Palatka, Part 1

Hello again,

Yesterday's post had a bit of the dramatic don't you think? That's what happens when you talk about a topic that big and only have 24 hours to do it in. It's all part of the challenge. Let's lighten the mood starting with last night's first encounter in (this is an editorial correction discovered earlier this morning) Palatka:

-There were lots of little things that also made yesterday a challenge, including a Tom Tom that desperately needed to be updated, but the root we did set upon was one of the prettiest. Being that I'm the driver and all other occupants were sound asleep, I didn't really have free hands to take pictures. Let me try to paint it for you instead: It was full of horse and cow pastures divided by messy forests. There were roads that skated past placid lakes and farms. As if matched up with the somewhat worn houses and sandy back-roads, there were these big trees with Spanish moss on them. That, coupled with the falling sunlight behind me, made me feel like I was in some haunted southern beauty of a countryside that only Tennessee Williams could conjure. (So much for avoiding the dramatic, but anyway...) That quiet prettiness is why I like going through the center of the state—you really get to leave the populations behind and get a taste of nature.

Eventually we come to a condensation of town and people. There are Civil War-old cemeteries and a regally high white-stoned church. There are the old-time storefronts. This is Palatka. And we managed to pull into a Quality Inn, leisurely looking out into this very wide river and it's symbiotic bridge. Needless to say, the accommodations and the scenery could not be much nicer.

-The following day we head in for our first part of the Palatka tour. This is definitely not like the shiner schools we've gone to, but there people are nice and the kids are surprisingly a little more inspired when it comes to thinking up ideas. It's clear from driving through the bigger towns nearby that no one's been hitting the lottery lately. The school is a little older, a little more well-worn if you will, but clean and well cared after. We go through our two shows, which are lively. We do the workshops, which have provided a me with plenty of learning opportunities as a teaching artist. I find these kids get so excited from the shows that they want to talk. A lot. So, I might be switching up my style to see if I can't use their conversing fervor to get some key playwrighting ideas across—I'll know soon enough. The rest of the I've been using for rest and reading. More tomorrow.

-Ben