Gleaning Facebook: Living Wages

"... no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country..." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I believe, with FDR, that part of the responsibility of every business is to pay its employees living wages. If a company cannot do that they should not be in business. In some cases, true, that means a business should fail. In some cases, true, it could continue but with fewer employees. In the case of Wal-Mart there is no shortage of means. Only the greed of Walmart's executives and owners, and Republican refusal to raise the minimum wage, prevents decent wages.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Grady's Barber Shop

The interior of my grandfather's barber shop in Milstead Georgia. Daddy Shaw stood behind the chair to the right. See the cabinetry behind him with towels and hair tonic bottles. In the two mirrors you can see the radiator, the hat rack (my mother still owns that) the shoe-shine stand (a spindle chair bolted to a two-step box with shoe rests and drawers for paste wax, brushes, cloths, and blacking for the soles.) There's a decal on the left mirror for Knapp Shoes (Daddy Shaw sold those in the shop and door-to-door). I usually sat in the chair to the left when I wasn't shining shoes, to better hear Daddy Shaw's stories.

Howard Smith
My dad was a barber until I went off to college. He owned his two chair shop but he worked alone. For awhile, he also sold insurance and kept his office in the back. He worked 6 days a week but like in many small Southern towns he did close Wednesday afternoons. After working till 5 pm or so he would make calls to sell insurance. On the Wednesday afternoons he'd work on our farm. He also helped found the local bank and the only times I ever knew him to close his barber shop was to attend bank board meetings just a few blocks up the street. Eventually he took a job with the Department of Revenue with the State of South Carolina and rented his barber shop to someone. Thanks for reminding me of a time long gone.
Terrell Shaw
Sounds a lot like Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I have ever known. I lived for that week in the summer that I got to spend at Mama Shaw's house and Dddy Shaw's Barber Shop. He sold Kirby Vacuums, Knapp Shoes, and Singer Sewing Machines. He had a second barber in the shop briefly, they say, but not in my memory. So that second chair was usually mine. For a little kid it was great entertainment just figuring out all the different ways to adjust that chair - a Koken, I think.
Galen Dale Foster
Terry I like you sat in that chair many times waiting for MR. Grady to cut my hair. When he finished my hair it was time for him to shave my neck. I could hardly stand for my neck to be shave it gave me chill bumps and he knew it. He would say Galen ready to have your neck shaved and I would hesitantly yes sir. I remember the shoes and I remember the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that mother had which was bought from MR. Grady. He was a really fine man. Great memories.
Terry I always looked forward to the week you spent with your grandparents because you and I always got to spend time together.
Laurie Craw
Wonder how many kids will grow up to tell stories about how their Daddies and Grandaddies sold stuff on Ebay?
Virginia M. McChesney
Lovely to see how you became who you are!
Terrell Shaw
I only lived in Milstead my first three years (and a week every summer for several years of my childhood) but the people there certainly have had a big influence on me. Part of my heart will always reside there.
Austin Matthews
Awesome!
Terrell Shaw
I'm not sure how well this beat up old picture (taken with a Polaroid camera after Daddy Shaw's funeral in 1965) shows how neatly the shop was kept. The hair tonic and talc jars and bottles were neatly arranged, the various towels were folded and stacked neatly. The mirrors were clean. The hair was kept swept up. I can see him in my mind's eye with a broom and that long-handled dust pan quickly tidying the floor. It felt almost like a doctor's office.
Oh, and I suppose all that is left of that place is the small "portable" shoe-shine stand that I think dates to the first shop up near the school and a small closed sign. The hat-rack was lost in one of Mother's moves since Daddy's death.
I am told that the barber chairs were Berninghaus Co. Hercules chairs. I would love to find out what happened to the chairs, the big shoeshine stand, and the Grady's Barber Shop sign! Mother saved the small shoeshine stand (with my Daddy's initials carved in the seat) from the trash pile.

