WPA – Part 2

During my internet searches earlier, I noticed there was a "wpamusic.com" site, so I clicked on it. What I thought was going to be old Lomax-esque recordings is a current band comprised of:

Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) – vocals, guitar, Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek, Fiction Family) – guitar, vocals, Luke Bulla (Jerry Douglas Band, Lyle Lovett) – fiddle, vocals, guitar

Executive Board Members:

Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) – fiddle, vocals, Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) – piano, organ, Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Bill Frisell) – pedal steel, Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters) – drums, Davey Faragher (Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Cracker) – bass

Audio Archivist:

Jim Scott (Wilco, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rolling Stones)

Cool album cover art, eh? It is all based on old WPA posters. They are currently on tour – not in this area (figures!) but are worth checking out. I've listened to the album quite a bit and although it'd be great if there were more uptempo songs, overall it's a great listen and really enjoyable.

They have songs you can hear on the website. Read more about the band HERE.

WPA: Works Progress Administration

While doing my research for the Culinary Trail, mention of the Works Progress Administration or WPA has come up quite frequently. Eudora Welty (among other notable writers, artists and photographers) worked for the program in the 1930s, which is where she began photographing her now famous rural Mississippi scenes and people.

Recently while doing some Christmas shopping, I bought the book America Eats!: On the Road With the WPA by Pat Willard. The author revived the essays and photographs compiled that were to be published by the WPA and went on a personal journey in the process.

The book opens with a diatribe of how people always say America has no real culture (I have to admit I used to be one of them) being such a young country. Admittedly, we are a "mutt" of a country, so to speak, with the hundreds of ethnicities that make up our cultural landscape; but, ours is a strong cultural identity founded on pride in our individual ethnic heritages and embracing the new and ever-changing American life and landscape.

Works Progress Administration was FDR's 1939 New Deal initiative which gave millions of people work making buildings, bridges, theater, art and music. The WPA was rooted in the values of community and creativity, and helped to keep the fire of human dignity burning through the darkest years of the Great Imposters.

The funding eventually ran out and the program was shut down; but, what resulted was first-hand, in-depth accounts of America's culture and communities. Important research and works of art were conducted in the fields of visual art, literature and music. It's amazing to me that people thought this work was useless and irrelevant because it is a relative gold mine of American culture.

After doing a small scale search on the internet to see what all was out there and quite a few websites are there dedicated to WPA post office murals, like this one in Amory, Mississippi. There is a list of murals that can be found across throughout Mississippi, too.

I'm absolutely fascinated by this program, need to read more about it and wonder why something like this couldn't be established in present day to help promote and preserve our culture – and create jobs (I guess the government has enough debt already…but still, it would be valuable). Think of the amount of work and research that could be accomplished to continue to preserve our culture – especially in the digital age where so many people are disconnected from their home communities and more people, than ever before, cling to community values, family heritage and religion (or turn from organized religion). I'll write in more detail soon once I finish reading the book.

Afterglow

The morning after the previous night's snowfall, it was still freezing cold outside; but the sun came out, melting almost everything by the noontime hour. We got up quickly to take a few pictures. (Poor little flowers so confused about what season it actually is)

Camellias in our side yard.

Not sure what these are but I love the bright fuchsia color.

My kitty, Greta, through the window. She was definitely warmer than I was!

Aww, sweet little roses.

Our First Snow

QB and I had been inside playing Parcheesi when I wondered about the weather. After pulling back the curtains, I saw snow on the ground and he opened the door to discover it was really coming down.

Here was the view from our porch:

So, we bundled up and took a late-night walk around the neighborhood, hand in hand, under the heavily falling snow - a near miracle in these parts (not the hand holding, the snow)!

A view of our house from the street.

We walked past Miss Eudora's house on Pinehurst. I tried to take a picture of her house, but it was dark and my camera didn't cooperate. Maybe she just wanted to be left alone! So, here's a picture of the street sign.

