JASNA Middle Tennessee's fall meeting will feature a discussion of Austen's 1813 masterpiece Pride and Prejudice, led by our own Debbie Carroll. We'll return to the historic Buchanan Log House in Donelson, which was the site of our spirited September 2022 conversation about Sense and Sensibility.

The gathering will begin at 2 pm with beverages and light bites; members are asked to bring a tea-time treat to share. Please let us know if you're planning on attending, so that we may prepare for sufficient refreshments and seating: janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

The Buchanan Log House is located at 2910 Elm Hill Pike (37214); free parking is available.

Join JASNA on August 14 for Sunshine and a Stroll

 

May Meeting with JASNA President Liz Philosophos Cooper: CANCELLED

March 12, 2020 --
Owing to the current pandemic situation, we have determined that the wise decision is to cancel the Friday, May 1 visit by JASNA President Liz Cooper. We thank our friends at Vanderbilt, particularly the Department of English, for their willingness to host the talk ("Jane Austen: Working Woman"), and look forward to rescheduling. Liz has never been to Nashville, and we are eager to make her trip a memorable one -- but in the right way [!].

Stay safe, friends, and check out the cdc.gov site for any questions about COVID-19.

About the speaker
Liz Philosophos Cooper, president of JASNA, is a second-generation JASNA member who fell in love with Austen’s work as a high school student. A member of JASNA since 1992, she has actively participated in local JASNA activities and served as JASNA Vice-President for Regions from 2013-2018 and as Regional Coordinator of Wisconsin prior to that. A popular speaker, she is a contributing writer to Jane Austen’s Regency World and co-edits Wisconsin Region’s A Year with Jane Austen calendar. Her talk from the Washington DC AGM, “The Apothecary and the Physician: Emma’s Mr. Perry,” was published in Persuasions 38.

She holds a BA (Communication Arts) from the University of Wisconsin, and worked in marketing before taking time off to raise four sons in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin (a suburb of Madison). Literature has always been a part of Liz’s life, as her mom was an English major. Liz began a local book group in 1986 that is still going strong, and organized and implemented a Junior Great Books reading program at the local elementary school. She has been an active volunteer in the community, including serving as president of the Village of Shorewood Hills Foundation for many years.

Liz and her husband, Scott, run a marketing consulting firm and enjoy traveling. True fact: they visited Chawton on their honeymoon in 1978! After having three brothers and four sons, it is a great joy for her to have three new daughters through marriage. Her three granddaughters and two grandsons are known to host tea parties with Jane Austen, showing it’s never too early to learn about Jane.

Liz Cooper's talk is funded in part by a grant from the Jane Austen Society of North America.

Founded in 1979, the Jane Austen Society of North America is a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers and dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing.

Since its inaugural dinner in Manhattan for 100 guests, the society’s ranks have grown to more than 5,000 members in 79 Regions, making JASNA the largest literary society devoted to Jane Austen. Although most members live in the United States and Canada, Austen admirers from more than a dozen countries are also JASNA members.

February 16: Health and Wellness, the Austen Way

We'll embrace a new year's opportunity for self-improvement with a discussion of Regency-era eating and exercise habits, guided by The Jane Austen Diet: Austen’s Secrets to Food, Health, and Incandescent Happiness (2019), by Jane Austen and Bryan Kozlowski.

Our first meeting of 2020 is set for Sunday, February 16, from 2 to 4 pm, at a private home in the Green Hills area of Nashville.

Contact janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com to let us know you'll be attending, and we'll respond with location and parking information.  Please bring a tea-time treat to share; beverages will be provided.

Overview (Turner Publishing)

What can Jane Austen teach us about health?

With a multi-million fan base, Austen is already a “lifestyle” celebrity: imitating her ideas on love and romance lie at the heart of her fabulous fame. In his newest literary romp author, Brian Kozlowski offers a new twist on the Austen way of romancing life. The Jane Austen Diet is the first retrospective look at the healthiest characters in classic literature and what they can teach us today. Jane leaves a trail of solid clues throughout her novels, a framework for embracing health the way her elegant characters do so effortlessly. The Jane Austen Diet shares Jane’s approach to food, fitness, and total body “bloom.”

