Skyscapes

The things you miss while not at home can be surprising. There are the usual things like your family, your friends, your room, Dr. Pepper....

It may be silly, but one of the things I missed about Missouri while in France was the weather. The sky here just tends to look amazing at times, and I never really noticed the sky in Paris. There were times in the South of France that the sky would be amazing, but nowhere near as often as it does here, with thunderheads rising so high into the sky they block the setting sun creating an explosion of color. Plus, it never really thunders in France, or at least it's very rare. I missed falling asleep to lightning and thunder as a storm rolled through the area. So, I thought I'd share a few photos of the sky I've missed the past three years.

Today it's very gray outside and there's been a constant pattering of rain on the roof, and it reminds me of Paris. What are some of the things you miss while not at home?

The Help

Way back in the day I was my own webmaster. I created Wam's Movie Spot, where I wrote reviews on films like The Matrix, Wild Wild West, and Ever After. Feel free to visit the still-existing site, but be warned that I just found out that it is still out there as cyber junk on angelfire, and it has a lot of broken links and images. I moved on quickly and hosted it under my own domain name for about two years, and that more refined website is gone. However, you will get to read a lot of ramblings about movies. I was a teenager when I made the site. I loved writing, and movies were something I could write about. These days, I still love writing (obviously) and movies, and I probably go to them too often.

So, why have I brought all of this up? Because I'm going to go back to my movie reviewing days and talk a little bit about The Help. This isn't really so much a review like I did all those years ago, but really a reflection on some of the issues the story brings up.

Let me preface this by saying that I have not yet read the book, despite my love for reading. I hope to do so soon, but I'm naively waiting for it to come down in price after it jumped with the release of the movie, but I might just jump that ship soon and get it anyway.

The story behind The Help is a young woman trying to break into a literary career during the 1950s. She has a job at a newspaper, but dreams of more. She sees the injustices going on towards the African American women, who are only 'the help' in so many people's eyes. So, after a chain of events, she is able to get these women to speak to her and share their stories about being the maids, caretakers, cooks, and any other role that might be necessary in their line of work.

The movie has provoked a lot of discussion with my family. I had classes in high school and college that taught me all of the bad things that happened to good people during the time of racial segregation, and I especially know that discrimination still exists and will not be going away soon, no matter how much people wish for that to happen. That being said, I don't think about these things on a daily basis. Seeing this movie brought back all of those ideas and emotions for me, and I learned more from the film, like how even in private residences white people tried to keep their toilets separate from the toilets of their staff. Yes, this film was a work of fiction, but it was based on many women's realities, and I'm glad that times have progressed in the past 50 or so years.

On the ride home from the movie, my mom told some stories about her past. Apparently, one of my great-grandmothers would always call African Americans 'darkies'. Also, while my mom grew up in the 60s and 70s, she felt that she was often discouraged from hanging around black boys, even on purely platonic terms.

Then, I went to my grandparents' house the weekend after seeing the film. My grandmother had read the book, but not the movie, and she shared some simple stories with me about that time period. Living in Northern Missouri is nothing compared to how things were in Mississippi, but they still weren't as progressive as areas in larger cities. My great-grandparents had a huge farm that sprawled as far as the eye could see. Back then, in the 50s or so, they owned that land, but they also had a lot of black people living on the land. The way my mom and grandmother have described it to me is that these people worked as farm-hands, or they just worked a little plot of land near their homes, and just lived on the farm, likely with no charge to them. Their homes were not much more than shacks, and they didn't really earn much money, but they didn't seem to want for anything more. They just lived their lives.

Most of these people were illiterate. The two that my grandmother told me the most about were Perry Elder and his wife. My great-grandparents would buy groceries occasionally for the Elders, and even though Mrs. Elder couldn't read, she would copy the letters off of the packages of the items that she needed the best she could. I was told that the one thing she needed every trip was a package of cough drops, which she ate as her candy.

My grandmother told me that Mr. Elder would come for dinner at their house sometimes. He always refused to eat with my grandparents in the kitchen, and always waited until they were finished before he would eat. My mother was a baby around that time, and he apparently just loved her. She would sit in her high chair and they would entertain each other while he ate. My grandmother said he would tell her jokes, and just laugh and laugh, which often made my mother burst into a fit of giggles too.

While my mother was still a toddler, if even that old, Mr. Elder passed away in his home. His wife was arrested, even though his death was of natural causes. When my great-grandparents found out about this, they pitched a fit! Mrs. Elder was taken from her home against her will for no good reason, and then she had no real way to get back to her home once she was released. My mother guesses that my great-grandparents went to the jail to bring her home, but we're not really sure how she made her way back.

I found it interesting to hear these stories from the past, and I thought I should share them. The past is always there, and it's good to not forget so that the same injustices can be recognized in the future. I'd love to hear some of your stories, too!

As the Corn Grows...

This hot, dry, long summer is coming to an end. I have not really done a ton in the past few months since I've dedicated a lot of my time to job applications (150+ so far, which is nothing compared to some people).

