"BOOGER TOWN AND COAL CHUTE BOTTOM"

No.365-L

No. 365-M in my 365/2010 series

How many of my Huntsville FB friends remember Booger Town?

How many of my Aberdeen FB friends remember Coal Chute Bottom?

I'm posting these two today because they are so similar in concept, idea and reason for me doing them.

I was googling, the other day for shanty towns, and first image caught my eye. It brought back so many images in my head of smells, textures, and images of wet places and feelings of depressing things as a child. Where I lived and some of the things I grew up with. Come to find out that I was born less than a mile from the place where the googled photo was taken. That picture was of "Boogie Bottom" in Huntsville Ala. I was born in Lincoln Village. I remember when it rains it was so depressing to be out doors, the ground was always wet and smelly with all the chicken and animals all around. I can still smell those smells and feel the discomfort I had as a child.

The second Painting is from memory of "Coal Chute Bottom, in Aberdeen, Mississippi. When I first arrived in Aberdeen in 1964 I learned of this section of town. It was really depressing to see how the people lived and in what condition the people lived. later around 1965 my job took me into that part of town almost daily, I got to know the people living there and could appreciate how they existed. They were happy and contented people. I remember when my brother visited me in 1966, I took him to coal chute to show him the condition of the area and to let him meet some of the people. Of course we were invited in, (southern hospital is extended everywhere in Aberdeen) and when my brother sat down on the "couch" a pig ran out from under it between his legs. These areas no longer exist.

I think I'm running out of days for the things I still want to finish and post to this 365/2010 series.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!