Last week on a rainy afternoon we drove up the coast from St Augustine to see, the tournament players course near Jacksonville.

A group that organized the TPC tournament players championship wanted to have their own course to hold the championship tournament on. They approached a private club At Sawgrass to make a deal, but the members didn’t want to give up their private club status. There was 419 acres of “swamp” that a developer was holding across the street. They made a deal and the course got built.

Sometime later they decided to redo the course and the clubhouse,in 1 ,yes one year, the course and clubhouse were finished. I’m talking total demolition of the club house and the course. They worked 3 shifts 24 hours a day to complete the course and the club house.

We could not go out on the course due to reseeding that was going on ,but it is quite beautiful. And a technical marvel, all the greens have vacuums under them so that if it rains they can suck the water down and dry out the greens quickly. Don’t want to keep that television audience waiting.

I describe the course as beautiful,and I think it is, yet, one has to consider the cost of filling in the “swamp”, ecologically we don’t know the cost. I’m betting in the long run the swamp will retake the area.

Last Sunday we took a boat trip off the coast of St Augustine. Here are a couple of videos.

We then drove to Atlanta and Marlina surprised me with a trip to the FoxTheater to see Wicked. Should you ever be in Atlanta try to take in one of their guided tours this is an amazing theater. Think of our beautiful Art Deco theaters, then put them on steroids. Here’s a video.

We’ll leave you with 50 seconds at Gibbs Gardens outside of Atlanta. Sit back and enjoy.

Paul

We have army’s with various services to protect our country and a way of life we value. This one day a year that we set aside to honor the work they have done. We usually think of this in terms of dealing with other nations.

On this trip Marlina and I have been visiting a number of places where people struggled, protested and boycotted to defend and to inforce the laws and rights of the citizens of this nation. Their adversaries were and are the citizens of their own country.

This of course is the civil right movements.

The weapons they chose to use were tactics of non violence, sit ins,marches ,meetings and legislation.

They understood and understand that at the end of all conflicts there has to be agreement and acceptance that both side are going to agree to live in a manner that is acceptable to each. It doesn’t matter weather you kill thousands or none,at the end you still have to come to this agreement.

In using non violent tactics a person says I am not going to continue this practice I oppose and I may choose to obstruct the practice by sitting down, marching,etc. I am not going to assault anyone to make my point.

To do this effectively people undergo training in non violence, so they can be prepared because they know that physical violence will probably be used against them. Be it the 4 young men we met at the Greensboro lunch counter, the women who marched argued, sat down for their voting rights, the people who took on the FDA and the healthcare system for care and treatment for people with AIDS, to conscientious objectors in WWI.These were and are veterans for peace.

They most definitely put their lives on the line.Consider a school age child being attacked with fire hoses in Birmingham. Think of what I spoke about at the National Memorial for peace and justice, people being lynched because they protested about their husband having been lynched.

I would ask that you take time out of your day over the next few weeks and consider these veterans. How can we best promote our values and our way of life without resorting to violence.At some point we will have to do it anyway.

Oh yes ,it can be done. May each of us DEVELOP, the courage and methods to live in a world where we don’t need military veterans.

Remember less than 120 years ago most people sure that people would never fly.

Less than 70 years ago most people were sure no human could run a mile in under 4 minutes.

With gratitude to each of you.

Pau

When it is first mined, it is very soft, so soft, that you can’t build with it. It needs to allowed to dry and harden for several years. Once it reaches the proper hardness it is great for building.

In St Augustine, the Spanish built 6 different forts out of wood, each succumbing to rot or fire.

Once they built with coquina they were never taken over and held off all invaders,during the time of cannonball warfare. The balls would either bounce off or become lodged in the stone.

He led a group of Greek Orthodox refugees from New Smyrna,where their colony was failing,60 miles up the cost to St.Augustine,where they found refuge in the Then British controlled,St Augustine.

This statue is outside the Basilica of St Augustine.

It is a very nice Cathedral that has undergone several rebuildings.

The latest occurred in 1887.There was a huge hotel next door to,the Cathedral.There is a fire in the hotel,that spreads through a third of the city.the roof of the Cathedral collapses.The walls stay intact because,wait for it………

They were built of Coquina of course.

The next day the bishop is looking at the collapsed roof and mess before him,when a guy walks up, puts his arm around his shoulders and says I’ve got two things for you,first is a donation to help with the rebuilding, the second. Is , a friend of mine who is visiting from. New York City,James Renwick. He was just completing St Patrick’s Cathedral In NY city, He had built the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC.

