Tell Me About It

Katie Zinc, who works with me at my office, gave birth to her son, Abraham Zinc on October 30, 2012.  It was the first child for she and her husband, Louis Zinc.  The odd thing about parenthood is that you really have a lot of "on the job training" in parenting.  New parents leave the hospital with a new born child every day.  They are given this delicate, fragile baby in which they are given complete responsibility.  Somehow it almost always works out for the best.

About two decades ago, my first born, Emily, was just a small child, maybe a couple of years old.  She and I would sit and draw and laugh.  Sometimes we would draw people with big round eyes and button noses or maybe monsters with jagged teeth and square mouths.   Sometimes Emily would sit alone with crayon in hand and draw by herself.  She would then present to me the colorful lines and shapes that meant something to her in her eyes.  Often, I would look at the drawing wondering just exactly what it was that she had drawn and say something like, "That is really good" or maybe, "I like that".

I told M.D. Whitfield, a good friend of mine from church whose wife and daughter are both artists how Emily liked to draw.  He gave me some great advice.  Basically, he told me the following:  When she draws something and you don't know what it is, never say, "What is it?".  Always look at the drawing and nod your head and say, "Tell me about it".

I took Whit's advice and it was so wonderful to have a child sit and tell you what their mind thought as they drew a picture.  Often when you are told, if your eyes and imagination are good enough, you too might even see what it is that they are describing and really mean it when you say, "Wow. I like that".

A few years later when Emily was in Kindergarten, her teacher looked at one of her drawings and said, "Emily, that is so good.  You might be an artist".  Emily looked at the teacher and replied, "I already am one".

Some Rumors I Heard

I don't like to spread rumors but I heard a couple of them earlier today.  Acutally, I like to hear a good rumor, then I use my "superior judgement" to determine whether or not to spread it even more.  In this case, I am a rumor spreader.

First, how many times in our lives have we been disappointed when the weather person mentioned snow and then there was no sign of it?  Or perhaps even worse, snow actually fell onto the ground and then melted immediately right before your eyes.  Or perhaps even worse than that, the snow fell onto the ground, accumulated just enough to get to the height of the lowest blade of grass and then melted before 10:00 AM.  Not enough snow to do anything with and not enough time to do anything with the snow that you really couldn't do anything with.  Such is the life of a resident of central Mississippi. 

Well, today, the National Weather Service has been leaking rumors that it just might snow during the wee hours of the night.  Maybe even up to 1-2 inches of accumulation.  A good central Mississippi skeptic will believe it when they see it.

The second rumor that I heard is also coming from the National Weather Service.  They are talking about the weather being sunny on Friday.  As a gray sky, rain dweller for practically all of 2013, I had to look up exactly what the sun was and its purpose.  As it turns out, the sun is the center of the universe and is extremely hot.  It is located in the sky and will be in the east in the morning and move westward across a blue sky until it goes below the horizon, leaving us all in the darkness of night.  The warmth from the sun helps to keep people happy and makes flowers and plants grow. 

I certainly hope both of the rumors are correct, especially the one about the sun.  As wet as it has been, perhaps our local school districts, government offices and business should give everyone a "sun day" to sit outside and soak in the warmth and the brightness.

Slightly changing the final words of the character "Red" from Shawshank Redemption, I recite the following concerning my thoughts on the rumors/forecast of our upcoming weather:  

I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.  I think it is the excitement only a drenched man can feel, a drenched man at the start of a long jouney whose conclusion is uncertain.  I hope I can make it to see the sun, to see it, to feel it, to smile in it's face.  I hope it is as bright and warm as it has been in my dreams.  I hope.

Belong to Something

“So it’s generally my advice to young people everywhere, but particularly if you are from a smaller, rural culture: ”Belong to something”… people, a state of mind, a way of life, put down some kind of roots if you want to make art, to help it grow.” 

-Keith Carter

The above quote came from Shaun Kelly's blog, Camera Reality.  I know Shaun from our brief time together at Northside Baptist Church in Clinton, MS and a week long mission trip to Macedonia.  A few years ago, Shaun pulled up roots and he and his wife, Savannah (a great name), both natives of Mississippi, made their way to California in the Los Angeles area.

