Sister Doctor Brooks

This picture is from a few years ago. I've included it because of the woman in the middle, Sister Doctor Brooks. She retired last year but her footprint and part of her heart remain here in Tutwiler. The other day a few of us walked across the road and visited the clinic. Our tour guide and story teller was Cindy a staff member who worked with Dr. Brooks and is gathering memoribilia to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Dr. Brooks work here in Tutwiler. When Dr. Brooks came here in 1983 the first thing she did was get rid of the colored waiting room and the colored drinking fountain. You read that right, 1983! There are many stories to tell but I'll just give some background and then bring us to present day. One day a number of years ago a man came in with a broken leg. She asked him what had happened and he told her that his foot went right through his porch. From this came her idea to bring Habitat to Tutwiler. The next thing that came to her attention was all of the children running around with nothing to do. She raised enough money to build a community center. She had a patient who didn't take his medicine because he couldn't read and didn't know when to take it. So... GED classes at the community center. Grandmothers were stuck at home caring for their grandchildren... a quilting program for the grandmas and more programing for the kids.

We asked Cindy about the current issues for the clinic and the patients. The cycle of poverty is evident if you look not just for what is present but for what is absent. A grocery store? Nope. The nearest grocery store used to be in Clarksdale, 16 miles away. It closed this year. Now the nearest grocery store is a 45 minute drive. (There is a Walmart in Clarksdale which carries food, just not in the quantity or variety of a grocery store) The only place you can buy food in Tutwiler is at the Double Quick gas station. They do have some hot food, of the fried variety. You can get: fried chicken, fried shrimp, and fried okra. This leads me to the next problem, diabetes. Close to 40% of the clinic's patients are diabetic. Limited food choices, limited money, difficult travel options... You may look around the dirt roads and crumbling buildings and wonder where people find work. The largest employer in the area has been the Tallahatchie County Correctional facility. There are a number of prisions in the area all privately owned. The one closest to Tutwiler has been gradually sending its prisoners to California. the prison population has gone from 2,300 to 400. Jobs have always been hard to find now it is even more difficult.

We asked Cindy to tell us a success story. The community center has recently started a Weight Watchers group. (They received a grant to cover the membership fees.) As a group they have already lost 550 pounds! One of the women came back after a doctor visit and said that she was able to get off her high blood pressure medication and reduce her cholesterol medication.

Finally Cindy told us of their newest nurse practitioner, Sabrina Easter. She called about the job on Good Friday.  The clinic continues in the spirit of Dr. Brooks, they always find a way to treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay. You can find more information about the clinic and Dr. Brooks at tutwilerclinic.org

John's Library Mission

The Tutwiler Library is small and not open many hours each week. But the library certainly has benefitted from the Sheil community but it's biggest fan and contributor is John.  Here is his update.

TUESDAY -

I made a visit to the Tutwiler Branch of the Tallahatchie County Library Monday afternoon to drop off a box of books I brought down.  This saved the cost of shipping it down.  I have been shipping stuff down here for several years now.  Last year we sent down a pallette full of books and DVDs before heading down so that it arrived while we were here, so I spent some time during the week helping Roshella the librarian sort through all the stuff.  I have been told that I can be a little compulsive about this activity, and last year, all those boxes were stored in the Sheil basement.  The Sheil staff were not sorry to see them go, so this year, everything has been shipped down a box at a time - or several boxes at a time, as the case may be.  

I recently discovered that the generous folks at Half-Price Books recycle tons and tons of stuff in two large bins behind the store.  HPB discards materials based upon how much room they have for it in the store and whether or not someone is likely to buy it, so they often thrown out books that are in perfect shape or practically brand new.  Then I found out that they also throw out DVDs, so I have been scavenging some of those as well.  The result is that eight boxes of materials arrived just before we did this year.  

(Note: Contributions to help pay for shipping are always gratefully accepted.)

