Voices from Childhood

From July 08:

Last night was "movie night" in my house... which is always tricky with kids. Most of the age appropriate movies for them are dreadfully boring for me. So I often pick several classic movies for them to choose from, even ones I've seen before are better than what is on the kid shelf at Blockbuster.

Their pick was "To Kill a Mockingbird." Nice choice. Mama likey Gregory Peck and the story. It also provided some illustrative background to explain exactly why Barack Obama being the democratic nominee is so important to our entire society. To go one more step toward erasing once and for all that skin color does not determine a person's intelligence and integrity.

At 8 and 11 years old, living in an upper-middle class and often over-educated suburb of Washington, DC... they've never really seen any kind of racism.

It is also always soothing to me to hear southern accents. Lost most of mine years ago between going to a college in New York and majoring in theater for a spell, but those are the accents and phrases from my childhood.

I also understand when I hear them again why my southern accent back then was incorrectly regarded at a yankee school as a sign of ignorance.

But... it was still delightful to hear again the "yes'm", dropped g's and goofy phrases to describe something .

When Dill (the neighbor's 6 year old visiting nephew) exclaimed why they should go to the courthouse, "Come on. I bet they got chains and instruments of torture down there,", I burst out laughing. It was the combination of the enthusiasm, words and accent coming out of a little boy that did it for me.

I'm really ready for a visit home. Thankfully, a nice one is coming up.