Although the characters in Austen’s books seem to stay effortlessly fit, the Austen Diet is very real, and science is beginning to prove its remarkable reality. Think of it as the Pemberley version of the Paleo lifestyle – a witty return to Regency food-and-fitness strategies, revealing Jane’s forgotten prescription for incandescent “health and happiness” in the 21st century.

About the author
Bryan Kozlowski is a passionate champion of “lit wit” – bringing the wisdom of classic literature into everyday life. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he’s authored two literature-inspired cookbooks for children and a work on Charles Dickens. His literary insights have been featured in the New York Times, Slate, and Country Life magazine, among other publications.

Read more:

The Washington Post: Jane Austen thought every body was beautiful

Willow and Thatch: Incandescently healthy

Enjoying the felicities of rapid motion

"Rosings Revue" Set for December 15

(image from Abigail Reynolds'
pemberleyvariations.com)

The final meeting of the year is our annual Jane Austen birthday gathering. Please join us on Sunday, December 15, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Overlook Room of Westminster Presbyterian Church here in Nashville.

For this celebratory occasion, we'll be presenting the "Rosings Revue," a salon-style programme of musical and theatrical entertainments featuring the talents of JASNA members and friends.

Our specialty is variety! We're asking Janeites if there's a talent you'd like to exhibit: Can you sing? Play a musical instrument? Recite poetry or dramatic pieces? We know you're out there, Mary Bennet.

We'll also be very glad of volunteers to serve as production assistants or help set up tables and decor.

As always, we'll begin with food and conversation. Please bring a sweet or savory treat to share; beverages will be provided.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities or to confirm your attendance (so we have enough tea and chairs), contact janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

Westminster Presbyterian Church is located at 3900 West End Avenue (37205), between Mayfair Road and Wilson Boulevard. Look for signs to the North Entrance of the building and the parking lot for this section of the church. The Overlook Room is on the second floor, and accessible via stairs and elevator. As in years past, we will be collecting donations of winter-weather clothing and accessories for Room in the Inn.

Special Community Event: "Playing Cards with Jane Austen" at Vanderbilt Central Library, October 24

Our book-loving friends at Vanderbilt are hosting "Playing Cards with Jane Austen: An Evening of Speculation," on Thursday, October 24, beginning at 5 pm in the Community Room of the Central Library -- and we're invited!

English Professor Robin Bates will speak about card playing in literature, specifically Mansfield Park and Speculation and, after his remarks and refreshments, guests will try their hands at the game.

Presented by the Friends of Vanderbilt's Libraries, this event is free but because seating is limited, the courtesy of a reply is requested by October 14: respond to nancy.dwyer@vanderbilt.edu or 615-343-1222.

September 22 meeting: "Creativity and Place" with Elizabeth Meadows

For our meeting on Sunday, September 22, from 2 to 4 pm, we'll gather in the rehearsal/performance space of Actors Bridge Ensemble, located in the lower-level chapel at the Darkhorse Theater (4610 Charlotte Pike) in West Nashville.

Professor Elizabeth Meadows, of Vanderbilt University, will lead an interactive place-based creative approach, with a discussion of how specific times/places are important in Austen’s work, and then leading to people creating their own Jane Austen story in their particular place/time. Attendees are encouraged to bring a notepad and pen.

Elizabeth Meadows is Associate Director of Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which promotes interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities and social sciences. Meadows brings to the Warren Center considerable experience in community and student engagement; she spent six years at Vanderbilt’s Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, where she developed and led programs offering faculty, staff, and students opportunities to engage in creative practice and fostered innovative projects and collaborations with our campus and local community. Meadows helped develop the Curb Center’s Public Scholars Program, worked with campus and local partners to organize the Mellon Summer Institute in Public and Digital Humanities, and collaborated with Nashville’s Metro Arts Commission in developing the Racial Equity in Arts Leadership program. A scholar of Victorian literature and culture, Elizabeth taught at Mount Holyoke College, before coming to Vanderbilt in 2013, and she has published in Dickens Studies Annual, The Oxford Companion to Victorian Literary Culture, and has collaboratively guest edited a special issue of Victorian Review. She is also Faculty Head of East House on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons.

