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01/12/10
Works in progress

01/10/10
I can not move into the new
year comfortably until I have organized and
archived the year I have just finished. This is
usually a pretty simple process, but the end of
a decade is different than the end of a mere 12
months. It has been 10 years since I left
Alaska. Seems like just yesterday. It has been 7
years since my Mother left this life. The
longest 7 years of my life.
My mind went back,
evaluating loss, accomplishment, relationships
and personal growth. It has been a positive
decade for me. I have heard from some folks that
are glad to bid good riddance to the 0s. Most
likely, spurred by 911, war and the economy.
Along with those happy things, I experienced the
deaths of at least a dozen people that I love
including my mother. I concede that the last 10
years have not been easy. Quite to the contrary,
but I feel that I have done my best with this
time and have come into the new decade a
stronger, smarter, empowered person.
Recently, I have
reconnected with some folks I have not seen or
heard from in over 20 years. I am sure that is
no surprise to anyone reading this. Facebook,
Myspace and the like make that pretty easy. In
catching up with old friends I have collected
some links to the past in the form of
photographs.

This photo was taken by
Warren "Butch" Jackson in
January 1987 on my porch in Little 5 Points.
What a blast from the past! I remember him
waking me that cold morning. I am still wearing
my jammies!

He took this photo of
Mary Alexander around the same
time. This is one of my favorites. This is so
MARY!
You can see some of his
more recent works if you click
here.
Thank you for sharing these
pictures Warren! They sure did take me back!
The other day, I was
chatting with Kevin Haller on
Facebook. We were talking about our long lost
friend Dave Losi. Both of us
consulting the great search gods, he came up
with a link to some photos posted by
James Burns.
Kevin and I had both worked
at the old Binders store, like most of our
friends, so we were excited to see these photos
of our friends and our old work place. Jim gave
me his permission to post the link to those
pictures. Thanks Jim!
If you live in Atlanta you
probably have heard of James Burns.
He is the creator of the weekly
comic strip Grumbles published
in Atlanta’s
Sunday Paper.

01/01/10
With the beginning of this
new decade, I have decided to explore writing in
earnest. I have been a personal journalist since
I was a young girl. I burned some of my diaries
when I was 15, because my brother read them and
they became a play book for adolescent torment,
in typical “Brady Bunch” fashion. I wish that I
still had them, although I am sure I would find
them painful to read. It was not until later
that I realized that the damage was already done
and destroying the evidence was not necessary. I
am much less sensitive in my old age.
I have been told many
stories. My grandmothers’, parent’s and other
family and friend’s memories have deeply
affected my life through the understanding of
their lives through their experiences. Family
history needs to be recorded or it is lost
forever. As these people leave this life they
take with them a part of our history. I strain
my memory to recall the stories exactly the way
they told them. When I was a child I would ask,
“Tell me again, about the day I was born? How
did you get that scar? What was it like to grow
up during the depression”? I can not ask those
questions anymore. I wish I was listening more
carefully when I had the chance and my 50 year
memory is mounting and sometimes unreliable. If
I am going to do this, now is the time!
I have stories of my own,
fifty years of experiences that I feel are
interesting enough to recall. At the end of this
decade I hope that I will learn about myself by
writing down my recollections of years long
gone. I am going to dedicate at least an hour a
day to this discipline. I also intend to scan
every photo in the family library I inherited.
With all of this thinking
about the past, I hope that my friends and
family will help remind me that I am living in
today.
Periodically, I will post a
story. I welcome your opinion and criticism. I
am especially interested to hear from those who
have heard these stories before. Please let me
know where I get the facts wrong. Send me your
stories! Send me your favorite recipe! What do
you want everyone to remember? What do you want
to pass down to your kids?
I wish you all a
brilliant, productive and happy new year! I am
determined to make mine just that!

I have a real treat for you!
Click on the hat to hear and download for free!
Collaboration: Music KVpop,
Words Tom Ferguson,
Editing/Remix Killer Haven
The musical compositions of KVpop combined
with the words of painter and political
cartoonist Tom Ferguson.
Featuring Priscilla Smith on track #10
"Farewell"
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