Musician's Widow

Day 365 -- My final image

This project started out as simply something fun to do. A friend had recently done a 365, and it intrigued me so much that I felt compelled to start my own.

I read up on the history of Project 365, and I read countless blogs about the project. A few things that stuck out for me about the project were:

1) It would show you through the course of a year the things that are most important to you, because it’ll be the thing(s) you photograph most. If this were the case then I could be called an alcoholic who loves cats. As many pictures of various alcoholic beverages and my cats appeared time and time again.

2) It would make you a better photographer. YES! This is most definitely did. I am amazed by how my skills in photography advanced through the year, and beyond that, how my thirst to learn more about photography also grew. Yes, I am ending my Project 365, but I am in no way ending my interest and education into photography. I want better cameras. I want more opportunities. I will continue on this path that Project 365 took me on.

3) Its a quick glance at the last year. This is so true.

My Project 365 started on my 28th birthday, and I ultimately documented my 29th year of life. I can look back on this project and see precisely where I was on any given day. Some of my photos are simply artistic and truly don’t tell any sort of a story. But a vast majority of them tell me where I was and what I was doing that day. Trips to Texas, Christmas in Oregon. Every single holiday. They are all there in those photos.

As I’ve said, I’m not going into another Project 365 at this time. I will eventually pick up the project again in the future. Perhaps when my first child is born I’ll document their first year. Or something of that nature.

For now, I plan to begin participating in Sarcastic Mom’s Weekly Winners. Should she end that at any time, I will continue on with that plan of action for awhile. So instead of taking a photo every day, I will take pictures throughout the week, and every Sunday (or as close as possible!) Iwill post in this blog my “weekly winners.” In effect, it’ll be a Project 365, only without the pressure of photographing EVERY day, and without the pressure of choosing only one photo each day. It’ll be a week at a time.

Another discovery I made was that I tended to do self portraits on Saturdays. So for my own self, I plan to do a year-long “Self Portrait Saturday” project. 52 photos of myself to document how my looks change over a year. THAT should be fun and scary.

Without further adeau, though, I present to you, My Project 365.

Out with the old! In with the new! Isn’t that the best way??

Not necessarily. I look around sometimes, and I feel a deep sadness in my heart when I see old abandoned buildings that once stood tall and proud. They were the new, bright and shiny location once upon a time. Today, they sit forgotten and ignored. Empty shells where perhaps a lonely ghost wonders, or perhaps a homeless man or woman finds shelter.

As I write this I realize I could be equally writing about my hometown as I am about my current town.

Walk through the downtown square of my hometown, and you’ll find many empty store fronts. Yes, some now house businesses, but it is nothing like the bustling square my dad talks about it having been at one time.

The drug store that had anchored downtown for so many years finally closed a couple years ago, sending its clients to the CVS Pharmacy at the edge of town. The jewelry store where many of my graduation gifts came from, where my mother’s engagement ring came from, where my brother and sister-in-law registered for their wedding, closed a few years ago. That location, luckily, does now have a new tenant. Both national banks remain, and we are the county seat and trials do keep people coming into downtown.

However, if you look at the sides of the buildings, you can still faintly see the advertising that had once been painted there. Western Auto, Sears, and other department stores have long ago left. The jail is now a museum.

I look at old photos of my hometown, and its almost as if you can feel the town’s energy cutting through the years. A bustling, busy square. Back when taking trips to the bigger named stores a couple towns over was a big trip… treated more like an event than something we just do without thinking about anymore.

Out with the old. In with the new. More is better. Go! Go! Go!

The problem is that out with the old often doesn’t mean it goes away. It means its left to decay and sit as a shadow of what it once was.

Arcade

It’s no secret that I absolutely love Printer’s Alley in downtown Nashville. That little strip of bricked road has this amazing vibe that you feel if you only stop for a moment and let it sink into your soul. It’s history excites me. I want to tell the world all about it! A dream of mine is to write a book on the Alley to do just that! Its something I need to do soon before the people who can tell the tales of its glory days, the days when it was the Vegas Strip of all the South, start to die off and its interesting (and often sordid!) history is silenced for good.