We had our own small-scale snowball tussle, took some photos and enjoyed the moment. Below, a house on Poplar with their Christmas lights aglow.

We heard the Belhaven college students thoroughly enjoying themselves - yelling and laughing. We walked across the campus to find them sledding down the hills into the soccer bowl and having snowball fights. Photos of the campus:

QB wrote "I love U" in the snow.

We made our way here and there in the neighborhood, passing a house on Linden where several people were out on their porch, each wrapped in a blanket, talking and watching the snow. What a special and fun way to ring in our 1 week wedding anniversary!

Giving Thanks and a Memorable Wedding!

A week ago today, QB and I got married.

Our photographer, Erin Fults, about whom we cannot say too many fantastic things, created a slide show with some of the wedding images HERE.
(p.s. Erin's assistant Lindsey is fabulous in her own right.)

We were married at the Agricultural and Forestry Museum Chapel and our reception was at the Northpointe Red Barn in Jackson, Mississippi.

She also posted a little preview on her blog HERE, too.

QB and I couldn't have had a better wedding day. It was cold just like I prayed it would (because, I'll be honest, I didn't want it to be humid and to sweat - another reason why I'm glad we changed the date from May to November! Just several days before, it had warmed up and gotten a little humid...damn Jackson weather.) and our family and friends were around us to make the experience complete. It was great having everyone in town, hanging out, catching up, getting to know each other and giving everybody big hugs!

Everyone came to our house for Thanksgiving - we had a dizzying array of food and drink from turkey enchiladas, chicken and dressing, sweet potato pie, pecan pie - suffice it to say, we still have way too much food in our fridge.

This week we keep having to pinch ourselves to make sure it really happened. Both of us have been so giddy and I'm truly thankful for my wonderful new husband.

Our first dance was a west coast swing routine
to the song "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited.

We got a lot of whoops and hollers for our frisky moves!

We're going to have an official honeymoon in 2010 - still deciding where exactly!

My dress is a Bari Jay bridesmaids dress that the seamstress at The Bridal Path, here in Jackson, helped tailor-make for me like I wanted. She put the tulle around the hemline for me, also made the lovely fabric flower sash out of the sash fabric and tulle, and fixed the sleeves for me. I can't tell you how helpful and resourceful they are! Both my pairs of shoes I found at Marshall's. Initially I wanted a pair from Nordstrom's but got both the teal and wine colored pairs for less, so my budget couldn't argue with that. (Truth be told, I'm glad I had the wine-colored pair to dance in - they are Sofft's and saved my soles! haha)

I got the mocha-colored bird cage veil and peacock-colored fabric flower/feathers in my hair from Etsy sellers, Tessa Kim and Miss Ruby Sue. (I added the tall feathers to the flower piece). Both of whom were easy to work with and extremely helpful. The bridesmaids all got handmade copper earrings from Purple Lily Designs and copper necklaces from Museglass.

Flowers were by Lesley Frascogna and Tulip Design Studios. She did an incredible job capturing the feel of the fall flowers along with the color scheme! Hats off to her.

Now that we are going through the registry and getting ready to buy a few more things, we have a Williams-Sonoma gift certificate on hand. After perusing the site for options, naturally, I was drawn to the food and look what piqued my Mississippi interest: handmade tamales and Game Cocktail Tamales...!! Who knew?!

We are still on "cloud 9" and it will be a while before we float back down to earth!!

Smitten.

This has nothing to do with the South whatsoever.

I am totally smitten over this girl's blog. I say "girl," she's probably close to my age at least. You don't know how old I am? Oh, well, anyway...

I was browsing through the finalists for the Sam-e Good Mood Gig Blog finalists, one of whom is somebody I know, Susan from MS.

The finalists were asked to make a video of themselves and there were several entries that were hilarious! They did such a great job and were very clever.

This makes me want video equipment and editing software in a desperate way, which isn't a wild request...it's going on two years now that it's been on my "In Your Dreams, Honey" Christmas wish list.

