10th & Magnolia Introduction

June 21, 2020

On the Edge…

Welcome to my humble abode – on the edge of 10th and Magnolia.

When you read the name of my blog, you probably thought… ‘Oh, how cute, the cross streets of her house…’ and nothing more. But if you know me, nothing about me is simple and easy. There are always two sides to everything clashing together with massive grace and elegant force. And if you don’t know me already, then you didn’t think any of that. So, I will send you back to re- read this at some point in the future, and it will all make perfect sense.

I was born here in BGKY and was raised by a single mother, whom herself was the oldest of 12 siblings. My grandparents were [tobacco] farmers. (Although it has not so much to do with this part of my story – just a little fun, getting to know me fact…) Yes, everyone in my family has smoked cigarettes at one time or another, including myself… some quitting early and others dying of lung cancer and others at each and every stage in between.

Things have changed a lot over the course of my life (40+ years, YIKES I AM GETTING OLD!), but growing up here, if you heard a street that contained a number, aka 10 th Street, you thought of the “bad” part of town. The rough, poor part of town. Where I lived. Where the trailer parks and government housing were, aka “The renters”. But you hear Magnolia Street, you think fancy, well groomed family homes, t places where people live that OWN their homes and send their kids to the good schools. And you would be right, mostly. Things have changed a bit, and the rough neighborhood has been pushed more to the west, farther over and across the railroad tracks. So if you hear WEST 10 th St, that is the rougher part of town. Not like, over here, Where EAST 10 th meets Magnolia. And I live here, on the edge.

I grew up in a conservative, very close minded environment and now, I am more of a free-thinking, bleeding-heart iberal, black lives matter, LBGTQ+ Ally, mother of a 20 something thespian lesbian daughter and a sensitive gamer teenage son, trying to become more “WOKE” AND “ENLIGHTENED.” And I am here, on the edge.

I feel there are a lot of people out there like me. People that grew up one way, but now think / feel another or are at least starting to. I don’t know if what I have to say will always be PG 13 or PC, but it will be on the edge. I think people could benefit from what I have learned through my experiences and just maybe what I have to say can help someone else along the way, or make them think or laugh or start a much-needed dialogue?

I have always loved to write and my amazing daughter encouraged me to start this blog. So, I am here to share my thoughts, findings, feelings, opinions, stories, very lame jokes and maybe even a few facts. From my cozy little corner perch, on the edge of… 10th and Magnolia.