ILLUMINATING THE COMMONPLACE

UPDATE: Alachua, FLorida - 13 September 2008

Gussie Lee and her Greater New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir rocked the entire Alachua Branch Library on Saturday afternoon and our Master of Ceremonies, native son and writer, Will Irby (now of Chiefland), deftly wove together a commentary that only he could have woven. “I’m Will Irby,” he said, “a character in Sudye’s book, page 110,” charming his audience with his understanding of Alachua, SOUTHERN COMFORTS, “the illumination of the commonplace,” and southern culture, its music, its literature, and what it might mean to an audience of 90 souls who gathered to sing along, visit over refreshments, admire the photographs of Barbara B. Gibbs, and hear bits from the book itself.

What any one of us sees as ordinary or "commonplace" may very well enchant someone who stumbles upon it for the first time. We take the day, the lights and sounds it brings, and our hours within it too much for granted; I did it today, myself, but when we situate ourselves firmly inside the moment, the commonplace turns sacred because we,by our exquisite attention to detail, have made it so.

Letha Wright DeCoursey, showing me sensitive briar, a small plant many ignore, that was such a moment, and they are still available to us. I get to write about some of those moments in my blog, “MORE SOUTHERN COMFORTS: Off Road in North Florida.” See for yourself at sudyecauthen.blogspot.com

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