Margaret Media gets fresh start with new books
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It seems as if another Katrina story comes out every day. Margaret Media is a book publishing company that was founded in New Orleans in 1981. The company was named for Mary Haughery, an Irish social worker in 19th century New Orleans.
After losing her husband and infant child to yellow fever, Haughery devoted her life to feeding the destitute people in the city. Through successful businesses in a dairy and a bread baking factory, she made daily rounds donating milk and bread as sustenance to indigent people in the streets of New Orleans. Her philanthropy supported various asylums and orphanages in the city. Upon her death in 1882 she left a will of $30,000, all earned by her own hand and to be divided among nine charities. Her will was signed with an X because she had never learned to read or write. So beloved was she by the citizens of New Orleans that in 1884, two years after her death, a statue of her likeness in carrera marble, imported from Italy, was erected in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans in an area to be called Margaret Place. The statue, the first of a woman in the United States, is fittingly inscribed simply with her first name, Margaret. It stands today in its original site at the confluence of Pyrtania and Clio streets near the Interstate overpass.
Margaret Media is a modest venture yet has several titles of mainly Louisiana-related works to its credit. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Margaret Media lost its offices to flooding. The President of the company, Mary Gehman, was determined to keep going. She relocated to a house in the historic district of Donaldsonville. The publisher has returned to publishing with a small list of Louisiana-related books, including a short story collection, a photo memoir about a writer’s grandmother’s cypress cabin, a romance set in Louisiana and a cultural encyclopedia of New Orleans told from an English/Spanish perspective. All the books are to be published this year.
In fact the first one is out. It’s called Down at the End of the River ($15, softcover) and is a collection of short stories by Baton Rouge writer Angus Woodward (he teaches at Our Lady of the Lake College). There are 10 stories collected in these 139 pages, all set in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Some of the stories are of middling quality. Some have been published before. Several stand out including the funny “A Proclaimer in Creeperdom” which is set in a mythical Lexington Parish very near to Hammond and very like Livingston Parish. The protagonist, Gary, is a former “Proclaimer,” a member of a small religious sect whose main belief is that you must say the name of Jesus Christ as many times and as loudly as possible all day long. Gary has left the church when he meets Liz; she’s also a Lexington Parish native but she’s moved away to Ponchatoula to live in an apartment. She has long hair, pinned up into a bun, and wears dresses that extend to just below her knees. Despite her conservative dress, Gary is smitten. Then she tells him she is a “Creeper.” He doesn’t know what that is but accepts an invitation to attend her church. Once there, the pastor’s sermon startles Gary.
“ ‘Dear Gosh,’ the old man began, and Gary’s eyes popped open. Speech impediment? he wondered. ‘We ask your blessing upon this church and those gathered here today, and that you may keep us from harm, especially with a holiday weekend approaching and so many drunks upon the roads. Golly, we know that you sent your Son to this world to wash us clean of sin, and pray that we may follow his example and never stray from the path you have chosen for us. Amen.”
Liz explains to Gary that the Creepers believe the name of God and of Jesus is so sacred that it shouldn’t be spoken aloud. So instead of Jesus Christ, they say “Jeepers Creepers,” hence the name of the religion.
It’s a very funny conceit, and of course this is a theological Jack Sprat story where Gary and Liz are clearly predestined for each other.
Other tales deal with a New Orleans burglar who retires to the Baton Rouge suburbs, the title story. A couple whose marriage is stressed after Hurricane Katrina brings a beautiful exchange student to shelter in their home, a romance among French Quarter street kids, a woman who returns to New Orleans from military service in Iraq with an imaginary Quatari friend, and more. The book is a bit pricey for a short story collection of 139 pages, but every one of these stories is about some place you know. The editing is good, the grammar solid and the storytelling is linear for the most part. All these short stories really are short, easy to digest and some of them are amusing or thought-provoking. It’s a nice choice with which Margaret Media signals it has made a new start.
Day of the Child
El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros, Day of the Child/Day of the Book, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates each year on April 30. Known commonly as Dia, the celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for children of all cultural backgrounds. In honor of this occasion, each location of the Ascension Parish Library will host bilingual Dia celebrations featuring Spanish/English books, songs and crafts to fit the theme.
The Gonzales location, 708 S. Irma Blvd., plans to share bilingual versions of two popular children’s books: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. Children can also participate in a bilingual version of the Hokey Pokey as well as make a papel picado, a traditional Mexican paper decoration. Dia takes place at the Gonzales location at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.
The Donaldsonville location, 500 Mississippi St., plans to share Spanish/English readings of Jaime y las Bellotas by Tim Bowley, Manana Iguana by Ann Whitford and Uno, Dos, Tres by Pat Mora. Children can participate in three bilingual songs and make a papel picado at this location as well. Dia takes place at the Donaldsonville location at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30.
The Galvez location, 40300 La. 42, has a fun-filled program packed with bilingual songs and books. Parents and children can enjoy Spanish/English readings of Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Children in attendance can make two crafts to use as they learn the bilingual versions of two popular children’s songs: Elephants on a Spider’s Web and The Cat. Dia takes place at the Galvez location at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 30.
For more information on the library’s El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros celebrations, contact the Ascension Parish Library in Gonzales at (225) 647-3955, in Donaldsonville at (225) 473-8052, or in Galvez at (225) 622-3339.
Signings
James Nolan, author of Perpetual Care And Other Stories, will sign copies of his book at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at Octavia Books, 513 Octavia St., New Orleans.
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