Eleanor on "Talk of the Nation," Part II

Here is the clip of Eleanor on "Talk of the Nation." You can't help but smile when you listen to it.

E on "Talk of the Nation!"

Saturday night was Earth Hour. Eleanor called Talk of the Nation, an NPR show, and got on to talk about what we did! We were all very excited! I hoped to post the audio, but we can't get a clean copy until tomorrow. And I'm very impatient! To hear her, you can go to the show, click "Listen to Monday's show," and then choose the segment on Earth Hour (you'll see at the right and be able to click on it after you hear the ad). Her moment of fame is at 9:50.

And now we're home again

Since the last post, we went to Birmingham and Memphis. In Birmingham is the 16th Street Baptist church that was bombed and four girls died (and Spike Lee made a film about it). Across the street is the park where children were attacked by the police with water guns and dogs. There is also a museum on the park. It's probably the best museum we went to. It showed black life, both positive and negative, in Birmingham from the earliest days of Birmingham. It was a new museum that used lots of different media. After we were finished there, I felt like I wanted to go through again right then. Of course we didn't, because there are limits to how many hours we, especially the children, can spend in museums.


Next we went on to Memphis. We had BBQ. This means that Matt got ribs and the rest of us ate something else. We were low on food, so Calvin had a banana, apple, and water for dinner. We guessed that ours was the only table cutting up an apple in the restaurant that night.


Our last museum was the one built around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was shot. The end of the Civil Rights trail.

Importantly, this museum addressed Dr. King's work in Chicago at the end of his life. It presented a different picture than we'd seen in earlier places where they focused on other efforts. Needless to say, it was very sad.

After a picnic by the river, the kids and Matt went to the Stax Records Museum.


After that, we drove by Graceland to have a peek and headed home. We planned to stay another night, but we were ready to come home. So, we did. Despite having a false start and needing a rental car, we're glad we went. We always have a good time on trips and learn a lot. We certainly learned a lot on this trip- about the Civil Rights Movement, the South, ourselves, and our lives.

Montgomery, AL

This morning we drove from Selma to Montgomery. We stopped at the National Parks Service site at about the midpoint. It is a new and very nice facility that documents the march and the tent city that was built on the location after the Voting Rights Act passed, blacks registered, and were kicked out of their homes by landlord/bosses. When I asked about Selma, they told us that there will eventually be facilities in Selma and Montgomery dedicated to the beginning and end of the march.

In Montgomery we had a tour of Dr. Martin Luther King’s former church. As they point out, it’s the only church that was “his.” We then walked past the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has a cool Civil Rights memorial. After lunch, we went to the Rosa Parks Museum. The day had a much more positive feeling than the other days because the sites were all located in central Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, which is economically alive. We did eat lunch with nearly all white people, which was a reminder that “the work isn’t finished” in a city that is more than half black. I think the day was more positive also because the museums were both very new and used multimedia to communicate the indignity of Jim Crow laws. Also, being in the very places where Rosa Parks and Dr. King (can you see the influence of being down here on my linguistic preference to include the title of the Civil Rights leader?) bravely fought back was powerful. So, in Montgomery, the distance to go is hidden and the distance traveled is easier to see.

Now we’re in Birmingham.

A Meat and Three, and Other Things from The South

Today we had our second lunch based on the “Meat and Three” menu. You choose one meat (fried chicken, fried catfish, fried gizzards, fried livers, etc.) and three sides (cream potatoes, macaroni and cheese, black eyed peas, squash casserole, etc.). Cornbread is not a side; it just comes with your food. Today we had this lunch at a cafeteria in Montgomery, AL. We also had pecan cobbler and fried green tomatoes. How could we pass these delicious, high-fat specialties up? Calvin was able to get a pancake for lunch today, so the lunch was a success for the entire family.

Calvin is a girl in The South. I don’t think anyone has referred to him as a boy since we left. His long hair and tennis shoes with a little pink on them mean that he can only be a girl. As you probably know, his “goal” is for people to think that he’s a girl so he is amused by this effect of being in The South.

When we were in Selma, our hotel was on the very edge of town. We needed some fruit and veggies and I saw a “Farmer’s Co-op” out the window. This (presumed) farmer's market seemed to me the perfect place to get farm-fresh produce. As we drove in the parking lot, I pointed out that nearly all of the vehicles were pick-up trucks. Maybe this place is a “feed and seed” rather than a farmer’s market? Yes. The woman from Minnesota should have realized this sooner!

Selma, AL

Today we spent the day in Selma. It was another day of mixed emotions. The state of Selma is dismal. According to the Census bureau 31% of the people who live here are below the poverty line. Most of the buildings are vacant. The picture above is on the street where much of the activism took place. You can see a sign recognizing the Dallas County [Selma] Voters League in front of an abandoned house. On this block are the major churches from which the local activism was based.

We went to the National Voting Rights Museum. It's not a national museum, in that it's a private museum. It had a variety of exhibit types--written documents, jail cell, uniform warn by sheriff's posse, etc. One of the most moving was the "I was there" wall. People who marched wrote on little pieces of paper that fill a wall. The stories of many brave, and largely unknown, people are there. The wall is what is pictured.

We walked across the bridge and thought and talked about the Selma marchers meeting the sheriff and his posse on the other side. It's an emotional trek. Their sacrifice led to thousands having the right to vote.

As you spend the day in Selma, you think about the difference that the national leaders and everyday people--often teenagers--made and have an overwhelming sense of gratitude and respect for what they did and changes that they made. You also feel like things are bleak. I guess in the end it's hard to have two perspectives: 1) the huge accomplishment of the Civil Rights Movements and 2) the long distance between where we are and equality.

