-
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Opening
I’m so grateful to have been able to attend the opening of the Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi last weekend, along with my family. This is my grandmother, Harriet Causey DeCell Kuykendahl, who is an amazing woman. She was a teacher in Yazoo City, Mississippi, teaching all levels and focusing on college prep and English. My grandfather, Herman Brister DeCell, was one of the U.S. State Senators who passed integration in Mississippi. When he was a young man he was drafted to serve in World War II. Upon returning, he finished his university studies in Mississippi followed by a law degree from Harvard and returned to Mississippi to practice. My…
-
In Santa Fe
Although Santa Fe has plenty to offer as a city, and so much creativity to enjoy, most of my time in Santa Fe was actually spent just outside of Santa Fe. My grandparents had a house in the foothills, which we would hike through on brisk days collecting fossils, arrowheads, and passing Native American burial grounds. I remember my sister and I wore maroon hiking boots and a fleece sweater over shorts. My dad would always pick up a big stick and whittle it down a bit, a walking stick to mark our way to wide desert sky sunsets. Out of the inspiring landscapes of Santa Fe’s loner outskirts comes…
-
Visiting the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe
As we were walking into the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, my dad spoke into the light summer rain. “This is it, you’re finally going to be able to see her museum, after all of the years of studying and admiring her paintings. Here’s the thing. I’ve been to this museum before, once when I was in high school. Georgia O’Keefe makes lovely paintings, but she’s not my favorite painter. I do like her paintings, though. When most people speak of O’Keefe, they usually bring up her big flower paintings, which are believed to be a clever abstraction of anatomy. Maybe they speak to her cow bone paintings, which are a little…
