Phase I - The Last Week

Hello again folks. We hope everybody is doing well wherever you are. As we wind up our stay here, in Savannah, we just want to give you all a final salute. This will be our final blog -- we’re heading north to Amherst on Tuesday. In fact we’ve already started packing what we intend to take with us, and are figuring out what we’ll leave here. If you’ve been following our postings (and we hope you have), you know we have experienced some interesting things here. Again, transitions.

Life has been going at a pretty slow pace since Juneteenth, but we do have some things to tell you about. On Saturday the 27th, we went over to Daufuskie Island, SC.

It was the 30th annual Daufuskie Day. It was really a homecoming for people who descended from African American families that are still there. Our across-the-street- neighbor, Joe Bennett told us about it on the 26th. His grandmother is from this island.

We took a ferry from the dock on River Street over to Daufuskie, which is one of the beautiful sea islands located between Hilton Head, S.C. and Savannah. It is only 3 miles by 5 miles in size, and you can only get there by boat. If you don’t know the waters, you’ll get lost getting there. The atmosphere was very much like a big homecoming with food, music and games.

We also took a narrated tour of the island by bus. It appears that most of the islanders get around by golf cart, one of the few trucks or cars, or by walking. Not surprisingly, it is very gradually being taken over by developers, so you know what that means. But the good thing is that the “been yeahs” are very protective of their beach and have not allowed it to be privatized.

Sunday we went to service at Connor’s Temple Baptist Church in Savannah. They had a traditionally uplifting service, and the Church presented awards to high school and college graduates for their academic achievement, church participation and community service. The 3 graduating high school seniors were male. That was good to see.

You may recall that Heshima and Yun Chi got married on May 15th. Well, they had been wanting to come down to see us and Savannah, and they were finally able to make the trek this past Thursday. It was wonderful to see them so happy. We wanted to cram in as much sightseeing with them as we could, but they were content to just take things easy – to visit with us and get a feel for the city. So on Friday, we went to Mrs. Wilkes’ House for home-style lunch/brunch. You know… that southern food that makes you pat your foot and hum while you’re eating. They ate. ‘Nuf said. Yun Chi and Jo even had the audacity to stuff a few pieces of fried chicken and some biscuits into Yun Chi’s pocketbook before we left --a perfect snack for the beach. After lunch we took them to Tybee Beach and enjoyed the sun and sea. We had already packed our beach chairs and a cooler before hitting the beach. So when we got the munchies by late afternoon we pulled out the fried chicken and watermelon, along with a Heiny or two. Now you know that’s good. We wound up staying there ‘til nightfall to see the pre-4th fireworks. We were all very contented.

Saturday the 4th, we visited the Telfair Museum of Art as well as the Jepson Center, and the City Market. Then it was back to the house for an early dinner. Our friend Sara came over to join us, and we pigged out, literally, on smoked delicacies topped off with peach cobbler. Of course, there was good conversation and laughter that afternoon into the evening. Since we hadn’t had our fill of fireworks, and it was the 4th, we drove downtown to see the fireworks on the Savannah River in honor of Independence Day (but remember Frederick Douglass’ 4th of July speech). The traffic was so bad afterward that it took us more than an hour and a half to get back to the house when it usually takes about 20 minutes. At least we had fun and the finale was fantastic.. Heshima and Yun Chi left this morning (Sunday) and took some good memories with them. They said they really enjoyed themselves, and we enjoyed having them with us.

That’s it for our last blog before we return to the Grand Am. We plan to head out Tuesday morning and stop in Maryland for a few days, stop by Rufus and Nycki’s, and then go on to Amherst on the 12th. By the way, if you haven’t already heard, we have a new grand-niece. Dabe and Audra were blessed with a healthy, beautiful baby girl, Christa Akila, born on July 3rd. Well, we’ll see you soon.

JoAnn and Jesse

Transitions

Hi all,

Hope all is well with you and that you find your life full of blessings. This week we’ve decided to deviate from our usual “what we did this week” posting and write about a issue which we all have experienced – transitions. This topic was prompted by the life transitions of Michael Jackson and Mr. Philip Simmons, two extremely gifted men who have left a lasting impression on the world. Although he appeared to live a troubled life, as evidenced by his purposeful disfigurement, etc., Michael Jackson contributed so much to popular music and artistic performance. Although his music was more a part of our children’s generation than ours, we still have memories of singing along and dancing to his music? We may not have wanted to emulate his life, but we certainly cannot deny his genius. The second gentleman who made his transition on June 21st was Mr. Philip Simmons. He may not have possessed the international name recognition of Michael Jackson, but Mr. Simmons was a highly respected genius at the forge – a master blacksmith – who not only created very beautiful ironwork in Charleston but who also gave so much back to the community, financially supporting the higher education of young people in his community and sharing his wisdom in his own humble way. Mr. Simmons was mentioned in a few of our previous blogs and his gates were pictured in our Charleston blog in May. Our family visited him in 1983. He was such a gracious and giving man, full of wisdom. Please check out the “Fired Up and Focused” video tribute on the occasion of his 97th birthday. Both of these very talented men not only brought beauty to the world, they poured their soul into doing so. A lesson that we can all take with us. As Mr. Simmons said, “If you want your prayers answered, get up off your knees and hustle.”

