jazz hands in carbohydrates!

I so enjoy teaching this class!
The Chemistry 1152 course is my favorite for a variety of reasons, but I especially like it when we hit the biochemical compounds!
Tonight, we finished up the disaccharides, paying special attention to their basic components, their glycosidic bond, their structure, and the presence of any jazz hands.
That's right, I said it: jazz hands!!!
Not all molecules have them, but some do.

No jazz hands here.
This is the disaccharide known as maltose, with its free carbon having the alpha (α) configuration for its alcohol group.
(That would be the hydroxide on the rightmost carbon on the right side of the molecule. If the hydroxide had been in the "up" position, that would have made it β.)
Maltose, which is grain sugar, is composed of two glucose molecules joined by an α-1,4 glycosidic bond.
(That would be the ether between the rightmost carbon on the left side of the molecule and the fourth carbon on the right side of the molecule.)
The two glucose molecules appear to be holding hands, don't they?
Oh, how very sweet...
all puns intended!
(smile)

No jazz hands here, either.
This disaccharide is lactose, again with its free carbon having the alcohol in the α configuration.
Otherwise known as milk sugar, we see one molecule of glucose (in purple) joined to one molecule of galactose (in blue).
Between the two monosaccharides is a β-1,4 glycosodic bond.
This time, it seems as though the glucose is dragging along the galactose, much as a parent might tug on the hand of a reluctant child.
Not quite so sweet a picture, is it?
(smile)

Finally, some jazz hands!
Sucrose, or table sugar, doesn't have any alcohol on its rightmost carbons, so it lacks the α or β designation.
This disaccharide also contains glucose (again in purple), as well as fructose (in green), with the two joined by an α,β-1,2 glycosidic bond.
(So we see the link is the ether between the first carbon of the glucose and the second carbon of the fructose.)
Now, the resulting molecule looks like a giant cake in a grocery cart!
Something for your sweet tooth, for sure!
(smile!)

Confused about the jazz hands?
Let me show you this way.

This is the Haworth structure for glucose,
an aldohexose.
Carbon One is the rightmost carbon.
We see its alcohol in the α position.
Carbons Two, Three, and Four
are the identifiers and have their
alcohols in an alternating
down-up-down configuration
which corresponds to the
right-left-right arrangement
seen in the Fischer projection
of the molecule.
Carbon Six is the one in the air,
waving like it just doesn't care.
(smile)

This molecule is kin to the preceding, also containing six carbons, with its alcohols in the same arrangement for Carbons Three and Four as seen above.
Fructose, however, is a ketohexose, as its carbonyl was on Carbon Two instead of Carbon One.
In its ring form, then, it has two dangling, alcohol-laden carbons!
Now, both Carbon One
and Carbon Six
are waving hands in the air
like they just do not care!
Jazz hands!

40th reunion, at last

Originally, the 40th reunion of the class of 1976 of Herschel Victor Jenkins High School was scheduled for a Saturday in October, twenty weeks ago.
Then that bully came stomping up the coast and wrecked our plans.
Now, in another three months, it will be our 41st year since graduation.
Ah, all's well that ends well, right?
And last night certainly ended well, as did this morning!
In the photo, I'm seated in front, near the center.
Recognize that Hawaiian dress that once belonged to Mother Pat?
I thought that was entirely appropriate, as the reunion was held at Tybee Beach.
From one beach to another, you know!
I think I was the only one who wore my hair in a long braid, up high, gray streaks proudly showing.
Hey, I knew there would be dancing, with Bucky & Barry playing tunes for us!

And much dancing
there was!
Here I am with Josie -
oops! I mean Jo,
as she now prefers -
with my hair
swinging about
behind me!
I'm so glad Jo was there -
I honestly don't know that
I would have gone otherwise.

Here she and I are a little earlier,
this time with Genie Brazzeal
(white shirt, in the center)
and Danny Lewis
(off to the side,
in the blue shirt,
hitching his pants up).
(That's Trudy Mehlhorn
in the red top -
she never talked to me tonight,
just like in high school).
(smile)

Genie and Danny stayed
with me last night.
I had booked a double
there at Hotel Tybee,
so I could have a drink
and not have to drive.
They had not.
So the karaoke girl
and the guy from my church
took the extra bed in my room.
They even paid for it!