I want to write more. I wonder where the national presence is. Where are the fancy museums that the federal government built in other places? I know that the national story is that racism ended with slavery, but seriously we have nothing here? I also want to write about the tasty southern cooking we had for lunch. Our hotel sent us to a restaurant where we could see everyone was white (in a 70% black city), so we went back to the museum and asked where to go. It was worth it- mac and cheese, candied yams, potato salad, mashed potatoes, squash and onions, and fried catfish. I also want to write about the weirdness of being on the road again. I can't believe we did this for 45 days just a few months ago. And finally, I can't believe that this emotional trip is going to end in Memphis where MLK was shot.

Atlanta and beyond

The kids and I took a tour of CNN. The kids thought it was great. Maybe because I don't respect CNN I had many snide thoughts, and even comments, during the tour.


We made a trip to the Carter Presidential Library and Museum. The kids are surprisingly interested in presidential libraries. After about an hour or so, Calvin and I went outside and walked around the beautiful grounds while E and Matt finished up the museum. The main take aways: 1) We'd be in a total different place as a country if Carter had success with alternative energy sources the way he'd hoped to. He put solar panels on the White House; Reagan took them down! 2) Diplomacy! Too bad GW doesn't know about that!


I always love to go hiking. Thanks to Carol, the GPS, we came close by taking a National Parks Service road in Alabama.


In Alabama we found this gift shop near Tuskegee. Eleanor met Ms. Eleanor in the trailer, which was too crowded to walk in. I paid $1.60 for a postcard for my Eleanor and then Ms. Eleanor gave my Eleanor a Susan B. Anthony doll. Side note: Tuskegee has no memorial to the men who died in the Syphilis study. We went to the Tuskegee Airmen National Park Service site, where we learned that there will be a site for the men done by the summer.

We're in Selma now. It's pouring rain, so we waiting to get going. Everyone is waiting in line behind me to use the computer. I'll have to write more later about Tuskegee and Selma. They are so poor and left behind that it's really an emotional journey through these Civil Rights sites of the South.

Atlanta, Day 1

Well, we made it to Atlanta. Today we slowly wound our way through closed streets to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site on Auburn. It's hard for me to articulate how I felt about the experience. I was moved by the bravery of the civil rights activists, from the leaders to the everyday people who risked their lives. I was filled with despair over the unbelievable isolation and poverty of the neighborhood. The pictures are of MLK's house until age 10 and the view from the back steps of the house; everywhere in the neighborhood were abandoned houses with boarded up windows.
Auburn used to be one of the wealthiest black neighborhoods in the world. Today we parked in a fenced off area for people going to the National Parks Site. During our visit we were approached by two men hustling from the tourists. But then in the museum, we watched a short film that explained that King's work is not finished, because of problems in *the world* - not the US, not Atlanta, not the neighborhood in which we were sitting. The films showed black students in an apparently segregated school talking about the successful efforts to end segregation. We have come far, as evidenced by prominent black political leaders, but we still have segregated schools and neighborhoods and on an on. It is hard, though I teach it and understand it academically, to listen to the language of the successful achievement of "rights" when for many, many people they are de jure rights only. The film and the tour don't address that King's work when he was assassinated was to improve wages and workers' rights and to improve funding of public schools. They don't say that his work is not done.

So far

Posted by Jen, Eleanor & Calvin

Today we left for Atlanta at 12:40pm. We didn't make very far before we had to go to the bathroom. While we stopped, we realized that our car was leaking fluid. We discovered an oily liquid by the passenger's feet a few days ago, but had thought something was spilled--perhaps intentionally by malevolent, Clinton-hating oiler changers. Luckily, while assessing the extent of the "spill," Matt realized it went up behind the dash. This prompted me to call my brother-in-law, Von. Within seconds of hearing about the problem, Uncle Von told us we have a coolant leak. In fact, it turns out our coolant was very, very low. He told us we should go home because it could be a very big and expensive repair. So, after 2 hours of driving, and 30 minutes of stopping, we turned around and drove home.

Although it was fun, just a stop at the bathroom changed the whole trip. And we're going to have to see what we saw out our window all over again tomorrow in a rental car. We have some treats and rented movies for the iPod to get us through the 8 hours that lie ahead, and especially the two that we already did.

calvin jen Eleanor

On the road again...

We've decided to take the "Southern Loop" trip that we'd talked about. Lots of concerns had given us pause: money, work time for me, transitioning the kids again. We've found good compromises on these issues. We have planned an eight night trip, rather than two weeks, 6 free nights with points, and coming back for Cincinnati Public Schools' spring break, during which the kids will have a light work load. So, off we go again. This time we'll learn about the Civil Rights Movement as we travel through Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham, and Memphis.

P.S. Yes, Hillary won Ohio! What a joy for the kids!

the last day of primary work...

The kids did a "honk and wave" that was, fortuitously for them, organized to be at the end of our street. They set their alarms to go out for rush hour at 7am! They'd been wishing to do one, but I wouldn't drive them.


Later, Eleanor spent some time by herself(!) working at the headquarters. When we picked her up, Calvin took this picture. These are some of the very nice folks who work there. They said she could use them as references. :-)


As we drove home from the headquarters, we replaced the four Hillary yard signs stolen from Ludlow yards last night. The kids were taking turns taking them from the trunk and putting them in the yards. It turned out that the last turn was Calvin's. He unbuckled his seatbelt, paused, and asked Eleanor if she'd like to put the sign up. She hugged him and said she would. While she was outside the car, Calvin asked why she loves this so much. I told him I didn't know. When she got back in the car, I told her that I was so happy for her to have had this week and so sad for her that it was over that I thought I might cry. Calvin said that he might cry too. To save herself from crying in that moment, she told us both not to start.

Canvassing for Hillary