Hmmm...Christmas is coming up...making a mental note of that.

The ones that really stood out to me were Bridgette from CA's video, Justin from D.C. and Rebecca from Utah! They were hilarious.

Bridgette is a video blogger and does an incredible job on her site. I'm officially smitten with her blog now.

Check out this post where she emulated Audrey Hepburn's style for 3 days.

Also, her Twenty Seconds for Twenty Days is really entertaining. I look forward to more exploring on her site!

I'm interested in reading Justin's blog - he's a budding writer and screenwriter. And I couldn't find Rebecca's blog! Rhatz.

Enjoy!

Locust Grove Berry Farm

For an early heads up on getting fresh fruit for the spring, take a look at the blog post that went up on Locust Grove Berry Farm in Jackson.

I visited in July and unfortunately missed the blueberries but there were lots of muscadines and figs growing!

Visit Mississippi Blog and things

I've posted a couple of things on the Visit Mississippi Blogspot with pictures and historical information from a few recent travels:

Heathman Plantation

Dockery Plantation

More is to come on the Culinary Trail along with photos for foodies. There's been some good eatin' around these parts in Cleveland, Merigold, Jackson and Hernando.

There is plenty more to post from the trips I've taken so far, too.

Onward and Nitta Yumaand Indianola

So, after life winds down after the wedding...I'll be whole again...??

This Thursday night, I am playing with my songwriter friends at F. Jones Corner on Farish Street at 830pm for a Jackson Progressives Benefit for Stewpot Ministries. We've been collaborating on a few songs and working on harmonies - love it!!

I Second That Emotion...20 Days and impatiently counting

This week I'll be working on some blog posts for the Visit Mississippi Travel Blog. A few of my coworkers have been traveling the state and posting pictures. It makes me a little jealous because they went to some gorgeous locations - and well, I didn't! I can't be too jealous since I have been traveling lately, too. Pictures forthcoming.

I am this close to finishing the Delta itineraries. For the past few weeks I've been making changes, adding information and collecting feedback from all the proofreaders. Bless them for doing that for me! I've also been tackling the Pines Region, squeezing in a few scripts to read and doing location breakdowns for each one.

Filmmakers send scripts to film offices all over the country, especially to the ones that have good incentives - which means, they get tax breaks for spending a certain amount of money during production. So when scripts are sent into the office, they are thoroughly read and reviewed to see if the locations needed fit the descriptions of those in our database.

In other news, I am going back to the Delta to visit Cleveland on Tuesday with my coworkers to visit with the CVB and other folks, see the sights, eat some food! Cleveland has been designated a Cultural Corners Community, which is a grant program through Tourism and the state of Mississippi to help preserve and promote its cultural heritage significance.

Here's more from the press release:

The MDA Tourism Bureau of Film and Culture established a Certified Cultural Corners
Program in 2008 that identifies communities in Mississippi that have cultural heritage
assets of national significance in at least two of the following areas: American Indian
heritage, art and architecture, Civil War history, Civil Rights history, culinary culture,
literary heritage, and musical heritage.

And from out of no where,
without any warning at all,
here's a wedding hijack!!

The horror!! Ahhhhhh!!!

QB and I have decided to do some decor-related things ourselves to help the budget, so rather than paying the florist to make us an arrangement for $300, we did it for probably about less than half, at the very most.

If I do say so myself, I think the arrangements turned out well. I wasn't sure how I wanted to make it look but it worked itself out, really, in the form of layers. Judging from the altar inside of the church I wanted a lateral arrangement rather than flowers sticking out of a tall urn. There's already a tall cross on the altar and I don't want to detract from that too much.

So, when you stick them together, this is what it will look like:

As you can see below, I have put the arrangements on the top of our kitchen cabinets so they won't get destroyed by the feline element in the house (QB's cat, Eliza, is notorious, in many ways, but flower arrangements in particular...my cat, Greta, is the epitome of perfection, naturally, like her mother...) Also, please ignore the skeezy kitchen curtain that hasn't been replaced since 1972. That's next on our list!