Jo had a minor transition of another kind this week due to a convoluted turn of events. This is how it went. Jo’s car inspection sticker expires this month (June). Before we left in the winter, she went to the Mass. RMV online site which stated that if the car is out of the state when the inspection sitcker expires, you can get the car inspected in another state and bring this info to the RMV when you return to Massachusetts. Jo said, “Fine, I’ll get it inspected in Georgia.” The kicker is that in this part of Georgia, no auto inspection is required. There are no places to get the car inspected. So in order to make sure we don’t get pulled over in Massachusetts for having an un-inspected car, we decided to get Georgia plates. In a way, this is a good thing because we don’t have to have the hassle of getting the car inspected. But, in order to register the car, you have to have a Georgia license. So Jo had to turn in her Massachusetts license, in essence giving up her Massachusetts residency – a traumatic transition. OK, we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff;-(. We hope your “transitions” are equally trying.

This incident leads us to another issue, the environment. For the past few months, the City of Savannah has been promoting recycling to save the environment. There are a couple of articles a week in the newspaper about recycling. How ironic it is that there has been little mention of air pollution. As we said, the state does not require auto inspections in this area, but inspections are required in the counties surrounding Atlanta. Interesting huh? Last Monday, Jo was driving home from exercise class. Coming in the opposite direction down the road, was an enormous puff of white smoke, looking like a scene out of “The Wiz.” It was a car burning oil like crazy. We are beginning to wonder about the air quality here. So all is not peaches and cream in Georgia – yet there are still many advantages to living here. However, we must say that most of the advantages that we have realized in Savannah stem from the slow pace of life here, and the down-to-earth nature of the people we have met. Maybe that’s a southern thing.

But when we add it all up, the most important thing we have realized while navigating this chapter in our lives is that all indeed is change. That sounds so easy to say, but how many of us really realize and understand what that means? Every day can bring more joys just it can bring pains, but life still goes on. This is what or elders used to tell us when we might not have wanted to hear it. It seems that we’ve got to get some age on us before we finally see the light. And in the end, we all will have to go through transitions. Rest assured that whether we understand it or not, everything is unfolding as it should. So strive to be happy, treat other folks the way you wish that they would treat you, and don’t sweat the small stuff (and it’s all small stuff).

Here are a few pictures of the Crusaders Community Center and the exercise class that Jo has been attending.

Our instructor, Mahogany.

All ages are welcome

Peace. Enjoy your week, and we’ll see you soon.
Jesse & Jo

Juneteenth and More

Hey, folks. We're still hanging in here just trying to stay cool in these crazy hot temperatures. We still have a roof over our heads, our kids and the rest of the family are doing fine, so there are really no major problems to think of. Is everything alright where you are? We sincerely hope so.

The beginning of the week was pretty slow it picked up at the end. The last time we made an entry on our blog, our daughter Ayodele was leaving Savannah with a lot of joy in her heart.

The Prince Hall Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of Georgia held their annual session in Savannah from Tuesday June 16^th through June 19^th. These convocations are convened in a different city each year. So we were lucky that it was in Savannah this year. Jesse attended various sessions Tuesday through Thursday. The official meetings were very impressive. On Thursday the 18^th, we both attended the Grand Lodge/Chapter’s Awards Banquet together at the Riverfront Marriot. and it was a good gathering. There was a fairly short program with the Presentation of Colors (can’t forget we’re in military country), some Grand Chapter Choir selections, the whole assemblage singing of the Black National Anthem (you know Jo loved that-as well as the US National Anthem) and some presentations/recognition given to various members. There were masons not only from Georgia, but also St. Thomas, V.I. and Tortola, British V.I. as well as a visiting Mason from Serbia, yeah Serbia as in eastern Europe. The banquet was well organized, with over 1,000 people in attendance. The food was unusually good for banquet food with jazz gospel/spiritual instrumental music playing in the background. Folks down south seem to take such events very seriously. We forgot to bring our camera to the banquet, but we're expecting to get some digital pictures emailed to us from one of the Masonic brothers that we sat with. We'll post the pictures when we get them.

