Sallie Mock Journal 4: Memories of MY Father

It's always interesting to talk with my dad. My father will be 82 this July, so this is his second round of Depression/Recession, call it what you want.
Growing up in early 1930s Louisville, Ky, my father remembers a very different way of life than what people have now.
"We had a milkman, an ice man, and a fruit and vegetable vendor who all came to your street," he remembered. "In those times, they had given up the horse and buggy and had early model cars. For the iceman, you put a card in your window with a 10, 15, 20 or zero. This was to tell him how many pounds of ice you needed for your icebox. There was no refrigeration then," he explained.
Now when I was growing up Chicago, we did have a milkman, so I knew about that. "During the Depression, "my dad explained, "most people didn't have cars, so the fruit and vegetable man would pull up to the curb in front of your house. His car had a scale and you simply made your selections , paid for them, and could place your order for next week's delivery. Different trucks had different bells so you knew which truck was entering your block. Even baked goods were occassionally delivered."
Streetcars were the most common mode of transportation for most folks, so it would appear that deliveries weren't such a bad option.

Two for the price of one:my father also offered to mention his memories of the 1937 flood. He was ten years old and lived on the west side of Louisville, which had to be evacuated. He recalls; "We had to move to higher ground, which meant moving in with my Irish relatives in Iroquois Park part of town, which was the south side of town. Some of my batchelor uncles weren't so found of kids and would retreat to the local pub for a growler. I got to know my cousins , who were also packed into this house."
For my dad, the flood wasn't so bad; his only bad memories of the flood was having to get shots for Yellow fever and tetanus, which he remembers to this day as very painful. He says, "We were refugees for 65 days, schools and businesses were closed except for those on higher ground." When the waters receded, cleanup to him and the other kids was fun," We enjoyed having mud fights and slopping around in the mess."
When my father tells my nieces and nephews about his childhood, they can hardly believe he lived without television, refrigeration, air condition, and God, forbid, a cell phone.

Journal Entry 4 Jackie Lewis

This is a hard journal entry for me. My grandparents are dead, well my father’s mother is still alive, but we are not in contact. So, I asked my mother for a family story. I was curious about her brother, my uncle. You see he was a bit of a strange bird and I always wondered why. It seems that my uncle Johnny was hit by a drunk driver when he was five years old. The way the story goes, my mother and her brother and a bunch of their friends were playing outside. They had gotten a game of kick ball together and they were playing in the field next door to my grandmother’s house. All of the sudden the ball went into the street and my mother’s brother ran out to get the ball and this big red truck came swerving and rushing down the street at a high speed. My uncle was struck and dragged under the car. The truck finally stopped and my mother’s older cousin pulled him from under the car. They rushed him to the hospital where they were told he had a brain injury and that he might not make it. They put a steel plate in his head and he was in a coma for months. He finally woke up but he was never the same. The injury did something to his brain that caused his personality to change. Not only did he change, but the whole family changed that day. The drunk driver was never caught and my uncle was bitter his entire life.

Grandmom's House/Reggie Bines/Jounarl 3

I was sometimes over my grandmother house for the weekends. I love when we talk about everything I was a young chap. When I was over my grandmother house, the smells of the food cooking was so fabulous. The smell of the food, I can just taste it in my mouth. She would bake a sweet potato pie that was so tasty, I can still see her peel the sweet potatoes and mix it together. When she cook her chicken and rice on Sunday, just before I go to church with her, I swear we just went outside and took the chicken out of the yard and wrung the chicken neck and pluck the feathers. She cooked the chicken until it was golden brown. The rice taste like we went to China and harvest the rice and flew back because it was cooked to a perfect white rice with a buttery flavor. The time I spent with her on the weekend, no one on this earth can never ever match. She was the one that could tell it like it is and still make you feel good and make you do more than you need to do. She would cooked you some veddles so tasty, spectacular and sophisticated, it had you hyopotized. It was the most tantalizing home cooking ever know to mankind.

