7/28/23
I've come to the point in my life where part of my time is spent as archivist for family and friends i've lost who have left some special things behind which deserve to be shared.
And this week i've reached a great place with two people very important to me.
My dad was drafted and sent to Vietnam in 1967. He took a lot of photographs while there and I posted a fraction of them in an online gallery. He took the pictures during 1967 and '68 with single use 35mm cameras, had that film developed into slides when he returned home and those slides were digitized just a few years ago.
I selected a range of images - from him alone to the people and places in Vietnam, some serve simply as a document, some are great compositions. I hope to eventually add some other items, photos, descriptions, etc but for now I like having the pictures speak on their own. They offer an insight into my dad and one person's perspective of history.
Clifford L Rowell (1947-1998)
Images from Vietnam
For a completely different experience, when I began taking a greater interest in writing in 1991 and expressed that to my grandma (from my mom's side) she also revealed she enjoyed writing and began sharing poems with me. Her poems of dreams lost and found revealed a far more reflective side than she usually presented and I still feel very privileged to have been her first audience. She did have a poem published as part of an anthology around 1999, but most of what she wrote was read by just a few of us.
The Artist Lives is a great organization which honors deceased artists and the creative work they have left behind. This week my grandma's poetry was published on their site. And even better, it was published the same day the organization posted a contribution from the late Jani Lane, lead singer for the 80's glam metal band Warrant ("Cherry Pie), providing a twisted and beautiful juxtaposition that would absolutely delight her.
Rufine Napp (1924-2020)
Poetry
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