Some time ago, I became curious about my family tree... My Dad had a sister, Aunt Winnie, who supposedly did a great deal of work.  She told us that we were directly related to the Infamous Pirate of New Orleans, Jean Laffitte.

Jean Lafitte

I have not found that connection yet... I get close... but not yet.

When I was a little pair of red shoes...  Dad would take us to the Battlefield down at Vicksburg, MS... and we would spend what I felt was WAY too much time at the Illinois Memorial looking at the names of the soldiers from Illinois who fought at Vicksburg.

Illinois Memorial

Vicksburg, Mississippi

He finally found the name he was looking for, but I do remember that last name being 'Brockett.'  The people I have found are on my Grandmother Brown's side of the family.

I would like to introduce you to a long lost (to me anyway) family member. 

This is my great grand uncle, Sergeant Joseph Garrison Coles...

He was a member of the 87th Illinois Infantry.

I have found his military group... they have their own Face Book page.  I especially like that I found this photo of him in what appears to be his daily uniform. 

I have another great grand uncle that was also at Vicksburg, William F. Hoskins, who was also a member of the 87th Illinois Infantry.

Now, I need to get back to Vicksburg... Hell, I may go tomorrow... I need to spend some time at the Illinois Memorial and find their names.

I have been so insanely busy with school... too much to do... horrible students this semester...  but, I've made it.

One more week of exams and determining grades... and I think I'm gonna look for my  Travelin' Shoes.

I have places to go...

~shoes~

"I'm Feelin'..."

ALRIGHT...

On my last post to my blog, Cocaine Princess   left this in her comment:

"... nice to see you 're back to yourself..."

This line in her comment zoomed me back in time a bit... back after the death of my Dad and my divorce, all of which happened within months of each other.  Each event shook me to the core of my Soul...

When we suffer events, illnesses, whatever, we seem to do whatever is necessary to safe-guard ourselves... to protect ourselves from further damage to our psyches/egos.

Specifically, Cocaine Princess' comment took me back to an afternoon when I was sitting in my office... my division secretary came into my office... walked over to me and gave me a big hug and told me,

"It's good to have you back..."

I told her that I hadn't gone any where... to which she replied,

"Oh, yes you did... but you are back to your old self again..."

When things in my life go amiss... I derail... if there's a train wreck, I tend to 'slow' my Life down... I tend to make my world smaller.  Obviously, I must shut down more than I think I do, and when I let myself get back into the flow of Life, it really must be evident.

So, I must be kinda returning somewhat to what ~shoes~ is supposed to be...

All in all, 

I'm feelin' alright...

~shoes~

"Rollin' N Tumblin'"

Music...

Mississippi is rife with great music... always has been...  Elvis... Muddy Waters... Howlin' Wolf...  and shitloads more that just can't come to mind right at this moment...

There was a fellow who was very prominent in the 'Mississippi Hill Music' genre by the name of Jim Dickinson.  He had the reputation of being a musical genius...  furthermore, he is well known now for being the father of Luther and Cody Dickinson, two-thirds of a band known as 'The North Mississippi All-Stars'...

The North Mississippi All-Stars at a wedding reception

in 1999 at Gunnison, MS...

These two fellow grew up in a music laden environment, and just couldn't help picking up great musical skills from their Dad.

Boy Shoes recently picked up yet another DUI... and I know he didn't get that from me... *sighs*  I felt it necessary to go visit with him... and scream, bitch, yell and throttle counsel him on his fuck ups mistakes.

I happened to be able to arrange this visit to line up with 'The North Mississippi All-Stars' performance at Proud Larry's... a popular Oxford, MS restaurant and music hall.

The show consisted of about two and one-half hours of musical bliss, as far as I am concerned!!  And most of the show, I was an arm's length from the musicians... AUGH!! What a great show!!

The stage... pre-show...

In the event you aren't familiar with this band, I've included a couple of my favorite NMA songs...  and as always... turn it up loud... very loud... really loud...

Rollin' N Ramblin'...

One of the primary characteristics of North Mississippi Hill music is that it's dominated by precussion...

This is another one of my favorite NMA songs... it's an  old Furry Lewis song... if you are familiar with Furry Lewis...  if you fast-forward to the 1:30 mark, you will catch the beginning of the live performance of this song that just kicks ass!!!!

KC Jones...

Luther made it all look insanely easy...

I'm always ready to sell my gear after seeing 

a show like this... AUGH!!!

If you get a chance to ever hear and see this band, DO so!!!  They are SO worth it!!

~shoes~

"Sausages..."

BATTER UP!!!!!!

Alluvial Flood Plain State University... the place where I teach... year in and year out has one of the top Division II baseball programs in the country. Last year, they made it to the D-II World Series before their pitching broke down.

This year is no exception. They have spent most of the season ranked #1 in the country.  They played a double header today against a school from Georgia... and a group of supporters brought their huge competition cooking trailers to the ball park... kind of like tail-gating.

A major meat packing company (no pun intended... seriously...) donated copious amounts of smoked sausage for the cookers... they grilled this and gave it away.  The ones that tended to catch my attention, as well as that of some of the people with whom I was sitting... were the co-eds eating said sausage.

It was just very hard... concentrating on what was transpiring on the baseball diamond.  Now...it probably wasn't as graphic as I am portraying it here, but...

C'mon... what do you expect from me...

~shoes~