Caroline Mitchell Carrico

2015 in Books, October

I love October. It’s the perfect month for getting cozy under a blanket with a book while drinking a hot mug of tea. Heavenly, actually.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld
- Specials is the third book in Westerfeld’s Uglies series. My best friends and I have a thing for young adult dystopian literature, and we pass series among ourselves as we discover them. It’s our thing, and the fact that we are squarely in the realm of “adults” now does little to dissuade us. I enjoyed reading the rest of Tally’s story, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the fourth book just as much.
A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot that Shook the Nation One Year after the Civil War by Stephen V. Ash
- And here we have another book that I read at the museum. One of the gallery redesigns that I am working on is about Memphis street life from 1915-1930. The background for this period is squarely found in the Memphis race riots of May 1866 and the Radical Reconstruction decade that followed (as well as the yellow fever epidemic). I knew the riots happened and that they were important in the city’s history, but I didn’t realize how much the issue of whiteness–who was and wasn’t white–came into play. Several members of the mob who attacked the black population were Irish, and Ash does an excellent job teasing out why that matters. If you like local history or are interested in Reconstruction, this book is an excellent addition to the historiography.
Seriously, You Have to Eat by Adam Mansbach
- I received this children’s book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. Mansbach writes what many parents find themselves saying on a daily basis. The humorous take on a regular frustration was welcome, and my toddler enjoyed hearing the book read. Some of the rhymes are forced, but I enjoyed the spirit of the book nonetheless.
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
- I found this short collection of essays in my neighborhood Little Free Library. The one I liked the most was about “compulsive proofreading,” which I am guilty of doing. It’s partially an occupational hazard and mostly because I like catching written mistakes. Her reflections on books and reading also reminded me of the importance of being unashamed of your literary choices. Eclectic reading habits make for interesting readers.
Architecture: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Ballantyne
- Another read for the museum. I’m working on panels about the mansion’s architecture and found myself in need of a very short primer.
A Widow for One Year by John Irving
- John Irving is an interesting writer. I always know that a twist is coming, but his genius lies in not letting you know when it is going to happen or how completely you will have been misled.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
- Rowell is the author I am most excited to have found this year. Her stories are fun and well written without trying to hard. This book was about wizards and gave me some Hogwarts nostalgia while being completely its own universe and story. What’s not to like?

I have always loved Halloween. When I was a kid, I was all about going trick-or-treating with my brothers and a parent. Some of our neighbors made their houses spooky, but most just gave us candy. We would walk a couple of streets before coming home to sort, trade and eat what seemed like a mountain of candy.

My brother Ryan and I sometime around 1993. Note the Fisher-Price flashlight.

When we got older, we went to Halloween parties at our school where I loved the costume contest and avoided the haunted house like the plague. (While I may love the holiday, I also truly hate scary movies and being alone in the dark. What can I say? I’m a complicated individual.) Since we went to Catholic school, Halloween night also meant that we got to stay up late since there was never school the next day. I have always felt that All Saints’ Day is the most nicely placed of all holy days.

One of the best parts of the lead up to Halloween was picking out a costume. It seemed to me like my mom could turn me into anything. I went through a serious face painting phase for a while. I wish I could find a photo of my favorite year–the time my mom made me spring (the season). She sewed beanie babies and felt flowers onto green sweatpants, fluffy clouds onto a blue sweatshirt, and painted my face with clouds.

These days I celebrate Halloween a bit differently. My love of covering my face in paint may have subsided, but that is not to suggest a lack of enthusiasm. Our house is decorated with skeletons and spiders and purple LED lights to make it welcoming for the many trick-or-treaters we receive. I have a skeleton menagerie that grows larger each year. Most importantly, I have the important responsibility of teaching my son about the joys of costumes.

I think the reason I love Halloween is because it is pure fun. There are no gifts (other than copious amounts of small candy) to buy or big meals to cook. There is only the joy of pretending to be somebody else while knowing in everything will go back to normal in the morning.

Next year, Noah gets to pick his own costume, and I will do my best to make it real for him. We’ll let his sister inherit the lobster. This year, though, I exercised my right to put my kid in whatever I wanted and made him Obi-wan K’Noah, the smallest of the Jedi.

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Ordinary Love

After a month of waiting, it finally rained yesterday. It kept coming down throughout dinner and through the time when we would normally go on our post-dining walk. Our walks give the dependents–both the dog and the toddler–a chance to stretch their legs and bark at dogs. They also provide Greg and I some time to talk about whatever is on our minds without the distraction of technology.

Instead, we danced. We boogied to Chuck Berry and laughed at each other while the dog ran back and forth. Then we all ended up laying on the floor and laughing while Noah climbed over Greg to kiss Louise and Zeb gave us all slobbery love.

