Tourism Writing

A New Literary Genre Unveiling the History, Mystery, and Economy of Places and Events

Mary S. Palmer

• Publisher: Universal-Publishers
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781627342506
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

In this era of advanced technology keeping students' attention often becomes difficult. Teachers need to find new ways to create interest. In writing classes, choosing a topic that involves students is a priority. A new genre, Tourism Writing, is an innovative and effective means of teaching students composition. It can fill this need.°Tourism Writing focuses on a particular place or event, provides photos and information on nearby points of interest, and directly invites visitors. This book provides an understanding of how Tourism Writing benefits people in all areas of life. This transfers to classroom assignments when students are asked to write a poem in this genre and they are given lists of possible topics, but they also have the option to choose their own place or event. It becomes a learning experience as many are amazed at their ability to write a poem and intrigued by the history they learn while researching and they treasure their photos used for illustration. Such poems were entered in the annual Poetry Writing Contest at Faulkner University. In the process, students' communication and research skills were enhanced. They learned the history of their own area. This hands-on process is rewarding to teach. The plan is to add prose assignments on Tourism Writing to the classroom curriculum in the future. The possibilities for Tourism Writing are widespread.°Instructional material for a Tourism Writing Poetry Contest may be found in Chapter 2 on pages 15-17. Additional information about writing in this genre is included in Chapter 25 on pages 169-177.

1

A full life

Some people say all of life is about money, if you have enough of it you can have a full life. Is that true? Perhaps it depends on the definition of the words “full life.” Money allows you to have luxuries only the rich can afford, without being restricted to simply having the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. Wealthy people can feast on gourmet food, own a mansion full of servants, and wear designer clothing. Money also offers opportunities not available to those of lesser means, such as an education at an Ivy League school or inheriting a successful business. However, it doesn’t provide anyone the intelligence to succeed at those schools or even the common sense to make logical business decisions to keep a company operating. And money certainly doesn’t instill in anyone an appreciation of cultural things or a good sense of values. It takes exposure to both to spark an interest.

The Declaration of Independence states that all United States citizens have “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and that “all men are created equal.” Those basic rights offer opportunities available to all. Nonetheless, it is up to each individual as to how he, or she, lives that life, uses that freedom, and pursues that happiness. We can survive with simple food, modest shelter, and plain clothing. We can also limit our education, or get loans and work our way through college.

Happiness is a different matter. Notice the phraseology. We’re not insured happiness, only the right to pursue it. Money may bring a surge of happiness, but it isn’t lasting. Nor does it bring contentment. It’s been said people who were asked how much money they would need to be comfortable responded twenty percent more than they currently had. This was at all levels of income.

So what does enrich us, make our lives full? It is up to us to capitalize on our equality. As Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Maybe the answer is finding ways to use opportunities to increase our appreciation of the finer things and enjoy life to the maximum of our abilities. No matter what our occupation or situation is Tourism Writing can be a useful tool in this endeavor.

Tourism Writing allows the message of intriguing things about places and events to be told. It creates an awareness of another world ready to be explored by adventurous individuals. Then it offers a direct invitation to visit that world, along with a guide including photos and links. It does not matter whether the place is Repton, Alabama, or Bellingham, Washington, readers are exposed to events or places that may tweak their interest. While this book focuses on Alabama and nearby areas as examples, by extension all states have unique features. And even the smallest areas usually have local historians who can point out those interesting places or events to potential visitors, hopefully enticing them enough to visit.

Travel guides and advertisements appeal to many people but they are seen as one television ad or one ad on a sheet of paper. Not only is the image fleeting, there’s also a barrier in place. The viewer knows the purpose is to make a sale, and it is often quickly dismissed for that reason. However, when a reader of a novel has established a rapport with a character and makes an emotional connection with what that character is experiencing at a real place or event, a new level of involvement occurs. The photos and links seem inadequate. Oftentimes, it stirs feelings deep enough to make a reader sufficiently curious to want to see the place or attend the event in person. Even more personal is the direct invitation to visit. Readers feel welcome. Then Tourism Writing has achieved its goal.

2

Schools

The most obvious way Tourism Writing can benefit people is in schools. Since this is a new genre, it can tweak students’ curiosity. New types of assignments are refreshing and they stimulate interest. Since the project requires seeking a place or an event conducive to encouraging visitors to their area, students will find themselves either adding to their knowledge of a known location or special occasion, or searching and exploring something they know little about to see if it is worthy of consideration. They will have to research and analyze their options.

