Classes start at my College tomorrow, another academic year begins. A ritual I’ve continued for many years is to read a book about teaching and/or teachers just before I return to the classroom. The book I picked this year is Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide. It’s the story of Conroy’s teaching experience on the desolate island of Yamacraw (Daufuskie Island, South Carolina). The African-American children of the island can scarcely read, barely speak, and are wretchedly poor. They can’t pronounce Conroy’s name so they call him “Conrack” which is the title of the 1974 movie version of the book starring Jon Voight. A second movie was made in 2006 starring Jeff Hephner and Alfre Woodard. Great teachers can inspire students and Pat Conroy was a great teacher. His story of how he organized a “field trip” for the students who had never left their island to “trick-or-treat” on Halloween at a South Carolina city is a joy to read. Of course, Conroy’s unconventional methods run afoul of the school’s Principal and the educational bureaucracy. As you read this story, you’ll see flashes of the novelist Conroy would develop into with novels like South of Broad, Beach Music, Prince of Tides, and The Lords of Discipline. GRADE: B+
Good choice, George. I liked it a lot, though The Prince of Tides is my favorite of Conroy’s books.
I’ve heard good things about SOUTH OF BROAD, Jeff. And it is Number One on the NY TIMES Best Sellers’ List.
That was a wonderful book. George, I am going to put a post on for Friday anticipating you, Bill and Rick will have books. If not, let me know.
I’ll have a FORGOTTEN BOOK for Friday, Patti. You know me…Mr. Reliable.
Mr. Kelley….Your kind note regarding Pat Conroy’s “the Water is Wide” showed up as a Google Alert. It seems like his new book is “all the rage”, but “The Water is Wide” speaks volumes about the Carolina LowCountry’s Gullah fastly forgotten culture. I am blessed however, to own two special pieces of property noted in Mr. Conroy’s book (page 69). It is there that he comments There was a sign on one of the buldings that read SILVER DEW WINERY 1953. He then pontificates about a magnificent old house that had a very large and tattered Confederate flag hanging from the porch. The Silver Dew Winery was a CIRCA 1883 Lighthouse structure converted by its Keeper to the first licensed winery in South Carolina. The magnificant building was the Bloody Point Lighthouse and currently my home. Other than a reference to the beach at Bloody Point, he never mentions the true name of the mysterious Island, Daufuskie.
Have a great academic year.
LowCountry Joe
Joe@LowCountryJoe.com
Thank you for your wonderful post, LowCountry Joe! I remember that part about the Confederate flag in The Water is Wide. Despite the grim subject matter, Conroy’s descriptions of that part of South Carolina and the island are sumptuous. And to live in a lighthouse! How cool is that!