Elderhostelers Love the Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference

"This conference was a wonderful introduction to the South and its culture."

"I loved this mind-expanding experience, learning how to read Faulkner and to appreciate his works."

"The Reckon Crew's version of As I Lay Dying was innovative, imaginative, and fascinating!"

"The Mississippi Delta trip was exceptional and the Blues Museum in Clarksdale a must."

"Everyone was gracious, courteous and helpful in every way."

"Thanks so much for a special week at Ole Miss!"

So So read evaluation comments from a group of 28 Elderhostelers who attended the 29th Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, July 21-26, 2002. The Elderhostel group studied the theme “Faulkner and His Contemporaries—The Lost Generation.”

For the third summer in a row, Elderhostelers from coast to coast joined hundreds of others for the intensive Faulkner-related conference. And for the third time, the Elderhostel evaluations were overwhelmingly positive, according to Carolyn Vance Smith of Natchez, Mississippi, president of Educational Travel Associates Inc.

Smith, former Mississippi/Arkansas Regional Elderhostel director, a longtime college educator, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, arranged the group’s activities.

Assisting was Joan Popernik, recently retired from the Ole Miss Institute for Continuing Studies, who was on-site coordinator for the second year.

“Six of this year’s enrollees had attended one of the previous Elderhostel Faulkner weeks,” Smith said. “One of these, Glenn McConnell of Annapolis, Maryland, told me he loved the conference so much he plans to return for as many summers as he can. He joked that he was going to attend until he learned how to spell Yoknapatawpha.”

Again this summer, attendees praised Ole Miss, the speakers, the hospitality, the campus and especially the local people who were so kind to them.

With the success of three programs behind her, Smith is planning a fourth Elderhostel Faulkner program during the 30th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, July 20-25, 2003.

Again, the Elderhostel program will include all conference lectures, field trips, meals, and other activities and will also provide special Elderhostel-only sessions with Faulkner experts. Anyone 55 or older (or accompanying someone 55 or older) is eligible to register for the Elderhostel program.
Cost is $866, which includes the conference registration fee, lodging (double occupancy) at the Triplett Alumni Center Hotel on the Ole Miss campus, all meals from supper July 20 through lunch July 25, field trip transportation, handouts, and souvenirs. A limited number of single rooms are available at an extra charge.

Program registration, which opens in February 2003, may be made by calling toll-free, 877-426-8056, and using program number 1813. Information about the program is available from Smith by telephone at 601-446-1208 or by e-mail at Carolyn.Smith@colin.edu.