50 Years’ Perspective

50 years later: Governor Mike Beebe recites John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech on the steps of post office in North Little Rock, Arkansas

1963: The year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated; the year my only sibling, Lesli Ann, was born.

Today, during a gloriously sunny noon hour, I was one of about 200 people gathered at the steps of the former Argenta Post Office (now Laman Library branch) in North Little Rock to listen as Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe read John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address. You know the most famous passage of that address: “… ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

I was struck by other passages that, despite being spoken more than 50 years ago, are very relevant today. Passages such as, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.”

And, “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”

In Arkansas we have the divisive issues of gun and abortion rights. Nationally we have the equality of marriage act being debated in the California Supreme Court, gun control and the never-ending questioning of tax laws. Meanwhile, our fellow citizens are starving, going without shelter, with ineffective education, without jobs, without basic healthcare, and those babies who are born to mothers who cannot care for them go in need of loving adoptive families, of any gender combination.

I talked with my mom this past weekend about the upcoming JFK photography exhibit in Argenta. I told her I hoped to listen to Governor Beebe’s address and to look at the photos.

She said wistfully, “I lived it. I don’t have to see it.” I wonder if I’ll feel that way about 9/11 memorial exhibitions many years from now.

Mom told me again as she’s told me in the past: When she was pregnant with my sister in 1963, following the national tension of electing the first non-Protestant president, especially one who was seen to have such “radical” views (in the South) on race relations and equality, the Watts riots and related events, she remembers wondering what kind of tumultuous world she was bringing a child into. Let me be clear – she supported then and still supports racial equality – but she saw what the struggle had brought forth.

View from the triple underpass overlooking the grassy knoll and Dealey Plaza in Dallas.

In five years, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. would be dead, and a year after those tragedies, the United States would put a man on the moon. Tumultuous times indeed. But no different than today.

As Governor Beebe recited the famous words spoken by our 35^th president, I thought about my visit to Dealey Plaza in Dallas this past Friday. I thought about President Kennedy on his inauguration day, laying out his vision for the nation’s future, full of hope. And I thought about the video I’ve seen – we’ve all seen – of the president’s motorcade in Dallas, of the deadly shot, of Jackie scooping up pieces of her husband’s brains, of the chaos and speculation that ensued.

Kelley and I stood looking over that very place. The place where this young president was assassinated. By exactly whom and why is still speculated. The place where thousands and thousands of visitors pay homage each year, especially this year. Fifty years later.

I can’t help thinking: what will be our children’s and grandchildren’s perspective 50 years from now?

My hope is we’ll have the same view on marriage equality and homosexuality then as (most of us do) now on racial equality and women’s rights. I hope the debates in the Arkansas legislature and in the nation’s capital don’t put us in reverse.

Related links

• JFK inaugural address: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm
• Argenta’s JFK 50 Years Later schedule of events: http://www.argentaartsdistrict.org/jfk-50-years-later-2/
• 6^th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza: http://www.jfk.org/

Go South, Fill Your Soul

Green Corner Store shoppers

A year ago today I had a very moving holiday experience, and it took me totally by surprise.

I experienced the sights, smells and sounds of the Bernice Garden Holiday Tree Lighting and Craft Market. The garden is in the SoMa district of downtown Little Rock – one of my most favorite spots in town.

The experience literally moved me to tears. When I returned home, I immediately wrote a blog post entitled SoMa Snowflakes. I’d love it if you’d read it.

I’d love it more if you’d join me at the event tonight.

In addition to the activities in the garden itself, be sure to walk the block and visit The Green Corner Store. I’m a little biased, but I think it’s the happiest place on earth (despite what Disney says).

If you don’t make tonight’s party, visit SoMa during the holiday season. It’ll put the joy right in ya!

Three Sisters and SoMa

Something happens to me when I visit Little Rock’s historic Southside Main Street (SoMa) business district. I can feel the neighborhood’s soul sing to me. It sings about its recent reawakening after decades of slumber. It sings about the people who have brought it into this new 21^st-century life. It praises the investment, vision, hard work and faith that nourish it each day. The district’s heartbeat seems stronger each time I visit – and it makes me smile.

In late September, the people of Southside Main, and their kin from elsewhere in the city, gathered at The Bernice Garden to celebrate the fourth-annual installation of outdoor art pieces and to congratulate their creators. Free food and drink from ‘hood businesses, Boulevard Bread Company and The Root Café, aided the festive atmosphere.

I was immediately drawn to one art piece in particular, from the many there. What I spied looked like a trellis covered in leaves and vines, twirling and twisting their way heavenward. In reality it was a cold steel structure that emanated vibrant, warm life – thanks to the talent of artist John VanHorn.

Companions: The Three Sisters (sculpture by John VanHorn)

He titled this piece “Companions: The Three Sisters” after the native American term that refers to corn, beans and squash (or pumpkins) as the three crops that, when grown simultaneously, support, nourish and protect one another.

