Two Days in Walnut, MS. Whoooie.

Two days in Walnut, Mississippi. The highlight: seeing the news that Osama Bin Laden is dead. No question, the death of a very bad man and a measure of peace for the families of the victims of 9/11, and for us all. Seeing the news in a small southern town, and gauging the reactions of the not terribly sophisticated locals, was an experience. I thought that they would be more…..excited, but their comments were more along the lines of “oh, good.” And that was it.
The lowlight of being here: being here. It is a tiny crossroads community on a busy and not terribly exciting fourlane highway, with a cheesy but comfortable motel , complete with a chamber-man named Bubba. As Jack Paar used to say—I kid you not, I asked Bubba if he was joking when he told me his name, and he informed me that he was born Curtis but that everyone has called him Bubba since he can remember. Him and half the state, I assume.
How I got to this motel, the Value Inn, is cool. I aas about 7 miles east of Walnut, having left the Talley’s birthday party, when a blue Lincoln Continental pulled up alongside of me in the fast lane of the east bound highway. (I walk against traffic so I can see what is coming). A well appointed looking couple asked me if I was okaty and if I needed anything. I thanked them for stopping and told them I was fine. The asked if I would allow them to put me up for a night at the motel in Walnut and I accepted, happily. They were expecting me to put my gear in their car and ride the 7 or 8 miles, but I told them that I needed to walk there, as an integrity thing, and they said that was fine. They said when I got to the motel my room would be waiting. I fully expected that it would not be the case when I finally arrived but lo and behold, I had a room, and Bubba was just putting the sheets on the bed. The place had no wifi, but a Subway shop next door did, and I went there to get online some of the time but other times just sat outside the motel on a cool swing that faced the sandwich shop. The weather forecast was not good for two days and I stayed a second night to let the feet heal more and to stay dry. The downside to the town, again, is that there is nothing much there, and other than a small downtown area that is actually mostly burned out buildings, it’s a ghost town once you get off the intersection where the motel is.
Mississippi is nothing like I expected, and yet a lot like I expected. I thought I would see a lot of black folks, but I haven’t. I thought I’d hear a lot of anti-New York/northern states rhetoric, but I have not. I actually watched a Yankees game for while with Bubba and other than the whole idea down here that New York is just a city, instead of a big state with mostly farmlands, he had no bad notions of my birthplace. Maybe he was being polite (the south is all about being po-lite) but there really doesn’t seem to be as much of that divide still alive here inNorth Mississippi. Granted, Im only a few miles from the northern border with Tennessee, and there is a lot of state I did not see, but my experience here has been a good one on a personal level, if not on a physical level, sleep and weather wise.
So I will move on today, a few days from Memphis. I am somewhat afraid of what I will find there, since several people, Bubba included, warned me that Memphis is a very crime filled place. He did tell me that once I make it across the mighty Mississip I will be okay in West Memphis, Arkansas, but Ill see. I have a couple things I want to do in Memphis and will share them once I get there. I’ll stick to major roads and walk as safely and as fast as I can. It’s a big area and a motel for a night or two might be unavoidable.
Its been a busy and harrowing week. Tornadoes in Alabama, gunshots on a sleepless night in Corinth, the excitement of seeing Bin Laden finally erased from humanity, and more. And to think I am opnly about a fifth of the way there.
Also, please remember to make contributions to WhyHunger.org. They are a huge reason I am doing this and they have been inundated with requests for help in Alabama, trying to get food to the people who lost everything there. I don’t care of you donate in my name or not—it’s all going for a good cause so please find it in your hearts to throw a few bucks their way, even if you have already donated. Ill walk another mile of youll donate another dollar.
Seeing these brave people last week go through so much pain and loss is almost too much to bear. But we must. And as human beings on this big old planet we owe it to each other to help each other when it is needed. The days of greed and “Haves versus have nots” need to stop. We are all in this together. Forget politics. Forget media and celebrity. Forget hating other human beings. Remember love. It’s all we need. John Lennon said that.
Onward to Memphis, Tennessee! I said THAT.