Thanks to the hard work of Laurie Johns, last week included a delicious outdoor get-together for members of the Loop Group, a group of local citizens who reside along the Loop Road area. Everyone brought a dish, drinks, and chairs or picnic blankets and hung out on the property of Hudson Strode, a former University of Alabama professor and author known for his creative writing classes. Strode left his home and land to the University of Alabama, and it is currently used as a home for visiting writers on sabbattical.
The tradition of writing continues in our corner of East Tuscaloosa, as Ted Pearson, visiting writing, is currently residing in the Strode home and working on his latest book. Also representing a more obscure but equally fascinating genre was Mr. George Hamner, Jr., author of Quaternon Orgnanon, a fictional journey into quantum field theory and the search for existential meaning.
Since I had a few materials on Hudson Strode from the Local History Workshop I hosted for local homeschoolers a few years ago, I gave a brief spiel on his life. You can download your own version below to learn more about a man whose life continues to represent that eccentric and mysterious hybrid which I've come to believe characterizes Alabamian intellectuals.
Download Tuscaloosa Bio for Hudson Strode
If you'd like to get involved in the Loop Group, send an email my way and I'll forward it along to Laurie Johns, who is also the Community Garden maven for our part of town. I have to confess that I left this event interested and excited by the prospect of doing more with my lovely neighbors. Alas for the poor neighborhoods who lack their own Laurie to get such community-oriented events going.