The Tallahatchie County Library is small in size, staff, and budget, which is the main reason they can use the materials we send down, but also the reason that some of the boxes I shipped a few months ago are still sitting waiting to be unpacked.  Roshella the librarian has since been promoted to be the director of the whole system, so she is only in Tutwiler part of the time.  I suggested to the lovely woman running the Tutwiler branch yesterday that I could come in and help her sort through stuff.  She called Roshella and although I did not hear the other end of the conversation, I gather that her reply was something along the lines of, “Hurry up and lock the door before he has a chance to chance to change his mind.  

The library is only open from 3:00-7:00, Monday through Friday, a mere twenty hours a week, and it has closed completely at least once in the time that I have been sending stuff down here.  But when the doors opened at three o’clock yesterday afternoon five people promptly showed up.  Not bad for a tiny little town like Tutwiler.  And one of them was returning three of the DVDs I had sent down earlier.  When I started collecting them, the library had about twenty total.  Since then, I have sent down hundreds.  

So I have spent the last two afternoons helping to sort things in the library.  (Just for the record, this is not an excuse to stay out of the 86 degree heat, which feels like 92.)  The internet was down today, so I spent most of my time there re-shelving books and putting things in order in the children’s section.  Roshella tells me that this task is often made a bit more difficult as a result of the assistance of some of the library’s young patrons, who organize books by size, color, astrological sign, or some other category.  Never too early to cultivate a love of books.  

Emmett Till

This afternoon a group of us took a few hours off and visited some historic places in the area. Emmett Till was murdered not far from here in Sumner. (If you are not familiar with Till you can Google him.)We went to Sumner and got a private tour of the courthouse where the murder trial was held. The jury seats are the original ones from the time of the trial. The courtroom looks like it has been frozen in time. It really does look like the courtroom in To Kill A Mockingbird. We walked around quietly, absorbing the sadness and injustice of that trial and so many more that have followed. From there we went to Glendora, MS to tour the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center. Housed in an old cotton gin the center has memorabilia from the time. I experienced a feeling similar to the photo below, heavy and dark.

An ominious sky..appropriate for our afternoon.

This is the Mississippi flag. Yes that is the Confederate flag incorporated into the MS flag. Yes it is 2018. Yes this turns my stomach.

This sign was placed down by the river where they found Emmett Till''s body. Recently someone shot it up. Kids just fooling around? Maybe. Racism? Probably.

The Sumner Courthouse where the trial was held.

Sweet or Bitter

No wine for dinner last night so I set off with a small crew to the Tutwiler liquor liquor store. I was told that it was an experience not to be missed, that was an understatement! In Mississippi wine and spritis are sold in what is called a package store. You can't walk into the store but have to remain behind the counter while the clerk gets what you want. The Tutwiler package store is in a little building that is not much more than a shack. We walked into a small windowless passage way. A man stood behind a plexiglass window. Pete asked for some red wine and the clerk replied, "Sweet or bitter?" We walked out with a slightly dusty bottle of Cabbernet Sauvignon. We asked for a second bottle but they only had one.

We Survived our first day

One of our first orders of business was greeting Sherri, the current local Habitat coordinator. She remembers us from last year and conveyed her thanks for our work before we'd even begun!

We got right to it. We spent much of the morning stirring up drywall dust and exercising forgotten muscles.

This picture shows my first attempt to work on the site. I only lasted about 20 minutes with this task.

  I switched to sanding and staining with my buddy Lorenzo.

Returning to the Delta

This year there are twelve of us from Sheil participating in a week long Habitat for Humanity trip. We've returned to the small community of Tutwiler, MS for the 15th year in a row! In that time we have aged, expanded our families, changed jobs, and much more. But to me after a two year absence it seems as if the Delta has remained in place, change comes slowly here.

In this blog I hope to share our journey with all of you, both the challenges and the humor. I'll share photos and reflections from the group in addition to my musings. After a long car ride of 12 hours yesterday we've taken a day off today to aclimate before the work starts in earnest tomorrow. This morning some of us went to church locally and some went up to Memphis. Before Mass in Clarksdale a man asked us where we were from and what brought us here. He said, "You don't look like any carpenters"  I gave him a look and told him he'd be surprised!

