Two anniversaries

One somber, one celebratory.

The first one happened three years ago today. The Wife and I were vacationing in the Finger Lakes region that weekend, and we got back to our cottage after a day visiting the Glass Museum in Corning (or maybe we were in Ithaca that day, and Corning the next)…we checked social media for the first time in hours, and I found multiple messages from people asking if I was safe because they knew I worked at a grocery store in Buffalo. That’s when I was horrified to learn that some racist lunatic decided to arm himself to the teeth, drive to a grocery store in Buffalo that he knew would be mainly frequented by Black people, and open fire.

It remains one of the most horrific days in local history, and will likely continue to be one for many years to come. And I can’t help contrasting that day, and the feelings that followed it, with the climate in this country right now as our elected leaders, placed in power by us, work hard to eliminate “DEI!” and “Woke!” and…look, we all know what that means, don’t we.

Buffalo poet laureate Jillian Hanesworth, who is an enormously gifted voice, wrote this poem in remembrance. It was printed large on the wall of an exhibit at the Buffalo AKG Museum for a while. (I might have my own photo of it, but I can’t find it right now.)

It’s also important to remember, and name, the lives taken that day in the name of hatred and fear and simple blind stupidity:

Roberta A. Drury
Margus D. Morrison
Andre Mackneil
Aaron Salter
Geraldine Talley
Celestine Chaney
Heyward Patterson
Katherine Massey
Pearl Young
Ruth Whitfield

May their memories be blessings for all who knew them…and for those of us who only learned their names when they ended.

UPDATE: I found my photos of the exhibit at the AKG. You can see them here. I somehow never actually uploaded them to Flickr. It was a beautiful and powerful exhibit, and I regret my oversight in not getting these photos posted.

::  On a happier note, today is the 81st birthday of one of the most important forces in my creative life, a man without whose work there is zero chance I’d be the person I am today.

Happy birthday, George Lucas!