The other day my son and I were watching the movie 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ' with Brad Pitt [which is about an hour too long if anyone is interested]. While we were watching this very long drawn out version of events leading up to his death I figured I'd throw in a little personal history and mentioned that my great-grandmother had known Jesse James mother. He looked almost intrigued. I went in search of pictures.
This is not an easy task around here. Things are in boxes and are not terribly organized. We are not a big photo taking family to begin with, either, so throw all of that together and, well this is what I came up with. And it wouldn't even had amounted to this if the movie hadn't been so interminable__
My great-grandmother Rosa is the first one standing on the back left. All the ladies in the photo are relatives__mostly sisters-in-law.
My great aunt Vi is standing next to her. She is the one who, when in her nineties had gone blind but continued to drive a car with the help of her sister, Mable [who never learned to drive but would tell her where to go] She is seated in front of the table. One of the scariest experiences of my young life was going to the store with those two in Hastings, Nebraska.
While I was rummaging around I found some other pictures. None of the James family...but some of mine so I thought I'd post them. I don't usually. Matt doesn't approve of putting personal pics on the net but I figure these are old enough that it won't matter.
Rosa's son, my grandfather, Jarvis and my favorite person in the world when I was a kid. These were taken in 1917 when he was 17 years old and in the USMC.
My Aunt Betty
You're a whole bunch of beautiful, my friend.
ReplyDeleteWhat the tree said.
ReplyDelete:)
you and your brother look like hippies!
ReplyDeletethese are awesome. :) and your film review is bang on.... and far too kind.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen that movie, but I think someone else mentioned it wasn't so good, so I never bothered.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the hippy picture, too :)
You know, that movie could have been so much better. He even managed to look like him [Pitt as James]...I haven't a clue as to what possessed him to let it take the turn it did as he produced it. I mean, ok, I get that maybe they were trying to impart the looooong journey of the prairie, and the hard, hard life of the times, but you really do need to take into account your audience. There aren't going to be many who are going to be willing to sit through that__even the older generations__and the younger? I'd give them 10 min.
ReplyDeleteI was the hippie. Dave was just being fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteHippie? She looks just like everyone I know. Oops, maybe that's why.
ReplyDelete__grinz @ Augie__
ReplyDeleteWow that top picture is totally elegant. I wondered who composed it. Especially the touch about the one woman being seen in the mirror. And how they are all doing something with their hands. I am enthralled.
ReplyDeleteThere is some writing on the back [it's mounted on cardboard] but it's in very faded pencil and impossible to read. I'm not sure when or where it was posed. Just about everyone in the photo lived in Nebraska but there were a couple who were in from Kansas and Missouri. It may have been done at the time of Rosa and Alan's wedding as a gift to them and would explain how everyone was all in one place at the same time.
ReplyDeleteLovely set of pix Goldie. I'm still a Hippie. LOL
ReplyDeleteMe. too. Shayna. Me, too.
ReplyDeleteThose are some really nice photos.
ReplyDeleteI missed the hippie thing, mostly anyway. There was one time in Denver, but...
MT C
One time? LoL
ReplyDeleteWell, if you believe it or don't, there was really only one close encounter with hippies in my entire dwellings so far on the face of this earth. And truthfully, now I am wondering if I didn't miss a lot.
ReplyDeleteThere was one incident, however, in the Tacoma air port, but that was more like harassers and anti-military and draft dodgers and such other riffraff posing as hippies. I don't count that as it wasn't on the friendliest of terms.
MT C
I think maybe some view hippies as dregs of society and others as people who think to the left of center. I am in the the latter group. Within that group you have, like in every group, factions. Some are radical, others_ moderate; others, well, dregs. The right and far right have these factions, too. *shrugs* I classify hippies as more the free thinkers of society no matter their political bent...many don't have any political views at all, just a desire to live in a place where they have the ability to create freely. And yes, I do see the conundrum of this where the industrial/military complex must fight to create this free space [in many cases]. Do I believe in the need for the military? Unfortunately I must because as it is the way things have been set up to run. Do I think it is the ideal? Of course not. Do I think we owe the men and women in the military a great debt? More than we can ever repay.
DeleteDo I feel we owe that same debt to the heads of same said military? Absolutely not.
Do I classify myself as a hippie? I suppose I do. Does that mean I sit around and do nothing but denigrate my country, smoke pot, and leech off all the right thinkers who are the 'real citizens'?
No__
I started working when I was 15. I am disabled now but I am in my 60's and believe me when I say if I could still be actively working I would be. I miss it. Do I smoke pot? Not anymore and not for many, many years but if I could and it was legalized I would again yes. It was entertaining on occasion. Do I have issues with my country? You betcha. Do I love my country? Very much.
So I guess what I'm saying is maybe our definition of hippie is different. Or maybe it's not. I don't think it's a bad thing. I believe that many who classify themselves as being hippie are asking the world for peace__the last time I saw the peace symbol displayed was on the stock of a military rifle in the hands of a soldier in Iraq.
I'd have to say, YUP, to that, Goldie. Things certainly aren't the way they should be, but we do have to deal with reality. At least once in a while. And there certainly are ilks of all kinds in all the ilks in the world (WTF ever that means) and there are places for all of them I suppose. I do have some doubts about extremists of any ilk, but then I suppose they have their right to be extreme as they'd like. Just wish they didn't feel the need to 'straighten' out my life to match theirs.
ReplyDeleteAs for hippies, they always seem to stand out but also seem to find a good spot to fit in, too. At least in my view. At that time, most hippies did not match well with those in the military. And it was a bit of a shame too as most of us in the military were more or less forced, draft and peer pressure/family history, to sign up and do our stint. Yes, some of us would have done it anyway, but the majority were filling an obligation of citizenship imposed upon young males at the time.
I did mention my limited encounter with hippies, a close one, you might say. I was in Denver for weapons training and on our first day of liberty three or five of us were headed to the USO to shoot some pool and got off the bus early to walk and see a little bit of the city while not in uniform. As three of us (the other two were of age and found Sid King's a far stronger draw than sight seeing) were walking past the capitol grounds were approached by a group of eight or ten who asked about who we were and what we were about. After they led us to their abode in the bushes (really they had a tent and had set up camp and planned to stay as it was about the only place the police feared to go)we got into many different conversations about who, where from and like that. I found myself talking to this gal about my age and time passed quickly. Soon it was late and they offered shelter for the night and a light meal (we left money so they could replace the food we ate). In the tent, conversations continued until late into the night or early morning. It was fun and kind of informative as I hailed from the conservative, backwoods of Massachusetts and until then my view of hippies was blood and gore from tv and the hell fire and damnation of the local 1st Baptist. I do recall though that there was a close encounter sometime after falling asleep, which I thought was real neighborly. Nothing was said about any of the happening in the night and according to my friends, there were plenty of activity all night long. We stayed the next day for a few hours and had a weird tea with them for breakfast. We had to sign back in by 3 pm so we must have left by 11am anyway. Never did get to shoot pool, but we did that the next week. Which was not even close to the adventure we had in the great out of doors, but it was fun too.
So that is about my entire experience. It was a good one, and one I think about now and again.
MT C