Winter is still doing its thing.
#054
How is everyone holding up this winter? We’re hanging in there. It’s day 14 of not being able to drive up or down our hill because of ice. By the time you read this, we’ll be getting a few more inches of snow and wintry mix. Fortunately, early next week temperatures are supposed to reach the mid to upper 40s and 50s, so there may be an end in sight. Until then, we’ll keep hunkering down.
Here’s some more firewood content since it’s about the only thing I’ve photographed the last two weeks.
The world lost an incredible filmmaker earlier this week when Liz Barret passed away. Liz was an Appalshop filmmaker who made a number of powerful films and was the founding director of Appalshop’s Archive.
Her 2000 documentary, “Stranger With a Camera,” is, hands down, the most important film to me in my development as a photographer and as an Appalachian. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.
Liz was also incredibly kind and accessible. May she rest in power. Herby, Evan, and Ada carry her light forward.
And what a light it was.
Thanks for reading and supporting this newsletter. Your likes, shares, and comments don’t go unnoticed. Again, thank you.
Keeps looking after each other.
- Roger
Living on a hill, up a holler, or deep in the woods ( sometimes all three apply) is challenging. Several days ago I “googled” what the issues were discovering: prolonged days of below freezing temperatures have created record breaking ground freeze” ..which has caused A LOT of water woes, tricky traveling and virtually kept many school closings, people holed up/stuck in their homes,school closings,dangerous driving/footage, no mail running for many, and frozen water pipes to mention ..just a few.
The ability to be prepared like any good boy/Girl Scout should .. is difficult. Meeting work demands , utility maintenance ,safe traveling, and even emergency access has been harsher reality and impossible for many who don’t have Plan B’s , generators, cash to stock up.
This is year three in a row of the ice storms.Combined with the elongated cold ( I wasn’t ‘keeping track’) other consequences come into play most are not prepared for, especially the most vulnerable.This is where checking on your neighbors is a life and death matter for some. This is where Plan B’s need telephone contact minimally or knowing what to do/where safe is ..in case.
In an ideal situation churches, court house, medical facilities, ER personnel should know who they should be checking on , a list perhaps. But neighbors too. Your closest contact too. Your family , if you even have some.
Some people aren’t even aware. Not a fault, just reality.
We live in a poor ,rural, oldest average age residency state.
Be aware. Help if you can. Be prepared, know who to call if you aren’t.
love all your firewood content, makes me feel warm inside. I did not know Liz Barret well, I certainly knew of her and her work for many years. One day, a few years ago, Liz and I bumped into each other (quite literally) in the Appalshop lobby, she introduced herself and I recognized her name immediately, but the surprise was that she knew my name and who I was as well. It was just after she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she was at that stage (which I recognized from my own experience with my mom) where she was still fully coherent most of the time, yet painfully aware of increasing incidents of not being fully there. We had a wonderful conversation for perhaps 30 or 40 minutes, and I was so impressed by her optimism about life, about living fully in the present for as long as she was able. It was a conversation that made an indelible impression on me, and I recall it often.
We braved an icy (but flat) driveway to go out for breakfast (birthday treat), before the next round of snow hits us later today. I'm at an age where I worry more about walking 10 feet over icy ground than I do about driving the car.