麻豆APP

Wilson as a child in Tennessee. There’s a side of Dr. J. Michael Wilson that many do not know and some could not even imagine. The 麻豆APPProfessor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages is a man who relishes all things outdoors. He holds his best memories in his...

There鈥檚 a side of Dr. J. Michael Wilson that many do not know and some could not even imagine.  The 麻豆APPProfessor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages is a man who relishes all things outdoors.

He holds his best memories in his mind like hard candy in the mouth, melting the sweetness a swallow at a time.

Among Wilson鈥檚 most savored memories are those of Tennessee summers and autumn weekends he spent as a child in a cabin near the Tennessee River with his grandparents; of bass and crappies caught, cleaned and eaten; of deer hunts and duck hunts past and present; of the deer bagged and some about those Hartfords that got away. 

Although this is a man whose academic specialty is the history of the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish, his real life specialty is recall.  And, he uses his Hemingwayesque ability to capture his memories in succinct and sometimes pithy, self-deprecating word portraits.

Wilson, of late, has taken to writing stories to capture his memories and a few editors are publishing them much to Wilson鈥檚 delight.  His 鈥淚t's a Dog's Life鈥� appears in the February 2017 edition of 鈥淣orth American Whitetail,鈥� and his 鈥淭he Fellowship of Fowling Forefathers鈥� will be published in the spring 2017 edition of 鈥淒elta Waterfowl.鈥�  But publishing wasn鈥檛 initially what Wilson intended for his stories that number slightly more than a dozen to date.

鈥淚 started writing my stories mostly for family and friends and my kids loved them.  Actually some of these are stories that I have told over the years at parties or gatherings, and everybody yuks it up and I just thought I would put them down on paper.

鈥淭he people involved usually like them a lot.  They say, 鈥榊ep, that鈥檚 how it happened, but I couldn鈥檛 have told it like that.鈥� One of my friends read one I had emailed him and he answered, 鈥楴ot a bit of embellishment.鈥� 鈥�

Wilson鈥檚 technique for conjuring his memories into stories is simple.  He uses the time when he鈥檚 hunting and 鈥渨aiting for something鈥� to happen to think about a story and 鈥渨rite it in my mind.鈥�  When he returns home, he sits down and writes the story on the computer, with most completed in an hour.

鈥淵ou have a lot of free time in your mind if you鈥檙e hunting deer from 6 a.m. til noon.  Most of the time, I depend on the anecdote and most of the time it鈥檚 the how not to anecdote.鈥�

Committing his stories to digital memory, especially those about the part of his childhood spent with his Tennessee grandparents, allows his children to know their ancestors.  They allow Wilson a sweet taste of his past.

Wilson grew up in the Memphis area 鈥渕ostly鈥� but lived with his maternal grandparents in Jackson, Tenn., between the age of 6 and 8 while his father worked out of state.  During this time, he learned the skills of hunting and fishing, and he learned much about his grandparents.

One of his stories remembers his grandparents鈥� houseboat cabin in the woods on the banks of Lick Creek.  Another recalls his grandmother鈥檚 courage and propensity to actively seek and destroy snakes, especially rattlesnakes, saving their rattlers as noise-making reminders of her prowess. Other stories poke fun at his own ignorance, like the time his mistook a bunch of decoys floating on the water for live, baggable fowl, or the time he was trying to help roust a deer in the direction of one of his older hunting pals only to discover his friend asleep while 鈥渢he Hartford鈥� he had roused sprang away.

When Wilson鈥檚 not remembering and writing, he is busy making more outdoor memories with his wife, friends, and grandkids.  He shared a recent story of taking his 8-year-old grandson on a deer hunt.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a hardship hunt, but we were in Virginia on a cold November morning in a tent blind when five turkey gobblers came by.  My grandson London said in a whisper, 鈥楽hoot them,鈥� but I knew that Virginia had a split season and that that day it was not legal to hunt turkeys.  I hope he learned a lesson from that as well 鈥� Follow the Law.鈥�

So we can have a taste of those stories and memories that Wilson holds so dear, he generously agreed to share one with a particular Rowan County flair.  Entitled 鈥�You Say Catawba and I Say Catalpa,鈥� the story tells the tale of one of his best fishing baits and what happens when the word about it gets out.