Welcome to the Auburn Alumni Book Club, where we’ve been reading alumnus Chad Gibbs’ book God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the Southeastern Conference. The book was published in 2010 by Zondervan.

God and Football

“Welcome to the American South, where God and football scrimmage daily for the people’s hearts and minds,” Gibbs begins. His premise? To see if Alabama is an anomaly in the SEC—whether folks who are fans of Ole Miss or (grr) LSU live, breathe, and obsess over football as much—or, okay, more than—they obsess over their faith. Have other schools managed to find a better balance between faith and football than the fans of the Tide or the Tigers? Is God playing second-string to the Gridiron in other places?

There was only one way to find out, so Gibbs sacrificed the bulk of the 2009 Auburn Tigers football season to visit all the schools at the SEC on game day, looking to see if, indeed, others had managed to find a balance.

Over the course of the 2009 season, Gibbs suffered Gator envy, fear at the hands of the Bengal Tigers in Death Valley, and studiously avoided the Iron Bowl as Bama marched toward an eventual national championship while Auburn struggled through a rough season under then-first-year coach Gene Chizik. (But we all know what happened the next season.)

Gibbs had spent much of the book trying to find other SEC fans who seemed to put God on their hearts’ back burners during football season—as he often did. He wanted to see if other fans looked to the success of a bunch of college athletes to measure their own self-worth—as he often did. He wanted to know if a bad three hours on the gridiron on Saturday sent other fans into weeklong depressions—as it did him.

Finally, he realized that everyone’s walk is different. That, sure, all football fans struggle to keep perspective in their lives during the season. And that, as evangelist David Nasser (an Alabama fan) told him, “Football is a great hobby, but a horrible god.”

Welcome to the Auburn Alumni Book Club, where we’re reading alumnus Chad Gibbs’ book God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the Southeastern Conference. The book was published in 2010 by Zondervan.

Each week, we’ll post a synopsis of a chapter. Join in a discussion—or begin your own—by leaving a comment.

Today, we continue Gibbs’ season of attending SEC home games as he heads to Columbia, S.C., for a big Sept. 24, 2009, game between the Gamecocks and the then-No. 4-ranked Ole Miss Rebels.

First, Gibbs notes that if he’d realized the game was on Thursday night, he’d never have chosen it for his schedule since he both wanted to attend an SEC home game AND a church service. A Thursday game meant three or four days in Columbia. “Thursday night football is, in a word, unnatural,” he writes. “It’s like Christmas in March, or shrimp scampi for breakfast, or Billy Graham at Hooters. Thursday night football is, in my humble opinion, an affront to God Almighty.”

So on Saturday, instead of watching the game at Williams-Brice Stadium, Gibbs found himself at the services of Midtown Seventh-Day Adventist Church in downtown Columbia, where he felt out of place but welcomed.

He’d also been welcomed two days earlier, when he arrived at the home of Gamecocks’ superfan Jack Haynes. They rode to the pregame tailgate together in Jack’s 1964 Ford Econoline van tricked out in All Things Gamecock. Haynes is also a dedicated Christian, and seems to keep his football mania in perspective next to his faith, something Gibbs wonders if he could do should he ever move back to live in Auburn. “Perhaps living in Auburn would help me see the game for what it is—-a game,” he writes. “But then again, I can totally see me sneaking around the shrubs of the practice field, trying to learn the trick plays in advance.”

As they neared the stadium, “Mr. Haynes popped a beat-up old cassette tape into his stereo, the speakers crackled for a few seconds, then bystanders leaped as the sound of a rooster’s crow blared from two massive speakers concealed in the van’s front grill.” They had arrived.

South Carolina won the game, and there was much rejoicing in Columbia. But as Gibbs traveled back toward Birmingham, he thought about devotion, and how all the rabid South Carolina fans kept coming back year after year despite not the most outstanding win-loss ratio.

He wonders if his own loyalty is skewed. “Maybe, just maybe, I should leave open the possibility that occasionally God has other plans for my Saturdays.” Will this line of thought prevail?

Stay tuned next week, when Gibbs takes on the Tennessee Volunteers.

Grab a glass of sweet tea and delve into our Fall 2011 read, The Help, one of the hottest books on the New York Times best-seller list since its release. The debut novel of Atlanta author Kathryn Stockett explores the relationships between a group of white women and their African-American maids in Jackson, Miss., during the civil rights era. One of the key characters in the book, “Minny Jackson,” was inspired in part by alumna Octavia Spencer ’94, who also plays the role of “Minny” in the DreamWorks movie adaptation.

Today, we’re looking at chapters 26-30, in which Skeeter’s book is finally published and she and the maids wait for the fallout. Look for the final update on The Help next Tuesday, and be sure to check for information on our next read!

