beauty of the spirit

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Ann Atwater is a beauty. She is an older woman-a commanding presence, extremely spiritual & religious, a love and lovely- a beauty. She radiates all the positive attributes of anyone years younger-her body is failing her a bit-but she rolls with it-As she says she has done with her life and her chosen life's work. Ann is a civil rights activist-a noted name in the racially charged city of Durham North Carolina in the 1970's. In fact-Ann Atwater is still a force, a name to be feared- she got things done, and gets things done still. She says she could weild an umbrella, barracade a committee room-saying all she had to do was sit just inside the door because she was a big woman.

Ann is black-her best friend was C.P. Ellis-once Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan-now deceased. Ann spoke at Ellis' funeral and sat with the Ellis family. A ten day immersion about segregation and the lid it was blowing off the Durham community- brought these two unlikely people together.

A 2005 film and a book explore the friendship of the pair and Ann shared the film and her words with a group of 30 people- on Monday evening in a room at the Senior Center in my small town in Person County. She sees beauty in the faces of black and white when they come together. She believes in faith-this is her overriding message-It will take you anywhere. She believes in family-she has raised her own and has mothered much of Durham. Ann began her activism because she believed. She believed in the promise of food and shelter for her own when she was at her lowest- this was her motivation for becoming an activist- family first. This message resonates in everything Ann speaks of.

Ann was the daughter of a sharecropper, entering the back door of the white family's home to take leftovers home. They had the first bites-she the leftovers. They had the first word-she didn't have a voice. This was Ann's world. Pregnant at 14-her father insisted the man marry his little girl and she married and began cleaning houses for $3.00 a day after moving to Durham North Carolina. In the parallel universe of Durham-C.P. Ellis was struggling as an attendant and then gas station owner. He had financial problems. They were both in the same boat- so to speak-& they swam out in different directions. C.P. Ellis was seduced by, embraced by and indoctrinated by the Klan-KKK. Ann became a voice for the poor-and she spoke truth to power-She was one of them.

C.P. Ellis was already aware of Ann Atwater-according to him- She was everywhere-they (the Klan) were talking and she was on the move-getting things done-showing up at city and county meetings, doing whatever it took to get her message out there. When the 1971 segregation issue reached it's peak in Durham- a 10 day meeting with Atwater and Ellis co-chairing changed the course of their lives. The goal of the meeting was to bring the whole community together to try to solve the problem. In the film, Ann admits she hated Ellis & the feeling was mutual. Neither wanted to co chair-but neither could refuse-less they would look bad, & they would.
They argued. They argued. During the 10 day "charrette" the two realized their children were suffering and the two were afraid for them. Both wanted the same-a better life for their children. They had argued out of fear. Both were poor-the were really in the same boat- they began to unite, to steer a boat together. They wept. The last night of the 10 day session- Ellis held up his Klan membership card and denounced the Klan-saying if schools would be better by tearing up his card- He would do so. In the 2005 film, Ellis said those one time friends never spoke to him again.

Ellis went on to organize labor for black and white. Ann Atwater continues to do her work and shine her light. Ann believes that Barack Obama is the man for the times. She believes he is called.

Ironically- tomorrow in a neighboring county, elections of the school board members will perhaps determine the future of racial diversity in schools-in other words-the policy of segregation may return.

Ann Atwater's words of wisdom-

Parents should take back their children. Discipline them."Spare the rod and spoil the child."

Always get up earlier than the competition. Stay ahead of the game.

Start at the top of the heap-take your concerns and complaints to the Boss, the Mayor,-whoever that may be.

Love and Faith bring people together. Meeting one on one about any greivance is the beginning of resolving the problem.

Our Fears are likely the Fears of Our foes.

Put your Faith in God.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you-Her life's philosophy.

The KKK lives on in North Carolina. But so do many C.P. Ellises and Ann Atwaters- and that is why there is so much HOPE.


about Ann Atwater here

about the film here "an unlikely friendship"

an interview with C.P. Ellis here
order the book here
PERSON COUNTY FOR CHANGE FORMED IN 2008 AS A GRASSROOTS VOLUNTEER GROUP OF PERSON COUNTY CITIZENS. OUR EFFORTS INCLUDE, ASSISTING WITH VOTER REGISTRATION, CREATING AWARENESS ABOUT EARLY VOTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSON COUNTY CITIZENS, EDUCATING AND SUPPORTING COMMUNITY ISSUES FOR GROWTH IN PERSON COUNTY. OUR FALL PROJECT IS PROVIDING A THANKSGIVING MEAL FOR THOSE IN NEED.
Do Listen



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what does a Home mean to you?