Here is Jo dancing
with her man,
Kenny Williams.
Can you believe they
met online?
And get this:
they're both
from Savannah,
even grew up here.
Guess this town
is not that small,
after all!

Here they are again,
later in the evening,
still cheek to cheek,
still with happy smiles,
still holding hands
and dancing close...
so wonderful to see!

She even loaned
his dancing services
to me
for the faster tunes!
Woohoo!!!
I almost felt like
I was back in my
disco days!
Thanks, Kenny,
for the twirls!
Thanks, Jo,
for my dance partner!
Thanks, Bucky and Barry,
for playing the classics!
Thanks, La Dolce Vita,
for the excellent dance floor!

And here we have
the original
Breakfast Club!
Hahaha haha!
Cathy Lewis, outsider
but chief wrangler
of the reunion,
took the photo of
me, my roommates,
her husband (Randy)
and Nancy Riggs.
The day was brisk -
glad I had "Mary's Hug"
and socks!

We were joined at
the Sunrise Cafe
on Tybee
by Denna Shuman,
Pam Conners,
and Denise Bachman.
Good food,
good company!
Now, I am home again
and friends on fb
with new old friends...
life is good!
(smile)
i thank You, God!

abeni's tenth year of visions

Since its inception in 2008, I've attended almost every one of the annual performances of "Visions: An Odyssey in Black Dance". (I may have missed one a few years back.)
I've seen it grow every year.
First, there were probably only eight dancers, and some were children of the adults in the hour-long show.
This year, there were at least thirty dancers of all ages on the floor at any given time. The two-hour show had an intermission to allow the dancers some breathing space.
Always occurring during Black History Month, the event is generally held over the course of a weekend in mid-February.
This year, in its final times at Muse Arts Warehouse, the dance concert has been performed for the last two weekends of the month.
This also marks the last time this story will be presented.
Muriel Miller, the woman behind the scenes and on the dance floor, titled this a "10th Anniversary Showcase" and made it worthy of that additional name.

Chronicling the story of blacks in the Americas, the tale begins with tribal infighting in Africa. Then it moves on to the hardship of travel across the ocean and continues with that of working on the plantations. Free at last, and with the right to vote, change continues, leading to the present day.
No words are ever spoken.
Not a single one.
The music and the movements of the dances tell the emotional tale like mere words could never do.

I look forward to the new story to be created for next year.
Abeni Cultural Arts Performing Dance Studio... don't miss their award-winning performances! You can even take classes and perhaps be in an upcoming show!

i thank You, God, to have shared this experience one last time!

ecru, caustic, relentless stirring

Buzzzzzz!
"What was said in chemistry lab last night, Alex?"

Absolutely correct!
Two were words that were new to several of my students.
Hooray!
Any time I can broaden their vocabulary is a good time!
I had tasked them with using three descriptive words or phrases to describe the results of the qualitative tests they performed on the soap they had created.
The soap created after relentless, continuous, stirring of the lye and vegetable oil.
Amazingly, half of the lab duos were successful!
Even more amazing, though, was the fact that four of the five pairs were newly created teams.

I don't usually have the students change lab partners during the course of the semester.
Sadly, my three labs that I am teaching this semester, including the one at Savannah Tech, have been plagued with cheating. Cheating on Pre-Lab Quizzes and Assignments, cheating on Post-Lab Reports.
Sigh.
It had been breaking my heart and ticking me off.
Nonetheless, this is the fifth week of classes.
They should certainly know better by this point in the semester.
I had warned them two weeks ago that continued instances of cheating would earn grades of "ZERO" for all parties concerned.
Sadly, I had to carry through with that threat.
As I graded, I found the same wacky, improbable mistakes in calculations on several student's papers.
"ZERO" grades for all parties.
As I graded, I found written answers which were word for word - including misspellings and grammar lapses - those of other students.
"ZERO" grades for all parties.
The worst cases of plagiarism were in my Chem1152 Lab, in which I had four groups of students all copying each other.