Reaction to investigation is automatic, if not reflex. Immediately upon investigating a location, you are likely to discover something previously unknown. For example, a student attending a Mardi Gras Parade in Mobile, Alabama, for the first time might be surprised to see a crowd of all ages scrambling for trinkets. Or, in researching its history, the student may uncover the fact that Mobile celebrated Mardi Gras first, before New Orleans.

My story, entitled Raisin’ Cain, won the 2014 Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative Contest (SELTI). It stimulated a lot of interest in showing how Mobile’s Mardi Gras is family friendly. Hopefully, it also brought some new visitors who read it to Mobile. It is printed here as a sample.

Raisin’ Cain

Mamie was ninety-three when she stepped onto the Cain Raisers’ float on Joe Cain Day, the Sunday before Mardi Gras a couple of years ago. But that didn’t stop her from throwing beads and Moon Pies and enjoying every minute of the ride through downtown Mobile, Alabama.

A transplant from Yankee Land, Mamie saw things about Mardi Gras that native Mobilians often miss. “When do you ever see a crowd of over a hundred thousand people this happy?” she asked me during the hour we parked beside the Mobile Municipal Auditorium, waiting in line with thirty other floats for the Joe Cain Parade that began in 1966 to start.

I mulled over that as our float finally moved forward. Chief Slacabamorinico, IV, pastor Bennett Wayne Dean, who’d held the position over twenty years, led the parade decked out in his colorful feathered headpiece. We eased through downtown streets of Mobile, all blocked off for the duration of the parade. The crowd’s glee was evident as our float passed Bienville Square, packed twenty rows deep with smiling faces looking up at us.

Children and adults with outstretched arms screamed, “Throw me something, lady.” Some had signs with a rider’s name, or their own name, held high. Others had jar retrievers to scoop up throws, or upside-down umbrellas they hoped to fill.

At 96, still not too old for Mardi Gras.

One elderly lady in the front row sat in her wheelchair in a wide-brimmed hat. She could barely hold up her hands to wave at riders. But she didn’t have to beg for anything. Maskers generously showered that person, probably a long-time parade-attendee, with full packages of beads, doubloons and anything else they could aim her way. Her lap was full.

Mamie was right. Where else are people so pleased to catch those trinkets? The float slowed to a stop and Mamie nudged me. “They even say, ‘Thank you’, and they share. Look over there.” She pointed to a unkempt man in tattered clothes with a scruffy beard handing over his loot to the nearest child. I saw another person four rows back with a sign saying, “We’re from Missouri. Show us what you’ve got.” Next to him, a teenager held a big net. I barraged them with Moon Pies and beads, but missed my mark. Not one item fell into his net.

As we turned the corner on a narrow side street, our float was within inches of the crowd. It stopped again and a lady holding a child’s hand spoke directly to me. Wide-eyed, she leaned across the barriers put there for safety and asked, “What’s going on?”

A tipsy sailor next to her slurred, “Say, do you do this every weekend?”

As the float pulled away, I shook my head but I wondered if he believed me. I didn’t have time to respond to the lady’s question. I wasn’t sure how to answer it anyhow. Couldn’t she tell this was a parade?

We rounded another corner to a packed Government Street. As a main artery, traffic from Bankhead Tunnel usually flows down this street. Not today, and not before or after any Mardi Gras parades. Some days, we have as many as five parades. During this two-week season, vehicles are diverted to our other tunnel, the Wallace Tunnel on Interstate 10.

A policeman on horseback made his way to the beginning of the parade, evidently to bring it to another halt because we stopped again in front of the Admiral Semmes Hotel. Guests on the balcony screamed out their presence. Though it was a good distance away, some caught throws from maskers with strong arms. Gleefully, others snatched beads from outstretched hands of their companions and put them around their necks.

On the street below, men and women gave trinkets to people they’d probably befriended as they patiently awaited the grand spectacular. Many handed over things to people they never saw before and they’ll never see again. Some stepped out of the way to watch the joy of a child catching a stuffed animal and hugging it close. Mamie looked at me and remarked, “It’s not the trinkets they want, it’s the thrill of the chase.”

It’s all free, too. The only expense may be for parking if no spots on the street are available. Homeowners or business establishments nearby fill their yards or parking lots with cars. At five or ten dollars a space, depending on how close they are to the parade route, they can pick up quite a few dollars during the two weeks of festivities.

While people await the colorful pageantry, they chat with each other. There are no strangers. The crowd of all ages is composed of every ethnic group, race and religion, from the very rich, such as a former Mardi Gras queen, to the very poor, even the homeless. During this equalizer, camaraderie abounds. In addition, all are entertained by vendors rolling squeaky carts down the street, hawking their wares. “Balloons, stuffed animals, hot popcorn.”

