What a wonderful feeling it must be to return to your hometown and find it so miraculously and progressively changed. A better development, perhaps, than those most quoted lines from T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding." Yet also, "We are born with the dead: / See, they return, and bring us with them." As I've said before, your youthful experience to these monuments is so punk rock. Yet we head into the second half century of our lives, an even more turbulent time than maybe we thought we lived in when young, and if arises "The Second Lost Cause," this one prior to, as opposed to the first, a Civil War, Richmond may be a very good place to be. I envy your rediscovery of your hometown. When I used to hear people say, "The South will rise again," I didn't realize it could happen this way.
Thanks for your awesome comment, Tim! I have always loved big little Richmond, as you well know.
Your last point is wonderful— let’s hope Richmond’s changes help lead more places in the South to rise above the worst instincts of man that have marked those places for too long.
This is a "Fan" tastic start (imagine me leading with a cheesy pun this early in the morning!) Seriously, though, this took me back. For a chunk of my life, I had called Richmond home for years longer than I had my birthplace, having only recently surpassed that. It's different seeing it once removed. I've only been back once (Brockie's funeral,) and that was weird enough. I think the first few years I was trying to defend my right to exist in Virginia, though my historical family roots are among the earliest Virginia families, I heard ALL the KY tropes I could take. Were you able to get a look at the unseated monuments at the Black History museum? I don't think they've done a reveal, but I think that's where they ultimately landed. I look forward to the next installment!!
What I want is anyone’s old photograph of any of us hanging out in the seat on the Lee monument. A while ago I posted in one of the old Richmond Facebook pages but got no reply.
HILLARY! Early morning pun, expected and required and received.
I’m glad to hear this took you back in any way. I’ve been in such a fit, trying to think of how to write about the emotional experience I had in Richmond this summer.
As for the monuments, I did see and have a great discussion about the Jefferson Davis statue, which was on display at the Valentine museum at the time. I’ll have a story about that one soon. I did go by the old Armory building, which is now the museum of Black history and culture, and asked about the whereabouts of the statues. At the time that was not being disclosed, but I got the card of someone who may be willing to tell me more. Honestly I have not followed up and it’s been six months so that’s part of my digging I need to do before I can write that part. I have several story stubs that I’d really like another visit before finishing. Might get back up there soon. And you know I want to see “the family uniform,” and all that baggage has to be unpacked. “It’s a lot.”
Wonderful writing Laura! Looking forward to the next post!
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Meg! I’ll have it up tomorrow.
What a wonderful feeling it must be to return to your hometown and find it so miraculously and progressively changed. A better development, perhaps, than those most quoted lines from T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding." Yet also, "We are born with the dead: / See, they return, and bring us with them." As I've said before, your youthful experience to these monuments is so punk rock. Yet we head into the second half century of our lives, an even more turbulent time than maybe we thought we lived in when young, and if arises "The Second Lost Cause," this one prior to, as opposed to the first, a Civil War, Richmond may be a very good place to be. I envy your rediscovery of your hometown. When I used to hear people say, "The South will rise again," I didn't realize it could happen this way.
Thanks for your awesome comment, Tim! I have always loved big little Richmond, as you well know.
Your last point is wonderful— let’s hope Richmond’s changes help lead more places in the South to rise above the worst instincts of man that have marked those places for too long.
Always "a little homesick" for Richmond...
This is a "Fan" tastic start (imagine me leading with a cheesy pun this early in the morning!) Seriously, though, this took me back. For a chunk of my life, I had called Richmond home for years longer than I had my birthplace, having only recently surpassed that. It's different seeing it once removed. I've only been back once (Brockie's funeral,) and that was weird enough. I think the first few years I was trying to defend my right to exist in Virginia, though my historical family roots are among the earliest Virginia families, I heard ALL the KY tropes I could take. Were you able to get a look at the unseated monuments at the Black History museum? I don't think they've done a reveal, but I think that's where they ultimately landed. I look forward to the next installment!!
What I want is anyone’s old photograph of any of us hanging out in the seat on the Lee monument. A while ago I posted in one of the old Richmond Facebook pages but got no reply.
I know I've seen one of some folks. I'll go check
I have pics of people playing on the statues in Hollywood, but not on Monument.
HILLARY! Early morning pun, expected and required and received.
I’m glad to hear this took you back in any way. I’ve been in such a fit, trying to think of how to write about the emotional experience I had in Richmond this summer.
As for the monuments, I did see and have a great discussion about the Jefferson Davis statue, which was on display at the Valentine museum at the time. I’ll have a story about that one soon. I did go by the old Armory building, which is now the museum of Black history and culture, and asked about the whereabouts of the statues. At the time that was not being disclosed, but I got the card of someone who may be willing to tell me more. Honestly I have not followed up and it’s been six months so that’s part of my digging I need to do before I can write that part. I have several story stubs that I’d really like another visit before finishing. Might get back up there soon. And you know I want to see “the family uniform,” and all that baggage has to be unpacked. “It’s a lot.”