June 25, 2012
In and around Cleveland, Mississippi


Gentle Reader,


For lunch today, we journeyed to The Senator's Place, which offers "Delicious Food for the Soul."  They were having a 9th anniversary celebration, and for just $7 you could eat all the soul food your soul desired.  Beans, rice, cornbread, lima beans, fried chicken, BBQ pulled pork, and banana pudding.  The specialty was wet fried chicken, which is fried chicken drenched in gravy.  Tender all off the bone meat.  Sweet tea, too.  Many places offer unsweet tea, but today's lunch spot served only sweet tea.  Don't think they anticipated having so many of us show up for lunch all at once.  There are 40 participants in this Mississippi Delta seminar, and over half of us went to this soul food feast.  Scott and I shared a fork for a while, as they were trying to wash silverware to keep up with the crowd.  My soul was satisfied...

 BBQ places abound in the Mississippi...

 Have to check out this clothing boutique... very little down time in this workshop experience

 One of the few places open in Cleveland on a Sunday night...

they mix up a wonderful frozen mango margarita...

Here's Dr. Luther Brown, giving us an overview of the program...he's a delightful storyteller!

We learned about perceptions of the Mississippi Delta today, with Luther talking about various ways people have viewed the Delta.  He emphasized that much of what people know is accurate, but they don't connect that knowledge with the Delta, nor do they realize the connection of that knowledge to the Delta.  One of the analogies I found most compelling was Luther's comparison of the Delta to a pile of coins.  He asked us to imagine finding a pile of coins and examining those coins, knowing there are always two distinct sides to any coin.  One one coin, there might be a side that symbolizes the wealth of the Delta... flip it over and you discover extreme poverty.  One one side of a coin you might find many prolific authors... flip it over and you discover illiteracy.  On one side of a coin you might find extreme political power... flip it over and you discover powerlessness and a people who are disenfranchised.  This kind of analogy made sense to me, and made me think about the Delta... and living... in a new way.  There is always another side to any story, another way of looking at something that appears to be one way.  There is always a shadow behind the light.  There is always light in darkness.  There is always hope somewhere within despair.  There is always a way out of any darkness.  Today was affirming and alive...


I remember something Mrs. Heabler, my 3rd and 4th grade teacher, wrote in my yearbook..."May your dark clouds always have a silver lining..."  I have been accused of being "Pollyanish," especially early in my teaching career. My nickname in Taft, California was "Mary Poppins."   I would venture out into the migrant fields, trying to rescue mothers of my Mexican students from abusive husbands.  I would walk into the tin shacks, certain that I could help.  In reality, I ended up being a listening ear, hearing stories from mothers and grandmothers through the translations of my students.  We cried together in the fields, and I held the mothers and grandmothers in my arms.  I didn't rescue anyone, nor did I change the conditions my students dealt with everyday when they came home.  But we cried together and my leaving was always followed by a very long embrace and a "gracias."

Today, we viewed a documentary entitled "LaLee's Kin:  The Legacy of Cotton."  This was about LaLee's family, and how she tried to raise her grandchildren and great grandchildren under very difficult circumstances.  Her granddaugher, nicknamed Granny, was a bright young woman who simply wanted to learn.  She had a passion for learning, but she was always so tired because of her responsibilities related to caring for younger siblings at home everyday.  I wanted to wave a magic wand over her life and give her a space where she could concentrate on simply doing her homework.  She had a passion for wanting to know things, for learning.  Instead, much of her energy was spent on helping her family find water needed for the day. They would go down to the jail and fill up jugs with water, using the hose outside the jail.  The children would take baths in five gallon containers, sharing the water.  I wanted to offer her a warm shower, letting her feel the joy of warm water on her skin.  

Dr. Reggie Brown

Reggie Brown, the former Superintendent of West Tallahatchie County Schools, spoke to us after the documentary.  He told us of the realities of what students had to deal with outside of school.  In response to a seminar participant who asked, "What can we do?"  he told us to not ignore or judge the student who falls asleep in class.  That student, especially if she is a female, has probably spent the night fighting off rats, keeping them away from her little brothers or sisters.  He told us that that female might have been fighting off other rats, too, often in the form of their mother's boyfriends who want them when they finish being with the mothers.  This is another type of "rat" that they must fend off in the night. 

I cried.  I have a place inside me that takes in this kind of sorrowful life, and it is bruised and battered after hearing the stories of LaLee and her family today. I wanted to embrace this sixth grader nicknamed Granny, holding her close, protecting her from the realities of her own life...

Namaste,

Marianne