Those "ZERO" grades certainly got their attention.

On Monday, in the Chem1151 first-semester Lab, a student came forward and confessed that she had copied another's work.
Her cohorts did not.
But her coming forward did my heart some good.
I thanked her for her courage in coming forward and sent her an email commending her stand on responsibility.
I know she will be a good student, too.

Yesterday evening, I had two of the most flagrant cheaters in my Chem1152 second-semester Lab come to my office.
To apologize for their actions?
Oh, no.
They came to berate me for grading too hard!
I was aghast at their audacity.
I think they expected me to immediately change their grades!
So very disappointing.
But I had another member of that class come to my office and confess her actions.
She had been an exemplary student when I had her for lecture last spring and I had been very disappointed when I had found evidence of cheating in her lab reports.
I was so relieved that she had come to me and apologized.

And the very first thing I did at lab last night was to reassign lab partners.
I had told the 1152 groups last week that I was going to do so, as I had noticed that some of the students needed to be paired in lab with someone with stronger chemistry skills.
Of the eleven original groups, I left three intact.
The cheaters were separated from each other and paired with students I knew to be of high moral character.
I even rearranged where some of the pairs were on the lab benches.

And it worked...
the lab performance was energetic and patient...
the attitude was of people working together in harmony and with light hearts...
and a student came forward and took responsibility for their mistakes...
and another student come forward and confessed their actions...
and I think yet another would have...
but she could not work up the courage.

Progress, at last.
I felt better about the class than I have all semester.

Then, in my Savannah Tech lab this afternoon, one of my 12ll students asked to speak to me in the hall about her misdeeds, confessing that she had copied verbatim another classmate's work.
She even hugged me afterward and promised to never do so again.

Wow.

i thank You, God, for this peace of mind...
and for restoring my faith in the basic goodness of my students.

two odds make an even

Hey! That's math!

Yes, I know! What's even cooler is those words were uttered by Chris Soucy tonight as he proposed to Megan Jones, his girlfriend of the past seven years.
And I was there to witness it, amazingly!

It was after the "last lines" skit, the final bit of improv comedy for Odd Lot at Muse Arts Warehouse.
What a night!
I'm so glad my nephew Michael and his Melanie were there to share the good times!







Odd Lot is going away???

No, no, no. That off-center bunch simply will not be performing their Monday Night Madness at the place where they began, those seven+ years ago.
They're relocating their Monday show to the coffee shop on Liberty, home of their Friday night "On The Spot Mysteries" dinner theatre.




I do hope the change of venue won't affect the size of their audience...

Me, too. Actually, the parking situation may be the greatest concern. But, we'll see. They did allude to a decrease in the number of thespians to be allowed on the smaller stage. I guess that's why there were at least fifteen Odd Lotters performing tonight!

I arrived late, but in time for "Conducting Gripes", a piece that can get pretty loud!
Justin was the maestro, leading them to change volume in accordance with his whims.
Chris (on the right) groused about styrofoam, while Lynita (redhead) had her beef with bad drivers.
Pretty funny!




Oh, I know that skit! You did it several years ago when you took the workshop to become Odd!

So I did, almost five years ago...
Time flies!
This skit was lots of fun to watch and hear! Doug was a hillbilly soothsayer, helping folks figure out the odd things they brought him. Here, we see Trick has provided what is pronounced to be a "Russian roulette Rubik's cube", which might - or might not! - blow up and destroy whoever was holding it.
Yoweee!!!
(smile!)


Did you offer any odd object to be used this time?

No, I'm a frayed knot.
Hahahahha! Hey, I was fortunate to be there at all, as late as I was.
But the Eight-Headed Storyteller was a blast, regaling us with the tale of "The Thirsty, Thirsty Caterpillar", as recommended by Danielle.
Very odd and not really for children!










Oh, my!