Chapters 26-30

Johnny calls Minny and asks her to look after Celia, who is mortified and depressed after what happened at the benefit. For days, Minny tries to get Celia out of bed, to no avail. When nothing else works, Minny reveals that the reason Hilly got mad at Celia was because she thought Celia knew about the pie. Minny finally confesses the “Terrible, Awful” thing she did to Hilly in retribution for the lies Hilly told about her being a thief.  She baked a chocolate pie and brought it to Hilly as a “peace offering.” After Hilly had devoured two pieces, Minny revealed to a horrified Hilly that the secret ingredient was her excrement.  Celia seems shocked by this story, but she thanks Minny for telling her. The next day, Celia is out of bed and chops down a mimosa tree she has always hated.

Chapter 27

Skeeter calls Elaine Stein and finds out the book has to be finished and in the publishers office by Dec. 21. Ms. Stein also says Skeeter needs to include an account about her own maid, Constantine. Skeeter is becoming more and more estranged from her friends. At a League meeting, Hilly orchestrates a vote for an updated newsletter and supplants Skeeter as editor. Stuart Whitworth is waiting for Skeeter when she returns home. Skeeter, still hurt from Stuart’s rejection of her months before, turns him away, but he keeps coming back. Meanwhile, Skeeter learns from Aibileen that Constantine gave up her daughter for adoption, a decision the maid ever after regretted. Skeeter confronts her mother to learn her side of what happened to Constantine. She learns that two years before, Constantine’s daughter, Lulabelle, came to Longleaf to reunite with her mother at the same time Charlotte Phelan was hosting a DAR meeting at their home. While Constantine was in the kitchen, Lulabelle mingled with the guests, “acting white.” When Charlotte discovered who she was, she demanded Lulabelle leave by the back door. After Lulabelle spat in Charlotte’s face and refused to leave, Charlotte forbid Constantine from seeing her daughter for as long as she worked for the Phelans. She then told Lulabelle the truth about why Constantine gave her up: because she was ashamed to have a white daughter.  After this, Constantine returned with her daughter to Chicago, where she died three weeks later. Skeeter writes Constantine’s story, but omits what happened at Longleaf. Minny insists that Skeeter include the “Terrible Awful” in her chapter of the book, reasoning that when Hilly reads it, in order to save her own face, she will do everything she can to keep others from thinking the book is about maids in Jackson Miss.  Skeeter finishes the story and mails the manuscript in, but doesn’t know if it will make it in time.

Skeeter finds out that her mother is dying of cancer and only has a few months left to live. She and Stuart have been seeing each other once a week. One evening, Stuart proposes to her, but before she accepts, she tells him about the book. Unable to understand Skeeter’s motives or stomach what she has done, Stuart withdraws his proposal, promising, as he leaves, not to reveal her secret. Skeeter tells Aibileen and Minny that Harper and Row want to publish their book, but they only want to issue a few thousand copies. Despite the unimpressive numbers, the three women are thrilled by the news.

After six months, Aibileen is impatient for the book to be published, but worries the Leefolts will find out and fire her. Skeeter secretly brings a box of the newly released book to Aibileen to give to the other maids. Aibileen’s church community applauds what she and Skeeter have done and vow to keep it a secret, but the book is featured on a local TV show, where the host promotes it and tells viewers that it could be about Jackson. Aibileen and Minny worry that it will be easier than they thought for people to figure out who’s who in the book.

After the maids learn Hilly has gotten a copy of their book, Minny nervously awaits Hilly’s retribution. Celia , who has been told by the doctor that she will never be able to successfully bear children, tells Johnny about her miscarriages. When Johnny realizes that Minny most likely saved Celia’s life, he tells the maid she will always have a job with the Footes.

What Do You Think?

Our book is called The Help, but the maids’ book is called Help. Explain the difference. Why might Kathyrn Stockett have written it that way?

Grab a glass of sweet tea and delve into our Fall 2011 read, The Help, one of the hottest books on the New York Times best-seller list since its release two years ago. The debut novel of Atlanta author Kathryn Stockett explores the relationships between a group of white women and their African-American maids in Jackson, Miss., at the dawn of the civil rights era. One of the key characters in the book, “Minny Jackson,” was inspired in part by Auburn alumna Octavia Spencer ’94, who also plays the role of “Minny” in the DreamWorks movie adaptation of the novel in theaters now.

Today, we’re looking at chapters 21-25, in which Skeeter finds it increasingly hard to reconcile her friends’ and family’s viewpoints with her own growing social awareness. Look for an update every Tuesday, and be sure to comment on the questions at the end—or start your own discussion!

Chapters 21-25

Skeeter grows increasingly torn as she works to polish the maids’ stories in secret at the same time Hilly is pushing her to put the racist “separate bathrooms” initiative in the League newsletter. She makes a move that jeopardizes her social standing in Jackson: for the annual coat drive, instead of asking people to drop their old coats by Hilly’s house, in the newsletter she asks people to bring their old toilets.

Hilly wakes up to find a front yard full of toilets—and is furious. She calls Elizabeth, and Aibileen hears just enough to be curious. She takes Mae Mobely on a walk around the neighborhood and finds traffic backed up—and the media there—to see the toilets. Elizabeth tells Aibileen she can no longer talk to Skeeter about the Miss Myrna columns.

Skeeter is essentially dead to her Jackson friends, kicked out of the bridge club, and is in for some humiliation at Hilly’s hands at the next League meeting.