JASNA members are asked to bring a tea-time treat to share; beverages will be provided.

Guests are welcome, but please let us know you're attending, so we can plan for seating and refreshments: janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

Founded in 1995, Actors Bridge is a professional theater company and an actor's training program, specializing in the Meisner Technique. AB also produces Act Like a Grrrl (ALAG) an autobiographical writing and performance program that inspires girls (ages 12-18) to write about their lives and transform their thoughts into monologues, dances, and songs for public performance.

The Darkhorse building was originally a Presbyterian church, and in 1990 became a performance venue; AB moved into the chapel in 2015. It's a space that has been home to hundreds of productions set in all parts of the world and in all time periods -- perfect for our afternoon considering "creativity and place."

The Darkhorse is located at 4610 Charlotte Avenue / 37209, but the entrance to the chapel is along the 47th Avenue side street [McDonald's is next door]. Look for signage on the doors.

Free parking is available along 47th, in the SunTrust lot at the corner of 46th Avenue, and at the Richland Park library directly across the street from the theater.

"Netherfield Park is let at last!"

Summer Outing to Franklin's Lotz House

Please join us on Saturday, August 17, for an excursion to the historic Lotz House (1858), near downtown Franklin.

We'll meet at the Civil War house museum at 11 am for a one-hour tour, then have lunch (Dutch-treat) nearby at the Bunganut Pig Pub.




For our JASNA group, Lotz (it's pronounced "Loats") House admission is $10 per person, and you may pay at the door.

There's plenty of room and guests are most welcome, but please let us know if you'll be attending by Tuesday, August 14, for planning purposes: janeaustenmiddletn@gmail.com.

• The Lotz House is located at 1111 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064.
• The Bunganut Pig is located at 1143 Columbia Avenue (across from the Carter House).

About the Lotz House

German immigrants Albert and Margaretha Lotz moved to Franklin in 1856 and two years later built this house, a product of Albert’s master carpentry and woodcarving skills. In 1858, Albert’s craftsmanship gained him a commission carving the mantels and other woodwork in Franklin’s courthouse. The Civil War changed life for the Lotzes, in ways they could not have imagined. When the Confederate charge came late in the day on November 30, 1864, this house found itself at the epicenter of the Battle of Franklin. The Lotz family raced across the street to take shelter with their friends the Carters, in their basement, and returned in the morning to find their planked house nearly destroyed. What remained of the building sheltered wounded Confederates after the battle.

Visitors will learn about lives disrupted by the “Bloodiest Five Hours” of the Civil War, while viewing magnificent period furniture and decorations. Artifacts from the Battle of Franklin, including weapons and bullets as well as soldiers’ personal items, are on display, as are bloodstains and cannonball scars.

For more information on Franklin, go to visitfranklin.com

Tennessippi Biennale and Summer Soiree

You're invited to a Joint Meeting of the Middle Tennessee and Mississippi Regions

Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8, 2019

in Holly Springs, MS

Please reserve space via JaneAustenMidTn@gmail.com

Our first Mid Tenn-MS event two summers ago in Oxford, MS, 
was so much fun, we're doing it again! 
Join us for one or both days in Holly Springs, the town with "All Kinds of Character!"

Read more TenneSippi info here

Downtown Holly Springs, MS

Holly Springs is:

1 hour from Memphis, TN • 1 hour from Tupelo, MS • 1.5 hours from Jackson, TN

3 hours from Jackson, MS • 3.5 hours from Nashville, TN

April 14: Gothic Horror Buffet

We'll be meeting Sunday, April 14, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at a private home for a set of mini-book club discussions. 

In the spirit of this year's Annual General Meeting theme of Northanger Abbey (at which our own Roger Moore, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science and Principal Senior Lecturer in English at Vanderbilt, will be a plenary speaker), we're choosing the three most well-known titles among the ten mentioned in the book: Ann Radcliffe's The Italian and The Mysteries of Udolpho and Matthew Lewis's The Monk. 

Please choose one to read and be ready to discuss. If you'd like to read one of the other seven, feel free to do so--and be ready to give us all a little report. 

