Two Days in the Delta
I feel like an old, old woman after two days of riding the bus around the Mississippi Delta. I confess to being geographically challenged and ignorant of the Delta before this. I actually thought the Delta was the area around New Orleans, rather than the section of alluvial land further north between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.
I also confess to being musically challenged because while I have heard of BB King, I did not know Charlie Patton or Robert Johnson before Monday’s endless bus ride. Growing up in Motown, I started to think of them as the Smokey Robinson and Little Stevie Wonder of the South. We were educated by several Blues scholars who were very excited about the “Blues Trail” of markers, commemorating their legendary heroes. I refused to go to Charlie Patton’s grave, however, because we were warned that the recent mowing may have scared up some snakes!
Speaking of snakes (skipping the Po Monkey’s scene altogether, under the bus motto of “what happens at Po Monkey’s stays at Po Monkey’s”) they were mentioned again today at Parchman Prison as one possible source of the mysterious “bologna” or “wolf booty” that the inmates are served for lunch. We were privileged to see the video monitoring room where over 300 cameras capture live images of all sections of the prison. We were all stunned to see a red liquid pooling out into the hall from a cell and sure enough, the monitors said it was blood from an inmate who had cut himself. They didn’t seem to be too concerned, as they said it was a common technique to get into the camp hospital.
Parchman turned out to be pretty intense, made all the more meaningful to me because of the recent experience of a close family member of mine who was recently released from prison. Many details in the speeches by the inmates resonated with me, especially the ones about family. Dr. Hattery says that when a person is imprisoned, his/her entire family is also imprisoned and that seems very true.