Casey

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Reflections from John

We are on our way to Tutwiler, MS for our annual Habitat for Humanity Trip from Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University.  There.  Now that I have gotten all the titles out of the way, here is what has happened so far.  

Lots of Chicago traffic.  Lots of highway.  Our customary rendevous at Neiberg’s Steak House in Effingham, IL, home of adequate food, congenial waitresses, and pies that frequently do not get eaten.  Our group got caught up in that Chicago traffic and arrived about a half hour after the rest of our company, who were already eating.  A waitress came to take drink orders and told the ladies in the group that both Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi were available.  I ordered a regular Coke, with caffeine and sugar.  They don’t have that.  Just Pepsi.  Not a good harbinger of good karma for this trip.  The temperature is 82 degrees, indicating that we are a fair distance from Chicago.  

At about 4:30, we made a gas stop at the famous Boomland! fireworks and souvenir store and gas station, where an astonishing variety of Southern kitsch is available for purchase.  The atmosphere of the place can perhaps best be illustrated by the selection of baseball caps for sale.  They range from florescent colored ones with the store’s logo, the devotedly Christian (some of which were quite clever,) to those extolling the various branches of the armed forces, to the inevitable one proclaiming the inviolability of the Second Amendment.  The fireworks themselves are in another part of the store, past the summer clothing, every imaginable variety of hot sauce, a surprising amount of African American art, and a wall full of crosses.  I only spent a few minutes looking over the various wares available in the fireworks section, which was about the size of the typical grocery store, but that was enough.  The man in front of me was purchasing something the size of a large waste basket with descriptions on the side of what each of the six shots produced.  There was something called The Godfather and my personal favorite, The Angry Mother-in-Law. All accompanied to the strains of Christian country music.  

We are definitely some distance from Chicago.  

John

Church and Civil Rights

Below are a few pictures from the trip to Memphis. I was fortunate enough to go to the Civil Rights Museum a few years ago. It is a solemn place that incorporates the Lorraine Motel. This year Peter, Mary, John, and Dave made the trip. Mary just told me that as soon as the sign came in to view she choked up.

Casey

Sunday, May 20, 2018
reflections from John

I have always found it a little strange that we drive down on Saturday and have Sunday off before getting to work on Monday, but it gives us a chance to recover after the long drive down, and we usually manage to have fun on Sunday.  As we often do, some of us traveled up the road to Memphis.  We attended Mass at St. Agustine, a predominantly African American church in Memphis.  Some of us have visited before, and it is a pleasure to come back.  Two things it has in common with Sheil are great music and warm hospitality.  This is Catholicism with a definite African American vibe.  The service lasts an hour in a half because nobody is in much of a hurry, the parishioners dress in their Sunday best, far more formally than some of us are used to, the choir just has to belt out a couple of gospel numbers, and they make all visitors stand up and introduce themselves.  But the best part for me was the warmth with which we were received.  We are many parts, we are all one body.  

Andy and Adrian headed off to see Graceland, but I decided that the King of Rock and Roll was a little out of my price range and went to see the National Civil Rights Museum, featuring a King of an entirely different sort.  The museum, located in the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated, is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination.  I will leave some of our other members who were visiting for the first time describe the museum.  

Then it was off to dinner on Beale Street.  I am reading the autobiography of W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” who got his start on Beale Street.  100 years later, Beale Street is still a sight to see, similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but cleaner and not as degenerate.  I vow to return some day when I can just spend hours and hours going up and down Beale Street.  Oh, and we did not get back to downtown in time to see the ducks parade back to their penthouse suite in the Peabody Hotel, an event I always seem to miss.  So I will have to return for that.  It is wise to leave something for old age.

Just after the assassination the remaining leaders gathered in King's room to discuss a way forward.