glow it all a way

Twenty-one years ago, September 4th was the Saturday before Labor Day.

It was hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell.

I know, because on 4 September 1993, I was wearing a long sleeved dress that weighed 30 pounds and that is something you remember.

When I put it on, the dress weighed 20 pounds. The extra 10 was sweat.

Wait, no, Southern women don't sweat. What's the saying? "Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow."

Ten pounds is a lot of glow.

And my, how I did. Glow, that is...

Throwing the Bouquet at St Stephens Episcopal Church

my three moms

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had three moms.

She had a daddy, too. Her daddy was young and handsome and worked a lot to support his little girl.

Her mom, the one who gave birth to her, was young and beautiful, too. She reminded the girl of Jackie O, with her fashion sense and coiffed hair and shy smile.

But her mom was sick a lot. As a matter of fact, it was a miracle the little girl and her mother both survived her birth. That's how sick she was. Only no one knew until it was almost too late.

And that's where her other moms came in.

the he(art) of the matter with Will Smith

How do we define "artist"? Who is an artist? Why do artists do what we do? And does it matter how we do it?

Regardless of the medium we use, be it paint or performance or prose, in the end I believe it comes down to one thing. 

It comes down to heart. 

things I take for granted: a review of "Gimme Shelter"

Every living being has certain basic needs for survival. Food. Water.  Air. Warmth. Shelter. Take away even one of these basic things and a living organism won't survive for long. 

Many of us - I dare say anyone reading this post - can go through our entire lives without ever worrying about any of these things. We take them for granted.  Because we don't have to worry about the basics, we are free to pursue other things like education, wealth, entertainment, passion, fulfillment, etc. 

In the movie "Gimme Shelter," Agnes "Apple" Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens) has the barest minimum of her basic needs. Taken away as a child from her drug-addicted mother (Rosario Dawson), Apple has spent most of her childhood in the system, being shuffled between mental institutions and multiple foster shelters, even enduring sexual abuse from the ones entrusted with her care. 

merry kiss-mas, baby

I love Friday the 13th. Especially when it's in December. Because that's the day my life changed forever.

In the summer of 1991, I was still very much single and very tired of dead-end relationships, of wondering what was wrong with me, of trying to find that one person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with.

I had a good life all on my own. I had good friends, a good occupation, and a great family. I didn't need a man to make my life complete. It was time to stop looking and get moving. 

smoke on the water: historic Georgetown rolls on

My husband and I started our married life in a sleepy pre-Revolutionary hamlet perched on Winyah Bay. Georgetown SC is best known by some for the smell of the paper mill, the rust of the steel mill, or as a convenient stopping point south of Myrtle Beach. But this beautiful little town, with its oak-lined streets, plantations, antique shops, and restaurants, is brimming with history and charm. It was a good place to get a new life rolling. Only now the town is looking for some new life of its own. 

 (c)2009 Mike Covington http://www.lowcountryphotos.com/