Guilt – white, Christian and other

I don’t believe guilt is a productive emotion, and yet I find myself watching “The Fall of the Third Reich” which details the horrible things the Nazis did to, well, everyone. Especially the Jews, especially the Jews. When I was young, I would make myself look at photos of lynched African Americans in the South [...]

Christmas and New Year’s Eve 1975

One of my friends in the support group visited her family for Christmas and New Years. She offered me use of her house and her VW bus for two weeks. Since I lived in a one-room apartment and shared a bathroom on a hall, I was thrilled. A bathroom to myself! I called Nancy and [...]

Remembering Linda

I learned yesterday that Linda Clark Keen passed away in July from complications arising from her diabetes. I’m still stunned but want to take this space today to remember her. Linda and I went to both high school and college together, and I don’t remember a time I didn’t know her. After high school graduation, [...]

My most embarrassing moment

In 1982, we lived in a second floor apartment and had two cats. My cat Thea was a grey and white rescue who I named after tennis great Althea Gibson. Our cats hung around outside during the day and came in at night. Thea had feline leukemia, but the disease was dormant. There was only [...]

The pain remains

Every day I walk my puppy in one of our city parks. Monday I was horrified to see “white power” and “F*** N******” spray painted on one of the benches, on a couple of signs, and on the asphalt. When I got home, I called the mayor’s office, and they called the Police Department. The [...]

Halloween facts

Mexico commemorates Halloween with THREE days of celebration of the dead known as Dia de Los Muertos, so I am justified in extending one of my favorite holidays. This is a good day to throw out some trivia you may not know about Halloween. In 1962, actor Bobby Pickett did an imitation of Boris Karloff [...]

Insubordination – part II

Everything was fine until I went to junior high school. One day in seventh grade Social Studies, my mind and eyes wandered out the window to the cafeteria courtyard below. My brother was being backed across the courtyard by a bully named Snooky. I could see him poking my brother in the chest, trying to [...]

Brother in love

When my brother was fifteen, he fell in love for his whole life. While I liked his new girlfriend, the best friend of one of my best friends, I thought it broke my heart that he had someone other than me with whom to do things. I think I was actually more jealous of what [...]

The ghost of Bilbo

Living in Jackson in the late 1950’s, my brother and I were allowed more leeway for activity and often took the bus from school to our parents’ offices downtown for doctor’s visits, etc. As in Montgomery were within walking distance of the state capital, and with permission were allowed go look around there. I loved [...]

A Sunday morning in Birmingham

September 15, 1963, was cool and rainy, but started off like every other Sunday morning for us – we dressed and went to church. My brother and father left for churches they were working at, and Mother and I drove down Shades Mountain to our church in Homewood. Sunday School started at 9:40 so Mother [...]