So, what exactly is there to do in this town to keep a girl like me busy? Well... I guess there's sitting on the front porch, petting the cats, and watching the flowers bloom. Fun, right? I've also spend a fair few hours trying to get my car back into shape. It's sad to say, but she's getting old. I discovered that she wasn't honking anymore, so I tried to take her to a new place that said they would work on Volkswagens, but after 6 or so hours they hadn't really started to look at her, and when they did they gave me the run around, so we decided in all it was just best to go back to the dealership for the work. The dealership has been acting better, but we've just had a few mishaps with them along the way (not looking at items I specified, water drains being put in upside down causing the car to flood once when it rained, a busted plastic panel... all of these were annoyances but they did fix them free of charge).

I've tried to keep my eyes open for cultural events. One weekend there was a French-themed 'fair' going on in Eureka Springs, AR. I thought it might be cool to go, but on closer examination of the offerings, it seemed like they were events more for people on vacation there. There were things like very expensive French brunches at the hotels, wine-tasting boutiques having art shows with an entry fee, the movie Chocolat would be playing in the town square, etc.. It just didn't seem like it would be an event that would really have anything for a Francophile to really go out and experience, especially without spending tons of $$$$.

Then, the rodeo came to town. I talked my mom into going (neither of us had ever been to a rodeo before). It was pretty fascinating watching grown men being tossed about on the backs of bulls and broncos like they were rag dolls, but it wasn't truly enjoyable. It was rather cringe-worthy, truth be told. Like watching a train wreck, knowing that something bad could happen at any moment, but you couldn't peel your eyes away. Yes, all of the events take tremendous skill, and I admire the people competing for that, but it was still an event which was hard to watch. Then, when they were roping the calves and goats, it just made me feel bad for the poor creatures. At one point, all of the kids were invited out into the stadium, and they had to chase calves and get ribbons off of their tails. The 4 or 5 kids that got the ribbons received prizes, but it just seemed rather silly. And the rodeo clown was rather idiotic. He was telling jokes that were terrible, not even worth laughing at, and he was very opinionated in a not-so-good way. So, in all, I think my rodeo days are more or less over. It was worth going to see, but didn't seem worth repeating.

Before I left France, mom surprised me with tickets for us to go see Michael Bublé in concert. The opening act was quite fascinating. It was a group called Naturally 7, and the 7 members each were able to make their voices sound like different instruments. Because I like youtube clips lately, here's the group performing in the Paris subway, Line 1, I do believe:

Then the main event was Michael Bublé. Mom got us tickets on the ground, really close to the front. The 25 or so rows in front of us appeared to be for people with season tickets, or who had won tickets to the concert. There had been problems earlier in the year with purchasing tickets online to go to the Elton John show, so the day the tickets came available mom was online, ready to click, and was one of the first put into the virtual waiting room. Pretty soon, she was able to go purchase the tickets, but she was a little worried because the system only allowed about 3 minutes to choose seats and enter all of her billing and credit card info, but she did it, and she got us some terrific seats!

Michael Bublé was a bit more of a smart alec than I had imagined, telling the audience that one of the band members was from Springfield (he wasn't) and flipping the audience off once for booing (which I didn't hear and didn't get it), but I guess it made for a good show. And, his voice is, shall I say, dreamy? About 3/4 of the way through the show, I noticed the grips rolling out what looked like might be a stage, right next to where we were sitting. I figured it out quickly, and when one of the guys said "Go for it," I grabbed mom and we went over to the stage, which was literally only 10 feet away from our seats. I don't think I'm one of those fangirls that just dies when touched by a celebrity, but with all of the peer pressure, I reached up my hand and Michael grabbed it. So, now I can say that I was one of the lucky few, I guess? It was more interesting having one of the guys from Naturally 7 sitting right beside where I was standing. I have no idea how they do it, but they were the 'big band' for one of the songs performed while they were out on that temporary stage. Then, Michael sang the song "Home" and dedicated it to Joplin.

Other than all of that, life has been, well, life. My mom and I took up lap swimming over the dog days of summer, and that turned into the highlight of my day for a while. I even bought my own kick board and swim buoy, and I enjoyed using them while the pool was open. I was also a bit of an enigma, since I came every day, could swim well, and no one knew who I was, but no one bothered to ask who my mom and I were, either. But really, the only people that were there at that time were the lifeguards and the older women doing swim aerobics who gossiped the entire time.

Applying to jobs is a full time job, and I haven't been very impressed with the amount of call backs I've gotten, but I also know that it's a tough job market. I've made it through to the final interview stage once, but I got the feeling that there were some weird office politics going on, and somehow I just didn't make the cut. Some places I've applied to have written back saying that usually they receive at most 15 applications for that type of job, but they received more than 100 applications. So, I'll just have to cross my fingers for now and hope that someone somewhere will see my resume and cover letter and say, "Now, that's the person for this job!" Until that day comes, I guess I'll get to help out around the house and keep applying and hoping. If you know of any jobs, send 'em my way!