Hint of Winter

I remember back in the late 70s and early 80s when Halloween meant waist high snow berms while walking with the kids for trick or treat.  Friday night we had hint of winter as we walked to Loussac to see the movie Blood Done Sign My Name about Ben Chavis Jr. (who was there) and it started to hail.



As we got to Seward Highway the sunset was putting on a fiery show.  It was almost 6pm.  Sunrise today was 9:35am.  We're losing about five and a half minutes of daylight each day now.

And yes, the movie was good.  Ben Chavis, in the movie, was a young teacher in a still all black school in Oxford, North Carolina when a returning black Vietnam Vet was shot and beaten by a white store owner and his sons and found not guilty.  As he walks out of the school to take his class to the courthouse, the whole school follows him.   This eventually led to an economic boycott of the white shops in town by the black population and slow changes in how things worked.  It was neat to have the real Ben Chavis there after the film to answer questions.

You'd think that in times of economic stress, more people would take advantage of free events like this where you get to see a recent movie (2009) and even talk to one of the players in the civil rights movement in the United States.