The guy who put his arm around the bishop was named Flagler,a co founder of a standard Oil with Rockefeller. I could write for days about him alone.

I took a 1.5 hr tour of the Cathedral with a very well informed guide named Pat. She integrated the building with the city’s history, the Catholic beliefs,the iconography of the decorative elements of the church along with the personalities of the major players.

I thought she did so in an ecumenical way.I was glad that we didn’t get clobbered by Catholic theological beliefs.it as a tour well worth taking.

In 2005 they celebrated the 500 anniversary of this congregation. Ponce De Leon the first Europeon to find Florida. As a gift to this congregation,the people of his home town in Spain, had this baptismal font sculpted from stone quarried in Ponce’s home town and sent it over.

May we all have such considerate and gracious events be part of our lives, either by receiving or giving.

Paul

We have been in St Augustine Florida for the last 3 days, having driven from Tallahassee Florida. Had rain the first several days and got caught in several,showers, but were dry within 20 mins. Today it was in the 80’s with 93%+ humidity..

You can drink 16 oz of H2O in 30 seconds in this heat..

This is the oldest non indigenous community in the US. (There is carbon dated evidence of people having been here for 6000 years. ) Founded in 1535. By a guy named Melendez,who proclaimed the land in the name of God,then got practical and named it for Spain. It became a Catholic colony, no matter what the Indigenous people thought. Ponce deLeon landed up the coast in 1513, but didn’t stick around.This was a nasty place back then.

There was one group of English, Greeks and Italians who formed a colony 60 miles south of here ,1200 landed,within a year 450 were dead.

Within 8 years 600 had left and walked together to St Augustine,then a British colony..They were lead by a Catholic priest,but we’re in such Dire shape they were taken in by the British. After the British lost Florida in the negotiations following the Revolutionary war the land was given back to Spain and Catholicism flourished.

Florida is called the 14th colony,because it played no significant part in the formation of the US, even though there was only one battle fought here.

The other day we took a drive up the coast in search of Manatees. It is a little early for those that are migrating,but we found a couple.

They are believed to be a mom and baby. Heeeers baby.

We decided to drive up the coast back to St Augustine on A1A. While passing through Daytona beach you didn’t see any beach,but you did see solid hotels on the beach . They almost have a sea wall already built out of hotels. We’ll spare you any pictures of that mess. You really appreciate the California Costal Commission even with it’s shortcomings.

More tomorrow,going to try and get some sleep.

Was awoken at 3:15 to the sound of the Ice Machine running incessantly.I got out of bed and here were two women filling two huge ice chests I told them to knock it off ,and didn’t they have any consideration for anyone else? No they had to leave at 4 AM.

Mind you there is a store open 24 hours 50 yards away.

Sometimes I’m completely flabbergasted.

Paul

As we started the trip we were listening to an audiobook called The Furious Hours. It’s the story of a trial in Alabama about a man who had shot and killed a Reverend in front of hundreds of witnesses.

This Reverend had been accused and never convicted of killing 4 of his family members for insurance money.These killings had occurred over a number of years.

Harper Lee heard about this trail and followed d it exhaustively as preparation for her next novel after To Kill A mockingbird . The book has numerous elements in it, a biography of Harper Lee, a partial biography of Truman Capote,a biography of the lawyer who defended The Reverend, and the man who shot the Reverend.Along with other stories

We had wanted to see Harpers hometown when we were down here and the audiobook added to it. Her father was a lawyer in Monroeville and in the 30’s when she was growing up this was a quintessential small Alabama town.

Her house no longer exists,replaced by a ice cream shop.What was disappointing was there is not even a marker. Truman Capote was raised part time next door to Harper. They were good friends and started writing together as children. When he was working on “In Cold Blood” , she did extensive and critical interviews and research for him.

Pretty amazing to have two talents like that growing up together!

Remember the character Boo Radley In to kill a mockingbird? He was the recluse all the kids were so scared of.

He as probably based on a guy who lived in town,Alfred Boudware, This is his grave.

Today was a driving day from Montgomery to Tallahassee Florida.We did visit a nature preserve on the coast of Florida south of Tallahassee called St Marks Nature Preserve.

As Charles Kuralt would do on his CBS Sunday Morning show, we’ll leave you with the nature preserve.

