Newspapers / Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.) / June 7, 2017, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
A4 I JUNE 7,2017 Opinion One-on-one BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 - D.a. MARTIN John Grisham and N.C.. John Grisham’s latest novel, “Camino Is land,” hit the bookstore shelves on June 6. The book’s release marks a growing con nection between our state and the bestsell ing author-more than 300 million in print at last count. Thus, it is an important mo ment for North Carolinians, some of whom are claiming Grisham as one of their own. They have some good arguments. For "They have the first some good , time in 1. // \ many atguements... years, he is go ing on a book tour to promote his book. Of the 11 scheduled stops, four are in North Carolina, twice as many as in any other state. Along the way he is inviting other North Carolina literary giants-Randall Kenan, Jill McCorkle, John Hart, Ron Rash, Wiley Cash and Clyde Edg- erton-to discuss his work and theirs. Another c|iinection is the new book’s leading character, Mercer Mann, a fiction al writing instructor at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is losing her job and suffering writer’s block as she tries to write a novel to fol low up her first mildly successful one. She is at loose ends and a prime target to be recruited for an undercover assignment. More about that assignment in a minute. Her recruiter comes to Chapel Hill and wines and dines Mercer at Spanky’s and the Lantern restaurants, two of the town’s favorites, and not far from the house where Grisham and his wife Renee live when they visit their daughter and her family in Ra leigh. Now that we have almost made Grisham a North Car^nian, what about the new book? 9 “Camino Island” breaks some of Grisham’s usual patterns. As regular as clockwork for many years, each October Grisham has de livered a legal thriller that quickly becomes a bestseller. But “Camino Island” came out this month instead of October. And it is not a legal thriller. Lawyers make only cameo appearances. The action is set in the liter ary world, the world of writing, publishing, and selling books. There is also a literary underworld of criminals who steal and dis tribute valuable manuscripts. In “Camino Island” a group of clever thieves break into the Princeton Univer sity library and walk away with the origi nal manuscripts of “The Great Gatsby” and four othM novels written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tne papers are insured for $25 million. The insurance company suspects that Bruce Cable, a rare book dealer and bookstore owner, has possession of the Fitzgerald papers. Cable is the center of a group of writers, fans, and book collectors on Camino Island, a small resort commu nity near Jacksonville, Florida. The insurance company sends Elaine Shelby to Chapel Hill to recruit Mercer to go to Camino Island, where she once had family connections. There she can infil trate Cable’s group, make friends with him, and try to learn whether or not he has the Fitzgerald papers. Along the way Mercer loses confidence in her ability to fool Cable. Elaine, trying to persuade her to stay on the job, tells her that the cover is perfect, “You’re a writer living at the beach for a few months in the family cottage. You’re hard at work on a novel. It’s the perfect story, Mercer, be cause it’s true. And you have the perfect personality because you’re genuine. If we needed a con artist we wouldn’t be talking right now. Are you afraid?” Sure enough Mercer gains Cable’s friend ship and the story moves toward an ex pected ending. Then, Grisham does his usual, twisting the expected into a set of cascading surprises that fooled and enter tained this reader just as he does in his le gal thrillers. If you are worried about missing his regu lar annual leg^ thriller, don’t. He promises that a new oM will be ready, as always, in October. D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Book- watch,” which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. TO FLPi^.‘ C?R o Small town girl on for the ride... Sometimes in life, I have learned the only thing to do is hold on tight and ride it out. This wild ride has been my life since the first of May. After going 11 months symptom free, Gabriel woke up with the fa miliar rash we have seen many times. After watching him for several hours, we realized it was not go ing to get any better and it was time to start making the appropri ate phone calls and plans. My husband Shenon and I end ed up taking him to the children’s hospital in Greenville for labs and to meet with a Pediatric Oncolo gist. Gabriel remained stable throughout the weekend, but did not improve. So on Monday he was scheduled to see a dermatol ogist hoping we would get some new answers. The new doctor thought we may never get an exact diagnosis for Gabriel’s illness. As parents we made the deci sion to admit him to the hospital and allowed the doctors Lo give him the proper medications to make him well. Gabriel recovered and we thought we were back to normal - until the next weekend. We were shopping in Norfolk, Va., when Shenon began to notice changes in his vision in his left "It is never easy for anyone. It can be stressful." -LESLIE BEACHBOARD eye. He is always aware of the slight est changes due to him having ocular Implants, Laser treatments and numerous surgeries since he was 8. On Mother’s Day, his vision had deteriorated. After an emergency appoint ment that afternoon, Shenon was diagnosed with an eye hemor rhage. They put him on bed rest at a 30-degree angle until his normal surgeon could see him. The next day we were sitting back in Greenville. It was a news paper deadline day, and I was worried about him. So here I am, sitting in Green ville trying to write a story from my daughter’s laptop and listen ing to the doctor. We were sent to another spe cialist to rule out a retinal tear. If he did have a tear it would require - immediate