Thank you for writing this piece. It gave me a unique perspective that I had not thought about in-depth before. The 4 bullet points listed at the end was a really good reminder on your (general) impact with your actions. I wrote them down on a sticky note and put it on my bulletin board to look up at when I need to. I hope that my transcription will help more people read this work and provide them with a similar experience that I had.
Dear Xzyzst, Sunday dec 13th I did send you a card this week but this probably reaches you sooner... I am just back from the Black Forest, my mother passed on dec 3rd and her funeral was dec 11th, I stayed in my childhood home while organizing it with my brothers remote. Now I'm back and surprised my food in the fridge isn't all rotten, it feels like I was gone 3 months... Found a letter of you and had to smile about you writing me about that movie on Ma Rainey, as I wrote you, I was busy writing an article about it when tragedy happened... Cancelled the article, and I had my Mahalia Jackson cd with me, listened especially to Trouble of the world, and I'm on my way - did you know Ma Rainey was an influence on Mahalia Jackson's singing (she loved Bessie Smith too) and eve better, when she was in her late teens, Ma Rainey came to town and asked her to join them, but she stayed on the gospel/religious path, though it gave a boost to her confidence. I gave the cd to the pastor who did the funeral, he was my teacher at highschool and did not know her, and thats a no-no... So in nptl, you wrote sth about "Gertrude is your momma", I was wondering if that's about Ma Rainey too? Big hug my friend, maybe I should also mention that I am doing fine, as of now, I'm kind of grateful for having been able to help my mother move on... xxx Ju
RSS
Sunday dec 13th
I did send you a card this week but this probably reaches you sooner... I am just back from the Black Forest, my mother passed on dec 3rd and her funeral was dec 11th, I stayed in my childhood home while organizing it with my brothers remote. Now I'm back and surprised my food in the fridge isn't all rotten, it feels like I was gone 3 months...
Found a letter of you and had to smile about you writing me about that movie on Ma Rainey, as I wrote you, I was busy writing an article about it when tragedy happened... Cancelled the article, and I had my Mahalia Jackson cd with me, listened especially to Trouble of the world, and I'm on my way - did you know Ma Rainey was an influence on Mahalia Jackson's singing (she loved Bessie Smith too) and eve better, when she was in her late teens, Ma Rainey came to town and asked her to join them, but she stayed on the gospel/religious path, though it gave a boost to her confidence. I gave the cd to the pastor who did the funeral, he was my teacher at highschool and did not know her, and thats a no-no...
So in nptl, you wrote sth about "Gertrude is your momma", I was wondering if that's about Ma Rainey too?
Big hug my friend, maybe I should also mention that I am doing fine, as of now, I'm kind of grateful for having been able to help my mother move on... xxx Ju