Until Then,

Paul

Yesterday we started to speak about the work of Bryan Stevenson. He begins defending men on Georgia’s death row who cannot pay for an attorney.He moved to Alabama for several reasons,one of which is there are no public defenders for people on death row in Alabama. The only system is if the jurisdiction has a contract with private attorney to act as public defenders.Many times the amount reimbursed is $1,000.00 for out of court expenses,MAX.

So Bryan realizes this is a place of greatest need and starts his work here. It starts with slavery.

Here are a few of the plaques speaking to why people were lynched

Bryan realizes that the problem then and now is that these people have been dehumanized and that until we face this and acknowledge what was done and that the economy of the United States was dependent on this system ,we will never be able to deal with this race problem,be it black people ,Chinese people in the late 1800’s or Hispanic people currently this race problem will recur again and again.

Until we are willing to invest in people, our race problems will occur.

Warehouse to hold humans before they were sold. But to the slave traders buyers,sellers, owners etc,these people were not humans,they were another species.This is how you rationalize this economic system. It is a system dependent on slave labor,if no slaves the whole thing gets very expensive, as the poor whites know all too well, because they are trying to compete in the market place, against slave owners

You climb to the top and then work your way down through the memorial

Each Corten steel block represents a site in the United States where a race related Lynching took place,with the names ,and dates of the people who were lynched.

It was out of these types of horrific events,that individuals decided to do something to try and change what was going on.

Often with life threatening possibilities. I hope that my being here and learning will help me to have the courage a nd steel to do what is right and to stand up for those that need help.

Women like Sarah Keys, Claudette Colvin,Jo Anne Gibson, names you’ll learn about when you come down here,were the day to day reason the boycott was successful .

It is easy to be grateful and in awe of the MLK’s,The Brian Stevenson’s the Morris Dees’ and the Rosa Park’s. Without them driving and guiding this evolution in society does not occur.

Without the everyday people riding buses knowing they are going to be beaten and maybe killed, registering to vote,walking into school, the movement never takes it first steps.

It is by no means,close to being finished. We took a guided tour through the Troy University Rosa Parks museum, lead by the vice chancellor who had created the museum.

He told an important story.As a young man he is growing up in a small town in Rural Alabama.He worked in a restaurant where on numerous occasions he told black people to go around back, that they could not be served in the main room,that they had to use the”colored” restrooms.

He said both black and white knew this was the normal thing for this society, it wasn’t the right thing,but it was how things were done.

As he said these were the “tapes”that played in your head. He says thank god I joined the Air Force and learned that there are better ways to do things, that he was able to get an education and learn that there are many ways to do things. His thinking changed and his behavior changed.

He becomes good friends with Rosa Parks and many people involved on both sides of the civil rights fight, while developing this excellent museum. He says that he still has “those tapes” playing in his head. He says that he has spoken with many black people from that era, who still are not comfortable sitting in the front of a bus,or drinking from fountains where whites are drinking. He emphasizes that the important thing is that his behavior has changed and that it will take generations to get these tapes out of our systems. Everyday we we do something to erase the tapes is helping to change for the better.

As he said this is an evolutionary progress, which is why things like the voting rights act needs to still be fully in place,not cut down,because some states have behaved ok for 3-4 years.

I’m so glad we are here.

Paul

Today we visited Ivy Green,the birth place of Helen Keller.

Her grandfather had bought the plantation in the antibellum and her father had been a Calvary officer in-the confederate army.

She was born and healthy until the age of 19 months,when she contracted what was probably scarlet fever.

When the fever abated she could no longer see or hear.

She became a terror,things like locking her mother in a closet for several hours,she later wrote she could feel the floor and wall move as her mother tried to get out.

Her mother had another child, a boy. Helen was so jealous that she overturned the cradle, the parents decided that they needed help.

Anne Sullivan was the daughter of Irish immigrants who had come to the US to escape the Irish potato famine.

Her mother contracted TB and died when Anne was 8 years old. At age 5 she had contracted trachoma of the eye,but the family was so poor they could not afford treatment.Anne had a younger brother Jimmy who had a chronic hip problem.

Jimmy died shortly after the abusive father abandoned Anne and Jimmy.

Anne was alone and was able to get a social worker to admit her to a Perkins School for the Blind.

When Anne was 20 a family asked if she would come o Alabama to teach their 7 year old deaf and blind daughter. Hence Anne and Helen start a life long friendship. Not that it wasn’t without its problems.

Anne fighting with Helens parents about the civil war and slavery, dealing with Helen tantrums. Helen locking Anne in the second story bedroom and throwing away the key.They had to get a ladder and have her climb outside to get her out. Likewise Helen was dealing with a tough Irish woman, who brought rigor and discipline into her life..