surgery. Thankfully after being told he did not have a tear, we were free to go. At this point, 1 was on a mis- Around here Memorable moments As a music fan growing up, I remember how excited I’d get as the house lights went down and one of my favorite artists took the stage. As a concert photographer for about 25 years, I have had many of the same feelings - feelings of excitement, as the artists I used to admire were standing just a few feet away from me and my cam era. The goal of any photographer, whether he is shooting a news event, a sporting event or even a concert, is to get the best pictures possible in the time available. Concert photographers are dif ferent in that they are only allot ted a certain amount of time (usu ally two or three songs) in which to capture the artist’s photo. They also must take pictures from a des ignated position set by the artist - usually it’s in front of the stage, but occasionally it’s from the soundboard area, located around halfway back in the venue. Some venues have their soundboard area farther back than others. 1 have photographed hundreds of artists and concerts since 1991. This column, however, is not about my favorite artists to pho tograph; rather, this is about some of the memorable moments I’ve witnessed or been a part of associated with said artists. "What I wouldn't give to have a photo of that." - JIM GREEN sion for food and wireless internet to send in my story. It was not exactly how I wanted to spend my Mother’s Day, but I was thankful Shenon would make a full recovery and I had sur vived. A few weeks went by, and as I thought things were getting back to normal, Shenon’s eye hemor rhaged again this weekend. Thankfully this was a smaller one, but we are still waiting to see his surgeon to see why it is recur ring. I am always one who likes to have a plan or schedule for ev- er5d;hing. It just makes life a little easier, but in times like this I have learned just to hold on and just try to survive. It is never easy for anyone. It can be stressful, but I have learned humor and knowing it soon will end gets my family through it. So until things transition back to a slower pace, I will balance keeping an eye on Shenon, being a mother, and continuing to write my stories and holding on for the ride. Leslie Benchboard tries to bal ance being a wife, mother and Staff’Writer for the Bertie Ledger- Advance. She can be reached via email at lbeachboard@ncweek\ies. com. Amy Grant: She was the first national act I ever photographed, and one of my favorites to this day. We were given the first three songs, but the first song was re ally short (barely over two min utes), so were given the first two minutes of the fourth song. Shinedown: During the Carnival of Madness Tour, the weather be came an issue. Shinedown came on in the pouring rain. My cam era was protected, but trying to shoot was arduous. Between the second and third song, singer Brent Smith came down and shook the hand of every photog rapher who braved the elements in order to document the band’s performance. Def Leppard: The night of the show, a severe thunderstorm swept through the venue, forcing promoters to postpone the event. There was lots of damage to the grounds, but the band made up the date two weeks later. Brian McKnight: A few minutes before his performance, we were standing under the VIP tent when a heavy storm came through - it was a real gullywasher. Fortunate ly, it passed a few minutes later and the artist went on stage just a few minutes late. Green Day: During my film days, before digital cameras, the chal lenge was to take the film out of the camera and put it away - all in low light. I got my first roll of film out of the camera, but it rolled right out of my right hand and into a storm drain near the stage. While 1 will never know what’s on that roll, I did take five more rolls of 36 exposures that night - and no, I didn’t lose any of them. U2: One of my favorite bands of all time, I was just overwhelmed to be standing in the pit at Carter- Finley Stadium. Looking around and seeing 57,000 people just sent chills down my spine. Aerosmith: During a tour stop in Greensboro, the band had a walk out that separated sections of the crowd. Photographers were situ ated at the end of this walkout. During the band’s second song, I was checking my camera when lead singer Steven Tyler kneeled in front of me and pla5dully started moving my glasses up and down my face. What 1 wouldn’t give to have a photo of that. Jim Green is Sports Editor of the Bertie Ledger-Advance. He can be reached at jgreen@ncweeklies. com. Bertie Ledger-Advance The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 The BevriE ltD0ER-AovANO6 was esTAeuswas in 1928 through the HERITAGE OFTME WINDSOR t®GEH AND ThE AuLANOER ADVANCE. The newspaper traces its history to 1832 when JT was first published AS THE Windsor Herald and Bertie County Register Kyle Stephens Group Publisher kstephens(S>ncwceklies.com Deborah Grifiui Stag Writer dgriffin@ncweeklies.com Angela Harne Leslie Beachboard Group Editor Staff Writer abarne@ncweekiies.com Ibeachboard^ncweekliesxom Thadd White Jim Green Editor Sports Editor rwhite@ncweeldies.com jgteen@ncweeklies.com Michelle Leicester Creatwe Services mleicester@ncweekIies,com Jessica Mobley Advertising Manager jmobley@ncweeklies,com Lanny Hiday Copy Editor bertienews@ncweeklies.com The Bertie Ledger-Advance (ISSN 051-700) » PUBLISHED EACH Wednesday for $^.69 (plus tax) per year (n Bertie, Hertford, Martin, Northamp- COUNTIES) BY CoOKE COMMUNICA TIONS North Carolina, LLG, 109 S. King St.. Windsor, NC 27983. Periodicals postage paid AT Windsor, NC and entered at Postmaster: Bertie Ledger-Advance, P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Contact Us: Bertie LeogerAovance P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Phone: (252) 794-3185 Fax: (252) 794-2835
Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 7, 2017, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75