Only the end result was in sight while I was "in the zone" and that thought of taking pictures of the step-by-step process occurred to me while I sat on the kitchen floor after the project was complete. Whoops.

I can tell you what went into it, though:

2 brown baskets
two squares of florist foam each (that was be cut and arranged to fit in the baskets snugly)
4 feather "sticks" each
1 orange baby's breath flower packages each
1 green colored baby's breath flower package each (this was really just background accent color that shows up in the close-up pic more than anything)
1 package of branches each (comes with 4 stems)
2 bags of moss (still have some left over)
Hot glue for moss

I also finished another project but will share more about that later because I have to pick QB up at the airport! Yay! He's home from D.C!

Ooooh.

With all the research and reading I've been doing, it's easy for me to feel a bit disconnected from life as we know it and also what is going on in the pop culture world.

Getting disconnected, unfortunately is easy for me to do and I don't like it, especially when I let myself get caught up in the "enough" spiral: What I am doing is not enough. (I roll my eyes just thinking about it.) So, from time to time, I hit bottom and have to re-evaluate, re-examine and replenish my well, rest and recuperate.

Here I sit.

I have several wells that got filled today:

My songwriting well
My guitar-playing/practicing well
My singing well
My special walks around the neighborhood with QB well
Loving on my fuzzy kitty well
My sleeping in well
My quiet time well

Namely my "indie rock well" has not been fed at all lately and I was excited to find this Portland, OR band from Ali Edwards' blog, which was mentioned in one of my all-time favorite blogs, Ordinary Courage, authored by Brene Brown. The band is called Blind Pilot and I'm in love!

Several months back, I set two very strong intentions and they were: writing and performing. During my current renewing phase, I am re-intentioning my previous intentions. Yes, that's right - I'm going to coin a new term and have my own re-intention intentioning session. It will ensure that I can play the guitar until the tips of my fingers are sore and calloused, sing my heart out for hours at a time, connect with other artists, and designate quiet time in which to write, darn it. I also want to find a few people who want to be in a band and travel with me. I'm going to work on that for next year - my own little tour through the South and beyond.

Coming soon will be more blogs about Mississippi travels along with the interviews and video footage we've been gathering from the Delta.

Arty, Owlie Wedthings

Now that invitations have officially gone out, I'm ok with posting the real thing below. They turned out so well! There is a man here we know through the Crossroads Film Society who owns about two or three old (seriously, old) letterpress machines and we found the owl face in one of his dingbat books. One of QB's friends at work designed the RSVP card and the map for us - and he did a great job.

I, personally, love owls because I've had a couple of run-ins with one in the neighborhood while I was doing a lot of my inner transition work and intensive life coaching last fall. QB and I saw one flying through the trees in our neighborhood park, so our little Hugo is around and watching over us. We think owls are great woodsy creatures and perfect for a fall wedding.

Also, here is what I've been diligently working on the past couple of weeks, so that people will find pretty invitations in their mailbox...I mixed two ink colors together to get a pretty brown metallic ink, bought a calligraphy pen set, a small paint brush to fill the resevoir of the nib and practiced a good bit first. Naturally, my technique became better the more invitations I wrote, but overall I'm proud of how they turned out and got lots of compliments.



Our "guestbook" at the reception is a great idea that QB came up with, which is for people to sign cards and "mail" them to us. That is a nod to his mom and step-dad (and other family members, as a matter of fact) who both work at the P.O. We bought a standard mailbox at Wal-Mart and my idea was to get vintage postcards off of Ebay, so that they could write special messages to us and stick them in the mailbox.

Below is the message:

My sign initially started out on one side of a Manila folder (above) and I was wondering if maybe I could cut it with pinking shears with a pattern, but then an idea popped in my head! I've been cutting out owl shapes from sheet music that I plan on hanging at the reception...why not cut out an owl shape for this sign as well? I had to draw and adjust for the size, but unconsciously I had written everything in a shape conducive to the owl shape! What fun! So, here he is! Isn't he lovely? :)

The Moment I've Been Waiting For! (Almost)

I'm really excited about our engagement shoot!