The start of a new project in the fall has already begun for others-My clients have donated a wonderful home to this group (here) BUILDER"S OF HOPE.



Their 1940ish colonial will go to the Builder's of Hope State Street Village. The new house will be built on their existing lot.

I know what a home means to me, to my clients...

This is what it means to others.

HOPE.

to Eudora Welty

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... her photographs-a trip to the store where you press your nose to the glass of the candy counter. It is hard to decide what you want, you want it all. The Welty photographs caress, call- You stare trying to decide and you can't. Which do you choose? My Eudora Welty photograph chose me.

As I leafed through a portfolio of collected art work belonging to a dear and distinguished gentleman-SB. I stopped to stare in amazement at a photograph. She stared back- powerful and ancient. Her picture was taken by Eudora Welty- I had heard about the Welty photographs and even had shelved a book devoted to her work. (Eudora Welty Photographs 1989)





Two portfolios of Welty's work were available- Palaemon Press' "Twenty Photographs," published by a native of my hometown, another distinguished gentleman, Stuart Wright, son of my childhood piano teacher. Distinguished gentleman and friend, SB, just happened to be professor and friend of publisher Wright.
As luck would have it SB- seeing a certain serendipity here- made a gift of A Woman of the Thirties/ Hinds Co/1935 to me. She watches, at the top of the stair, over all other talisman.

Of Woman- Eudora Welty said, " I think she lived on the road between here and Utica, where I used to go quite a bit, and where I took a lot of pictures. And I think I did see her a time of two after that. She has a very sensitive face, as you can see; she was well aware of her predicament in poverty, and had good reasons for hopelessness. Well, she wasn't hopeless. That was the point. She was courageous. She thought it was a hopeless situation but she was tackling it." Welty's explanation- at least her story connects me to Woman and to Welty- this is why I love her- Welty- the ever present storyteller and Woman- Hope.





"I was taking photographs of human beings because they were real life and they were there in front of me and that was the reality." Referred to as snapshots by Welty, Reynolds Price sees "mercy" in honest subjects facing the lens of observer with "patent trust."

Some of my pics from Welty's candy counter-

Sideshow,State Fair. Welty gravitated to the odd native folk art quality of the carnival posters. She was drawn to the carnival crowds- she was quick to say the posters at the carnival were records of that art and not the of the "Mule Faced Woman" -" Photographing subjects of the freak show or of that sort violates human privacy , and by intention."(Welty)

an image in the Hattie Carnegie show window/NYC/ 1940's

beautiful and tender Sunday School, Holiness Church/Jackson/1939

 
detail of " Mercy and Trust"

 
Baby Bluebird/Bird Pageant/Jackson 1930's Welty's photographs of the Bird Pageant are spiritual, a bit amusing- but don't we giggle in church, don't we laugh at things we don't quite understand. Such is the Bird Pageant- Even Welty doesn't have much to say about it- it was dramatic, original. She photographed the performers outside the church but would not take any pictures inside the church of the pageant. It wouldn't have been right. " I wouldn't have taken a camera into the place. I wouldn't have misused my invitation by disrupting the program." In all that Eudora Welty speaks about concerning her photography there is present her compelling sense of honoring subject and place.







ruins of Windsor- Eudora Welty's shadow in "the Ruins of Windsor" with trees growing out of the columns. At some point, Welty was asked to host Henry Miller around Mississippi when he was researching a book making a cross country trip. Amongst other things- Welty and several friends took the expatriate Miller to see Windsor.... Miller was bored. (If you've ever had guests in a small town- I admit-it is sometimes a stretch to entertain.) As to dining, "the Rotisserie was the one good restaurant in Jackson" and Welty and her distinguished guest dined- "at the drive in part, at the steak part and sometimes at the dance part with the band," leaving Miller to say- "how does a town like Jackson rate 3 good restaurants!" Whether Windsor impressed Miller is unknown- Welty only felt relief that Miller didn't mention the visit or Jackson in the book.






Welty's pictures- her snapshots-"was some irresistible notion that I might capture some essence of the place... Yes, I was smitten by the identity of place wherever I was."

Chopping Cotton in the Field/ Warren County 1935

Welty lost her camera while traveling in Europe. She left it on a station bench after a full day with friends, children, and Versailles . As a sort of punishment for the loss of a day's worth of film-" a day's happiness"- she stopped taking pictures. "I didn't deserve a camera after that. I was so crushed." The day was lost- never to be recaptured-those people would never be assembled in such a way again.