Journal 2

My picture of my kids holds a special meaning to me they are all i have and i went through so much in labor having them. They are my hearts and they bring me so much joy when i am sad.

We are all standing close to each other in the picture all smiling and saying that we love each other, that is the only picture that i have of my kids with me and them period. I had a camera before and my son broke the camera destroying the film which i had to buy another camera and take more pictures and the same happened to that camera, but my one friend had took a picture of me and my kids and he gave it to me and i was so happy because i don't have a picture of them.
We all had on black and red , we were smiling, we were all yelling love you to each other and we meant what we said.. That day we was happy and we spent all day together playing games and talking and i will never forget that day.

Journal 1

My name is Andrea Lindsay. I am 24 years old, i have 4 kids and i am currently attending this school . I am a writer and i like writing it helps me to get someone to understand my point of view and to explain what they don't understand, also it teaches me skills that i will further need in the future. Writing helps me to show what i feel and what i know.

I have a couple of strengths which are: 1) A clear understandable handwriting
2) I am a great speller
3) I have good knowledge on how to write any kind of papers.

I have a couple of weaknessses also: 1) Using words too many times
2) Not enough paragraphs
3) Not enough information when describing something

I would like more help in using more words,than continually using the same words that i use a lot.

My writing goals for the end of the quarter is too know more words to usue than the same ones.
Second goal is to know how to write an essay without looking in the book or asking.
My last goal is to hopefully write a story of my own and it being perfect.

My most positive writing experience is when i wrote a research paper im my environmental class and my teacher wrote that everything about it was good.

My worst experience is when i wrote a story in my english class and my teacher told me that my paragraphs were not structured right and the format was horrible, but i have been doing better on both.

Journal Entry 3-Jackie Lewis

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in New Richmond, Ohio. That is where my mother grew up and my grandmother moved after her father , my great grandfather was chased out of Georgetown, Kentucky (a story for another day). I spent all weekends and summers in the country away from the concrete jungle I loved so much. My grandmother’s house was small. I spent much of the time there in the kitchen. That’s where all important discussions took place. I can vividly remember sitting on the floor in the corner of the kitchen next to the furnace. I would sit there for hours watching the hussle and bussle of the adults cooking and chattering about the local gossip or the day’s current events. My grandmother’s kitchen was small; it served as the room where we ate and the laundry room. As I stated earlier the kitchen also housed the furnace. Everyday my grandmother’s best friend Cora would come over and sit with my grandmother while she cooked dinner on the big wood burning stove. Every meal was an event. Mrs. Cora was a character and she would sit around the big oak table that barely fit into the small kitchen and spin tale after tale about the goings on in the small village of New Richmond. My grandmother would laugh and laugh at her stories. The kitchen was my grandmother’s base of operations. Everything stemmed from the kitchen and she spent the majority of her time in the kitchen. The walls were painted yellow and there were yellow flowered curtains hanging from the kitchen window. The floor was yellow and the kitchen cabinets were oak. In the far corner sat the washer and dryer. Across from the washer and dryer was the refrigerator. As a child I hated my weekly and vacations in New Richmond, but as an adult I miss the relaxed atmosphere of my grandmother’s kitchen.

Nekia Lewis (Journal #3)

Impressions
1.Food, 2.culture, 3.weather, 4.melting pot of people, 5.history, 6.mystery

New Orleans is the one place that I remember that is very familiar to me. I love the mystery, the people are friendly and I love the way they talk and the food which is unbelievable full of spices and flavor. I like the history and myths that the city holds all the mixed cultures. I've only been there one time in my life, this was before Hurrican Katrina. The weather is very humid and hot, but I didn't mind I was excited with just being there and trying to take in the enviornment and beautiful architecture of the building and homes. Its very differnt with how there graves are on top and not under ground like ours. I took lots of pictures. Being in New Orleans made me happy its a place where I would love to be.