Posting #7

Well, we’re back with our latest installment of our blog, and we hope that this finds you all healthy and happy. We are still rolling along and enjoying our time together. The weather down here is getting up to the 60s and 70s during the day, and grass is starting to turn green. That’s good news, but it also means that storms are more likely. The local weather report calls for severe thunderstorms and hail tonight, and some isolated tornado activity in some areas. So we’ll keep our eyes open.

Now, here’s what we’ve been up to; remember to click on the highlighted words to link to the places we write about. Last Sunday, we attended morning service at St. Phillip’s AME Church in Savannah. It was their Youth Sunday with individual youth and the youth choir participating in the service (with the exception of taking up the offering). The folks made us feel right at home, and invited us back. Of course if you keep coming back, folks will think that want to be a member, so we’ll just make visits to different churches. We may have mentioned this before, but there are churches on every corner in Savannah, often of the same denomination. It’s a shame that they can’t or won’t consolidate, pool their resources and work to uplift the community as a whole.

After the service Jesse went to a formal Omega Psi Phi meeting which was convened right across the street from the church. It turned out that some of the members of St. Phillips were also Omega men, and invited Jesse to their meeting. He had already been invited to the meeting by a brother who lived fairly close to us, and he also met Lenny Law, a brother who lives on Hilton Head Island. More about him later. The Ques are having their Mardi Gras in April and we are planning to attend. Evidently, the folks down here ALL wear costumes. So guess what we've got to do… Of course, Jesse was received warmly at the meeting, and found it to be very productive.

On the next day we went to our first concert of the Savannah Music Festival as per our volunteers’ agreement. Our duties amounted to collecting tickets and answering questions from the folks who attended, but we got a chance to see an interesting ensemble known as the Synergy Brass Quintet. These very talented young musicians were able to take standard European “classical” music and give it a very unique interpretation. They even did some New Orleans music that made people stand up. We enjoyed the concert, but observed even though the musicians, in their introduction to their pieces exhorted the audience to give them some feedback while they were playing. Still, most of the audience sat like robots and clapped almost as if on cue. We have to assume they also enjoyed this great performance.

Tuesday we met Chris and Don Ford, the friends we surprised a few weeks ago at Hilton Head Island at Coley and Betty Davis’ place. Jesse and Don worked together in Westfield until Don’s retirement in 1991. They invited us to join them for lunch at the Mrs. Wilkes House in Savannah. Lunch is served there from 11am to 2pm. They do not take reservations and people line up outside at least 1/2 hour before the 11 o’clock opening time. Seating is “family style” at tables for 10 people, so you get to meet new people, and the food is really “down home” cooking and plentiful. More than you can eat. There were seventeen (yes, 17) different dishes on our table, from fried chicken and beef stew to an okra/tomato/lima bean/jalapena stew. If you ever get down this way, this place is a must experience.

On Wednesday, we ”worked” a concert featuring vocalist Andrea Marcovicci whose performance was tribute to Johnny Mercer (a Savannah native). The crowd seemed to appreciate her. We were not impressed, but it was something to do for that day. ‘Nuf said. We’ll send you a picture of us in our usher uniforms next time.

On Thursday, we drove up to Hilton Head Island and had lunch with Chris and Don along with another couple, Dorothy and Lenny Law. HHI has one main road that runs right down the middle of the island. On our way, we mainly saw signs to gated communities, malls for the prosperous, and a few isolated trailer houses or old houses here and there. There are definitely a great deal of wealthy and some working poor people on this island. Back to the lunch - Jesse had met Lenny the previous Sunday at the Fraternity meeting, so they had a chance to renew their acquaintance. Lenny is from Savannah but his father had built a house on HHI several years ago. Lenny and Dot finally moved there around 10 years ago. He and Dot gave us a history of the island and brought us up-to-date on some issues facing the island today. Years ago, the island was all Black owned and populated. When Lenny was a child, African American Savannians (is that how it’s spelled?) had to go to Hilton Head by boat to go to the beach. Once a bridge was built from the mainland to HHI, African Americans started losing their land to developers (a familiar story), although there are still some of the old families here. Lenny’s family was one of several from Savannah who bought some property before the developers took over. Dot, who is currently a member of a town utilities committee, explained that there are two groups of blacks on the island, the “come yahs” and the “bin yahs.” (Willie Lynch all over again). For the most part, the “native” island families are not doing well. But there is hope. Lenny is involved with a group of black men who are working to start a mentoring program for young people. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to go back there soon and do some more research. Will keep you posted.

That’s all for now. Look for us in our next blog. Until then stay well, and be blessed. Let us know when you get our postings, and make any comments you want. We need the contact.

Peace.

JoAnn and Jesse