There was nothing extraordinary about the evening, only our ordinary silliness that fills our everyday love. But for a moment in the midst of our fun, I realized how lucky we are to have each other. I took a mental snapshot of my family in all our goofy glory. I cannot even imagine how much more joyful it will be when our little girl is added to the mix.

Gender revealed

When people find out I’m pregnant, the first thing they ask is if I know if I am having a boy or a girl. And if I want to know. And if I have a preference. And if. And if.

The answer is that we found out today because life and pregnancy are full of unknowns, and I like having at least one known. My preference is healthy, which this kiddo is. Currently, the little one is the size of a Coke can, which is my new favorite analogy for 19 weeks. It amazes me that technology let me see four chambers of a heart, a femur, a nose, a brain and other unidentifiable to me blurs. For some precious moments I saw my child, the one I am starting to feel more frequently, and heard a heart while watching it beat.

It was magic, and it was nice to see you today, Louise.

A Trumpet and an Entertainer

I finally wrote another blog post for the museum. I haven’t been writing much anywhere these days. Hopefully, that’ll change soon, but for now, I’ll stick with reading, growing a baby and running after a toddler. Not exactly in that order.

The Pink Palace Family of Museums

W.C. Handy is one of the most recognizable names in Memphis music. Handy was born in 1873 in Florence, Alabama, to freed slaves. He was a literate man who wrote down the songs of black workers, which formed the basis of the blues. Handy moved to Memphis in 1903 and kept an office on Beale Street. In 1909, E.H. Crump hired Handy to play music as part of his mayoral campaign. He wrote “Boss Crump,” which he later renamed “Memphis Blues,” that became the campaign’s theme song. He moved to New York City in 1917 and worked there until he passed away in March 1958 at age 84.

In September 1958, Memphis hosted a “Blues of Glory” show at Crump Stadium to honor Handy and raise money for a memorial statue to be placed in Handy Park on Beale Street. One of the night’s special performers was gospel singer Mahalia…

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2015 in Books, September

The Art of Museum Exhibitions: How Story and Imagination Create Aesthetic Experiences by Leslie Bedford
- We somewhat jokingly have “Theory Thursday” in my department when my boss and I have our philosophical discussions about museum theory. I also try to read a couple of museum books a year both to stay current in my field and also to pull new ideas into my Introduction to Museum Studies class. I had a hard time getting interested in Bedford’s book, but the last chapter made the philosophical underpinnings of the other chapters worthwhile. Basically she suggests that exhibitions are both education and art, and visitors will re-imagine the story line in a way that resonates with them. Therefore, using exhibitions as aesthetic experiences is not about being didactic, it is about facilitating.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- This behemoth of a novel is about the long tradition of English magic, the Napoleonic Wars, personality clashes and a really misguided and vindictive fairy. It took me about a hundred pages to get into the story because Clarke had to lay a lot of groundwork for her alternative history/fantasy to work. Once I made it that far in, though, I was thoroughly hooked. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of thoughtful fantasy.
Walking on Air: The Aerial Adventures of Phoebe Omlie by Janann Sherman
- Dr. Sherman’s work on Phoebe Omlie, an aviation pioneer and adoptive Memphian, is astounding. In her afterword, Dr. Sherman lays out just how much investigative research went into piecing together Phoebe’s remarkable life. I would guess that almost everyone knows about Amelia Earhart while very few remember her contemporary female fliers. I happened upon a newspaper article from 1936 that said Phoebe helped organize an exhibit at the Pink Palace about herself and her late husband Vernon, which is what got me down the path of learning more about her and figuring out how we can include part of her story in our new exhibits. This book is a well-researched biography that places Phoebe Omlie and the history of female aviators in a national context.
Pretties by Scott Westerfield
- Pretties is the sequel to Uglies, the YA dystopian novel I read last month. It was an equally entertaining and fast read.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
- Rainbow Rowell has the wonderful ability to capture what a period of growing up feels like in a way that makes me remember being there myself. I am a giant nerd who found my people, and I know the relief that comes from knowing that you can be exactly who you are and be loved for that. This novel is a quick read that made me momentarily nostalgic for Harry Potter book release parties.