Oh, yes! Alcohol was the caterpillar's craving!
Definitely different, but the next one was back on target.
This scene is from "Party Guests", with the hostess trying to identify her invitee's quirks.
Thomas oddly "Could Not Believe It's Not Butter"!!! Hilarious!
What made it even funnier was the realization that the hostess was completely unaware of that ad!!!
Is that marketing campaign so old???

It may well be. I really don't know.

I don't know, either.
But here's the odd thing: everyone in the room still knew "The Dating Game", and that show has been off the air for decades!
Dorsey was a hoot as the snotty confectioner trying to choose between the Sasquatch (Trick), the Sugarplum Fairy (Doug) and Jax's bodybuilder.
Contestant Two for me!


For me, too! Doug is just so awesome, as you've noted before!
No haberdashery going on tonight?
(smile)

Not this time, but plenty of other hijinx and shenanigans.
The evening was capped off with Chris' proposal, as I had said earlier.
But not before Odd Lot presented their benefactress, the amazing JinHi, with a commemorative photo of the group...
in a cracked frame, of course.
Hahahahha!
As I said before...
what an amazing night!


I remember those fledgling years when I would be one of the faithful twenty or so audience members, sometimes with other friends in tow, sharing the laughs.
They remember that, too, and have always kindly included at least one of my suggestions in a skit or two.
Thanks, y'all, for the many good times in this glorious space!

i thank You, God, that I was able to be there tonight!

red fish, blue fish!

Dr. Seuss would have approved, I know!
For breakfast this morning, I had two sliced oranges...and a dark chocolate nut-laden bar.
More fruit (and vegetables) in each meal keeps me fuller and happier and less zombie-ish.
(smile)
So does coffee.
Today, I had that tasty beverage for the first time in almost a week.
That's how long it's been since I ran out.
I keep meaning to go to the grocery store...but that hasn't happened.
My pantry and fridge were stocked and I had lots of free apples and oranges, courtesy of some generous folks in the chemistry and physics department, who had left their surplus in the copy room.
Hallelujah!
This is usually the time of year I really feel the pinch of no paycheck since December.
Ouch!
Fortunately, I've been blessed with plenty of free events this month.
Life is good.
(smile)
And today, I had coffee...
thanks to the last few grains in the coffee bin, plus a bit of decaf found behind a tea container.
Sure tasted - and smelled! - wonderful as I dined on free fruit!
I even watched "CBS Sunday Morning" for the first time in a month!
Life is good.
And this afternoon, baby, I have a free musical by the Masquers!

i thank You, God, for most this amazing day...

1st time chevalier at the 9th francophone film festival!

There seem to be a lot of "last time" events this year.
How wonderful to have been present for a "first time" knighting at this 9th - and final - Francophone Film Festival at Armstrong!
It isn't that the festival itself is going away...
just the name of "Armstrong" as the campus is merged with Georgia Southern University.
Still, that won't be finalized until sometime next year, so I intend to carry on as I have.
Part of my carrying on is partaking of this cultural event every year.
(smile)
Opening night saw a unique event not only for this film festival, but for the United States.
Seriously!

The French teacher,
the woman behind this
annual celebration of things French,
received the
Ordre des Palmes académiques.

That makes
Dorothée Mertz-Weigel
a knight!
How incredible!
I was so blessed to bear witness!

Barbara and Carolyn
were there, too,
as were Jordan and Axelle,
of course.

And guess who else I ran across?
John Suchower!!!
The theatre manager
from my days
in the Armstrong Masquers
in the mid-1980's!!!
What a thrill to see him!