These three famous titles (The Italian, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Monk) are all in print; they are also easily accessible as free electronic titles. In addition to your public library, try sites like Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org), Google Books (books.google.com), and Hathi Trust (hathitrust.org), and YouTube for audio versions.

Valancourt Books, a small press in Richmond, has reissued those other seven titles in their "Horrid Novels" series; they are available in paperback or electronic editions. (You can find all ten of the titles in many editions, both print and electronic, at online and brick-and-mortar retailers as well as the public library.)

Please contact janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com for location details. Attendees are encouraged to bring a tea-time to share; beverages will be provided.

ROAD TRIP!

Thanks to all who attended our first event --
join us June 7-8, 2019 for our
2019 event in Holly Springs, MS!

A Joint JASNA Meeting: 

Middle Tennessee Region 
and Mississippi Region

Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Oxford, MS

2017 schedule follows

May Day

"Do you want me to answer truthfully, or like a lady's maid?"

Dede Clements will host our Sunday, May 7 meeting, from 2 to 4 pm. The afternoon will reveal secrets and wisdom found in The Duties of a Lady's Maid; with Directions for Conduct and Numerous Receipts for the Toilette, recently published in a facsimile edition by Chawton House Press after the 1825 original. 

This how-to is divided into two sections: the duties of Behavior (good temper, economy, diligence, correct speaking), and the duties of Knowledge and Art (dressing for success, hair-styling, cosmetics, figure-enhancing, use and abuse of soap).

Please bring a treat to share. For directions, contact janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

Meeting Notes

The Region celebrated "A Regency Christmas" at the festive home of Judy Isaac. Andrea Hearn led an audience-participation afternoon of holiday customs concerning decorations, food, and amusements, followed by a spirited game of Christmas-themed "Who Am I?". The meeting culminated with a moving birthday toast by Pat McGraw, referencing an 1808 Austen poem: "Which one of us here today will ever forget Jane Austen, 'a friend and ornament of human kind'?" 

Ready for the sherry toast!

Fran Hardie

We are deeply saddened at the passing of longtime JASNA member and chapter founder Dr. Frances Isley Hardie. Fran, who received her Ph.D. in Russian Literature from Vanderbilt, worked at Vanderbilt University Libraries from 1968-1991, retiring as head of collections and acquisitions. An intrepid traveller who visited many Austen sites, Fran will be remembered by us fondly not only for her chapter leadership but for her dazzling smile, which warmly greeted new guests and old friends at our gatherings. Chapter members Paula Covington and Susie Russenberger spoke eloquently at a memorial service of a dear friend, bibliophile, and adventurer.

“Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived” (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Read more about this "woman of mystery" in Vanderbilt magazine.

'Tis the Season

We'll be celebrating our dear writer's birth (December 16 -- she's a Sagittarius!) during our holiday gathering on Sunday, December 4, from 2 to 4 pm at the home of Judy Isaac. The program includes a presentation about Christmas customs, games and music of the Regency area, and of course treats and a toast.

Members are encouraged to bring savories or sweets to share. We're also accepting donations of winter clothing for Room in the Inn.

For more details and directions, email janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

Fall Meeting: October 9 at MBA

At the next JASNA Middle Tennessee meeting, set for Sunday, October 9, our own Bridget McAdam will offer a presentation on disability in the Regency, addressing the "excluded and forgotten" members of the community (including the Austen family's second child, George). Bridget first shared her work on this overlooked subject during a session at the 2015 AGM, and you'll be impressed with her scholarship and passion.

We'll gather on the campus of Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA), in the Gibbs Room, from 2 to 4 p.m.

The Gibbs Room is located in the Davis Art Building (a long, colonnaded building on the south side of the main Sloane Quadrangle quad). It's close to the gym, which is on the Vine Street side of MBA. (The football stadium is on the Wilson Avenue side of campus). There is free parking alongside the gym and beside the Massey Junior School (again, on the side of Vine Street Christian Church).

Please reply at your earliest convenience to janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com. Guests are welcome; members should bring a tea-time treat to share.

And a friendly reminder: If you have not recently done so, please take a moment to renew--or begin!--your membership with the national JASNA organization. Check out JASNA's new online Member Portal to take care of business in a flash.

