Wednesday, February 21, 2007


When I get into Atlanta Wednesday, I'm going to try to take in the Margaret Mitchell House and GWTW museum in the lull before conference craziness. The only time I've ever been in town before was in a speeding car on my way to Florida, so I'm going to play the tourist as much as time allows. I've always been a fan of the movie, of course, but I remember reading the book the first time for my junior year term paper and spending a good three days lying on my bed with the thing, probably the longest thing I've read cover to cover, taking breaks only long enough to go to school, go to the bathroom, and I suppose to eat dinner (actually I think I brought it to the table to my mother's horror.) It was the first novel I remember ever loving, the first time schoolwork was actually fun. I was such a smug little brat in those days too--always the overachiever. I think I chose it initially because it was the thickest most impressive book I could find in the JHS library, far bigger than what everyone else was reading. I knew the movie only vaguely then, not really what happened, so when I started reading, I was hooked. Feverish. Besides bad romances and horror books, it was the first real "literature" (though some snobby lit types would argue even this point) that evoked that sort of response in me. I wanted to BE Scarlet. Not some mealy-mouthed good girl, but one who says what she wants, means what she says. In some ways Scarlet formed who I wanted to be--unfortunately I also inherited her bad choice in men.

6 comments:

Jessica Smith said...

yes. totally. it's like you read my mind. i keep trying to explain to people what a grip GWTW has had over my life. not always consciously and barely ever in a good way.

Juliet Blood Pudding said...

That Gone With the Wind excursion sounds fun.

You should take photos (and at the conference, too)!

Jessica Smith said...

you should take photos, but more importantly, you should find me. i'm going to email you my cell phone # now.

Pelletier said...

hope AWP was fun and fruitful. and warmer than Chicago. I've tagged you for a meme, questions found on my blog.

Linda Crosfield said...

Oh man, GWTW, read it when I was 12, mainly because I heard my mother going on about how the school superintendant's daughter, who was known to be very bright, read it when she was 10. It was my first looooong read, and I wept as I came to the end because it was over (all 1037 pages). I had to wait years to see the movie, because this was the sixties and you had to wait until an old movie was re-released; there was none of this running down to the corner video store and renting it for the night. I later read a biography about Mitchell and if I ever find myself in Atlanta you KNOW I'll be spending time at that museum. Lucky you! I hope you blog about it. I'll be checking back. I had a cat I named Scarlett who lived to be 19. I remember having a new landlord who, when he heard her name, asked, "Is that Scarlet as in red, or Scarlett as in O'Hara?" "Scarlett as in O'Hairy," I replied, and we became the best of friends. And I have to say that when I randomly click into someone's blog by whatever circuitous manner, I don't usually add a comment, but this time I just had to!

Lorna Dee Cervantes said...

Hey, all Scarletts. That makes perfect sense to me. Me, too. I'd wear old curtains in a heartbeat. I'd almost forgotten that about Atlanta. Otherwise, I'm afraid of the South, and this will be my first time out of the airport.

We need shirts that say: No Mealy Mouth.

I'm looking forward to meeting you all, especially you and Jessica.