If you’ve ever spent time in the Mississippi Delta, you likely noticed, among other things, the presence of tamales on nearly every menu and tamale stands in most towns. Sometimes literally driving down the highway.
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Being a regular, and being around other regulars - the fifth quality of third places – can change folks’ lives.
Regulars transform from strangers into trusted friends, and can change your perspective.
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For all our talk of mental health these days, third places, and the short walk or bike ride they require to visit, can be an antidote.
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I garden because my mother gardens.
My mother gardens because her father gardened, and his people gardened, and their people gardened.
We come from a long line of east Mississippi dirt farmers.
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Let’s be super clear –the magic of third places comes from the literal space and time they provide us to talk to each other. Not talk at each other. Not text each other. Not send DMs. But the ability to have real, meandering conversations, in person.
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If you live in the Driftless region of the Midwest, you hopefully know about Inspire(d) Media, a magazine I have been a fan of for years for obvious reasons.
I was real, real excited to be included both as the cover artist for their Summer 2024 issue and in a feature article inside.
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I made a short video about the creation of Ingrained Care, a painting inspired a conversation I had in 2019 with Drick Rodgers and Julia Rodgers Clark in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Watch the painting unfold and read the community story that inspired it.
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As places for anybody and everybody, pubs, parks, piers, and public libraries epitomize third places.
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I made a short video about the early stages of Cultivation, a painting that’s based on a conversation I had in 2019 with Benjamin Saulsberry, Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.
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During 2022, I interviewed a dozen Oskaloosa residents in a variety of places: Smokey Row coffee shop, private homes, downtown offices, golf carts, and Penn Central Mall. Among the myriad things I learned about the community is that’s a whole lot going on in Oskaloosa. Like a LOT.
As you travel through Iowa, I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. Here are a few recommendations for your trip.
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So let’s get back to third places.
For the next few months, I’ll introduce each of the six essential qualities that effective third places share, why they matter, and wisdom we can glean for other parts of our lives.
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The Oskaloosa Public Library was built in 1903 with support from a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation and leadership from the Oskaloosa Women’s Club. Beyond books, the Oskaloosa Public Library provides cultural programming, language classes, reading programs, music events, a seed library, a makerspace, a library of things, and a genealogy room.
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If you’re not even sure what your first or second place is, do not fret.
According to the late Ray Oldenberg, first places are your home place, second places are your workplace, and third places are where you go to connect with people, blow off steam, and have a good conversation.
This can look like many things to many folks: coffee shops, bars, gyms, barber shops/salons, diners, libraries.
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In 2011, Oskaloosa’s Skate and Bike Park broke ground. This urban park sits north of Penn Central Mall and downtown Oskaloosa and was funded by grants from the Tony Hawk Foundation, the MCRF, local donations, and young folks fundraising.
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The gradual evolution of A Beauty We Didn’t Expect, acrylic and tempera on wood panel, 36” x 48”, 2021.
The later stages, the slower the progress. It took me several minutes to detect the differences between images eight and nine. (They’re there, I promise.)
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I’m happy to report that I am contacted monthly, and increasingly weekly, by someone in Iowa who wants to begin a community mural project. The smallest community to date was a call from McIntire, Iowa (pop 122). The fact that more and more communities are finding value in community art projects fills me with joy.
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Get a peek at the inspiration behind and the unfolding of The Book Vault, the first painting of 2024…
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“On May 13, 2021, history was made once again in Marks, Mississippi. After three years of planning and hard work… the Civil Rights Marks Mule Train Interpretive Trail was unveiled to commemorate the 53rd Anniversary of the 1968 Mule Train & Martin Luther King, Jr’s Poor People’s Campaign.
This historic trail showcased eleven markers, displaying the history and activities, which took place fifty-three years ago of Dr. King’s visit to Marks/Quitman County, and earned Marks the duly distinction of being known as the ‘Home of the Mule Train.’ ” Text by Velma Benson-Wilson and Cynthia Goodloe Palmer
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Last week, I shared a Fairly Comprehensive List of 2024 Community Events in the Mississippi Delta-ish. Not to be outdone by my own self (idk), I upped the ante and embarked on creating one for Iowa, my current home.
To do this well, I hit up the big guns: my top-notch colleagues in the Community and Economic Development unit at Iowa State Extension and Outreach and Husband Aaron.
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As January is for plan-making, and I’m feeling a touch homesick for the Sipp, I thought I’d make a list for, well, pretty much everybody: including all you fellow Mississippians, you Mississippi-appreciators, you adventurous folk always gunnin’ for a road trip, and especially for you folks who’ve never been to Mississippi, but have a lot of preconceived notions about it. :)
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