Narroway

  Back around 1979, I was invited to join a Christian drama touring company based in Rock Hill, SC.  They were a group of actors that rode in a van and did drama in churches, usually Sunday nights.  When they asked me to join their band of merry men and women, I wanted to know two things.  First, how much does it pay?  Second, where would we stay?  The answer to the first question was that it was based on how much of a love offering that we would get from the church.  The answer to the second question was maybe in church members' homes; maybe in the church itself; maybe in a motel; or maybe in the van.  I had been paid to act, which made me a professional actor.  I had to have a steady income, and if the income was based on people liking us, then I wasn't too keen on that.  As for where we would stay, I had been a hippie in a previous life, but I wasn't interested in a communal atmosphere.  Been there, done that.  It would be good to get out and ride the rails, so to speak, but I told them no thank you.  They did that for a couple of years and then disbanded.

 One of our church's Seniors trips was to the Narroway Dinner Theater outside of Rock Hill, SC.  I was wondering if this group could be spawned from that group that I had been invited to some 40 years earlier.  I have a confession to make here that I have never told anyone before (aren't you special?).  I am not a big fan of seeing a religious theatre production that I'm not in.  As some of you may know, I am a perfectionist.  I know that there are people who do drama just for the love of it without getting paid, and that's fine.  I do the same thing from time to time.  However, I am very critical of how people perform.  I see things that the ordinary person doesn't see.  Why did they turn that way?  What's up with those gestures?  It is a curse.  

 I expected this group to be no better.  I went with the Seniors, because I was curious.  I was surprised.  Here were a bunch of people from the community who came together to put on a show.  AND, they weren't getting paid.  There were children and older people.  There were college students and middle aged people.  There were singers and dancers.  They were all great.  The script was written by two women and directed by one of the two.  They had professional lighting and sets.  They even did, what I love to do with my Bible-character monologues.  They involved the audience.  And, the food was good, too.  The actors also served the food.  Everybody did everything.

 I was so impressed that I wrote a letter to the director after getting back home.  I told her of my story of being invited to be in a touring company from Rock Hill.  She said she had heard of that group back then, but these people were all volunteers.  It just goes to show that one doesn't have to get paid to be a professional.  I was so impressed that I went back a couple of years later to experience another show.  If you are ever in Rock Hill, which is close to Charlotte, go to Narroway.  You won't be disappointed.  

Grist

  The First Baptist Seniors took two trips to Camden, SC.  The first was to a Grist Mill outside of town, and the other was to a Revolutionary War site closer into Camden.

 The Grist Mill was an old place that ground stuff into grits and other things.  I wasn't too clear on that, because it was cold, and I wanted to get inside.  Their gift shop had one space heater, and we had a bunch of people.  Did I mention that it was cold?  There was a wooden church at the site.  It was really just used for weddings now.  They had an old-timey organ in the church, but the keyboard was warped.  The best part of the trip there was the restaurant.  The food was great, and the restaurant was warm.  I ran into a friend there, who was a state senator.  We had a good laugh about South Carolina politics.  

 The second trip was to the Revolutionary War site.  It had several restored buildings and houses from those days.  The main house was used by both the British and the Americans.  There was a portrait of Andrew Jackson inside one of the rooms, and the guide said that Jackson had been sliced with a sword on the cheek and had left a scar.  He never allowed any portrait of the scar, so he is always portrayed looking to the right.  That particular house had steep steps and couldn't be accessed by disabled people.  I hope they fixed that.  We had a man from our church with us who was an historian.  He had written a book on Kershaw County history, and he had the Camden Museum to bring out copies for all of us.  

 This man was rather opinionated.  On our trip out to the site on I-20, he pointed out a place near the road that used to be an inn during the Revolution and beyond.  He said that George Washington had spent the night in Lexington County and then taken a carriage to this inn for breakfast.  There was no way he could have done that.  The inn was at least 30 miles away from where he had slept, and there weren't paved roads back then.  I called out the man for what he said.  He insisted that he was right.  He didn't speak to me for the rest of the trip.  

 Camden is a great place to visit.  History just oozes out of the area.  They also have some great antique shops in town.  I'd like to go back and just do antiquing.  Maybe one day.  

Library

  One of the trips we took, as part of the First Baptist Seniors, was to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.  It was near the airport, so there was some plane noise nearby.  The grounds also has the boyhood home of Dr. Graham, which was moved from its old location further up the road.  And, there are the graves of some family and friends.  Billy was still living, when we were there, but his wife had passed away and was buried there.  Also buried there was George Beverly Shea, or "Bev" as I knew him.  As I have noted before, my father knew a lot of giants of the faith.  Consequently, I knew them too.

 We got to the library around 10am and toured the site.  I was most interested in the memorabilia that they had there of Billy's life and crusades.  That brought back a lot of memories.  We had a tour guide who did a good job.  After the tour, I told him the story about meeting Billy Graham in Atlantic City with my father, and his turning down Billy's invitation for us to come to supper one night while at Ridgecrest.  You can go back and read that story back from 1963-64.  The tour guide was most interested in my story, and we laughed about it and cringed at the same time.  We had lunch there, and I bought one of Bev's cd's.  I also got a nice cloth bag from there by subscribing to Decision Magazine.  I use the bag with my groceries today.

