December 01, 2005

Snow Day!

December, 2005

12-01-05
Snow-Remember when I told you yesterday that I was tech-impaired? Well, I’m not any better today. Instead of a photo of my fresh snow—about two inches of it—I’m posting a photo that I took of my husband in Alaska several years ago.

Rosa Parks-For those of you who missed it, this is the anniversary of Rosa Parks sit-down on the bus. The date was December 1, 1955. Thank you, Rosa. Coincidentally, I think it was the same year that my family went for an Easter drive into Texas. We were turned away when we went into a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant didn’t serve Mexicans. I still remember the man saying, “I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is,” as he wiped his hands on a dish towel. We were too ashamed and fearful to try to eat someplace else, so we drove all the way home. Boy, were we hungry by the time we reached our own kitchen. I was about ten years old, and I didn’t really understand what was happening. All the way home, I’d kept thinking, Why were we turned away? We were all dressed up…On a different level, I still don’t understand it.

Snow Day! No one loves a snow day better than a writer. I’m sure of it. I spent the day admiring the big, white, fluffy flakes and watching movies. I even had popcorn. Some would call it fooling around, but I call it research.

On my bed table: The Drifters, by award-winning writer Tonya Holmes Shook. It’s a historical novel about the Melungeon Shantyboat People. More about it later, but so far, it’s a really good read.

In my DVD player: The Business of Fancydancing, by Sherman Alexi. It’s a wonderful film that is filmed with a intriguing film perspective that enhances the perspective of the story.

It’s just an accident that the book and movie of the day are both by Native American artists (Shook is a Cherokee and Alexie is a Spokane Indian). It won’t always be like this, after all I’m Hispanic!

Quote du jour:
“ I’m the affirmative action poet.” Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) in The Business of Fancydancing


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