughter who then sent a Didi driver to get us, but we had to walk a long ways to a spot that the driver could even get to because so many roads were closed for the event. It was crazy and chaotic, and Silvia really needed to do her dialysis, and she was exhausted, so I was on the cusp of panic, but it all worked out as things tend to do.

Prior to the procession, since we'd arrived plenty early, we were able to see many of the altars erected along the route. Afterwards, there were so many people that it was impossible to see anything other than the crush of people around us.

In that last photo, you can see the sign that says "Marquesitas" on it. Prior to this trip, I'd never had one. Now, I've had two, including the one I had from that stand. Here is Silvia with hers before the procession began. It's basically a large, warm ice cream cone type of crust that is wrapped around the filling you want in it. Silvia always just gets shredded cheese in hers, so that's what I got, too, and it was surprisingly delicious.

The next event that we went to was a Mayan circus in which they enacted folkloric stories and legends. Prior to it, a local comedian named Tia Chayo performed for an hour. I enjoyed her show because it was funny and because I understood most of it, which says a lot for someone who is listening to something in a second language. The only parts that went over my head were the ones where she and another comic verbally sparred and used Yucatecan colloquialisms that I don't know. The Mayan show was good, but it should have been longer because it was the main show yet it ran shorter than Tia Chayo's performance. Prior to the show, I had that second marquesita.

Tia Chayo

The most uncomfortable chairs in the world for viewing a two-hour performance.

The final thing we attended was the Vaqueria de las Animas, which was a dance performance on a stage that was set up near the main plaza. Prior to it, we visited the main altar of Merida and the Camino de las Flores which was installed in the art corridor that runs alongside the main cathedral of Merida. I had to sit on the same uncomfortable chairs that they'd used a couple nights prior in a different part of the city. Merida, take note -- you need different chairs; in fact, one that my friend's daughter initially sat on was completely broken, and if I'd had the misfortune of sitting on it, I would have ended up on the ground.

Crappy chairs notwithstanding, though, the show was wonderful, the plants and flowers were beautiful, and the main altar for the Day of the Dead was reverent. 

Those are the main things I did for Day of the Dead. I don't know if I'll ever be back to Mexico for another one, but I hope so. I would like to see how they celebrate it in other parts of the country, too. I also had my first pan de muertos, bread of the dead, at Silvia's sister's house one evening -- actually, it was the evening only hours after I heard of Matthew Perry's passing. 

A cookie decorated for Day of the Dead that I bought for myself.

Yucatecan food is very delicious, but my favorite is and will always be lime soup. Silvia took me and her daughter to an amazing restaurant in the Centro that serves some of the best lime soup I've ever had the pleasure of eating.

If you're ever in Merida, be sure to go to this restaurant. The service is excellent, the food is delicious, and the ambiance is incredible.

I love Mexican beer. In my opinion, it is much better than American beer. My favorite by far is Sol. It's somewhat hard to find, though. A common way to order beer here is to have it served chelada, which means they add lemon and salt to a glass and then pour the beer into it. It's wonderful, and I usually get my beer that way; however, on this trip I learned something from Silvia's cousin one night. She ordered her beer served ojo rojo, which translates to "red eye." It's the same as the chelada, essentially, but with tomato juice added to it. Since I'm a big fan of Bloody Marys, it made sense for me to give it a try. Well, let's just say that's the only way I'm ordering a beer here from now on. 

While seeing some of the Day of the Dead events and eating good food and drinking good beer are all great things, the main reason I came and have stayed so long was to see Silvia. It had been three years since I'd last seen her, and at that time, I feared greatly for her because she was very ill from her kidneys failing her. That transpired while she was living in Nebraska and working to complete an associate's degree in business. Fortunately, the college allowed her to get her degree even though she didn't quite finish the classes due to being in the hospital for a month before returning to Merida. It's a long story, but after her return, she was on hemodialysis until she managed to have a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, despite medication to prevent it, her body rejected the kidney. Hemodialysis didn't work well for her and was very hard on her heart, so she's now on peritoneal dialysis, which she must do 4 times a day from home. 

She's been in and out of the hospital often these past three years, and covid restrictions prevented a visit from me earlier. With time, things have stabilized for her and for our world, so it was time for me to visit. Thus, I'm finally here. Even though three years went by without seeing her in person, once we reconnected, it was like no time had passed at all because that's how it is for true friends. While I don't want to leave her because I don't know when I'll be able to return, I also am ready to get back to my own routine at home. 

I especially want to get back, so I can begin doing my appearances for my latest novel -- the copies arrived at home during my absence. 

The fifth novel, though, was the one that I dedicated to Silvia. I sent her a copy a year ago after I released it, so once I was here, I was able to take a photo with her holding the book that I both dedicated to her and signed for her -- "Trouble on Tybee." 

If I ever hit it big as a writer, I will do more to help my friend. Until then, I will just try to get back here for another visit as soon as possible.

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