Miss Francis’ First Birthday Party
She'd never had one, but at age 77 that was all about to change | nov24.2022
VIDEO/ARCHIVE is an occasional series by TheStoryIsTheThing.com showcasing past videos which deserve another viewing — even long after the occasion of their first release.
ON THIS THANKSGIVING 2022, who do we thank beyond our most obvious loved ones? The video below depicts a different sort of thanks, honoring a workaday life not usually lifted up, celebrated, and appreciated. When Belle, W.Va., resident Frances Buzzard turned 77 in January 2018, the occasion was special. It may sound hard to fathom, but in her seven decades of life the Belle Elementary School custodian could not recall having had a birthday party, except for a one long ago one canceled by weather.
They threw her a rather big one on Jan. 19, 2018, in the school’s cafeteria and gym. She was first called to the gym over the intercom. Did she have a mess to clean up? “Shhhhhhh!!!!” teachers told the more than 200 students gathered there. “She’s coming!” I was on hand that day as a Charleston Gazette-Mail feature writer and videographer, along with photographer Chris Dorst. Here is how the surprise unfolded. ~ Douglas John Imbrogno
NOTE: Read my related story describing the day’s event here.
‘This place you call the past …’
“Welcome to the Past”
By Douglas John Imbrogno
It is lovely here, this place you call the past,
but which is my present. We meet in the middle,
upon this bridge of words.
Something crashes through the branches and lands
(with an OOMPH!) upon the ground. Maybe a
dead branch. Some degenerate bit of matter.
Maybe a remarkable event, a daytime meteorite,
some cosmic spit. Over there, a fleecy cloud
blankets half the sky. Trees clutter the horizon.
One blushes red, yellow, orange, for it is
Autumn’s end. Soon, all the leaves will starve
and become as kaleidoscopes and die …
Except for the reliable evergreens, which when the
snows come will hold it up for inspection. And when
it grows too heavy, at some moment impossible
to prophesize, the pat of snow will be released.
Plop onto the mantle of the earth.
And in such a way, the Zen master tells
the archery student, should you release the bow,
and also, when that time comes,
your hold upon this life.
……………………….
1984 | huntington.wv
‘I am not throwing away my shot …’
A Lucky Strike ad on the back of a magazine in 1930. Times do change …
THESE DAYS, I’VE BEEN SHOOTING photos almost exclusively in black-and-white. Of course, when I say ‘shooting’ I mean my iPhone 7s, not a Canon with a lens long as an anteater’s snout. Still, as far behind as I am in the iPhone’s continuing maturity into a primo standalone camera for us semi-pro/am snapshotters (I will accept a 14s for Christmas, dearest family), the black-white-gray tonal variation from these packets of electronica thinner than a pack of the Lucky Strikes my Italian grandfather used to smoke still astounds this sixtysomething paisano.
And, yes, I do sometimes look down before ordering the ‘Pick 2’ at a Panera’s in the West Virginia outback and click a photo of the floor and its wabi-sabi messaging. It was only later, after posting the shot below to my FB feed that I noticed something beyond the crack where all the light (and the metaphors) comes in. All the panels appear as if multiple windows, looking out onto a cloudy white-and-gray sky. Cool. And thanks again, Mr. Jobs!
PS: The Japanese notion of wabi-sabi is neatly signified by the following phrase at this link: 'In a few words, one could say that wabi sabi is the beauty of imperfect things.’
One Photo: ‘The Art of Brokenness’
“There is no perfection, only beautiful versions of brokenness.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
……………………….
PHOTO: Broken tile at the eatery. | nov2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
ONE PHOTO: Upworthy
One day, I'll line up in a row
all my fine encounters with
West Virginia's great trees.
The ones that stopped me
in my tracks & made
me look
up.
……………………………..
PHOTO: 'Moon Shot & Great Tree.' | Hardy County WV | 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo |
PS: Remember what Bob said
Please free subscribe to this publication and recommend it to fellow, kindred souls, supporting me in my efforts to populate the world with better metaphors. | Peace outwards. | Douglas John Imbrogno