2015 in Books, August

A God in the Ruins by Kate Atkinson
- Kate Atkinson is one of my favorite contemporary authors. This book is a companion novel to Life After Life, a work I keep mentally revisiting because of the way Atkinson treats time. A God in the Ruins follows Teddy, the brother of the main character in Life After Life. This novel also plays with time, treating it as a fluid that can flow in more than one direction. So while it is not completely accurate to say that it is set during World War II, a lot of the defining moments are. I cried at the end, and not just because I’m pregnant. If you like well-written books that play with literary conventions, read Atkinson. You won’t be disappointed.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
- I had never read Judy Blume before this book, which just seems wrong. I wanted to read some good fiction as a break from some dense non-fiction, and I figured it was as good a time as any to see what all the fuss is about. Summer Sisters was the only one of her books that was available on the library’s e-book lending site. It was fun and fast. I’m looking forward to reading more of her oeuvre.
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- A couple of bloggers whom I follow talked glowingly about Kondo’s book. I’ve tried for a few years now to live a consciously well-edited life. My basic philosophy is to get rid of things that I don’t need and think hard about what I buy. Kondo reinforced some of my habits and provided some good tools for organizing what I chose to keep. I like her idea of deciding to keep things that spark joy and let the rest go. However, I don’t share her Shinto beliefs so the parts about animism didn’t resonate.
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
- Some good historical fiction about the backstabbing, self-serving Plantagenets and the War of the Roses.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
- It was nice to read a dystopian young adult novel that isn’t cut from the same cloth as Hunger Games (because it was written earlier). In this version of the future everybody is made “pretty” when they turn 16, which comes with consequences that they don’t realize. It had everything I like in my young adult fantasy novels–likable characters, a strong female lead, logical consequences and a premise that I am willing to suspend my disbelief for. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series when it’s my turn at the library.

The Case of the Missing Pygmy Hippo

A post for the Pink Palace about a missing hippo skeleton:

The Pink Palace Family of Museums

In the 1970s, the Pink Palace Museum was changing from an eclectic collection of oddities to a museum with a cohesive mission to preserve and exhibit the cultural and natural history of the Mid-South. Staff members started the zoo salvage program to build up the museum’s natural history collection. When an animal died at the Memphis Zoo, the zoo director decided whether or not he wanted the zoo to keep the animal. If not, the zoo’s vet notified the Collections Department at the Pink Palace where the curator of collections or the staff biologist decided if the animal would further the museum’s educational goals, which included teaching anatomy and evolution. The museum tried to pick up available carcasses within four hours of being notified. The animals were brought to the museum to be prepared in the biology labs. Carcasses were frozen on premises and later processed for use in exhibits…

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2015 in Books, July

Alright, the real reason I haven’t been reading as much these days is because I’m pregnant and have a toddler. The time I would normally spend reading–toddler’s nap time–is spent taking naps of my own. This first trimester is straight knocking me out. Still, as ever, I read.

Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon et al
- I don’t usually read graphic novels. Not for any real reason, I just find that I generally gravitate towards other genres. However, as a massive fan of Firefly, I basically devoured this book. I loved getting to see my favorite characters in new story lines. If you were a fan of this sadly too short TV series, I highly recommend that you check out the graphic novels. They’re shiny.
Memphis Afternoons: A Memoir by James Conaway
- “And once Harley left me sitting in the dark parking lot outside the Pink Palace, Memphis’s fusty old museum, while he climbed a drain pope, opened a window he had unlatched during visiting hours, and stole a nineteenth-century dueling pistol.” I can’t confirm that this actually happened, but I’m looking into it. Conaway also grew up across the street from my house, which made his memories of my neighborhood interesting to read. I expect to mine some of his material for my history column for our neighborhood newsletter. Could I be more of a historian?
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
- This novel is fantastic. I like fiction that is set during World War II, and this work is the first one I’ve read that took place in Greece during that period. What amazed me the most was how my perspective of the war changed along with the characters’ experiences. I never spent much time thinking about the differences between Nazis and Fascists or the individuals caught on the wrong side of history. I know this book is going to stay with me because of the questions and emotions it raised.

One moment later

Lately, I find myself thinking about the moment when everything changes. There are those gradual buildups that you can look back on and see a slow evolution to a new reality. Things like your kid learning to talk. Odd noises lead to persistent babble become repeated monosyllables turn to words.

But those aren’t the times I have been dwelling on. I keep coming back to the few instances in my life when there was a distinct “before” and “after.” The times when my life after that moment were a complete departure from what came previously.

There was the time I went to a college orientation meeting and sat down next to a stranger. Prior to that day I was a single young adult. After I sat down, the new guy and I talked and spent the rest of the day starting a friendship. A week later we started dating; five years passed and we got married. There is a sharp distinction for me of my life before Greg and my life after I met him. In that one moment, in that decision to be uncharacteristically bold, my directionality altered.

Then there was the day my son was born. There is a clear instant that rises up through the haze of labor and delivery. There was a moment when I got to hold my baby and wish him a happy birthday. Before that day we were two people with a dog who could make and change plans at the drop of a hat. After he took a breath, we became a family of three, and my life became fuller in a way I did not expect.

A few weeks ago I took a test that changed things again. Before we were three, now, we’re a family of four.