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[Audio] Constance Alexander Holds "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" Literary Reading, Sunday

Jenni Todd, WKMS

Murray author Constance Alexander holds a reading this Sunday at 2 p.m. at Calloway County Public Library, titled "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" featuring a variety of work, including new material on her recent project with the elderly and caregiving and her book of poetry "64 Blue Letters," about a high school yearbook in the year 1964. Alexander stops by Sounds Good to preview some of her work ahead of the reading.

"Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" features pieces from Constance Alexander's newspaper columns and other published works. She'll be reading selections from "From Cradle to Grace" a recent project she's done on the elderly and caregiving. Borrowing some short pieces from Chuck Simon and Bobby Bryan from the work "Kilroy Was Here," she'll be reading from a series of oral history interviews of people who were children during WWII. Also in the reading will be material from the book of poetry, "64 Blue Letters." 

The book of poetry interprets an old-style yearbook, Alexander says, where the beginning had a photo of the school, followed by the senior class listed in alphabetical style (sometimes with information about them underneath their names). High school is the one time of your life when you're with all peers, she says, and the intimacy you have with high school friends is different than when you go to college and beyond that. Some people hated high school, but she finds that in reflection - people seldom spoke the truth at that age, often trying to be someone else. She says some of the stereotypical characters in high school are still the same today. 

More about Constance Alexander's work on her website

Tracy started working for WKMS in 1994 while attending Murray State University. After receiving his Bachelors and Masters degrees from MSU he was hired as Operations/Web/Sports Director in 2000. Tracy hosted All Things Considered from 2004-2012 and has served as host/producer of several music shows including Cafe Jazz, and Jazz Horizons. In 2001, Tracy revived Beyond The Edge, a legacy alternative music program that had been on hiatus for several years. Tracy was named Program Director in 2011 and created the midday music and conversation program Sounds Good in 2012 which he hosts Monday-Thursday. Tracy lives in Murray with his wife, son and daughter.
Matt Markgraf joined the WKMS team as a student in January 2007. He's served in a variety of roles over the years: as News Director March 2016-September 2019 and previously as the New Media & Promotions Coordinator beginning in 2011. Prior to that, he was a graduate and undergraduate assistant. He is currently the host of the international music show Imported on Sunday nights at 10 p.m.
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