It's a pleasure.
First let me start out by saying "The Sky is Gray"
is a phenomenal read. I'll admit that at first I didn't get it- it was about a
boy and his tooth. But under plot was so much more. To start out, he was 8
years old. Which is a huge comparison of the incredibly childish 17 year-old
boy in "A Man Who was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright. Your
character, the 8 year old, had so much composure and was already so mature and
just ready to learn that it even made me rethink how I act, and I'm 20.
So one thing that came up during discussion when we visited
the Gaines Center in the library was religion, of course. I know it was
prevalent, and still is, but man. The discussion we were having really, really,
really annoyed me because no one brought it around full circle- no one.
The discussion started when someone brought up the part of
the story when the little boy and his mom were in the dentist office waiting
room and the schooled boy and preacher were arguing. The schooled boy was
explaining how everyone should question everything, even God, and the preacher
was denying that, saying that we should not be questioning him. It was a valid
argument. I can see how onlookers would be easily swayed. And of course the
schooled boy looked more intelligent because he could back his ideas with
reason and logic, while the preacher only had learned by word of mouth and
tradition. (Which my classmates raved on about). Also, the preacher lost this
argument because he got hot-headed and took a swung at the schooled boy, only
to lose and have to walk out. I’m a Catholic that cringed in embarrassment for
how it was handled.
So what aggravated me is that my classmates focused on that
and that only. No one thought to tie it to the instance that closes the story,
which is when the grace of God is practiced by the older man and woman. The
older woman waits outside in the cold for the little boy and his momma so that
she could feed them. In order to protect the momma’s pride, the older woman has
the little boy take out her trash, which he knows was a hoax because there was
nothing in there. He knows she just wanted to be able to give them food. The
momma catches on too, see at first she denied that they were hungry, and then
when she wanted to buy the salted meat, she made the older woman take back half
of it because she knew she had given her too much. {This particular part was a
battle of pride.}
Point is, I see what you did there. In the beginning, the
Lord lost, but in the end He won. I’m sure readers would love to say that the
older man and woman’s graciousness and kindness is only due to them being “good
country people,” ;) but they can’t justify that because the older man says “And
may God be with you” as they’re leaving. ALSO, readers can’t justify that it
was only them being nice because we already had the instance before with the
student and preacher.
I love how this story was written.
Q & A:
So tell me, are you religious?
Did you intend for this story to involve so much religion?
Most importantly, did I interpret your story as you’ve
written it, or am I missing/diluting/or misinterpreting something?
Was the little boy inspired by anyone? Was the student or
the preacher? Or any of the characters for that matter?
Straying away from “The Sky is Gray,” which is your favorite
piece, and why?
Why did you choose to leave all of your writings at ULL?
Is it
because it’s close to your home?
Or because
it’s more “low-key” than LSU?
You’ve chosen to live in Oscar, Louisiana… is it because you
have such close ties to your homeland, and where your ancestors lived?
Why do
you think that is?
Is Oscar mostly rural southern living, with fields and open
spaces? Can you describe it for me? (And if it is rural, ask him what his favorite aspect about that it.)
To my understanding you have the fields and farmland where your
ancestors worked/was buried, and being that you’ve written on that, is it a
place that eager readers have ever tried to visit?
Are you happy, content with your life, your successes, and
how far you’ve come?
Can you give me any advice? On anything at all.
Thank you so much for speaking with me, it’s been a pleasure.