I can not imagine that if Miss Welty had wanted to continue taking pictures she would have done so- Perhaps she had recorded all that she wanted to and told stories instead.

Eudora Welty born - April 13. 1909



(quotes from an interview with Eudora Welty by Hunter Cole and Seetha Srinivasan-1989)



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little signs

narcissus, dafs, buttercups- what have you -in a delft tulipiere. I cut them from the borders-or I should say the yet to be borders-but I just couldn't wait. My grandmother Naomi had long wide borders of them and never CUT.

Not my philosophy. Never a huge fan of yellow flowers- I can't deny the spring yellows are glorious, forsythia and daffodils. Perhaps it is their yellow burst of sunshine that casts away the bleak winter ground that makes Yellow so perfect for these blooms.

dafs and delft

I know this doesn't look like much-but these pale pink camellias are cherished-Every One. The tall camellia was my grandmother's-Yes, one and the same as the uncut daf borders. When Naomi died my father moved this camellia and the Hope of its continued bounty. When my parents left their home-I too-moved said camellia and same Hope. Well- as if that wasn't enough trauma to the dear thing- it was moved back to my hometown along with ME 4 years ago. Now you can see why these fine little pink petals and every one thereafter- is Beloved. Family. Hope.

family. hope.

the pretty pink hyacinths are a gift from a dear- dearest friend. a lovely surprise when I last stopped by her house. I love the soft fine blades of grass planted with the hyacinths. Cherished for its flowery cluster, that unbending stalk is a perfect accompaniment to the delicate stars that bear up against the last inevitable surprise snow of winter. This pink one cherished because it was a gift from a friend.

hyacinths and friendship

ZETTA

I have just adopted a new dog- a doll really and have named her ZETTA. She is over a year old and her first three days acclimating have been stellar. Remus the cat- is carefully staked out along the stair or observing from the counter heights- as ZETTA gets to know whose turf is whose and what territory they can share. Once Remus recognizes that ZETTA is friend-not foe, he will fall in love. Remus misses Moses as much as I do- and has mourned his loss.

Zetta- Day1

I worked with a terrific private adoption group called SAVING GRACE. Along with my new ZETTA- named for my dear friend and mentor- Sandford Peele's beloved dachshund, ZETTA. ZETTA is a lively greyhound bull terrier mix? A gorgeous brindle color with heavy kohl circle brown eyes- She puts me in mind of Pola Negra or some gypsy queen. Her ears are completely over sized- another, for me, selling point. I surfed every adoptable dog in North Carolina and continually returned to THAT ONE! I'm smitten.

From previous posts, it's obvious how supportive I've been of our new president and have collected a LOAD of graphic design posters with great Obama images. There is an entire site -THE OBAMA ART REPORT- devoted to artists creating Obama imagery- a new art force in its own right. A favorite of mine- Shepard Fairey's HOPE- has morphed into another image- ADOPT. Can you believe it? In true Warholian deconstruction cheek- Fairey's ADOPT has an entire website devoted to this cause.




I can't wait to see what kind of dog the Obama girls select and what they will name it? any ideas?

HOPE

thinking style on January 2oth? for me it seems a bit- shall I say? Shallow?
NO-I think not.

PROOF- the GREATEST STYLE AUGUR OF THEM ALL, DIANA VREELAND, has the LAST WORD......

"What sells is HOPE." DV


the greatest AUGUR of them all DV


Take a LOOK and You'll agree..... and see..... there is SOMEONE ELSE that believes the same thing....




images of Shep Fairey's now iconic image of OBAMA & HOPE





Fairey's image being installed in the National Portrait Gallery

Shepard Fairey's, "Barack Obama," a mixed media collage will be on view at the National Portrait Gallery by Inauguration Day. Fairey's large-scale, mixed-media stenciled collage was the central portrait image for the Obama campaign. (AP Photo/National Portrait Gallery, Barack Obama by Shepard Fairey , Shepard Fairey/ObeyGiant.com) Fortunately, I got one of these through the campaign during the North Carolina primary!



Enjoy these images and enjoy the Inaugural of President Barack Obama. As Rod Stewart says "Every Picture tells a Story don't it."





images of Robert Indiana's HOPE images for OBAMA and his Sculpture





images of Amy Martin's HOPE
image of Obama and His Mother