Several ideas have been bouncing around in my head for my blog post this week…artist statements, photo challenges at the dog park, some things that seem immediate in my life right now, but they’ll have to wait for another week or two, or three. This week, I got some inspiration from another place just last night, Saturday night, at the play.
Randy and I have been subscribers to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s theater performances for several years now and thoroughly enjoy it. The FAC does a magnificent job – the actors, direction, set design, costumes, and music – all amazing and world class! And, last night was no exception, except that it also brought back a lot of wonderful memories because the story took place in our old hometown of Atlanta.
Driving Miss Daisy is a sweet story of friendship during turbulent times in the South. You’ve probably seen the movie, but this was a really fun adaptation – only three actors on stage, Daisy Werthan, Hoke Colburn, and Boolie Werthan. What I really wondered was how the southern accents would sound, but they nailed it. As the story progressed, I had forgotten about all the wonderful references to places I know so well. Street names like Euclid Avenue, Forsyth Street, Highlands Avenue, and places like Piggly Wiggly, Little Five Points, Savannah and Macon, all mentioned through the course of the play.
The one thing that stuck with me was a comment Hoke made to Boolie during his interview for the job as Daisy’s driver. He referred to a group of folks down in the Lowcountry of Savannah as “Geechee trash.” Well, few audience members got the reference and chuckled or acknowledged it in the theater. Randy said to me later; I think just you and a few others understood that comment. Well, I know what Geechee refers to. And, mind you, I don’t think these people are trash, but in the context of Hoke’s dialog, and who his character was, those that know the area might chuckle, or at least shake their head a bit.
That got me to thinking about the Lowcountry and the Gullah/Geechee people that inhabit those low marshlands, and rivers along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. They have a very distinct dialect, and really, an interesting language all their own. I decided to dig through some of my images and share my own photos of the Lowcountry, the places Geechee people call home. Beautiful warm marshes, and trees so dense and thick, you get lost two feet in!
