Habitat Dedication.

Pat Davis, Clarksdale Area Habitat for Humanity board member, reads a poem off the monument for Sr. Mary Lavoie, outside of the Habitat volunteer center.  Sr. Lavoie helped start a Chicago-Clarksdale connection of bringing down volunteers from several Chicago suburban churches. 
Members of the Clarksdale Area Habitat for Humanity board stand with members of Saint Francis Xavier Church, near the monument for Sr. Lavoie.  

Juke Joint Duo plays Fox Ridge Camp.  A shelter in the middle of nowhere, hill country is a new musical venue, dinner hang out for anyone interested.  Fried Catfish, ribs, BYOB and live music and minimal bugs.  

Baby Daddy Rich

Daddy Rich is a baby Daddy.  From the shower.  

Juke Joint Duo Part Deux

I'm posting these again, cropped and mostly in b/w.  What do you think?  Which is better?  I know which ones I like.  What about you???

Keepin On, Keepin' On

The past year has been one filled with major stress, anxiety, and utmost frustrations in regards to work.  Other aspects of my life continued to grow and thrive.  Dormant activities and loves grew out of the underground.  It felt great to get back to those feelings and joys that I hadn't felt in such a long time.  I fell in love twice during the past year.  ONe was with a girl and that didn't work out.  And the second time was with photography again.  It's great and I feel just a release while taking pictures.  I started looking at several peoples blogs to see.  I quickly moved to comparing my styles and skills to theirs.  It took me a long time to get away from that and to look at them for ideas and inspiration.

But again work as been such a struggle to continue to try and be positive for it.  I've felt for a while now that I've got one foot out the door.  And with only 5 and a half weeks left, in some aspects I do have one foot out the door.  But I got sucked back in last night. 

Our board met to choose a family for the three bedroom house we just started working on.  Linda Williams was chosen along with her two daughters.  It's a three bedroom one bath house.  I had the privilege of calling LInda last night and telling her the good news.  She filled out her application over a year ago.  It has taken the board this long to meet and decide on a family.  They say that everything runs slower in the Delta, but that is just crazy.  Bus so I called Linda last night, left a message with her daughter.  She called back 15 minutes later or so.  Linda was so happy and excited.  She was speechless.  

I had to ask, "Linda? Are you still there?"

"Yes.  I...I'm...I'm still here," as she tried to hold back tears.  That happened a few times.  I then  began to make plans with her for us to meet and she could meet some of the group.  She asked when, I told her when she didn't have to work.  She came over this morning, took some time off of work and came over with her eldest daughter, Lucinda,18.  She got to meet some of the group and got to see the house in its skeletal state.  She told me that, after our phone call that she drove by the house a bunch of times. 

I still had that foot out the door mentality talking with her last night.  Eric called a few minutes after that.  I told him the news.  It wasn't til he said it that it hit me.  "You made such an impact on her life.  You just fucking changed her world."  Those were the words that made me pull my foot back in from the other side of the door.  I know I won't be around to see Linda move into her house.  But I've been rejuvinated to see how far I can get it for her, so she can move in, in about a year or so.  I've become excited for her and her daughters.  You should have seen her face light up when I told her that she gets to choose the colors of her own house.  Me?? I get to do that? 

It was great for me to get those feelings, that I had when I first started working here, to get them back, after being gone for so long.  These are the reasons that I started working here, and that I signed on for a second year. 

Things are coming pretty fast now, work, what to do next.  I still don't have a clue what I'll be doing or where I'll be come August.  But right now, I'm just enjoying this positive good feeling that has been missing most of the year.  

Juke Joint Duo

So I got a call from Malcolm asking if I would and could take pictures of him and Cedric Burnside for their next media photos and possibly for the next album.  Sure, why not I thought. Let's do it at Hopson at the Chapel he suggested.  So Here's my favorites from the session.  I got an advanced copy of some material they'll be using for the next album.  Sounds very good. So really new stuff, and they're trying to be a little more creative which is good.  

Mississippi Burning.

D Price with fields burning behind him.  
After the wheat is harvested in May and June, farmers burn their fields to prepare it for either corn or beans.  I took some pics of a Farm near the town of Vance, MS doing such an event Friday evening.  

Jarvis andD Price went with me to the fire.  We had to cross a river cause the bridge was out and only D went with me. So he got to be my model for a few shots, like the one above.  

RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRR

Sumner Tours

 Jim Breen laughs at a story from Betty Pearson, board member of the West Tallahatchie Habitat for Humanity affiliate.  Pearson was a strong advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the South. 

Elvis is Overrated.

My mom came to visit me for the weekend and a few days.  She's a big fan of Elvis Presley's so we went to Graceland.  We went to see about seeing the the actual house.  There's different packages seeing the heartbreak hotel with the house or two of his airplanes.  The house itself cost $27.  My mom said that she thought that was a bit too much.  She's a fan of Elvis' but not that much.  That was funny.