May Meeting: Special Guest Paige Johnson

Our May 15 meeting will be hosted by Judy Isaacs and feature a presentation by Paige Johnson on "Jane Austen in the Garden." Paige, who holds a degree in Garden History from the University of Bristol, is highly regarded for research which ranges from the Atomic Gardens of the 1950s to the Art Deco gardens of 1920s and 30s to the hydraulically engineered seventeenth-century gardens of Wilton House in Wiltshire, England. In addition to her monograph Gatsby’s Garden, she has published articles in Apollo and Garden History, among others, and maintains the Garden History Girl blog. She is currently at work on a book of literary garden history, which is expected to appear next year.  Paige is also a doyenne of playground design and the internationally cited author of the enormously popular blog and website Playscapes (www.play-scapes.com). She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she is employed as a nanotechnology researcher. 

The Middle Tennessee Region is grateful to the JASNA grants committee for their support of Paige's visit.

The Sunday, May 15 meeting is from 2 to 4 p.m., and Region members are asked to confirm their attendance and bring a treat to share. If you need directions, please contact us at janeaustenmidtn@gmail.com.

Looking Good at 200!

Thanks to Betsy Fleetwood for hosting the first JASNA MidTn meeting of the year -- a delightful afternoon all around! A special treat was a photo report by Jo Ann and Phil Staples about their recent visit to Biltmore Estate to see the exhibit Fashionable Romance: Wedding Gowns in Films, featuring several worn by Austen characters. (There was much sighing over Colonel Brandon's glorious red coat.)

Then we turned to a spirited discussion all about Emma, steered by Anna Groom, covering the residents of Hartfield, Donwell Abbey, Randalls and Highbury. A round of "shu-rahds" capped the afternoon.

This was also the first meeting for the new regional coordinators, Caroline Davis and Andrea Hearn (whew!). Pictured are Andrea Hearn, Anna Groom, Caroline Davis and Betsy Fleetwood.

And make a note: The next meeting is now set for Sunday, May 15, 2 to 4 pm. It was originally announced for May 22, but May 15 is indeed the confirmed date. We hope you'll join us for a presentation by noted garden historian Paige Johnson, who's traveling from Oklahoma to share her expertise!

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," Oh My!

JASNA Middle Tennessee members were recently invited to a special preview screening of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, coming to theaters nationwide on February 5. 

The film is based on the 2009 novel of the same name (authored by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen) in which England is overrun with the undead. Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters -- skilled in martial arts and weaponry -- prove too much for the zombie apocalypse. Was there ever a doubt?

There are plenty of laughs and fabulous costumes, and this may be the most memorable Mr. Collins of all time. All things considered, it's a tasteful level of gore! 

Pictured following fearless zombie hunter Debbie Carroll (dead center) are Adam and Anna Groom, Betsy Fleetwood, Rachel Agee, Shellie Odin, Caroline Davis and JoAnn and Phil Staples.

Roger Moore is Guest Speaker at Dec JASNA Meeting

You are cordially invited to a special

December JASNA meeting

hosted by Mildred Tilley and Jo Ann Staples

When: Sunday, December 6, 2015,  from 2:00-4:00 pm

Where:  4413 Howell Place, Nashville, TN 372

Program : “Jane Austen and the Dissolution of the Monasteries”

presented by Roger E. Moore

Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences at Vanderbilt University

Jane Austen refers to the medieval abbeys, churches, and chapels quite frequently in her writings.  In this talk Professor Moore will explore how her representation of these places reveals her critical attitude toward the Reformation, specifically the Dissolution of the Monasteries. From considering how the Tilney ancestors obtained Northanger Abbey, to exploring Fanny Price’s preference for monastic architecture, to examining the medieval history of the Royal Garrison Chapel in Mansfield Park, he will suggest the richness of Austen’s engagement with England’s sacred landscape.

Prior to Professor Moore’s talk, we will celebrate the 230^th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth

with toasts and birthday cake

as well as honor incoming JASNA Regional Coordinators:

Andrea Hearn and Caroline Davis

Please RSVP to Mildred Tilley at:  millietilley@gmail.com

Refreshments will be provided