The famous water pump scene is where Anne is pouring water over Helens hand while spelling it in sign language in her other palm is when the light bulb comes on for Helen.

She then remembers the wa,wa sound she heard as a young child for water, and makes the sound,writing and object connection

The synapses start firing and she learns 30 words that afternoon andknows 250+ words in the next week. Turns out that Helen had an IQ of 160. No wonder she was so angry and frustrated, she was captive in a body that couldn’t express what she needed to.

It is Helen,who in 1925 who gives a speech to the Lions club that gives them their primary objective for their organization.

One of the many other things she accomplished was a co founder of The ACLU.

The guide was excellent.

It as a moving and inspiring tour.

The next day we drove to Birmingham to visit their Civil-rights Institute that is located across the street from the 16th st Baptist church,where the 4 little girls were killed when the KKK USED A BOMB WITH 10 sticks of Dynamite on a Sunday morning. It had the nickname of Bombingham,because during that time there were over a hundred bombings in that city.

The clan bombed his home,his church,beat the crap out of him for trying to register his kids in an integrated school. One time the bomb blew the floor out from under him and he was standing in the debris Those crackers must have had a few brown streaks in their tightly whities,when they saw him standing there

Regarding the church bombing,the perpetrators were tried 4 times and not convicted

Then in 1977 a conviction ,2001 and 2002 two more convictions.The 4th guy died years before the convictions. Justice was served due to persistent southern prosecutors., not J Edgar Hoover who would not take the case to trail.

We had a 2+ hour drive to Montgomery in a driving rain.

Tomorrow we go to theSouthern Poverty Law Centers,Civil Rights memorial and to the Equal Justice Initiatives Center for Peace and Justice

Paul

It rained last night and is continuing this morning. Scurrying through a downpour we entered the SPLC’s Civil Rights museum.

This is an organization that Marlina has supported for the last 35+ years. It’s nice to see where some of the donations have gone.

It is a beautiful building with a gracious staff. The rain was helpful in that we had the place almost to ourselves.

This is a place to honor some of the people who were killed by the KKK. It tells the story of what happened to them.

Often the killers were never pursued let alone caught or prosecuted.SPLC made it their mission to seek justice for many of them.

To read more I would recommend the book The Lynching. It shows the persistence that SPLC used to track down the killers.

We spent a good amount of time reading each of the accounts, you feel as if it is the least you can do,by reading each of the accounts. You might think of it,As draining,I come away with admiration for each of these people and keep asking what would I do? These are ordinary people, who just want to do well, who want to get to work,who want their children to go to a good school, who want their fellow citizens to be able to vote in a safe atmosphere. You can pass all the laws you want, you can get all the Supreme Court decisions in the world, it doesn’t matter a tinkers damn,if it isn’t implemented, that is what these citizens were doing, they were doing the ground work to get these laws implemented when they were killed.

The tactics they used were non violence Julian Bonds quote below summarizes it very well

In the afternoon we went to the Equal Justice Initiative’s ,Center for Peace and Justice and their National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This memorial is dedicated to all the victims of race based Lynching in the US.

I’ll write more about this tomorrow. InBryan Stevenson’s excellent book,Just Mercy he explains very clearly, how ,so frequently Black men, women and children were victims of a very racist and corrupt judicial system.

Recently 40% of all executions IN THE US by death penalty were from Alabama ALONE.

Alabama makes up less than 2% of the US population

Until tomorrow

Paul

Yesterday we started the day by going to The Muscle Shoals Recording Studio also known as the home of the Swampers.

1st let’s back track. In the late 1950’s a guy named Rick Hall starts a company called Florence Alabama Music Enterprises or the FAME studios.

He gathers a group of young( less than 24 yrs old) musicians.All are from this rural Alabama area.Were talking these guys lived on farms and lived in 1-2 room houses.When Jerry Wexler( A god like musical producer ) convinces Aretha Franklin to leave Detroit and come to rural Alabama, we’re talking farm fields outside the studio doors. She is extremely skeptical.

When she walks in and sees these lily white young college age guys,you can picture her with one foot out the door. UNTIL

They hit the first notes,soon enough she realizes the power ,rhythm, and finesse these guys play with. At that session she cuts I Never Loved A Man,The Way I Love You.

Her career takes off.

Paul Simon decides to record there because he likes the soulful sound.

He gets to the studio,the guys are hanging around he says he is glad to meet the office staff,where are the musicians? Once again the first notes and Paul has a conversion experience.

