The Last Wild Writer
It was a special treat to find in your latest issue the article by Bronwen Dickey about her father, James Dickey, BA’49, MA’50 [“The Last Wild River,” Collective Memory, Fall 2013]. She nailed him and that entire era of Deliverance.
During the several years that Dickey was at the University of South Carolina, I was the state English supervisor and had many occasions to meet and interview him. He never ceased to amaze me with his wit, generosity, and what can only be called grace. During one event we managed to feature him and a former student of his, Pat Conroy, at a statewide conference of several hundred English teachers. They mesmerized us with their “insider” views and comments on the juxtaposition of writing and movie making.
One of my last memories of James Dickey was the time he and I were sitting on his dock drinking beer, and he was strumming his 12-string guitar and making up ribald ditties about Watergate. Soon the conversation turned to the role that silence plays in music (he used Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony to illustrate), and from there the role that empty space plays in architecture and poetry. Using lace as an example, he said, “It’s the air that sets the stare,” never pausing to realize how downright poetic his everyday words were.
I still have autographed copies of his every book, including one of which he seemed especially proud; it was about shape-shifters [Bronwen, the Traw, and the Shape-Shifter] and written to honor his little girl, Bronwen.
TOM PARKS, EDS’71, PHD’76, Midland, Texas
I enjoyed “The Last Wild River.” It reminded me of the books that poet and essayist Donald Davidson [BA’17, MA’22] wrote about the Tennessee River prior to the Tennessee Valley Authority damming it up. The Tennessee was not in any way the “wild” Chattooga River, but has a lot of history that Dr. Davidson (who taught me) described in his books.
Unrelated story: The Southern Agrarians once came to Guntersville, Ala., before the arrival of TVA and camped on the Tennessee for a writing session. They stayed on the property of writer Andrew Lytle’s [BA’25] relative Wright Ross, who told the story to my father, James O. Finney, BA’29, MD’33.
DR. JAMES O. FINNEY JR., BA’60, MD’64, Birmingham, Ala.
I am the father of two Vanderbilt alumni, Thomas Benjamin Hildebrandt and Hugo Michael Hildebrandt, both BS’00. Michael’s copy of Vanderbilt Magazine is sent care of our home address. My wife, Marie, and I enjoy reading the magazine very much before passing it along to Mike.
I greatly enjoyed the article by Bronwen Dickey, “The Last Wild River.” I met James Dickey once when I was an M.F.A. student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I did not know he was a Vanderbilt grad.
Do you have plans to post the article on the Vanderbilt Magazine website? I certainly hope so. I would like to be able to read it again and share it with friends.
Good job on the magazine. I’ve been reading it since the late 1990s, and it keeps getting better.
JOHN HILDEBRANDT, Sandusky, Ohio
Drugs, Crime and Race
I could not help but laugh out loud when reading that forced incarceration is “The New Jim Crow,” the title of Michelle Alexander’s book [“Strong Convictions,” Fall 2013]. Does she advocate legalizing drugs and seeing where that leads our society? The Opium Wars come to mind wherein Britain was able to flood China (for huge profits) in the 19th century by providing their society with West Indian grown and produced opiates to conquer and control the Chinese people in Imperialist times.
Is there injustice between black and white incarceration rates for drug offenses in our society today? Absolutely—but why not address that issue instead of opening up the floodgates to inner-city violence that will be created if we change our drug laws to accommodate Ms. Alexander’s “new Jim Crow” theory out of some misplaced white guilt over our shameful past of participating in the slave trade during our first 90 years as a country? I guess Ms. Alexander thinks that most drug offenders are hurting no one but themselves. How do they get their drugs? Do they ask society nicely for drug money?
The late and great Vanderbilt political science professor George Graham was outstanding at looking at both sides of an issue and respecting and presenting both views even when he disagreed strongly with your position. Your magazine has not balanced issues like “Strong Convictions” by providing opposing views to current social issues in recent magazine articles, at least in my opinion.
JAY WEINSTEIN, MLAS’07, Franklin, Tenn.
The Hirt Locker
Congratulations to “Coach” Hirt on his retirement [“Groundbreaker,” Athletics/Roster, Fall 2013]. It will be a loss for the Vanderbilt community, but Hirt deserves to enjoy himself without the stresses that come even from (or maybe especially from) a job he obviously loves.
The article failed to mention Hirt’s tenure as freshman baseball coach. Speaking as a member of the 1968 squad, I wonder if Coach Hirt’s subconscious has mercifully erased that experience from his memory. I still have a vivid recollection of leaving two or three runners on base in a close Saturday afternoon loss. In the locker room immediately after the game, Coach told me that he did not want me to even touch my glove the following Monday. Come Monday, though, he had regained his usual equilibrium, and practice was as usual.
During my time on campus, Coach Hirt was a physical education instructor, too. His one o’clock basketball classes in Memorial Gym were a magnet that enticed me to cut my modern political philosophy class time and time again. (These were the years before any class attendance requirements.) Hirt was a regular player in the games and an exceptional athlete.
A couple of years ago, Coach Hirt showed me the facilities and opportunities now available to the student body that were not available 40-plus years ago. We agreed that, had the current facilities been available to us then, it would have been infinitely more difficult for each of us to have concentrated on studies.
I wish Coach Hirt a long, happy and healthy retirement.
DAVID S. STIERLE, BA’71, Louisville, Ky.
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