Gleaning Facebook: Grady's Barber Shop

 The interior of my grandfather's barber shop in Milstead Georgia. Daddy Shaw stood behind the chair to the right. See the cabinetry behind him with towels and hair tonic bottles. In the two mirrors you can see the radiator, the hat rack (my mother still owns that) the shoe-shine stand (a spindle chair bolted to a two-step box with shoe rests and drawers for paste wax, brushes, cloths, and blacking for the soles.) There's a decal on the left mirror for Knapp Shoes (Daddy Shaw sold those in the shop and door-to-door). I usually sat in the chair to the left when I wasn't shining shoes, to better hear Daddy Shaw's stories.

Howard Smith:

My dad was a barber until I went off to college. He owned his two chair shop but he worked alone. For awhile, he also sold insurance and kept his office in the back. He worked 6 days a week but like in many small Southern towns he did close Wednesday afternoons. After working till 5 pm or so he would make calls to sell insurance. On the Wednesday afternoons he'd work on our farm. He also helped found the local bank and the only times I ever knew him to close his barber shop was to attend bank board meetings just a few blocks up the street. Eventually he took a job with the Department of Revenue with the State of South Carolina and rented his barber shop to someone. Thanks for reminding me of a time long gone.

Terrell Shaw

Sounds a lot like Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I have ever known. I lived for that week in the summer that I got to spend at Mama Shaw's house and Dddy Shaw's Barber Shop. He sold Kirby Vacuums, Knapp Shoes, and Singer Sewing Machines. He had a second barber in the shop briefly, they say, but not in my memory. So that second chair was usually mine. For a little kid it was great entertainment just figuring out all the different ways to adjust that chair - a Koken, I think.

Galen Dale Foster

Terry I like you sat in that chair many times waiting for MR. Grady to cut my hair. When he finished my hair it was time for him to shave my neck. I could hardly stand for my neck to be shave it gave me chill bumps and he knew it. He would say Galen ready to have your neck shaved and I would hesitantly yes sir. I remember the shoes and I remember the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that mother had which was bought from MR. Grady. He was a really fine man. Great memories. Terry I always looked forward to the week you spent with your grandparents because you and I always got to spend time together.

Laurie Craw

Wonder how many kids will grow up to tell stories about how their Daddies and Grandaddies sold stuff on Ebay?

Virginia M. McChesney

Lovely to see how you became who you are!

Terrell Shaw

I only lived in Milstead my first three years (and a week every summer for several years of my childhood) but the people there certainly have had a big influence on me. Part of my heart will always reside there.

Austin Matthews

Awesome!

Terrell Shaw

I'm not sure how well this beat up old picture (taken with a Polaroid camera after Daddy Shaw's funeral in 1965) shows how neatly the shop was kept. The hair tonic and talc jars and bottles were neatly arranged, the various towels were folded and stacked neatly. The mirrors were clean. The hair was kept swept up. I can see him in my mind's eye with a broom and that long-handled dust pan quickly tidying the floor. It felt almost like a doctor's office.

Oh, and I suppose all that is left of that place is the small "portable" shoe-shine stand that I think dates to the first shop up near the school and a small closed sign. The hat-rack was lost in one of Mother's moves since Daddy's death.

I am told that the barber chairs were Berninghaus Co. Hercules chairs. I would love to find out what happened to the chairs, the big shoeshine stand, and the Grady's Barber Shop sign! Mother saved the small shoeshine stand (with my Daddy's initials carved in the seat) from the trash pile.

Gleaning Facebook: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

 A beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?...

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,

A neighborly day for a beauty.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?...

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.

I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

There's a great house on our street for sale!

David Dake has this house for sale:

1000 Ave A Rome Ga. 30161

Listed for $159,000

Ready to move in.

Gleaning Facebook: Eagles, Coots, and Loons

I posted a link to a beautiful picture in the Rome News-Tribune. 

Then my loony friends chimed in.

From the Rome News:

Bald eagle at Berry College snatches a coot from Lake Conasauga at Garden Lakes.

Melanie Collette Babb

Had the pleasure of watching the eagles at the lake twice this week.

George Barton

I am a coot catcher, I catch coots, how many coots can a coot catcher catch, if a coot catcher catches all day?

Howard Smith

George Barton, have your meds adjusted...

George Barton

Yes, soon Lake Conasauga will be cootless.

Terrell Shaw

The Old Coot population in Garden Lakes is endangered? That is indeed shocking. 

