Publications
soul places
Submitted by admin on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 12:15.
Excerpt from the book:
-From the preface by Lamar Massingill
"These are selected essays written over the years 2004-2006 for the Magnolia Gazette and are recorded in their original form as I have journeyed to the places we all travel at some point in our life journey. At each place, I have tried to share some bit of wisdom that I have found helpful and have offered it to those of you to whom I am deeply grateful, the readers.
"I welcome you with a sense of hospitality as we journey together to those places to which human beings have traveled since our beginnings. If, along the way, I have touched a chord that causes you to resonate, I will be all the more grateful."
"A protégé to the late John R. Claypool -- Episcopal priest and best selling author who praised Massingill's 1995 book, New Eyes, as 'a gift' ---Lamar Massingill continues through these essays a 'confessional' style of sharing insights into the places human experience will inevitably take us."
---Clayton Sullivan is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Southern Mississippi and a prolific writer and author.
A philosopher, as well as a minister. Such were the words my mother used to describe her then minister at Tylertown United Methodist Church, the Rev. W. Lamar Massingill. Those words fit Lamar well, revealing the depth of his passion not only for the spiritual life, but also for the written and spoken word. Another friend, who never missed a sermon, told me that whenever Lamar spoke at church, "I learned something wonderful and unexpected." After hearing him speak several times, I cornered him during a church event at my brother's house and discussed utilizing his sermons in my weekly newspaper, the Magnolia Gazette. I knew his sermons would make a difference in the life of my readers, and I also asked that he assume the job of the paper's Religion Editor. He was already a reader of the Gazette, already a fan of the award-winning talents of such writers as Dawn Dillon Barrett, Richard C. Wood, and Walter Neil Ferguson. He soon said yes, and it wasn't long, the November 18, 2004 issue, that Lamar's first column appeared in the Gazette's pages. Since that original column, Lamar has garnered an extensive following of readers stretching from the cypress swamps and bayous of Louisiana to the red clay hills of north Mississippi. I can't tell you how many subscribers begin their praise of the Gazette with praise of that "Preacher Massingill's column."
(From the Prologue, written by Lucius M. "Luke" Lampton, MD)
Copies are now available.
$19.95 plus tax
Contact Nancy Morris
Magnolia Gazette
601-783-2441
280 Magnolia St. Magnolia
MS 39652
Keeper Of The Dream
Submitted by admin on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 10:57.
Excerpt from the book:
Being at the Old South in the World
By the Great Alibi the South explains,
condones, and transmutes everything.
-Robert Penn Warren
The fate of the Southerner is to hang
below the curve. He would fall
southerly over the Antarctic wastes and on
into the voids if he were not clamped in
a swamp slithering and bellowing. His
only way out is to adapt his belly
to the sands. His only luxury's venom.
The fate of the Southerner is to have
his king and all musicians of court
far to the North, secure on the upside
of Earth. They will not take him up,
clean him up, suit him up, civilize him.
They gauge themselves by his misery,
their missioners come to remind of the rule.
The fate of the Southerner is to dream
of dominions of lands with a house which
if built, would fall off the world with him
in it. He would marry a belle, a gully,
a bayou more fecund with snakes than his
own, which by marriage they'd jointly make one,
the Great Swamp of All. The king plans to drain it.
below the curve. He would fall
southerly over the Antarctic wastes and on
into the voids if he were not clamped in
a swamp slithering and bellowing. His
only way out is to adapt his belly
to the sands. His only luxury's venom.
The fate of the Southerner is to have
his king and all musicians of court
far to the North, secure on the upside
of Earth. They will not take him up,
clean him up, suit him up, civilize him.
They gauge themselves by his misery,
their missioners come to remind of the rule.
The fate of the Southerner is to dream
of dominions of lands with a house which
if built, would fall off the world with him
in it. He would marry a belle, a gully,
a bayou more fecund with snakes than his
own, which by marriage they'd jointly make one,
the Great Swamp of All. The king plans to drain it.
My father loved poetry. He would recite, from memory, poems by Kipling, along with Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ and Fitzgerald’s ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.’ I began to love the language of poetry and still I love the sound of it, the variety of tone, the sonority, the mysteries and the moods of it. There is beauty in the combinations that can meet, join and fulfill themselves through the many forms of poetry. The result is an arousal of spirit, something that can be experienced but not fully described.
Many of the poems in this volume are theatrical, historical, illustrating the passage of time. Some are occasional, or celebratory--- a holiday or birthday. Others are funereal---- etching with sadness the wordly life of humans. As a writer I become interested in an idea, a moment, a character, a place. I want to share these interests in hopes that the mysteries and moods arouse the spirit and engage the mind.
Available now.$24.95
Contact Nancy Morris
Magnolia Gazette
601-783-2441
280 Magnolia St. Magnolia
MS 39652
Journeys to Freedom
Submitted by admin on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 10:51.
A Compelling True Story of a Young Hungarian Born American Boy’s Tree Year Concealment from the Gestapo by French Supporters
A fascinating, haunting account of the life-death experience of a six year old boy caught up in World War II Paris. Guy Geller relates his efforts to cope with his impossible situation with both pathos and humor recounting events indelibly impressed in his young mind. This is an important addition to the literary history of Jewish life in Europe during the war.” These are the words of Carl Lazenby, Author, publisher and radio personality.
Guy Geller is an award winning columnist and photographer, a frequent guest lecturer ranging from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon to the Heritage Festival in Columbus Mississippi. He has been guest author four times at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. as well as that of the Mississippi Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge.
His weekly column “Armchair Ponderings” in the Magnolia Gazette as well as travel columns recounting recent trips to his early homes in Hungary and France have also scored frequently among entries of the Mississippi Press Association annual Better Newspaper Contests.
Geller tried retirement for six years but found that he needed more of a challenge to his life. He has served and continues to serve as Administrator, CEO of Beacham Memorial Hospital for the last six years; in his adopted hometown of Magnolia, Mississippi.
Copies are available.
$22.95 plus tax and shipping charges.
Contact Nancy Morris
Magnolia Gazette
601-783-2441
280 Magnolia Street
Magnolia, MS 39652