Then we were treated to a hilarious movie which featured the song "Tea For Two"! Yes, indeed on the surface, "La Grande Vadrouille" looked to be a war film, but it honestly was more like "Hogan's Heroes" in tone. Some British flyboys are shot down, but helped to avoid the Germans by some French friendlies. Hilarious!
That was my Thursday night's entertainment.
Last night, we were treated to a doubleheader. The first was an old-fashioned 1953 comedy, "Les Vacances de M. Hulot", which follows the adventures of a single man on holiday solo. Strictly clean humor that I know Grndmama would have loved!
The second film that night was "Bon Cop, Bad Cop", a 2006 buddy film, pairing a strait-laced anglophone with a loose cannon francophone to solve a murder on the Ontario-Quebec border. It definitely had some hilarious moments, but it was nicely balanced with more serious - and scary - police work. Oh, and there was hockey in it, too!
On this third, and final evening of the film festival, the films came from farther than usual. "Daratt" was from Chad, a 2006 piece that had their civil war at its heart. Heart is certainly what it was full of, as a young man, sent to seek revenge, finds forgiveness in its stead.
"Le Bonheur D'Eliza" is set in the Caribbean Ocean, on the island of Guadeloupe in 2011. After years of being raised in Paris with her mom and sister, a young woman has returned to her past in search of a relationship with her estranged father. Very interesting film in a quite beautiful location!
This has definitely been a film festival to be remembered fondly!
i thank You, God, for having been granted this blessing for the past nine years!
Right place, right time.
(smile)

carrot browns for breakfast

Typically, this is my new breakfast.
To decrease my WW points used in the morning, I've tried to limit my bread intake.
That means starchy vegetables are out, too.
No hash brown potatoes for me, thanks!
But what to use in their place, to still give that nice chew?
I have found that shredded carrots or shredded Brussels sprouts work very well.
Now, as a rule, I have my no-fat eggs as an omelet, of sorts, on a carrot base.
I had told my first niece about it and she found it interesting.
So, for her and anyone else, here's how I do it.

Begin with either a teaspoon of oil or the spray oil.
(I like to use olive oil.)
Spread it around in the pan, over a medium-high heat.
Liberally sprinkle shredded carrots onto the oil.

If you're wanting more veggies,
go ahead and add them now.
For this case, I've thrown in
some shredded Brussels sprouts - yum!
Cook a few minutes,
until you have heard the water
leaving the carrots
(you may see white wisps of vapor).

Now, pour on the egg cup
(or two eggs of your choice).
Allow to cook until partially set.
Use a spatula to loosen the
concoction from the pan...
then flip over!
This is the sight which
should greet you.

Now for the finishing touches!
This is when to add the Mrs. Dash
(I like the lemon pepper kind)
or any other spices you like
(dill is especially nice!),
as well as perhaps some cheese...
definitely some cheese!
(I prefer sharp cheddar.)

Lower the heat a bit,
so the egg doesn't get tough.
When the cheese looks soft,
you should flip up the other
half to close up the omelet.
Let it rest about thirty seconds,
then flip over.
Turn off the heat, let it rest again,
then turn it onto your plate.

Now, go ahead and dig in - breakfast is served!
The whole thing is only five WW points -
2 for the oil, 2 for the cheese, and 1 for the egg.
I tend to serve fruit on the other half of the plate - pretty, with zero WW points.
Enjoy!

spiders in the knight...

For real! He had spiders in his head! Not spiders in his hair, that wouldn't have been so bad. Heck, he could have been one of Jack Skellington's buddies if he had the spiders in his hair -

STOP! What are you talking about???

This fellow who was the lead character in Jim Reed's movie tonight at the 'Bean. Hank...yeah, that was his name! Hank! Long, lanky, geeky fellow who claimed to be a poet.

And he had spiders in his head? How do you know that?

Well, the movie showed them! True, I arrived a little late, so they caught me totally unawares! I wondered for a moment if maybe he had to switch to one of his beloved horror films instead of the love story he had said he just knew I would enjoy. His words were, "when I first heard of this movie, I thought it would be something you would really like." Nice, right?

Yes, very nice... though I didn't think you'd like a horror movie with spiders...

But it wasn't that at all! When I finally got to the PFS screening, there were several residents of this apartment building gathered in the lobby, by the mailboxes, lightly harassing the mail lady for being late. She, in turn, asked them about the person in Apartment 206, as there was so much mail in their box that she could not fit anymore in. They told her he had been in his apartment for four months and never came out. Never. Sometimes they heard him screaming in there at night, but he never came out. And he had been living there for six months.
Then, the scene shifted to inside that apartment. A gangly man in glasses was clutching at his head and, as the camera zoomed inside his skull, we saw long-legged spiders crawling out of his brain and out of his head and down his pants leg...
I really wondered if I had walked into the wrong movie. But I hadn't!

