Hank, Merle and Waylon. West Asheville.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Games & Campaigns

In 1996, I was living in Headland and working at the bank.  That summer, I joined my brother in Atlanta to see some of the Olympic Games.  He was actually a volunteer for the Summer Games, and it may be how we got our tickets.  And just a few weeks before the Olympics actually kicked off, my brother and I ran a 10K race that ended in the newly-built Turner Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and many of the events were to take place.  The run was part of the festivities bringing attention to the Games.  Later that year, in October, I drove up to Birmingham to see President Bill Clinton campaigning for his re-election.  He spoke to a huge crowd at Birmingham-Southern College.  I have some photos I can add here later.  Other than my grandmother, who was living in Headland at my mom's, I didn't know anyone else in my Headland network of family who voted for Clinton.  I don't know that I really asked anyone.  I did hear an aunt and uncle voted for him - just never confirmed it.  Below are pins I have from those summer activities.
 
 
 
Click here for Clinton's speech in Birmingham that day.  I find it quite interesting that in his opening, "they" chose not to use the colloquial Southern word "yonder" even though President Clinton clearly did that day.  I told people about this immediately after, and for years.  And I'm sure there's no "y'all" in this text, although he had to have used it too. I just remember picking up the "yonder" and thinking that it's typical political talk - know your audience and placate to their culture, language, mannerisms, etc..

Friday, November 28, 2014

Thomas Marion Espy

The Columbia Recorder
July 2, 1885


circa late 1880s



Alabama House of Representatives
circa 1903

Thomas Marion Espy
brother of John Jolly Espy, Sr., my great-grandfather

ESPY, FARMER AND MALONE BRING IT TO PASS

Three men, not now living, were most responsible for the creation of Houston County.  These men were Thomas M. Espy, George H. Malone and Byrd G. farmer.  Thomas M. Espy was born at old Lawrenceville, Alabama in 1862 and was educated at the famous Lawrenceville Academy from which went out such men as Anson West, great Methodist preacher, author and Church Historian; Professor Joseph S. Espy, an uncle of Thomas M. Espy, at whose feet Thomas M. Espy sat in the Lawrenceville Academy; William C. Oates, later a Confederate soldier and Colonel of the 48th Alabama and for many years a member of congress from what is now the 3rd Congressional district, Governor of Alabama and United States Brigadier General by appointment of President McKinley during the Spanish American War.  Thomas M. Espy was studious, learned in the law, lucid and invincible in argument and oratory before a trial jury and powerful with the common people in political oratory and wit of which he was a master.  He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1901 from Henry County, the Constitutional Convention of 1901 adopted Section 39 of the Constitution of 1901.  In 1903 Judge Espy was a member of the House of Representatives from Houston County and was the author of the Act of 1903 establishing Houston County.  In January 1914 Governor Emmett O'Neal appointed Mr. Espy chancellor of the Southeastern District.  He resigned in June 1914.  Judge Espy died August 19, 1933, rich in the good will and confidence of his fellows and in this world's goods. - source

The Dothan Eagle
April 4, 1922






The Wiregrass Farmer
April 25, 1929


The Montgomery Advertiser
April 28, 1929


Thomas Marion Espy's obituary
The Dothan Eagle
August 21, 1933

some excerpts from obituary above





The Dothan Eagle
August 22, 1933

some excerpts from above article






obituary
The Wiregrass Farmer
August 24, 1933

some excerpts from obituary above




Bio of Thomas Marion Espy
Nov. 19, 1950

some excerpts from the 1950 column





The Abbeville Herald
May 11, 1978

What I may do now is list his direct descendants who also became attorneys:

Collier Espy, Jr.
Kaz Espy

Will keep updating

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

A Bruce Lee Kick





These two Bruce Lee Films got me through some cold days in Uzbekistan back in 1994!  I don't know if my roommate and I checked them out at the library or if we bought pirated copies on the black market.  I could have brought them back from my trip to India during our break from teaching in the winter.  Just know I got hooked!  I was a on Bruce Lee kick for a while.  Pun intended!  Later on when I discovered Lee's fight scene with the basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a real-life friend of Lee's, it was treasure. 
 

Monday, November 24, 2014

The Coz


 
Growing up, we had the Bill Cosby Himself album on cassette, and we played it over and over.  I don't remember when I saw the TV version.....but I know it was after listening to the tape numerous times.  Not sure who bought them, but we also had Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy comedy albums.  You can rest assured we hid those from our parents!
 
 

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Bette Davis Eyes

 

My grandmother loved this pop song - Bette Davis Eyes.
 
In May and June of 1981, the most popular song around was a tune about a Hollywood actress — or more precisely, about her eyes. “She’s got Bette Davis eyes” was the refrain made famous by the top-selling song of 1981, appropriately titled, “Bette Davis Eyes.”  The song was performed by singer Kim Carnes, and was originally written in the mid-1970s by singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss.  DeShannon had also recorded a version of the song on her New Arrangement album of 1975.  But it was the Kim Carnes version of the song in 1981 that became the big hit.  - Source

Edith Vann (Espy) - June 1980

Saturday, November 22, 2014

1962 HHS Senior Class Trip

1962 Headland High School Senior Class
Washington, D.C. (JFK was Pres)
photo provided by Edith Wolf Dasinger, restored by Craig Dixon
 
Back (L-R), Mark Espy, Gary Johnson?, Morris Falkner, Bruce Ward, Jack Dasinger, James Earl Shelley, Terry Beasley?, Mrs. H, Wayne Blount, Buddy Adams, Danny Nowell, Lig Solomon, Ronnie Knowles  Front (L-R) Sarah Hinson, Norma Wilson, Sandra Brannon, Fay Carr, Nadine Shelley, Joanne Brantley, Juliana White, Mr. Cleveland and Harriet, Linda Oates, Brenda Skinner, Brenda Adams, Diane Pelham, Melinda Epps, Marianne Hicks, Patsy Mitchell?, Betty Sue Sutton
 
Mark C. Espy
 
Within weeks of Dad's class trip, my mother's Abbeville High School Senior Class also visited Washington, D.C..  For her class photo on the steps of the US Capitol Building, click here.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

My grandmother Dot had the cassette single for this catchy '80s pop song.  She often played it in her car and on her music box, and would frequently talk about how much she enjoyed hearing it.  It liked it too!
 


