Ayo's Visit

A view of the Forest River from Coffee Bluff Marina.

Peace and happiness to everybody. We hope that all is well where you are, and that there are no major problems. Savannah is still treating us good, except for the heat. The last few days have been in the mid-90s, and folks here say that things are just starting to heat up; warmer temperatures are coming for July and August. But we expect to be in Amherst on July 12th, so we’ll miss the real hot days. By the way, we have been following the Amherst weather, and it seems that it’s been cooler there than usual there for this time of year. Something is not right with the climate.

Oh, a bit of good news: we got a call from our good sister Onawumi Jean Moss who told us that she will be at the Smithsonian Institution in D.C. from July 1st through July 5th to participate in the annual Folk Life Festival. Back in January, she along with John O’Neal were the only two African American storytellers to be invited the by Smithsonian in honor of President Obama’s inauguration.. This time she will be one of about 20 African American storytellers there; that’s the first time so many African American story tellers have been featured together. All are members of the National Association of Black Storytellers. You know that’s going to be a real special event. Please attend if you can, but if you can’t, at least say a prayer for our sister. By the way, Ayo told us that Onawumi’s book, Precious and the Boo Hag, was featured in Kofi’s school’s book fair and that Kofi’s chest was stuck out as far as it could go. He was telling everyone that he knew Mama Onawumi and had an autographed book of his own. Hopefully, that helped the book’s sales. In addition, Jo received an email from Kathleen Anderson that her polymer clay pieces will also be featured at the festival. So that’s two big kudos for two very creative sisters.

Now, as far as our “adventures” are concerned, we’re still on the go trying to fill in the next chapter. It’s been an interesting experience and we’ve met some nice people in our explorations around the area. We went down the road to service at Mt. Hermon Baptist Church on Sunday. This very traditional church is part of the old African American community of Coffee Bluff and most, if not all, of the members are related in some way. Now, we mentioned before that there are a lot of churches near us, right? Well, about a half mile down the road from Mt. Hermon there are two other African American churches right next to each other. One is the First Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, and the other is the Second Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. They’re only about 100 feet apart. There’s also the city-sponsored Crusader Community Center located near these three churches where there is a Golden Age Club for seniors, an after-school program and summer camp, and an exercise program which Jo has started going to on Mondays for a good work-out. Would you believe a group of 30 African-American women aged 20 to 60 years working out? It was no play but good fun. Jo could feel it the following day. On Tuesday morning, we both went back to the center so Jesse could see it for himself. It’s really a nice place with a long history. That day, there were quite a few older women from the surrounding community; some were crocheting, some were watching TV, and there four women who were playing a lively game of Spades and talking trash all the while. That sounded familiar. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no programming for men.

Our daughter Ayo came down to see us which was a real treat. Her train got in about 8:00 Friday morning; we came back to the house, had breakfast, and were on the beach on Tybee Island by 10:30. From there we had a light lunch at the Starland Café, then on to the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery which is a city-supported art and cultural center where there were some interesting multi-media displays featured that day. Ayo wanted to see as much of the city as she could, it was off to the Beach Institute where we saw an exhibition of outstanding ceramic and glass works by African American artist Dr. Clifton Pearson. From there, we took the DOT shuttle bus around Savannah’s downtown “historic district”. Saturday was the day for Jo to vend her decorative switch plates at an outdoor market in Savannah. Ayo went with us; she did henna and had a lot of fun and made some money. At the market we ran into a couple of sisters from Boston, one of whom was a drummer. Of course, she knew Bamidele, and several other people that Ayo knew in New York and DC. Small world. During a break, Ayo and Jesse walked around the corner to the Telfair Museum of Art to see Jerome Meadows exhibit which we mentioned in earlier posts. After the market closed, we took Ayo to our “regular” tourist haunts, the Gilbert Civil Rights Museum and the Laurel Cemetery South. One of the tour interpreters at the museum told us that very few of African American Savannah residents come to the museum at all. That’s sad, because there’s so much to see and learn at the museum. We take so much for granted.

It was back to the beach on Sunday where we spent most of the day. It seems that our daughter loves the water. Ayo left Sunday night (actually 1:30 Monday morning) after a whirlwind tour of the city; it was clear that she enjoyed the visit very much. So did her parents.

That’s the latest update, folks. We’ll check in later.
Peace.
Jo and Jesse

The Final Product!