What I saw upon closer inspection was metal stalks of corn, beans with running tendrils, and pumpkins heavy on the vine, all intertwined to form a shield-shaped structure easily eight feet high. Despite its heft, the piece was airy and had life-like movement. The green and rusty-brown patina was glossy and rustic at the same time; I couldn’t stop looking at it and touching it. Thankfully the artist didn’t mind.

VanHorn and his Three Sisters garden gate

The work is not just art for art’s sake – which would be fine – but it is functional art; designed to be a garden gate as well. Please go visit Companions and give it my regards. I will certainly be back.

VanHorn told me his grandfather was a pipeliner and taught him to stick weld. His grandfather is still alive and I’ll bet he’s proud to have provided the instruction that fuels his grandson’s talent. VanHorn told onlookers that he creates his art to please himself and figures if he enjoys making it that maybe others will enjoy seeing it. He’s certainly got that right.

I am in love with this piece. Photos don’t do it justice.

Bernice Garden is a jewel; a priceless gift from visionary Anita Davis who donated the land at the southeast corner of Daisy Gaston Bates (14^th) and Main Streets, envisioning an public art oasis in the midst of the city. I encourage you to plan a visit. Pick up lunch on the way. Community Bakery is just a few blocks north as well as the aforementioned Boulevard and Root. You can’t miss the sign with the crow on top nor the striking new pavilion structure at the center of the garden. I predict a visit will make you smile as well.

A Little Rock Love Note: While writing this post, I had an epiphany. Much like the three sister crops that the Native Americans grew together for the most beneficial and sustaining result, the Little Rock metro area also has three sisters.

There are three areas that are independent and have their own life and merit, yet will produce the most bounty when fostered and encouraged together – and given TIME to grow. Those three sisters are the aforementioned Southside Main Street district, the Argenta Arts District in downtown North Little Rock, and Little Rock’s burgeoning Main Street corridor. No one is more important than the other. Instead, if one flourishes, it aids them all in return.

For the sake of this analogy, the River Market District is not a part of the trio. It had a head start; it’s the big brother. Its success is definitely aiding the growth of the younger sisters. The River Market has set a decade-long example of the bountiful harvest that a long-range vision, financial and emotional investment, and time can produce. I love the whole family.

Lagniappe

• The three sisters planting information from the Old Farmer’s Almanac website: http://www.almanac.com/content/companion-planting-three-sisters (Is it just me or isn’t it ironic that the Old Farmer’s Almanac is now online? I suppose even old farmers must adapt or die.)
• This 9/13/12 story from Today’s THV gives information about the new Bernice Garden sculptures and their artists: http://www.todaysthv.com/news/thv_this_morning/article/226430/143/Local-sculptors-artists-on-display-at-Bernice-Garden
• Don’t miss the upcoming 2^nd annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival on Saturday, November 2, 2012. All the details are here. Get your butter and napkins ready. And volunteer if you’re willing. Last year’s festival was an enormous success. http://thebernicegarden.org/?portfolio=the-cornbread-festival
• More details about the cornbread festival, contest and prizes: http://www.arkansasmediaroom.com/news-releases/listings/display.aspx?id=2179
• The Bernice Garden hosts a farmers market each SUNDAY, yes you read that right. Sunday not Saturday. It was announced recently that the market has extended their dates of operation into the fall (great idea!) and will remain open every Sunday through November 11, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• SoMa knows how to throw a party. Read my post about their 2011 Christmas open house and tree lighting ceremony (read: party). The 2012 Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held on December 6.

SoMa Eats

• The Bernice Garden http://thebernicegarden.org
• Boulevard Bread Company http://www.boulevardbread.com
• Community Bakery http://communitybakery.com
• The Root Café http://therootcafe.com
• Loblolly Creamery Soda Fountain http://www.loblollycreamery.com/soda-fountain (inside the Green Corner Store http://www.thegreencornerstore.com )

About the Bernice Garden (from their press releases)

The Bernice Garden is privately owned but intended for public use and is located at the southeast corner of South Main Street and Daisy Bates Avenue. The garden was created to celebrate the community and will host community events as well as the sculpture exhibit in an effort to foster community interaction and a sense of pride in the neighborhood. The 100 ft. x 150 ft. garden consists of landscaped areas with a crushed granite foundation for the artworks. Next to the sculpture garden is a concrete patio, benches and approximately 20 parking spaces. The sculpture exhibition is part of a multistage development plan of the garden.

Poetic Inspiration on Main Street

Kelley and I have season tickets to Little Rock’s Repertory Theater, known as The Rep. We feel so urban – and yes, a bit smug – when it’s time to go to the theater. Unlike the other patrons who have driven into downtown and searched for a parking space before the show, we’ve simply walked out the Lafayette’s 6^th street side door. A half block later and we’re at the Rep’s front doors.

