The month of April, with flowers blooming after a frozen winter and people enjoying outdoor weddings and other activities, tends to be a favorite time for many. It is a special month for Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah because two of the principal figures in the book, civil rights advocate Vanda Trappio Patton and metaphysical artist Luther E. Vann, both passed away two years apart on April 6.
April 2019 will mark the first anniversary of Patton’s death and the third of Vann’s. Both were former members of the onlineCreative Thinkers International Initiative. Trees Down Everywhere
In addition to being one of three individuals to whom Dreams of the Immortal City is dedicated, Ms. Patton is also a central figure in “Trees Down Everywhere,” the third story in DREAMS. In the story, readers meet her as elderly matriarch reluctant to leave her historic Victorian home even though Hurricane Matthew is moving steadily toward Southeast Georgia and threatening a direct hit against Savannah. This is a brief synopsis of the story:
“Following announcements of life-threatening hurricanes likely to directly strike Savannah, residents and tourists alike have often commented on how fortunate the ‘immortal city’ has been to defy these predictions. However, though nearly all agree it could have been much worse than it turned out to be, with Hurricane Matthew the luck ran out in 2016. Throughout the night when Matthew hits, the narrator struggles to prevent a friend’s house from flooding and the next day walks through city parks photographing uprooted trees. In addition, he shares what it was like to experience the psychic pressure of dealing with the hurricane while simultaneously…” Ms. Patton’s choice and how it impacts all involved (including her recently-deceased son Moses Trappio III) makes for a compelling narrative to which many hurricane survivors around the world can relate. Her story is also one of the primary examples of how and why Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is proving appealing as regional and world literature. NEXT: The Month of April and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah (part 2) Aberjhani 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
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The precise genesis of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, now scheduled for publication by Cyberwit.net in spring of 2019, is an actual dream and its eventual realization as described in the title story. The purpose of this blog and the posts which follow is to explore the impulses, values, and diverse social, political, emotional, and spiritual factors that gave rise to the dream which in time became the book.
Gift of Redeemed IntegrityThe note below composed in 2013 provides some indication of what those were. It might also give some clues about what many others trekking from country to country and continent to continent --think immigrants, social justice advocates, victims of human trafficking, seekers of love and beauty--are grappling with in 2019: I had spent many years staying as far away as I could avoiding a city that I associated more with fear, grief, and pain than I did with love or joy. It is no secret that we have first to claim the injuries that antagonize us before we can release the suffering caused by them. Claiming my own was further compounded by newer challenges that continued to pile up in real-time. These too had to be endured, rejected, screamed about and cried over, confronted, and then finally claimed before healing growth could take place. I like the phrase 'gift of redeemed integrity' from the previous sentence because for those struggling with adverse circumstances it reaffirms the all-important value of "keeping your eyes on the prize." That kind of focus can be difficult to maintain during chaotic times in tumultuous environments. Daring to believe it was even possible to do so played a major role in constructing for readers over the period of a decade the writings and visual art presented in the pages of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah. Aberjhani Co-Author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Creator of Silk-Featherbrush ArtStyle
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About the Author:A passionate reader, committed writer, artist, photographer, dedicated practitioner of mindfulness, hurricane survivor, maker of poems, believer in the value of compassion, historian, award-winner, journalist, adherent of beauty, and student of wisdom. Archives
January 2023
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