Some entrepreneurs pull wagons with ice chests full of drinks. Others set up shop in tents and tempt potential customers with the scent of onions frying, and hamburgers, hot dogs, and sausages filling the air. Children beg for cotton candy when they get a whiff of its sugary aroma. Vendors flock to Mobile to make money. And they do.

Mardi Gras is also a big tailgate party. Near the auditorium, under the interstate, people with RV’s and trailers rent spaces for the season. Other families gather on street corners, in parking lots, or at friends’ houses. Setting up their own grills, they barbeque chicken, cook corn-on-the-cob, bake potatoes and munch on King Cake, feasting on the sumptuous food often washed down by beer, wine or mixed drinks that flow freely.

Children, who’ll enjoy school holidays on Monday and Fat Tuesday, sip on soft drinks from decorated plastic cups caught the previous year, frolic around on the sidewalks, and climb ancient, huge oak trees until the parade arrives. Then, they’re ready to do what they do best--yell out, “Moon Pie; beads!” and scramble.

On streets off the parade route, carnival rides like Ferris wheels go round and round. People stand in line awaiting their turn to ride and scream, sometimes in mock fear. Like other things behind the scene--such as the float building, the costumes, the formal rentals, sales of ball dresses, photography of events—all promote Mobile’s economy.

Mardi Gras has other, long lasting benefits, too—sentimentality. Many memories are made by people who are lucky enough to live in Mobile or to come here to attend the festivities on a regular basis. When Mardi Gras is in session, ghosts of the past surface in the minds of people remembering times long gone. They hear echoes of those who marched these streets in bands to the cheers of the crowd, or of maskers riding in parades year after year as members of Mardi Gras Societies, responding to the crowd’s pleas.

It has happened ever since 1867 when Joe Cain rode down Government Street in a decorated charcoal wagon pulled by a mule. Despite Union soldiers’ efforts to stop him and his six fellow Confederate veterans, they made noise dragging rakes against iron work as they trekked down the main street of the city.

As is customary, in honor of Cain’s revival of Mardi Gras after the Civil War, the parade came to a halt in front of the Church Street Graveyard. It stopped long enough for the black-clad and black-veiled Merry Widows to place a wreath on Joe Cain’s grave where he was reburied in the 1960’s.

Planning for this event is extensive. Artistic paper-mache floats conforming to the theme are a year long in the making. Costumes of riders also match. Discipline is needed. While police cars and motorcycles with sirens blasting clear the road, bands—including the hundred year-old Excelsior Band, some descendants of the predecessors—march between floats to slow down the parade. They always get a huge round of applause. Strutting drum majors’ moves become contagious. Bystanders dance or tap their feet to the beat of the marching tunes, especially When the Saints Go Marching in.

One other place the parade almost comes to a standstill is a section set aside for those mentally or physically challenged. When we approached, Mamie said, “I can’t wait for this. Catching throws makes them so happy; they’re so easily pleased.” Along with other maskers, she bombarded them with throws. “Look at that,” she said, “even the most solemn crack a smile when they’re handed an unwrapped moon pie or when beads are draped around their necks.”

Mamie was right. For all involved, fun, fellowship and good times prevail. Few can resist. People get caught up in the frivolous event and forget their problems. Time stands still for Mardi Gras.

However, it comes to an end. After travelling an hour and a half long route on the streets of downtown Mobile, we pulled to a stop near the bus that transports us to our Mardi Gras Ball. Mamie looked at me. I saw a sparkle in her faded blue eyes when she was being helped off the float. “You know,” sh...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• A Note from the Director of Faulkner University: Mobile Campus
• Introduction by Patrick Miller
• Chapter 1 - A Full Life
• Chapter 2 - Schools
• Chapter 3 - Students
• Chapter 4 - Teachers
• Chapter 5 - Business
• Chapter 6 - Tourism
• Chapter 7 - Restaurants
• Chapter 8 - History
• Chapter 9 - Parks
• Chapter 10 - Traveling Academics: Advanced Form of Travel Tourism Writing by Paula Webb
• Chapter 11 - Politicians
• Chapter 12 - Real Estate
• Chapter 13 - Cemeteries
• Chapter 14 - Police
• Chapter 15 - Military
• Chapter 16 - Museums
• Chapter 17 - Unusual Influences
• Chapter 18 - Hotels, and Bed and Breakfasts
• Chapter 19 - Bicentennial
• Chapter 20 - Entertainment
• Chapter 21 - Homeless
• Chapter 22 - Farming
• Chapter 23 - Nashville
• Chapter 24 - Congressional Record
• Chapter 25 - Write Right and Share Attractions to Encourage Tourists
• Afterword
• Bibliography
• About the Author