Almost home

Captain Willie came back from the tiny galley with a large mug of stew in hand just a few moments later. “Yep, y’all were right, that bread ain’t fit to eat. But the stew’s right good with black-eyed peas and carrots and all in it.”
“Yeah but they’re cooked to mush.”
“That’s good. Saves on the chewin’. Besides, ya pour enough hot pepper sauce over it and that’s all you taste anyway.”
"True that!" The two women nodded in agreement.

Tira remarked, “When we get to Charleston we’ll need to top-off at the hydrogen fuelling station, ya know?”
Said the Captain after he finished up. “How’s she doing otherwise?”
“Not too bad,” answered Tira. “Some things need replacing but then, don’t they always? We’re not fallin’ outa the sky anytime soon, though. I hope.”

“I heard that Crazy Man Mike is gonna be out of the hospital and back in the air by the time we get to Charleston.”
“How come he’s called Crazy Man Mike?” asked Kennia.
“Cuz,” answered Captain Willie, “He heads off in the direction he needs to go and doesn’t stop until he gets there. No matter what. Doesn’t matter what might happen to be in the way, he just goes right through it. Or tries to anyway. Doesn’t work so good with things like brick buildings and such.”
“He’s a courier and he gets things gone to where they need to be!” snapped Tira. “Don’t be talkin’ trash about him now.”
 "You sound a little bit sweet on him, Tira!" laughed Kennia. "I thought you said that you'd sworn off men for good."
"Ahhhh, I see you have a secret lover man now!" said the Captain.

Pictures courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

August's non-story post

is about a little known (outside of SC at least) era of Southern history: South Carolina under Radical Reconstruction.

During this time South Carolina had African-American men (women were not eligible to vote or hold political office at this time) in the state legislature as well as sending one to represent South Carolina in the US Congress. Reconstruction was the systematic recreation of US society, especially the areas that formerly had allowed slavery.

According to the Wikipedia entry on the subject: "The laws and constitutional amendments that laid the foundation for the most radical phase of Reconstruction were adopted from 1866 to 1871. By the 1870s, Reconstruction had officially provided freedmen with equal rights under the constitution, and blacks were voting and taking political office. Republican legislatures, coalitions of whites and blacks, established the first public school systems and numerous charitable institutions in the South." 

Who knows how far South Carolina could have progressed if not for the end of Reconstruction in 1877?

**************EDITED 2012-08-31*************

I didn't want to upload the following photo because of the racist commentary written under the picture. But this is also part of the history of South Carolina and should be known rather than hidden.

Why didn't I learn about these people in school? Because that knowledge (that someone other than rich, white men could accomplish social reforms) is STILL, even in 2012, too dangerous to the powers that be?