501-918-3025
calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
What Are You Reading? Frieda Patton
I am currently President of Poets’ Roundtable of Arkansas. I retired from the State of Arkansas after 38 years. The first 11 years, I worked at Arkansas Rehabilitation Services assisting the handicapped to obtain training. The last 27 years, I worked at the Department of Environmental Quality, beginning in the Director’s office and later in the Air Division. I loved all three of my jobs. Now, I spend most of my time attending church activities or classes, enjoying time with my two granddaughters, and supporting the activities of Poets’ Roundtable of Arkansas. I have lived in central Arkansas for fifty years.
What are you reading at the moment?
I am currently reading Beth Moore’s Breaking Free. Today’s Christians aren’t viewed as being captives, but this book stresses the ways and activities that can prevent a Christian from being free to serve God in the manner in which we were designed.
What book or media do you keep coming back to again and again?
I particularly enjoy the writings of Verna Lee Hinegardner, former Arkansas Poet Laureate. I have a number of her books – Mosaic, I Own One Star, and Hearts of the South. These I keep beside my desk. Verna Lee wrote poetry in a way that there was no misunderstanding what she was saying. She wrote her poetry as if she shared life with the reader. My husband, Dennis, is the editor of The Saline Courier “Poets Forum.” I am constantly looking for poems to recommend to him.
What children’s book do you wish every child could read?
The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery series. I grew up on a farm in Prairie County. At that time, we did not have a county library. My siblings and I would order books through the mail from the Central Arkansas Library System. We could either submit a list of book titles or subjects and we would receive a box of books in the mail – so exciting! Mysteries were my favorite – particularly the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. I still keep some of these books available when we go camping with our granddaughters.