How did that come about? What made you think you had not been led astray?

Detroit's Most Wanted showed up! In the guy's apartment! Singing a whackadoodle song about him having a "nervous meltdown" and using his head to skritch-scratch on a turntable. Hilarious!!! Then we switch scenes to a thin blonde, deserted by the guy she'd followed "out west" from middle America. She finds a damaged plant in the trash and pulls it out, "to save it". Then she sees a cute lost dog and tries to befriend it, but it runs out into the street, right in front of a trash truck - bam! And that convinced her that she was cursed.
Perfect!
Nancy seemed to be the right girl for Hank!
This was definitely a love story, in the same vein as "Into The Night" or "After Hours" or "Red Rock West" - all very quirky and cool!

Ohhhhh-kayyyy, if you say so. And jsut how did their paths cross, pray tell.

Well, Hank was trying again to find love by dialing the number in one of those "girls, girls, girls"-type of ads in the many magazines he had in his aluminum-foil-as-wallpaper apartment. She was in a phone booth, hiding out from some street thugs. She had stolen their leader's gun and shot him in the foot when he had threatened to "pull a train" on her with five other guys...

Tick, tick, goes the clock...

Yes, yes, I hear it.
Anywho, Hank has dialed a number in a magazine, we see the call being routed through a maze of coils, and ending up...at the phone in the phone booth where Nancy is hiding. Amazing!
She recognizes serendipity when it's right in her face and agrees to go to Hank's place. And so it goes from there, with him eventually coming to her rescue, literally, as a foil-clad knight in shining armor, with his trusty baseball bat.
I loved it!
Strangers in the night, indeed!
"Lunatics: A Love Story" is now on my list of favorites!
Thanks, Jim!

And i thank You, God, that I was able to steal time away on a lab night to see this treasure!
Coincidences... amazing!

toffee for valentine's day

I bet you're thinking I mean candy, aren't you?
True, what I'm referring to was very sweet
- and loyal
- and talented
- and so dear to me that when she died, I was utterly inconsolable.
She had the coloring of the caramelized treat, but with heavy black eyeliner and and black mottling on her back and tail.
She also had deep chocolate eyes that could speak volumes.
Toffee had become my dog while I was stationed in Panama. A real dog, she stood about knee height; not too big, certainly not puny. She had traveled with my first husband and I when we PCS'ed back to the 'States, though she had to be quarantined for some period of time (two weeks? three?).
By the time we had finished our visit with his folks in Oregon, she had been released and we all three moved on to Pensacola for the ten-month "C" school. His vision of our marriage had changed after the trip to his parents, so we knew before the first day of school that we would be getting a divorce. We remained friends, though, and rented a two-bedroom house so we wouldn't be relegated to the barracks on post.
Such a nice neighborhood we had there! Toffee and I would go for frequent long walks that lasted for two hours or more. Life was good!
Then October came, with its cooler evenings.
She loved those!!!
Having grown up in Panama, she had never been around temperatures any lower than 65 F. Now, she was about four years old and had 50-degree weather for her frolics!
She would race ahead of me on our walks, then race back, eyes laughing, as if to say "Look, mom! I'm not even hot and panting!"
That must have been too much for her subtropical heart.
One morning, we woke up to her still body stretched out on the kitchen floor, dead at some time during the night.
I was inconsolable.
During class, at each break, I would go around the corner of the building and sob, getting it out of my system so I could sit through the next lesson.

In February of 1981, we were both finally done with school, done with Pensacola, and done with the divorce.
I was also done with having a dog as a companion.
The heartbreak was too devastating for me.