Eventually Rick tries to make the musicians take a pay cut,like 30% pay cut.

They are out of there and start their own studio called Muscle Shoals Recording Studio,their choice of building, a casket show room.

I was surprised at how small these areas are.

We’re talking hillbilly decorating.

Using styrofoam blocks to help stop the sound from bouncing off the block walls.

Using burlap cloth to deaden the ceiling reverberations and to stop the rain from leaking in the room.

When Leon Russell was recording his album Carney a cricket had gotten into the burlap and they could not get rid of it.

Leon wrote a song about the cricket,when they did the recording the chirps are in time with the song. Yes you can hear it on the record.

The above bill included writing time. This story is told in Keith Richards great autobiography “Life”. The stones were running out of time before they had to leave.Keith wanted to finish this one song.

So to get some privacy he locks himself in here

He is there for 2 hours,writes Wild Horses ,they cut the track and off they go.

Lynard Skynard is cutting an album.They are having trouble with a song and are stuck. They leave to go to lunch,the roadie starts “noodling around” on the piano while they are out.

They return and he tries it out on them.

The song, Freebird.

Roadie becomes an immediate band member,the roadie,it so happens,was a classically trained pianist!

One of the things that Terrell the excellent guide repeated over and over,was how humble these guys remained,they were the top dogs in the cage and they insisted that it was nothing, would talk with you just like you were from next door. To be in this room,to sit at the piano that so much had been composed on, To sit in the chairs where Bob Segar, Paul Simon, Wilson Picket, Otis Redding, Lynda Ronstadt, Aretha all had sat in was unbelievable.

I’ve been to NotreDame in Paris, I’ve been to St Peters in Rome, I’ve climbed the steps Brunelleschi trod while building the dome in Florence,but this felt so much more meaningful. Music is a powerful thing we get to enjoy

It was like every story he told and every minute I was there, just kept filling me with energy.

I sincerely hope each of you gets to go there,especially Pacifico.

A great introduction is to watch the 2015 film “Muscle Shoals”.

If your trying to decide which tour to take the Muscle Shoals Recording Studio is miles better than the FAME Studio Tour

Tomorrow we meet a miracle worker

Good night

Paul

Yesterday we drove out to the Natchez Trace Parkway. This Parkway runs for over 400 miles from Natchez Mississippi to just south of Nashville Tenn. It is a wide two lane road surrounded by trees and greenery.No buildings except for picnic sites , or park service buildings and bathrooms .

There are exits where you can get off and find cities and services. Bucolic is an apt description.

In Marlina’s research she found a site near us called Tom Hendrix’s wall. To get there you follow the mileage markers and then directions and you come to a driveway. In the underbrush you will see areas of wall.

Tom’s heritage includes part Yuchi,an tribe of native Americans in NW Alabama.

He grew up hearing about his GreatGreat Grandmother who was named Te-lney. The name means woman with dancing eyes. She has dancing eyes because as a child there was a lightening strike very near her. So close that it singed her garments,but she was unhurt.

The other thing it did was it gave her eyes a color that appeared to sparkle.

Her grandmother was a Lachan,which is a healer.She saw In Te-lah-ney the qualities to be a healer also and she began to teach the young girl how to be a healer. Some time later the teaching was interrupted because Te-lah-ney and her sister were forcibly removed via the Trail Of Tears to Oklahoma. This was part of Andrew Jackson’s forced Indian removal.

Do we really want him on the $20.00 bill?

In their native land in Alabama,they lived near the singing river,that we call the Tennessee River.When the girls were born their “birthing cords”were put in the rive,thereby connecting them to the river for all time.(Since the river has been dammed,it is harder to hear it sing).

When they are forcibly marched to “The Indian Lands”,what we call Oklahoma.They end up near a river,but it does not sing. Te-la-ney searches all over for a year but she cannot hear it sing. At an age of less than 15 she decides she is going to walk back to her singing river. It takes her 5 years to return to her river,but return she does.She becomes a famous healer.

This wall that Tom built is a 30 year labor of love and honor to his great great grandmother, Te-lah-ney

He used over 2 million lbs of stone that he and his son collected

I

Tom wrote a book about Te-lah-ney and the wall called “If the Legends Fade” I’ve just started it and am enjoying the read.

We met Toms son and he told us many stories about Tom and the various generations of the family. This is a wonderful find, thanks to Marlina.

Next time we’re gonna talk about “The Swampers and their magic,that everyone of you is familiar with.

Good night,Paul