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- Then There Were Two“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.” (~Joan Didion) When death comes, there’s no time to prepare for well-rehearsed thoughts and reflections.… Read more: Then There Were Two
- The Journey Home“In fewer than 50 dawns, I’ll be moving for the 22nd time in my life. . . . And what’s required? Willingness to engage, saying hello to my neighbors, and trusting in myself.
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Charleston was the pre-Civil War “capital” of slavery. All its wealth came from forced labor. The conditions with possible exceptions were titanically horrendous and inhumane. Slavery in the 18th and 19th century was unimaginable. I’ve never been to an European concentration camp. Very decidedly. Humans treating other humans in barbaric fashion makes me squeamish. And so it is with slavery. The old Slave Market in the heart of this city was demolished in the Union shelling during the Civil War. In its place is a museum that provides written descriptions and some first-person accounts. That was enough for me. This raises enormous questions about American society today. For that we need another forum. I’m glad I came and cannot imagine what people descended from slaves must feel.
The first few photographs are of a pre-Civil War house, the Aiken-Rhett, which has been preserved ” as is”. We see slave quarters and the owners drawing rooms and public spaces. The stables have the original carriages. The household split politically over the Civil War.