Today was to have been "Tina Tuesday" with Kevin, but he was ill.
Yes, after a month-long lapse, that is back on again, as of last Tuesday. Hooray! We had dinner at BWW and then watched "Rogue One" again, this time just the two of us. It was almost like doing a reboot of our tradition. Very nice!
Then, on Thursday, we saw "John Wick: Chapter 2" after dining at Sakura. Best mental junk food in town! Even better as it featured a mute who carried a silencer-equipped gun.
(Get it? Love those puns!)
As I was saying, today I was solo.
That meant I could see whatever movie I wanted!!!
So I saw "A Dog's Purpose", one I had wanted to watch ever since the very first previews appeared for it.
Yes, even though I knew it would make me cry.
(smile)
Did I cry?
Of course I did!
And I thought of my smart and beautiful Toffee.
I wondered if she had been able to come back for multiple lives in different bodies, but with her spirit intact, like BaileyBaileyBailey had.
I hoped that if she was treated to having multiple existences, that those were good lives with people who loved her as much as I had.
I wondered if she would remember the different whistles I would use and what they meant, if she would still know how to crack open boiled peanuts, if she would still have a fondness for grapes...
I wondered if I would recognize her inside a different skin...

Memories of loving, and being loved...
what a blessed Valentine's Day this has been.

i thank You, God.

being suafy once more, in farewell

Muse Arts Warehouse was where I said farewell to 2016.
Tonight, we were all saying farewell to Muse.
I have had this date marked since the news broke in November.
The building is to be demolished and replaced with SCAD student apartments.
Fortunately, new cultural oases which have sprung up in the past few years have opened their doors as the new locales for the wealth of theatre troupes, improv comedy groups, and film screeners which have called this site home, with more than 1500 performances, for seven years.
That's all thanks to the dream of this woman, JinHi Soucy Rand, to provide a low-cost space for artists of all ilks to share their dreams with the public.

Many of those artists were present for this farewell party.
Odd Lot fellows, current and past.
Abeni dancers, old and young.
Members, past and present, of the Collective Face Ensemble.
Savannah Shakes thespians.
Cinema Savannah fans and devotees of the Psychotronic Film Society of Savannah.
Spitfire poets, present and past (including myself, one distant Saturday night).
24-Hour Playwrights and directors and actors from the last six years.
Doc Ock, spinning tunes to chase away blues.
There was even a former SCAD art student who had her senior project showcased at Muse as the first official event, back when the space had been known as Indigo Arts Warehouse.
Carly had traveled from her current home in California to be in Savannah for this farewell to the place that had opened its doors to her.
How did I know?
She and I were talking, in front of the framed photo she had taken of Mumbai on a visit so many years ago, the photo with the squalor of a colorful tent city splashed in front of a monotone skyscraper cityscape. We began talking about various experiences we had enjoyed at Muse. I explained to her the meaning behind my "I AM SUAFY" T-shirt, in memory of the now-defunct Savannah Urban Arts Festival (at this venue originally named the Indigo Arts Center), complete with learning to do graffiti in the parking lot.
I then told her that one of the first things I attended at Muse was the senior show of a SCAD student that featured photos of birds and even had a waterfall in the display! I had really been fascinated with the fashions based on the birds, too. It had been a truly unique experience for me.
She stopped staring at me and tears filled her eyes.
Those had been her designs, her photos, her display theme.
No one had mentioned those to her for years.
The artwork was still at her mom's house, here in Savannah, of course.
Wow.
We were both misty-eyed, her touched that I had remembered anything at all about her senior project, me touched that she and I had even had this conversation about parents and their faith in their children's visions.

JinHi had wanted a Final Bow photo to be taken of all who were there.
That was scheduled for 8:00 PM sharp, so me and the other two of las tres amigas had raced over immediately at the ending of "Queen of Katwe" with JavaFlix Savannah. (I had voted to show this true tale of the chess-playing teen, so I felt obliged to be present for the screening. So worth it!)
We three made it to the site just in time!