Last week, it rained all day solid on Monday, which effectively nixed our engagement picture shoot. There was a very specific window of time during which we could take the pictures because of the rain forecast during the week and QB being out of town during the part where it completely clears up and turns lovely…of course!

Wednesday afternoon we took advantage of slightly overcast skies – compared to dark, rainy skies – and a timid sun peaking through the clouds to visit the fair for our engagement pictures.

Rather than being cooler outside, it was a bit humid (why am I surprised?!) but a nice breeze was blowing so that helped matters tremendously.

We had such a fun time finding interesting, colorful shots on the midway, next to Ferris wheel, carousels and roller coasters. There wasn’t a huge crowd but of course everyone stared a little bit because, well, you have to make out for the camera and be disgustingly cute and lovey-dovey. Over the past year, we have both noticed that more often than not our cheesy lovey-ness disgusts people as it is, so we threw caution to the wind and had a great time! Erin is such an incredible photographer and it seemed like she had a blast. She always photographs colors really well, has a keen sense of lighting - and the state fair is the best place for lots of cheery, bright color.

I wore a pair of red and white striped flats that I claimed from my Mom’s closet during a visit a few weeks ago! They were cute and I had to have them.


The photos are fantastic and she did a wonderful job...we are getting a little Freudian flack and Carnie sex references about the corn dog pic, though!! (not posted here...haha)

(Photos by the lovely and talented Erin Fults below)

For a few more pictures, check out her blog post.

If you would like to post these on your wedding website,

email me: anna (at) gritsandsoul [dot] com or erin, of course.

Happy Birthday QB! From Me, with lots of love.

Today is QB's birthday!

His flight landed in California about an hour ago where he is attending and working a conference in Long Beach. I miss him already and am glad that he gets a terrific birthday present of enjoying the lovely Pacific Coast weather while we folks in Mississippi have a consistently rainy 75° and a sustained humidity level of ungodly proportions.

Did someone upstairs not get the memo? It's October 15!! Autumn, anyone?

Anyway, speaking of October 15^th and my favorite person's birthday, we had a special, early birthday dinner at home a couple of nights ago. I bought a bottle of this incredible Pinot Noir – the name escapes me at the moment. For those in Jackson, it's at Kat's Wine and is the one they are upselling like the dickens, but it's tasty!

I made steamed veggies and Dressed Up Bacon Mac and Cheese. It was delicious and so rich.

I got excited because part of the recipe calls for a roux, mixed in with sautéed onion, bacon, bacon drippings and garlic, which is then mixed into the pasta and cheese mixture. Now, that was divine, dahlin'. The first and last time I made a roux was at Thanksgiving when I made a German potato salad out of the cookbook You Are Where You Eat (by Elsa Hahne, University Press of Mississippi), which has some delicious recipes. All that to say, the roux smelled so good and was the tipping point from regular mac and cheese to almost-make-you-sick-it's-so-good mac and cheese.

Visit Mississippi

I want to draw your attention to our "Visit Mississippi blog." I will be posting Culinary Trail video interviews, pictures and more. The first set of highlights include Yazoo City, Jackson, Indianola and Cleveland. It will be up soon!

My co-worker, Daniel Ethridge, is currently on an exciting trip to 12 Mississippi cities in 9 days and will also be blogging about his travels.

He is working with Bridal Guide Magazine and Jackson's Convention and Visitor's Bureau to create HD 360 interactive panoramics of 44 (wedding) locations around the state.

