Monday, June 25, 2012

And then there's Maude Schuyler Clay

I'm on a short work assignment to try out my new piece of rolling luggage and make some gas money for the Mississippi road trip.   The soft suitcase is small enough to come along with you inside an airplane and it's super lightweight, unless you deal in bowling balls and Acme anvils.   I can picture myself hopping on an early direct flight to Orlando, heading straight for the Magic Kingdom and spending the day with this bag as my sidekick and catching a late plane home.   I found it at TJ Maxx, and you can see it here.   It's the smallest one.

A Q Barbeque restaurant is conveniently located near my job site.   Right now, there are three Virginia locations under the artistic direction of grill king Tuffy Stone.   He's part of the competitive cooking team that goes by the name of Cool Smoke.   And he's a Richmond guy.   You can catch a glimpse of him in a Memphis competition in the clip below.

The sweet tea is brewed Luzianne and most of the sides are home made.   And there's pie.   Lots of pie.   I tried the pork plate with beans and hush puppies.   The BBQ did not disappoint, and the sauce was tasty.

I returned to the hotel to find someone unexpected in the parking lot.   See if you know this character.

He wasn't taking up one of the best spaces, so I was happy to be welcomed by such a handsome fella.

Right now I'm revisiting Delta Land by photographer and Sumner, Mississippi resident Maude Schuyler Clay.   You may look at 17 images from the book right here. 

I just noticed that she's dedicated this collection to the memory of Emmett Till.   Knowing his story makes the mood of the photograph that accompanies the wistful inscription shift from commonplace and serene to heartbreaking and eerie, especially if the photograph is picturing what I think it is.   More on Till to come soon.

The book is not of the 80s scratch and sniff variety, but as you turn the pages I bet that you'll scratch imaginary mosquito bites and smell sweet honeysuckle, welcome sunsets, fetid swamps and stray dogs without much provocation.   As you can tell from the link above, the images are black and white and contain animals, places and things.

Towards the end of the book, Clay shows us a candid shot of her children and a group portrait taken in 1925 by her grandfather, Joseph Albert May.   The photograph is called "Clearing Land" and shows about 36 black men with their long-handled axes in the Sunflower County heat.   Many are smiling.   Most are wearing overalls.   To see this image after pages of photographs without human subjects makes this shot seem to be electrified with 36 pulses.

If you're thinking of giving this book as a gift, and you should, may I recommend Gillian Welch's The Harrow and the Harvest as a chaser?   Taste a sample below.




No comments:

Post a Comment