The City of Savannah and Telfair Museum put on a Juneteenth celebration the end of the week. On Friday morning we went on the Rev. Andrew C. Marshall walking tour in the “historic district” which focused on the life and times/tribulations of this rather remarkable man whose life spanned the 18^th and 19^th centuries and the Black community during that time period.

The First (clandestine) School for African Children

Later that evening, we went to the Second African Baptist Church for a talk on truth and reconciliation by Naomi Tutu which was quite interesting. She suggested that we attempt to have TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commissions) at the local level in this country. Do you think this would ever happen?

Saturday was Juneteenth Family Day outside the Owens-Thomas House, in downtown Savannah which featured the McIntosh County Shouters, African Stilt Walkers and drumming,

a Jumping the Broom ceremony (actually a recommitment ceremony of a couple who have been married 15 years),

There's Dessie

...and Jesse

...and Preacher Jamal and the couple

art and sweet grass basket exhibitions, and children’s art activities. After our morning spent at the Junteenth Festival we went to the Savannah’s 2nd Annual Fiesta Latina on Savannah’s River Walk.

It was extremely hot but we did get to see the parade of flags representing 19 South and Central American Countries and eat a bacalau nacho (forgot what it was called).

All in all it was a good day. We’ll see what the next week brings. Until then, be well and enjoy life.

Jo and Jesse

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!

The Asian Festival & More

Hey, family. Here we are at week sixteen already. That went quick(ly). It’s like an hour-glass. The sands trickle down slowly, but at the end of an hour, they’re all gone. That is giving us much to consider. But we’re still here in good health and good spirits. It is well. We pray that you are also well. By the way, how do you like our new look? The banner is a picture of Jesse crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge on way to Savannah in February.

Our house is still being furnished by Craig’s List through which we have found some good bargains in these hard economic times. We bought a bed, washer and dryer, end tables, and so forth from Stephen Johnson, a guy who is leaving a Chatham County deputy sheriff’s job to become a law enforcement consultant near Atlanta. We had a good laugh talking about Jesse James and the sheriff. While talking with him, we found out that he worked with and taught Mrs. Dorothy Elder who is the mother-in-law of Bande Mangaliso Virgil, who in turn, is the daughter our brother and sister Mzamo and Zengie Mangaliso in Amherst. So the circle is small sometimes.

Jo went to the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday. She actually spent more on their organic produce than she made selling her crafts. At least we’re eating healthy. Jesse went to a meeting of Eureka Lodge #1 of Masons in Savannah. That was his third visit with members of that lodge, and he has met some good men there. Two of the brothers helped move our living room furniture in later in the week. Yes, they were from Craig’s List too. What great finds! On Thursday, Jesse did some morning yard work (the damp tropical climate makes things grow fast), and Jo went to volunteer at the Jepson Museum, her weekly “gig”:-) The Telfair Museum of Art (right next door to the Jepson) has an exhibit by internationally acclaimed artist and Savannah resident Jerome Meadows. Jesse came by to see his work. If you follow his link, you can see that his work is very much avant guard. That particular installation presents art from two perspectives, particularly as regards the American racial scene. He was both curator and artist in this exhibition which included works from the museum’s permanent collection and his work. On the same day, back at the Jepson, some Tibetan (Buddhist) monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery were painstakingly making a multi-colored design in sand known as a mandala which gives visual representation to the core beliefs of Buddhism. Just to watch them construct this beautiful piece makes one appreciate the virtues of dedication, perseverance, and patience. It was all about the process of making the mandala, because once they completed it, they swept up all the sand and dispersed it in the Savannah River.

Savannah is a city that has a lot of festivals (as you might have guessed), and on Saturday the 6^th of June, the city sponsored its annual Asian Festival which showcased music, art, dance, drumming and food from the countries in southern Asia, east Asia, and Oceana. There was a rainbow of humanity in attendance, not only of people of Asian backgrounds, but non-Asians of every hue as well. There was a good spirit present, and we can only surmise that people came away with a greater appreciation of the beauty and diversity of the human family. Click here to see some pictures we took at the festival. That really put a cap on our week.

We’ll check in with you soon. ‘Til then, stay well.

JoAnn and Jesse

P.S. Congrats and keep partying to Pat and Paul (25, 60 & 65 - Can we play those numbers? ) And to dear Mary, have the best 30th birthday ever;-). Love to you all.