Howard Smith

When I lived in Rome, it was overrun with old coots. If American bald eagles have been able to reduce their population they are clearly providing a much needed community service.

George Barton

Don't forget about the loons, a loony lake is even worse.

Terrell Shaw

I'd say the events of Nov. 4 make it plain that the old coot and loony local population is safe for the near future. 

George Barton

All silliness aside, this is a great photo, extremely clear for an action shot.

Howard Smith

It is a great picture and Terrell, not only do those populations appear safe, they seem to be thriving. We will need more predators to control them or in two years the coots and loons will consider us their prey....heck they already do.

Bob Doster

Mr. Barton: loony lakes bad; loony tunes good.

Ken Gossett

Too cool.

Gleaning Facebook: Joe Cook

Joe Cook, our former Riverkeeper and Executive Director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, is now using his time exclusively for communication and advocacy for our rivers. To honor the work he has so eloquently led for years to protect our unique watershed, a bronze plaque has been placed in the sidewalk in front of the CRBI office. This morning we gathered there to surprise Joe, and "unveil" his plaque. Joe is very deserving of this honor. Few, if any, have done more for the environment of Northwest Georgia in the last few decades. Thanks, Joe Cook!

Tagging: Barbara Lamb, Nina Lovel, Perry B Lamb, Amos Tuck, Chad Johnfroe, Alan Crawford, Coosa River Basin Initiative

While we were celebrating Joe, the winner of the Kayak raffle came by to claim her gorgeous sit-on-top craft. And wow! Was she excited!

The kayak winner embraces the kayak donor, James Lossick of Cedar Creek RV & Outdoor Center. Thank you James for all you do for our rivers!

Gleaning Facebook: A Canadian Looks at Obama

A brief reality check from our neighbors in Canada.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Tellabration

 Please share this corrected promo for our 2014 Tellabration! Only 13 days away. Please note that Tellabration is a worldwide night of storytelling with events on every continent except Antarctica. The stories are for all ages ten or so and up. Some may be traditional tales but many will be personal stories of love, humor, loss, awe, tragedy or some combination of human experience.

If you have not tasted professional storytelling come out and have a healthy portion. It's delicious and will do you good!

It's FREE!

But if you enjoy it and want to help, your donation will help finance future Ridge & Valley storytelling events.

Gleaning Facebook: Janis Ian on the Election

 

Gleaning Facebook: Stories Through The Ages

Y'all come!

Tours of the museum between each storytelling session. 
10:30 - Gary Greene - Tennessee Folk Tale/ Cherokee names
11:30 - Bob Harris - Knight tales
12:30 - Miss Jane Cunningham - Native American tales
1:30 - Terrell Shaw - Celtic tales
2:30 - Mary Elena Kirk - Puerto Rican tales
3:30 - Bob Harris - Rome tales

Gleaning Facebook: Election Day & Thanks

Thankfulness #4

On this election day, I am thankful for the right to vote -- the right that cements all the others. When I think of all the blood, all the energy, all the negotiations, compromises, political battles, all the sacrifices of our forebears, I can never skip a chance to vote my conscience. If you have not yet voted, get up now and get to your polling place. My children's futures depend in part on you getting off your tail and voting your conscience. Do it now.

And my heart cannot stop there.

The schools I love need a governor who believes in public education. Vote for Jason Carter.

The United States Congress needs members who will debate with principled but open minds. You have a stark choice between promised obstruction and promised bipartisanship. Vote bipartisanship. Vote for Michelle Nunn.

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Polls close at 7 p.m. As long as you are in line by 7 p.m., you are guaranteed your right to vote. Do not let anything or anyone block your right to vote. Stay in line.

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From John Lewis's Facebook page:

We must never forget the blood that was shed by thousands so that we could vote without threat or fear today.

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From Bil Lepp's Facebook page:

Don't be that guy (or gal) Mr. Heilman, my 9th grade history teacher, talked about. I don't remember exactly how the chart worked, but because you didn't vote, Hitler won. Also, don't vote for Hitler. It was a complicated lesson.

