Birmingham, AL: The 1000 Names of Birmingham

Birmingham view from Vulcan Park on Red Mountain, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

The 1000 names of Birmingham:

• Magic City (1872)
• El Dorado of the Iron Masters (1873)
• Bombingham (1947-1963+)
• Boomingham (also referring to the regular bombings)
• Tragic City
  
• The Most Segregated City in the Country (I don't know: St. Louis might be a contender)
• Birmingham: "a heart as hard as the steel it manufactures and as black as the coal it mines"
• City of Churches
• Biggest City in America for its Age
• City of Perpetual Promise
• Murder Capital of the World
• The Munich of Southern Capitulation (1938)
• Pittsburgh of the South (1909)
• Best Little Dangerous City in the South (Birmingham subreddit)
• Forest City
• Heaviest Corner on Earth (1912) 
• The Diverse City (get it?)(2006)
• Toxic City

I gleaned many of the nicknames above from the book, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, by Diane McWhorter.

Birmingham, AL: COVID-19 Unfolding #8888: A Drive-In Movie

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

 

The banner told me - a drive-in movie to happen in George Ward Park! I must be there! Didn't matter what the movie was. It was COVID times! A drive-in movie! A way for our gregarious selves to gregariate safely in gregarity! 

And. Free wings! Free cupcakes! Did it matter that a political hostess threw this party to endear herself with prospective voters? No! This is the American way! 

The park isn't far from where I live, so I could walk there! (I later learned this wasn't the brightest idea, but for now, join me in my gregorial delight.)

When I arrived, the house was packed. 

 

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

Birminghammers queued up before the wings truck, most of them prudently masked. 

 

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

There was no line in front of the popcorn booth. Mmmm, popcorn. That's my bag. 

The golden hour approached, touching first the tops of the trees. 

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

I nestled my chair between two cars, smack in front of the movie screen. I chatted with the two women in a car behind me. My enthusiasm about the popcorn was contagious, and we agreed as how delightful it would be if I were to run up to the booth and collect a couple of bags for them. And verily I did so, as it pleases me to spread the gospel of that salty crunch.

Presently, I settled in to my chair and munched popcorn while awaiting the movie's start. A DJ from v94.9 played songs. Then the party hostess, Birmingham Councilor Crystal Smitherman, delivered a pleasant (and pleasantly short) speech. 

Drive-in movie at George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama. August 2020.

The movie was about to begin. The DJ explained how the movie goers should turn their radio dials to a particular point so they could ........... ohhhhhhhh ........... so they could hear the movie. Being in a chair was not going to work. 

OK. Important lesson for the future. 

No matter. I had already received all of the gifts I could have hoped for by walking through a pretty park to the event. The sight of fellow humans gathering in a pretty safe way. Chatting with several of said fellow humans. Popcorn!

I folded up my chair and walked home, my spirit aloft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flashback to 2018: Ferguson, Missouri: "Michael Brown Died Today."

This 2018 post holds true for me today, too.

Friday, August 10, 2018

Ferguson: "Michael Brown Died Today."

Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri. Photo: Found at St. Louis Post Dispatch, attributed to a friend of Michael Brown's.

A few days before August 9, 2018, I created a reminder on my calendar for that date, which synced to my cell phone.

The reminder said: "Michael Brown died today."

On August 9, each time I accessed my phone, there it was:

Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.


When I think of Michael Brown, I think of:

.... an image burned into my brain, put there by a racist, hate-mongering individual in South Louisiana who is a minor celebrity. On his social media page, which he proudly affiliates with his employer, was a disgusting image of a "memorial" to Michael Brown, comprised of human excrement.

... the draconian military response to Ferguson protests by then-Governor Jay Nixon.

... people who are dear to me, who must always be ready for that surprise slap in the face, at any given moment, in any given place, by any unexpected person, that reminds them they can't move through their days with the same thoughtless presumption of emotional and physical safety as others can.

Word of the Year 2020: Build 8: Money

ATM in Yerevan, Armenia. March 2012.

On Build thus far

Word of the Year 2020: Build 1: After the Floods
Word of the Year 2020: Build 2: Fronterista
Word of the Year 2020: Build 3: "House"
Word of the Year 2020: Build 4: Chosens
Word of the Year 2020: Build 5: It Takes a Village
Word of the Year 2020: Build 6: Elevation
Word of the Year 2020: Build 7: Trail Building




Last month, I said ....

If I visualize a long trail such as the Appalachian Trail, there are sections, each with different geographic and climate features. I can divvy up my through hike into sections, too:

1. Money
2. Health
3. Relationships
4. Service and activism
5. Creative life
6. Rootless goals I want to achieve

This month is about money. 

About money in the context of this year's word: Build. About money for the future.

Why?

My mission: Live independently for as long as possible while maintaining a pleasing quality of life. 

I have a three-stage strategic plan:

• Until age 70
• Age 70-80
• Age 80 - demise

I've drafted this post several times, only to scratch out the draft, start over, scratch it out, start over.

Got too involved in sharing details that, at the end of the day, are relevant only to me.

Really, all that matters are:

First: Have a plan. 

1. Have a plan to bring in money.
2. Have a plan to save money.
3. Have a plan for how to spend money.
4. Have a plan to deal with plan disruptions, as much as one can. 
5. If you've got consumer debt: have a radical plan to pay it down as fast as possible, without incurring new consumer debt.

In fact, have three plans:

• Short-term (now)
• Mid-term (five-to-ten years from now)
• Long-term (10 years and longer from now)

Second: Execute the plan.

And be ready to re-route the plan if the severity of an inevitable disruption requires it.


Related posts on money

• Being Debt-Free (October 2010)
• Ability to Be Rootless: The Seeds Sown (November 2013)
• Stuff: 10 Tips for Downsizing Your Money Life (February 2016)