Mother-in-Law

The itineraries for the Delta Culinary Trail are being proofed by talented and informed minds as we speak. They will read my SFD and send it back with red marks and hopefully a pat on the back. The next step is to come up with a brief glossary of food terms for those not acquainted with Southern, more specifically, Mississippi food stuffs. My body feels similarly to what I might imagine patients with Post Traumatic Stress symptoms might experience in the aftermath of a major event. I mean that with unconditional love for this project, naturally. The most important thing is, is I DID IT and I’m proud of myself because it was the biggest writing project (in my life) to date. It is also one that is close to my heart, after all: A labor of love for Mississippi food and cultural heritage. After eking out close to 20,000 words culled from research material, interviews and travels, a tourism experience was birthed from tales of Mississippi history, folklore, tradition and personal experience. I have to admit my system feels shaky after such a purge. Overall, I am proud and it was a terrific experience. Only four more regions to go!

Now, to the real point of this post: Last night QB and I made the famous Chicago “Mother-in-Law” sandwich. For those not familiar with the Mother-in-Law sandwich or the Mississippi Delta tradition of the “hot tamale,” allow me a minute to share the tale.

The Delta hot tamale’s origins began around the turn of the 20th century when migrant Hispanic laborers worked in the fields during fall cotton-picking season along with the African-American hired hands. The cornmeal mixture encased the tamale and kept it insulated. This ensured a warm lunch instead cold food by the lunchtime hour arrived.

Before the migrant workers went back to Texas, the recipe was given to black friends who adapted the meat and spices to suit their taste. They are “hot tamales” by locals because of their spicy flavor and the orangey-red color they become from the seasoned water in which they are boiled, not steamed like their Mexican counterparts. Hot tamales traditionally come in a string-tied bundle of three individually wrapped in either a corn husk or parchment paper. Mississippians normally spread their tamale on a cracker and crumble up the crackers in tamale juice for good eatin’.

* * * * *

The Great Migration began in the early 20th century as African-Americans moved to the urban North seeking for relief from racial discrimination, and holding on to the hope of better employment opportunities. During the 1930s and 1940s, Chicago witnessed the largest flux of this migration and it was during this time that the enormous influence upon every aspect of cultural life was altered by the Southern sensibilities, most notably music and cuisine. An example of Mississippi traditions that hopped the Mason-Dixon Line is the Mother-in-Law sandwich: a tamale in a hotdog bun smothered with chili, peppers and onions, or the tamale sundae, a tamale in a bowl of chili.

So there you have it.

We went to the store with another supper option in mind, until he mentioned wanting to get the fixins for a Mother-in-Law. I said, “That sounds good. Let’s do it tonight!” So we picked up the chili, hotdog buns and cheddar cheese.

The next stop was Tony’s Tamales on Woodrow Wilson, an old fast food joint turned “tamale central.” We placed our order, 1 dozen hot and ½ dozen mild, at the drive-thru and circled around to the pick-up window. When hungry, we tend to go overboard (but they made for a good lunch today) but that’s beside the point! I asked the gentleman at the window if they hand-rolled their tamales or used a machine. He replied they use a machine to make the tamales but put them in the corn shucks by hand. Sounds like a winner!

QB and I got home and got to work. You know it’s good when grease is seeping through to the bag…juss sayin’.

He heated up the chili and buns while I chopped onions.

Hot tamales on a hotdog bun and covered with chili. Trust me. It's GOOD!

I must admit my skepticism about an already "breaded" tamale surrounded by more bread. But the difference in taste and consistencies kept it from being an overwhelmingly bready experience. However, that's just my personal opinion and palate.

The finished product with cheese and green onions. Yes, it was messy.

Have lots of napkins at hand. I always need more than the average person as it is.

You'll have to excuse my liberal amount of sour cream. It seemed like such a good idea and it was! I should feel guilty but I don't...yet. The one thing we forgot was the peppers but that was alright because the tamales were spicy enough without them.

As for my real-life future mother-in-law, she is terrific, as are my other future in-laws! The trip to Dallas was fun and the bridal shower was lovely. I enjoyed seeing the Texas Star lighting up at dusk as we drove by on the interstate. I made a pact with myself that QB and I would go to the State Fair of Texas next year!