 I then walked around the grounds.  It was very peaceful.  I came upon the graves of Ruth Graham and Bev Shea.  I had a nice time with them.  We were supposed to leave at 2pm. One of our group was late, and we had to wait for her.  So, we hit some traffic going back home.  It was a good trip with a bunch of reflections on my previous life.  I kind of wish I had paid more attention to who these people were, when I was young.  They were just my father's friends.  They were amazing people.  Most were very humble people, like my father.  They did the work they were called to do and without any fanfare.  Maybe more people need to take that approach.

Shealy's

  First Baptist Columbia has a strong program for Senior Adults.  They do a lot of things to keep active, and one of those things is trips.  Without a car and relying on buses to get around town, I didn't go away much.  My church helped with that.

 My first out of town trip with the Seniors was to Shealy's BBQ in Batesburg-Leesville.  I love barbecue, but I had never been to Shealy's.  It had a reputation around the state of having really good food.  It was a cold February day.  About 30 of us went there to eat (a lot).  I didn't know how I would be accepted by the others.  Mostly women and older than me.  I sat by myself on the church bus, just staring out of the window.  I hadn't been to BL since working at Belk, where we had a store in Batesburg.  Back then, it was important to do your work as a buyer for Belk, and then get out as quickly as possible.  I talked about that earlier in another story about not being from around there.  I put those feelings of fear aside to go to Shealy's.  After all, if anyone tried to attack me, I had a lot of older women to defend me.

 The food was wonderful.  I know that different regions of the country like their barbecue cooked certain ways.  Some like vinegar or ketchup base.  I prefer mustard.  The great thing about Shealy's was that you could put the base you liked on the meat without offending others.  It was a judgmental-free place.  I ate way too much.  When I go to a buffet, my eyes are much bigger than my stomach, and then I try and eat it all.  I did.  Real barbecue is so much better than store-bought.  Can I get an "Amen"?  

 We left Shealy's to go back to Columbia.  I no longer felt as an outsider with the group.  I was an official traveler with the Seniors.  They accepted me, and I wasn't intimidated by them.  We went back every year to Shealy's.  My stomach said "Amen"!

Colors

  The Comet buses got a color scheme that was meant to catch the eye of those waiting for a ride.  They had hired a graphic artist to come up with an idea.  It was multi-colored triangles in pastel colors.  I made the comment at the time that this would give me acid flashbacks.  Just for the record, I did do LSD once or twice in college.  I had flashbacks off and on for several years after.  It would be every month; then every six months; then every nine months. I would always have them at home, so I was never driving.    Thankfully, I haven't had one in about ten years, so I hope I have grown out of them.  

 Anyway, we signed off on the color scheme.  They incorporated it on the buses and stops.  Anybody who was looking for a bus stop could easily see it.  (Wow man!  Colors!) That was what a flashback was like.  So, the Comet wanted to do a video for Richland County on the Comet and its service.  It wasn't really a commercial, but it was a public service announcement (PSA) that would play on the county's Spectrum channel.  They asked me if I wanted to participate, and I said yes.

 We filmed my part in the back of the Comet's headquarters near the bus parking lot.  I was asked questions off camera about the bus service and the new colors.  We had to do several takes because of traffic noise and things that I wanted to say.  One question that they asked was how I liked the new colors?  I said that it makes the bus easier to see, and then I get excited when I see the bus coming.  My line was:  "Oh, wow!  Here comes the bus!"  It was stupid, but I got the point across.

 They ran the PSA on cable for about a year.  I guess it is still out there somewhere.  Wow man!  Colors!

Racism

  I had heard that there would be a man at a City of Columbia council meeting that wanted to speak on racism with The Comet.  He was going to talk about the injustice with the bus routes not going to more black neighborhoods.  It was serving too many white neighborhoods.  He had written an op-ed in a newspaper earlier about the fact that more blacks had voted for the transportation penny tax than whites, so he felt that black neighborhoods were entitled for better service.  I had to be there, because I had helped design many of those routes, and I felt that the bus service should be for all of the people in the community, and not just for one segment or another.

 This was the same man who had called me a "silver spoon white boy" for being the President of the Midlands Transit Riders Association.  He said that a black person should be president, because the majority of bus riders were black.  I had also been called a racist in the early days of planning the routes.  There were two routes that went into areas that were heavy on criminal behavior.  Some wanted to bring the bus into those areas after dark.  I pointed out at the time that it would be dangerous for the bus drivers to be in those areas after dark.  I was called a racist for that thinking.  I was being a realist.  So, the buses ran into those areas after dark, and one was shot at the first week.  Fortunately, the driver wasn't hurt, but there was a bullet hole in a window of the bus.  The Comet pulled back on those schedules to avoid that happening again.  I knew Columbia.  I had lived there most of my life.  I knew the neighborhoods.  