Our only communication has been through Facebook but since they are fairly regular in updating, I have been able to keep up with both of them.

Savannah and Shaun in Macedonia, 2007

Shaun will never be mistaken for a good ole boy from Mississippi.  He is soft spoken with a certain gentleness about himself.  Generally, he will be found in a worn button up shirt, sleeves rolled to 3/4 length and untucked over his long pants which slightly cover his Chuck Taylor style, Converse Allstars.   Often, he will have a camera in his hands.  He has a nice head of black hair and when he sets his mind to it, he can grow a great beard. He had this "Turkish" look of a full, bushy black beard when we boarded an airplane with four other people (my son and his wife included) on our way to the country of Macedonia in Eastern Europe.  We were sent there by our church on a mission effort to teach English as a second language in a mainly Muslim village called Sredno Konjare.

It was on that trip that I gained great respect for Shaun Kelly.  Shaun became more than just this twenty something year old guy in a pair of Converses.   I watched Shaun as he befriended my then 14 year old son and was a friend and teacher to the children and people of the village.  He helped to lead our group.  We had been sent not only to teach English as a second language but to take money that our church had raised during the Advent season around Christmas for the purpose of providing running water to seventy-three households.  We were successful in this project and it was one of the most exciting and rewarding things that I have ever been a part of.

Now Shaun is a Californian and has been so for about five years.  For now, his roots are planted in that soil.  He may never return to Mississippi but even if he doesn't, he belongs to us and we belong to him.  Just this week, Shaun wrote a short blog titled: to be a whole artist; Not a Californian, But a Mississippian and the Rest of it is Got Up, he writes of a sense of place and belonging.  A time to wander and a time to settle down.  While I don't know what the future holds for Shaun Kelly, I find it interesting that when he was a resident of Mississippi, he didn't choose the easiest route to travel.  Shaun marched to the beat of a different drummer.  Like so many Mississippi artists, musicians and writers before him, his thoughts, what he believed in and stood for, often they cut against the grain of what the average Mississippian would deem important and worthy.  And yet, Mississippi is home.

Recently, Shaun wrote of his father in a wonderful blog titled: Stuff I Gotta Remember Not To Forget.  While I don't think Shaun and his dad always saw eye to eye, when reading the blog, I sensed a respect and thanks and sympathy for his father, an honor and sense of gratitude for the sacrifices that his father made for Shaun and the rest of his family.  A working man, doing what had to be done.

 When you see and talk to Shaun and listen to his views on many topics, you wouldn't expect that he is from Mississippi, but sometimes you can't judge a book by its cover.  His wife, the librarian can tell you that.

Where Would Notre Dame Rank in the SEC?

We have heard of the luck of the Irish but after watching the BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama, it became apparent that skill, strength and speed would be what would win the game, not luck.

Notre Dame had a very good team but not a great team.  Looking over Notre Dame's schedule, of all the teams that ND played, only one team played an SEC team during the regular season and that was Wake Forest who was soundly defeated by Vanderbilt.  The national championship game was a game between two different football cultures.  Notre Dame has a proud football history and tradition but they were embarrassed in the championship game.

After watching the game, I did not feel that Notre Dame was the second best team in the country and even wondered where they would rank if they were members of the SEC.  Here is what I came up with:

Notre Dame played the following teams during their successful season who played against SEC teams:

Michigan defeated by South Carolina, 33-28 in a bowl game

Oklahoma defeated by Texas A&M, 41-13 in a bowl game

Pitt (triple OT win by ND) defeated by Ole Miss, 38-17 in a bowl game

Wake Forest defeated by Vanderbilt, 55-21 during regular season

Of course, ND was defeated by Alabama, 42-14.  If Notre Dame were a member of the SEC, where would ND rank?  I feel that at best they would be a mid-range SEC team.  The following is how I would rank the 2012 SEC teams plus ND:

1.  Alabama

2.  Texas A&M

3.  Georgia

4.  S. Carolina

5.  LSU

6.  Florida

7.  Ole Miss

8.  Notre Dame

9.  Vanderbilt

10. MSU

11. Arkansas

12. Missouri

13. Auburn

14. Kentucky

Maybe an eight team playoff format would bring forth the best teams for the championship game.  Hopefully at some time in the near future we will see it happen.