Then, afterward, this photo of folks waving farewell (while paraphrasing the song "Goodbye to You" with a near-rhyme) was snapped.
See the colorful woman in the blue dress with the yellow coat and red hair?
I'm behind her right arm, with my mouth open and eyes shut.
(smile)

i thank You, God, for the blessings bestowed by this space, and upon me and this city I love.

a younger brother's love for his sister

Am I speaking of one of my three younger brothers expressing heartfelt emotion for me?
No, my dears.
I speak of Christopher Soucy's brave and constant love for his older sister.
On this eve of the farewell party for her cultural hub, he offered remembrances of her from their early years as children.

"Fears My Sister
Taught Me:
tales from a BIG little brother"
promised us a retelling
of the laugh-out-loud stories
we had heard over the years,
as well as hinted at new tales.
As Chris is a master storyteller,
of course I went,
as did mi dos amigas!
The place was packed!

The stage was pretty sparse.
A big armchair sat
in the lone spotlight,
a big armchair soon occupied
by the BIG -
in every sense of the word -
little brother of JinHi.
The were-deer
offered the only distraction
from the words on the screen
or the man in the chair.

Chris engaged the crowd by having us laughingly chant the words as they appeared on the screen.
Bugs!
(Especially those that would crawl into your ears and lay eggs that would hatch and EAT YOUR BRAIN!)
Spilled Milk!
(Don't let it touch you or it would rot your flesh!)
Toilets!
(Dumping sewage straight into the Devil's house and making him roar in anger!)
Dwarves Without Hats!
(Sneaking into your bedroom capless so you wouldn't know they were there!)
Hilarious!!!

Then, suddenly, the tone changed.
When we repeated the words "Osteogenic Sarcoma",
there was no lilt to our voices.
Now was there one in his as he told of being a twelve-year-old
whose adored teenaged sister
was losing her leg -
and possibly her life -
to a disease he'd never known.
How did she happen to get it?
Through her age and her genes,
just like the football player Freddie Steinmark.

Then came the truly scary stuff.
"Doctors are just people."
I remembered telling that to JinHi four years ago, when the cancer showed up in her lung.
Dr. Peggy Byck had related that fact to me some years earlier, when my abdominal distress sent me through a summer of specialists and tests (before an ultimate diagnosis of lactose intolerance).
How unsettling to see the words illuminated on the screen.
How sad to realize the truth in them, once again.

At the end of the almost hourlong program, we all had a much better understanding of the depth of love between Chris and his "big" sister.
We all felt closer to both of them, too.
As Chris once told me, after a ghost tour he led, "you and me, we have a history."
We all do, now.
Thank you, Chris, for sharing your story.

i thank You, God, that I was there to bear witness, in a room filled with love.

ocean shorts and a superbowl

This day was certainly a mixed bag of events!
I meant to watch "CBS Sunday Morning"... but missed it.
I meant to go to church... but didn't.
I tried to get Quickbooks to update tax forms... but it wouldn't.
Sigh.

Time for some fun!
Off to Tybee with me, then!
This was the final day of the
Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival,
for its 14th anniversary,
and I had missed the first two days -
not so for this last event!

Held for the first time at the Tybee Post Theater,
the festival had saved the shorts just for me!
"How Do Sharks And Rays Use Electricity To Find Hidden Prey?" was physics and chemistry and action!
"Whale Aware" told of a new phone app to help us protect the largest mammals - fascinating!
"A Plastic Sea" was not only informative, but actually explored options to help combat the problems of synthetics in the ocean.

"You're Not Hallucinating,
That's Just Squid Skin"
was chemistry fun for everyone -
think of fireworks as flesh!
Afterward, we all dined on succulent treats,
courtesy of the North Beach Grill.
Such delectable foods they were -
and that's what the sand gnats said about us!

I headed back home, where I had planned to watch the Super Bowl rout.
Imagine my surprise when ATLANTA was in the lead at the end of the first half!
I decided to join my middle brother for the half-time show.

Ronnie was exactly where he had told me he would be:
at the Dairy Queen on Skidaway Road.
He was not sober - not by a long shot -
but he was being polite to folks.
I ignored the two he was with,
choosing to concentrate on sharing the
Lady GaGa show with him, and even stayed
for the rest of the game.
What an upset that was!
Glad he and I had the time together!

i thank You, God!