 So, it came time for the council meeting.  I signed up to speak.  Most of the people there at the meeting wanted to speak in protest of a plan to relocate the sports field at Dreher High School which would cause loud noise and disturb the homes around the school.  Once that issue was addressed, most of the audience left.  It came time to take up this man's complaint.  I looked around, and there were also two representatives of The Comet there.  The man was called on to speak, and he sent his wife up to the podium to speak in his behalf.  I thought that was kind of cowardly of him.  She read what he had written.  She talked about entitlement.  That is a word that I cringe, when I hear.  I was frantically writing down what I wanted to say.  When she was finished with his speech, the chair asked if there was anyone else who wanted to speak on this topic.  I raised my hand and was recognized.  I identified myself as the former president of the Midlands Transit Riders Association and a bus rider.  I could barely read my scribbling on the paper, but I talked about the fact that the bus system is for all the people, not just some.  I then talked about my family teaching me to treat everyone the same, no matter what skin color they were.  I talked about my family's history from a grandmother who taught black kids in school in Alabama to a cousin who was a freedom rider with Dr. King.  Then, I got a little loud in my speech.  I addressed racism in Columbia.  I told the council that I wasn't racist; the Comet wasn't racist, to which I pointed to the two people from the Comet sitting there; and then I pointed to the man and his wife and called them out as racists.  They just shrunk in their seats.  

 After the meeting was over, the City Manager thanked me for what I had said, as did several of the council members.  I was leaving to get on the elevator to go downstairs, and one of my personal heroes was on the elevator with me.  His name is Jim Felder.  He was a military pallbearer at President Kennedy's funeral and a civil rights leader.  He had been at the council meeting.  Jim told me that there are people out there who don't understand the meaning of racism, and he agreed with my assessment.  His comment meant the world to me.  When I got outside, the Mayor called to me.  He told me that he wished that people like that couple would stop coming to the council meetings.  All they want to be is divisive.  I told him that we need to have more unity in the city to get stuff done.  He agreed.  

 As I saw many times working with the buses, there are some people who just want to stir up trouble.  You know the sky is blue, but they will tell you it is green.  That is just the way it is.  If one can find some common ground with those people, things will work out better.  If there is no common ground to be found, walk away.  

Eclipse

  There was to be a total eclipse of the sun pass over Columbia.  To see it, you had to get protective glasses, and they had them all over town.  I got mine at Mast General Store.  I thought about where would be the best place to experience it.  Back when I was a kid, there was a solar eclipse.  We all got shoeboxes with a pin hole in it to see the shadow of the eclipse.  I briefly looked at it with my naked eye.  That wasn't too smart.  Now, I wanted to get the best place, and I decided on Riverbanks Zoo.  After all, I had heard that animals kind of freak out at an eclipse.

 I first stopped by Wendy's to get an early lunch.  It was kind of warm that day, so I had on a long sleeve shirt.  All polyester (first mistake).  I then walked down to the zoo, which was a couple of miles (second mistake).  I got to the zoo early and walked around to see the animals.  I started sweating profusely.  I looked for a vendor selling water, but there wasn't any.  Because many people had the same idea as me, the restaurant at the zoo was too crowded to get water.  I did find a water fountain and drank a bunch there.  

 While I was walking around, I found a crew from WIS TV that were doing live cut-ins to their news coverage of the eclipse.  I knew the people there, so I just hung out with them and trying to get some shade.  They had water in an ice chest for the crew, but I didn't feel I needed any.  There were other people around the TV people.  About 30 minutes before the eclipse, I felt very dizzy and took a slow fall to the ground.  I remember mumbling something and down I went.  A man caught me as I was falling.  It turned out that he was a missionary that was at the zoo visiting friends. There was a zoo security man with the TV crew, and he called for help for me.

 A couple of first aid people came and wheeled me to the infirmary at the zoo.  It wasn't far from where I had been.  They gave me Gatorade and some cold compresses to put on my neck.  I really wanted to go back outside to see the eclipse.  After a few minutes, somebody came in to ask how I was doing.  I actually was feeling better, so they let me go outside.  I saw the eclipse and heard the monkeys squealing in the background.  I thanked the missionary for helping me, as well as the TV folks.  I wished someone had asked me if I needed a ride home, but no one did.  So, I left the zoo feeling a little weak and dizzy.  I got up to a bus stop and sat on the bench to wait for the bus.  Dehydration is not fun.  I seem to be prone to that.  Ever since that incident at the zoo, I try and carry water or Gatorade wherever I go.  I have had a couple of incidents since then, and neither time did I have water with me.  It turns out that some prescription medication I take for depression has a dehydration side effect.  I have to have that medication. One good thing that came out of that experience was that the TV people used what happened to me as an example on their report of the need to hydrate.  Thankfully, they didn't use my name.  They just identified me as someone at the zoo.  Water anyone?