Old letter--May 25, 2000--cleaning out the files

 What would I do without old letters cluttering up my computer files?  I'm trying to delete the dead wood, and found this from 2000. It must have been a slow day.  It was about 4 months before I retired.  My dad was still alive.  9/11 hadn't changed out lives. Obama hadn't poisoned the well. Bob was helping Dad with remodeling the Lustron and we would be there in the fall to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. I had fallen at work on a wet floor, and was still looking for help for the pain.

"My Dad called today to tell me Wanda Wiggins had mentioned me in her Pine Creek column in the Mt. Morris paper. I had written her a "fan" letter because even though I don't know anyone she talks about, her column has the folksy touch I like in a small town paper--like when you and your Mom wrote for the paper. I sent her my Tales from Pine Creek that I wrote for the family reunion in 1993. Because she grew up there and was the same age as my Aunt Lois, she really enjoyed it. Her children all went to Mt. Morris H.S., but were much younger than us.

I got a full two page e-mail/letter today from a guy in Indiana who has remodeled a Lustron. I asked him about replacing a bathtub, and I got a blow by blow description of everything he did--insulation, wiring--all the outlets he put in the kitchen. The guy was really into Lustrons!

I finally saw a doctor about my foot/leg problem from my fall on May 9. It just wasn't getting any better and my right leg and back were hurting from limping. He had it x-rayed and said there are no broken bones. There is a fluid build up from the bad bruising, and the fluid moves around, which is why some days it hurts and other days seem OK. So I'm to keep it elevated, use ice, and take an anti-inflammatory, which I still have from my rotator cuff problem. He also said I have all but 5% motion in my shoulder, and I could probably not worry about that--I think it is reverse psychology because I told him I hadn't been doing my exercises as I should.

We're going to the Lake house for Memorial Day week-end. I'm taking a vacation day so I'll have a 4 day week-end."

Transportation 100 years ago

When my mother was a little girl, her family still kept a carriage horse in the barn that did useful tasks like pulling their cars out of the muddy lanes that approached their graceful farm home two miles from the main road near Franklin Grove, Illinois. I believe she told me the children never rode "Beauty" because she hadn't been broken to ride. Because I was madly in love with horses, I couldn't imagine having a horse that close and NOT riding it. My maternal grandparents were "early adopters" and owned automobiles probably before 1910. Draft horses were still used in the fields because tractors weren't reliable enough, but I believe they were stabled at the tenant farm barn. My father's family in the next county, however, used draft horses regularly in farming. My father told me they sometimes rode one to church, the Pine Creek Church of the Brethren (now disbanded). Draft horses are so massive, so wide and so powerful, I have difficulty picturing this. My grandmother was blind and the four older children would have been quite small. But then, picturing her walking there with little ones doesn't read either. (repeat from 2005 blog about draft horses)

What is storytelling?

Lately I’ve been hearing/reading the expression “telling the story” or “story telling to fight injustice,” “the narrative,” . . . as in  “young people can bring about social justice by simply telling the stories of who they are and what they have experienced.”  https://pj.news.chass.ncsu.edu/2016/06/06/making-change-by-changing-the-story/

Really?  That’s all it takes? When I watched Christiane Amanpour interview the British woman last night, the Brit used the expression about “telling our story” several times.  I have no idea what that means other than entertainment value like the “moth porch stories” we’ve begun at Lakeside, or listening to learn more about family.

“The goal [of a non-profit for young people] is to creating programming that allows for young people to tell the story of “what it is to grow up economically poor, Black and brown in this country, to be educated in poor schools, to be in communities that are inundated with drugs and violence, but to overcome that.” That ability to take back the narrative of who they are develops a strong sense of empowerment within young people that allows them to “form a moral and ethical code – who they are as young people – helps them become leaders and social change makers” in a cycle that continues to fight poverty decade after decade. These youth then end up seeking out roles in their communities and abroad, continuing the narrative that young people can bring about social justice by simply telling the stories of who they are and what they have experienced."

Twenty five years ago I had prepared a family story and cook book for a Corbett reunion, and was chatting with my Aunt Lois who died two weeks ago at 92.  Different members had brought along old photographs to share, and there was one of her in the late 1930s, heighth of the Great Depression. She looked fabulous.   I made a comment about the family being poor, and she laughed (she had the greatest laugh in the whole family) and said—“We had no idea we were poor.  In the Depression everyone was poor.”

So I’m wondering how encouraging children to look at their homes, schools and neighborhoods as being victims of a cruel society helps them achieve, get good jobs, find the right life partner, and raise a family.

Ogle County storms July 22

As we watched the weather reports here in Ohio, I could see that northern Illinois was being slammed by storms. Photos and story by Jerry Stouffer of Mt. Morris.

"The overnight storm on Friday night into Saturday morning July 22 turned the mild mannered Pine Creek into a roaring out of control wild river in a mater of a few hours as the unusual storm that hit the Ogle County area with up to 6.5 inches of rain.  The entire lower portion of the White Pines State Park located just south of Mt. Morris was turned into a massive river.  Water was also flowing across the Pines Road at the entrance to the park closing the Pines Road until mid morning.  By late morning the creek had receded back into its banks leaving much clean up to be done in the park before it can be reopened.  Several large trees were uprooted and picnic tables were swept away in the torrent flood waters."

 

This is the area of Illinois (Pine Creek) where my father grew up, and where as a child and teen I attended many school and church functions.