Meanwhile, Celia continues to try to break into the society from which Skeeter is getting herself shunned. Celia comes to Elizabeth’s house during a bridge club gathering to volunteer for the Children’s Benefit. They do not invite her to join, but Hilly asks Celia and Johnny to attend the benefit, knowing Celia will embarrass herself. Before she leaves, Celia reveals that Minny Jackson is working for her.

Hilly calls the Footes’ house and Minny answers, pretending to be the new maid “Doreena” and claiming that Minny quit. Days later, Minny comes to work with a cut above her eye from where her husband Leroy struck her with a sugar bowl. Ashamed and devastated, she downplays it to Celia, claiming she hit her head on the bathtub. Before Celia can press the issue any further, the two women see a naked white man in the yard. Celia calls the police, but Minny decides to chase the man off with a knife. He proves too fast for her, however, and when she loses the knife, the man strikes her on the injured side of her head.  Celia comes outside with a fire poker and beats him with it. Minny is astonished to see the tougher side of Celia.

After work, she tells Aibileen about Leroy’s abuse and what Celia did for her, wondering why her employer doesn’t see the social lines that exist between people. Aibileen tells her friend she doesn’t believe in them anymore, that such lines are in peoples’ heads and that “kindness don’t have no boundaries.”

At the benefit, a tipsy and provocatively dressed Celia tries to talk to Hilly, but only makes a scene. When someone bids on Minny’s chocolate pie in Hilly’s name, Hilly mysteriously becomes flustered and shows her true colors to Celia, threatening to make Minny suffer if she and Celia tell anyone else about “that pie.”

Let’s Talk!

What did you think about Minny’s and Aibileen’s attitude toward Leroy’s physical abuse?

How is the racial bigotry in 1963 Jackson similar to the prejudice Celia meets at the hands of the League members?

Grab a glass of sweet tea and delve into our Fall 2011 read, The Help, one of the hottest books on the New York Times best-seller list since its release two years ago. The debut novel of Atlanta author Kathryn Stockett explores the relationships between a group of white women and their African-American maids in Jackson, Miss., at the dawn of the civil rights era. One of the key characters in the book, “Minny Jackson,” was inspired in part by Auburn alumna Octavia Spencer ’94, who also plays the role of “Minny” in the DreamWorks movie adaptation of the novel in theaters now.

Today, we’re looking at chapters 16-20, in which we learn more about Celia, and something happens to convince the maids to talk to Skeeter. Look for an update every Tuesday, and be sure to comment on the questions at the end—or start your own discussion!

Chapters 16-20

Aibileen hasn’t had much luck recruiting other maids to talk to Skeeter—they’re all understandably afraid, especially after the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. But one night after the “community concerns” meeting at church, Hilly’s maid Yule May asks Aibileen a few questions, and says she will talk to Skeeter.

A few days later, however, Skeeter gets a letter from Yule May in which the maid tells her she is sorry she won’t be able to help her because she is in prison. Yule May had been saving money to send her twin boys to college, but she didn’t have quite enough. Hilly refused to advance her the money, so she stole a ring Hilly never wore. Skeeter knows the ring was worth very little money and later learns Hilly had Yule May’s prison sentence lengthened to four years, even though the regular sentence is six months. Skeeter goes to Aibileen’s, where eleven other maids, driven by the plight of Yule May, agree to help Skeeter by sharing their stories.  Over the next two weeks, Skeeter goes to Aibileen’s every night, meeting with one maid at a time.

Meanwhile, Minny still can’t understand why “Miss Celia” does nothing but lie around the house all day. One day at work, Celia gets a package, and Minny spies on her, only to discover the package contains bottles of alcohol. When a disgusted Minny confronts Celia about it, Celia fires her. Over the weekend, Aibileen convinces Minny to ask for her job back, so Minny returns on Monday, determined to apologize. She finds Celia in the bathroom, bleeding, and realizes Celia has miscarried.

While they wait for the doctor to arrive, Celia confesses that this is the fourth miscarriage she’s had, but that Johnny only knows about the first one. She tells Minny the bottles she saw weren’t alcohol but a Choctaw tonic for ensuring a successful pregnancy, and reveals that the reason she wanted a maid was so she could lie still and not endanger the baby. Minny lets it slip that Johnny knows about her working for them. Celia begins to bleed heavily and Minny does everything she can to help her. The doctor arrives, and Celia is stabilized and put in bed. Minny sets to work cleaning the bathroom so Johnny will not find out about the miscarriage.

Skeeter has continued to date Stuart Whitworth; she and her parents go to Senator Whitworth’s home for dinner so the two families can meet. Skeeter has pushed Stuart to tell her what happened with his former fiancée, and he finally admits she cheated on him with a Yankee civil rights worker. He broke up with her not because he couldn’t forgive her but because it would ruin his father’s political career if word got out. Stuart breaks up with Skeeter, saying he needs a break.

Let’s talk!

Why do you think what happened to Yule May changed the other maids’ minds about talking to Skeeter, when the murder of Medgar Evers didn’t?