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I do not know how the races will come out. I'll be gloriously surprised if we manage to hold the Senate. We must defend territory that is pretty strongly "red". And if Michelle Nunn or Jason Carter should manage to prevail in Georgia it would be huge news. Unlikely, but that it is even discussed as a reasonable possibility is great news for the future. These two leaders have demonstrated great ability, good political judgment, strong thinking. We will hear from each of them again come what may.

I am very proud to have supported these two. I voted for them with great joy and optimism.

Thanksgiving Month

Thanks are due. Today is the Third, so I s'pose I should do a little catching up. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised at the first three items on my Thankful Chart:

1. I've done a lot of dumb stuff in my life. But one day in 1970, in a dreary little house in Eleanor, West Virginia, a lonely 23 year-old sat down and made a list. How absurd is that? Your name ended up at the top of that list, and Mr. Procrastination (who is here on the couch waxing sentimental instead of working a more immediate list) acted for once. I'll always be glad that idealistic knucklehead did what he did and that you responded.

Without our mutual promise it would be hard to imagine my life at all. You know me as no one else. You have seen my best, but also my petty and angry and fearful and small-minded moments. And you still love me. I am eternally thankful to you and for you, my best friend and the love of my life, Sheila Matthews Shaw.

2 & 3. What joy was presented me on August 4, 1983 and again on July 27, 1988. I ache to see you both more, to really talk, maybe revisit Narnia or "Tanzantnia". Or follow Nick up that creek in search of a 'gator. But, in these extra innings I've been awarded, I will redouble my striving to be worthy of your little hands clasping mine thirty-one and twenty-six years ago, and all those hugs; smiles; songs; "acrobatics"; "spiders"; gentlemen, ladies, and farmers trotting, pacing, and hobbledy-hoying on my knees; plays; concerts; ballgames; trips to Mexico Beach, college-hunting trips, church youth trips. I simply love and admire each of you more than you can possibly know, Brannon Shaw & Lillian Shaw. 

Gleaning Facebook: Money In Politics

And those gifts were a mere pittance to each of those 132 givers. For contributions that, relative to their wealth, are negligible to the plutocrats, they are purchasing (really stealing) our government from us. I have not figured it out this time around, but in 2012 this old school teacher donated much, much more in percentage of wealth to candidates than Sheldon Adelman or the Koch Brothers, or Soros or Blumberg.

With the forgotten change they can figuratively dig from under the sofa cushions they can fund the lying direct mail and TV ads that gin up angry votes for Tea Party extremists who, in Congress, keep minimum wage low, deplete our national resources, warm our climate, and block many reforms that have massive public support in our supposed republic. As was recognized by Roosevelt and Taft a hundred years ago, we must reduce the influence of great wealth in our public affairs.

If it takes a Constitutional amendment we must rid our nation of the obscene Citizens United ruling. And each of us must read more than the simplistic hit-pieces and hear more than the lying TV campaign ads or listen to the talk radio/24 hour "news" folk whose living depends on inflaming us.

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Comments

Howard Smith This President has done more to restore America's economic well being than any President since FDR. Those on the right that continue to berate his performance are in denial. Whether its based on party or race or misinformation, they fail to accept the fact that pulling us out of the Great Recession of his predecessor GW Bush is second only to FDR lifting us from the Great Depression. And, one glaring difference is obvious...FDR was able to garner bipartisan support for his policies. President Obama has faced an opposition party that has publicly declared its intent to obstruct him for political gain.
Michael J. Burton Why the disconnect?
Raymond Atkins Seriously, Mike?
Joe Kidd My God, did McDonald's really hire over 200,000 burger flippers??
Laurie Craw I'll flip burgers when the minimum wage gets hiked to at least $10.10. The State of Georgia pays a LOT of its employees LESS than that!

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Comment

Laurie Craw

We need a similar poster for women. This is an pivotal election for women's rights, women's health and economic well-being. While no woman's suffrage leader that I know of was martyred, many spent time in prison, on hunger strikes and endured humiliation and assaults. My own grandmothers for most of their lives did not have the right to vote. My mother was 11 years old when the right was finally secured. Like the anti-slavery and civil rights movements, the women's movement was a long hard struggle and it continues. Let all the women you know who might not vote know that their rights rest on the struggles and sacrifices of many women who went before.