Wednesday evening we saw Shakespeare’s King Henry V performed by a very talented cast.  I’m a fan of the Bard from way back. I’ve read many of his plays, but watching them being performed is another thing altogether. I’ll admit, though, and I mentioned it to Kelley that night, that I prefer Shakespeare’s poetry over his plays.

As we left the Rep, instead of taking the direct route home, I suggested we walk home via the block of Main Street behind the Lafayette. It’s the west side of the 500 block of Main Street whose four buildings have recently been purchased for restoration and redevelopment.  I’ve written about the project already and I assure you I’ll be writing about it as things progress.

But, let’s get back to our night-time block walk.

We peeped into the former department stores’ dusty and recently-uncovered windows. We could see evidence inside of the environmental stabilization work already underway.

We approached the corner of Capitol and Main where the Baker’s Shoes display windows are – where the bucket list on Main’s chalkboards were. Turns out the space is still attracting written expression.

Despite the darkness, out of the corner of my eye I spotted graffiti on a display window near the former store’s entrance.  I had just been in this space a few days ago; the writing was new.  At first we thought it must be the typical graffiti we often see downtown, but upon closer inspection, this is what we found. A poem.

Poetry in an unexpected place

This is the poem just as it was written there:

Thinking of a master plan
Cos aint nothing but sweat
Inside my hand
So I start my mission
Leave my residence
Thinkin how could I get
Some dead presidents
I need money
I used to be a stickup kid
So I think of all the devious
Things I did
 I used to roll up
This is a hold up
Aint nothing funny
Stop smiling
Be still don’t nothing
Move but the money
So I dig into my pocket
All my money spent
So I dig deeper
But still comin up
With lint
But now Ive learned
Cos I’m riteous
I feel great
So maybe I might
Search for a 9 to 5
If I strive then
Maybe
I stay alive

As we stood there reading it, we were dumbstruck.

The first thing was that it was poetry and not graffiti – quite a surprise. More likely the words were intended to be song lyrics, or at least that’s my guess. But who was the writer? Would they be successful in finding their 9 to 5? Do they have the determination and encouragement to reach that goal and change their life?

It was a gift to find such a thing in our downtown block. I didn’t have my camera with me then, but the next morning I snapped some shots before going to work. I haven’t been back today to see if the words have survived or if they’ve been removed.

Just like Little Rock’s downtown, the writer is seeking a master plan. The bucket list on Main is gone, but the desire to write dreams on that corner remains. I think William Shakespeare would approve.

Eleven Years after 9/11

I vividly remember being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Little Rock’s I-30 bridge that sunny September morning 11 years ago. I remember hearing on the radio that a small plane had hit one of the twin towers. I immediately called my then-husband, an amateur pilot, who was already on the job at his highway department office. I said to him, “What kind of idiot can’t miss a skyscraper that big?”

Of course we all soon learned what was really happening.

I, like you, watched the television and listened to radio news reports that Tuesday and in the days and weeks that followed. We watched in disbelief and horror as the towers burned and fell, at the gaping hole and smoke left at the Pentagon, and later as we saw the smoldering crater in that field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. When search-and-rescue turned to search-and-recovery, like you, I mourned with the families and friends coming to grips with such a senseless loss.

Like you, I gained even more respect and appreciation for first responders who run in when everyone else is running out. But maybe unlike you, I had never been to the Word Trade Center, the Pentagon or that field in Pennsylvania before the attack, so seeing those places in the news reports was a bit like watching a horror movie – not quite real.

It wasn’t until I visited the 9/11 memorial garden last year, shortly after it opened on the 10th anniversary of the attack, that it truly became real for me.

I had never stood at the bottom of the World Trade Center towers and taken in their impressive stature. I had never looked down over New York City from their observation floors. Visiting the footprints of those enormous and iconic structures that are now replaced with somber fountains, and experiencing the reverent park that surrounds them, personalized it for me.

I was standing where the towers stood. I was standing where the victims died. I was standing in the only place loved ones might be able to reconnect with the spirits of those they lost.

The memorial site is very quiet and peaceful, despite being in the middle of New York City. The white noise of water flowing through the enormous granite-lined pools accomplishes that – and I’m glad.

I invite you to read the post I wrote last year following the day  Kelley and I visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the 9/11 Memorial.  Visiting those three historic sites in the same day gave me a perspective on the freedoms we American’s enjoy, what our forefathers sought here, and what was viciously attacked eleven years ago.

Freedom: Embraced, Exercised and Attacked

Note: I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the dedicated soldiers who, shortly after 9/11/01 and yet today, are fighting the wars that the attacks spawned.  So many have been killed and so many have been injured, yet their love for our country endures. So many have been sent on tour after tour after tour, yet their love for our country endures. So many families have lost their beloved soldiers, yet their love for our country endures. My heart and support goes out to each and every one.