I thought I’d be back up to speed with Emmett’s blogging/research this week, but it has been a difficult couple of days. On Sunday, a dear friend of mine died. You know that quote by Edna Buchanan: “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves?” That’s what I felt about […]
Last night as I was trolling through the 1895 microfilm of The Chipley Banner, I discovered that Emmett’s brother, the Hon. Cephas L. Wilson, Esq., had not only a legal license, but a poetic license. Truth. Here’s more info about the poem from the same issue: I wonder why Ceph’s […]
Good news: The story architecture is roughed in. My colleagues have gotten used to the new wallpaper, and more than a few have commented favorably. The story architecture adventure has turned out to be a good teaching tool. Students who visit my office see that I practice what I […]
The more I dig into Emmett’s family, the more incredible back stories I find about those who loved him best. For instance, his sister-in-law, Lula, was a poet and musician. She had a song published in 1928, which was similar to having a tune go viral via social media today. […]
It has been a really good year. I’m thankful to be here, thankful you are here, and thankful for Emmett finding a way into my life, because I (for sure) was not looking for him. I have to admit that I thought I’d be a lot further along in the […]
If you were given the chance to go back in time, would you? When I first started Emmett’s bio, if I had been given the option of going back in time to meet Emmett, I’d jumped at the chance, without reservation. But now, almost 20 months into the project, I’d […]
Friends, I have 80 pages — a very rough draft — of a chapter finished. It needs editing, but I’m setting it aside for maybe a week. After the distance of a few days, I’ll be able to take a look at it with fresh eyes and a renewed writing […]
For our last installment on lack of judgment and common sense for 2014 (I hope), I share the following: The South Dakota highway safety director (he who approved the content of this attention-getting item) is expected to go before the South Dakota State Transportation Committee and answer questions about this […]
Even though the academic semester is over for most universities, work still continues. This is my favorite time of the year: Grades are posted, my desk is a little clearer, and I have more time to write during the actual workday (during most of the year, I have to get […]
I am thrilled to see this. Check this out from the WWOZ (New Orleans) blog: “Local preservationist Joseph Makkos is the recipient of 30,000 tubes filled with Times-Picayunes (and its predecessors The Daily Picayune and The Times-Democrat) from 1885 to 1930. Originally a part of the British Library’s collection, these […]
Tell my story. 