And since Thanksgiving is upon us, I've got to give a shout out to Dot's Broccoli Casserole and Orange Congealed Salad, always big hits.  Dot was also known for making a mean Sweet Potato Casserole.  I liked how she made it, without Marshmallows!  Yes, without! She would show up at Mother's, and one of us would meet her at the car to help bring in the goods.  Thanksgiving was special!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I'll Be There


On a visit to Headland in 2010 - the last time I would actually see my mother alive - I took my laptop and my This Is It DVD.  One afternoon, at the kitchen table, I sat down with Mother to play the DVD footage of Michael Jackson's last rehearsals for the London concerts that were never-to-be.  I wanted her to share in my excitement!  When it got to this song, Mother said, "I really want to hear this one."  She listened to it, and then this one. I remember she was looking at him for those tell-tale signs that he was at death's door.  She commented on how thin he looked and how large his hands were.  He did really appear emaciated.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Keep Rowing


There's an old Russian proverb that I like: "Pray, but keep rowing to shore."  I know many, many people whose circumstances or troubles appear to be so great that they've retreated into an over zealous kind of faith.  I have also done that myself at times.  What happens, though, is that the root causes of their troubles are just covered up momentarily.  Perhaps a good short-term strategy, but not healthy long-term.  We get into a pattern that's hard to break out of.  Personally, when I reached the point where I really started rowing more and more, I felt a lot more empowered.  Yes, there's an "I" in there!  And I believe I became a more spiritually-minded person by dropping a lot of the religious dogma.  

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Tyson Fights

The Headland Observer
June 23, 1988



I saw the Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks fight at Dothan (AL) Civic Center on Pay-Per-View.  I sat with my uncle, Don McClendon, and someone else.  I think I rode down there with them.  We had floor seats, right in front of the screen, not many rows back.  We sat on metal folding chairs.  Maybe they were cushioned, a bit. Everybody was geared up for fight.  I think we paid $20 a ticket to see it on a huge screen with hundreds of other people!  We talked about how steep the ticket price was, but that the fight was too compelling not to see it.  It had that kind of draw.  And then it was over in a flash!  When I got home and watched the local news - WTVY - I saw my brother Miles, who was also at the Civic Center, with his friends, being interviewed.  As the crowd was leaving, the reporter asked him what he thought of Tyson's quick work of Spinks, and I think he simply said, "It was awesome!" 



Mike Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas in Tokyo stunned everybody.  I was in college, at Samford University, and the weekend of the fight my fraternity was in the dancing and singing competition, Step-Sing.  My mind certainly wasn't on boxing!  But truly, Tyson had become so invincible, it was a foregone conclusion he'd win any bout, and convincingly. I'm sure that's even a bigger reason I didn't think about it.  So after a Friday or Saturday Step-Sing performance ended, everyone started exiting the preforming arts center.  I remember it being a very cool, crisp night, and I was walking across the parking lot.  And then I heard someone say, "Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson!"  I would have been less shocked had aliens come to earth!  And as I write this, I can't think of any sports outcome that has come remotely close to eclipsing how that news hit me.  To me, Mike Tyson was unstoppable - almost like Hercules!
 
Although I wasn't a huge boxing fan, the dominant fighter that was Mike Tyson, captured my attention, as he did to lots of people.  He was ferocious, and scary!  A force.  A year or two before Tyson's loss to Douglas, I read a biography of Tyson, Fire & Fear.  Looking at the publishing date, rather than it being my Senior year of high school, I likely read the book my first summer home from college, when I worked at the bank.  My memory is a bit hazy, but I would say that I purchased the book on discount at Walden Books in Wiregrass Commons Mall (Dothan, AL).  Of course, I was VERY religious back then.  And when I read the biography, the details about Tyson's personal life, especially the months leading up to and after he became champion, were so salacious and graphic, I felt guilty reading it - like I was sinning or something.  His life was crazy!  And yet it appealed to me, in a sick kind of way.  Who would not want to be on top of the world?!?!  Tyson was a mega-star.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Java & Moog

Walked yesterday from the botanical gardens near UNCA to the South Slope, downtown, where I stopped by Vortex Donuts for a coffee and sweet.  On the return, paid a quick visit to the Moog Factory.  About a six mile walk altogether.



Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Encaged


Watch a small baby, just born.  He has no crust around him.  He is vulnerable, open, soft – life in its purity.  It will not be so for long.  Soon personalities will start growing around him.  He will be encaged, imprisoned by society, parents, schools, universities; soon life will become a distant phenomenon.  He will be more like a prisoner.  Life will go on beating somewhere deep inside him, but even he will not be able to hear the beat of it. - Osho

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Impressions

 
If at first sight a girl does not make such a deep impression on a person that she awakens the ideal, then ordinarily the actuality is not especially desirable.  But, if she does, then no matter how experienced a person is he usually is rather overwhelmed.   - Sore Kierkegaard