All of Nashville’s history interests me. I could — and have — spent hours on end in the public library researching the city’s history. I wish I’d loved the subject in general this much when I was in school!

However, as I drive through the streets of my city and I look up in awe at the high rises, I also look down and see many forgotten buildings — not unlike my hometown. I stroll through the Arcade, a place once bustling with so much activity, and I see only a shadow of what it once was.

Friends who grew up in Nashville, who remember the glory days of the Alley and Nashville in general, tell the tales of their memories, and I find myself enthralled. I hang on to every word. I imagine my eyes shine like a child’s would at Christmas. I feel at the same time, though, a sadness deep down to see so much changed and lost. I see my beloved Alley now being ignored, almost as if the powers that be wish it would just go away.

Out with the old. In with the new.

I am perhaps one of the minority that hates the idea of the new convention center downtown. I ask, “WHY?” as I point at the many empty large facilities that dot downtown. Some of which that have long been ignored. Buildings that were once the biggest thing going, now left empty and ignored. Hosting the random show here and there, but on a whole no longer loved as they once were.

An article appeared the City Paper recently that echoed my melancholy thoughts perfectly as it questioned the closing of the fairgrounds.

“First they moved the Grand Ole Opry out of town, and now they’re running stock car racing out,” Denson said. “They’re doing away with the history and tradition that made our city so unique and special. It’s sad to see.”

It’s sad to see. Call me a sentimental fool, but I think so much of what made Nashville special is ever so slowly being lost. I could also very easily say the same about my hometown in Texas, only my hometown just stopped all together. Nashville is at least progressing as it forgets its past.

And while the city still loves to tout its Lower Broadway and its honky-tonks, the dirt and grime were cleaned up considerably in the past couple of decades, turning seedy into trendy. — City Paper Article

I’m all for making the city safer, and I am all for growth. If you don’t grow you’ll die on the vine. But as you grow, you can’t forget where you came from. That goes for cities just as much as it does individuals. Learn from the past. Honor the past. Keep a bit of the old as you bring in the new.

November was once a month I would become downright GIDDY about arriving for the simple fact that it meant my birthday was near. Today? I look at my November calendar and all I see is… a lot going on!

November Birthdays

First and foremost is definitely BIRTHDAYS! My friend, Anne, has her birthday on the 5th. I’m right behind her on the 10th. My husband is the 19th, and my Mom’s is on the 22nd! Not to mention the countless other friends whose birthdays land this month… I think if we tried to have one big joint birthday party we’d have to have two full size sheet cakes to fit all the names!

Right there with birthdays, I can’t forget Anniversaries. My brother and sister-in-law got married on the 11th (14 years!) and our friend’s Brian and Kristen got married on the 19th (4 years!).

Important holidays: Veterans Day (11th) and Thanksgiving (26th). And of course we can’t forget National Deviled Egg Day (today!), Pack Your Mom Lunch Day (15th), and Stay At Home Because You’re Well Day (30th). (For more of these days, visit this list on About.com.)

Among these days, I am participating in NaNoWriMo. I’ve mentioned this before, but now its begun. I’m glad to say that as of right now, I am right on target to do this. Ask me again in a week how I’m doing. Then again, don’t ask. I’ll tell you on my own soon, I am sure.

On November 9th, I end my very first Project 365. In one way, I will be really glad to see it come to an end. In another, I’m sad to see it end, and I am trying to come up with my own project to replace it. I might continue on with it, but give it some sort of twist. I don’t know for sure yet. I have 8 days to decide. I’ll let you know what I decide then.

10 Years Later...

November 18th is the 10 year anniversary of the Aggie Bonfire collapse. You can rest assured I’ll have a full entry that day about it, but it is yet another anniversary that lands in this month.

In another sad memory, 10 years ago my brother was in an auto accident (on my birthday) that certainly changed my driving habits, what I drive, and without a doubt made me stop taking mine and my family and friend’s safety for granted.

Finally, big games to be played by Aggies this month. They will face Colorado, Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas this month. The Texas is back ON Thanksgiving, where it rightfully belongs. Again… that’s another entry for a later date.

Lots going on this month! I just hope I can keep up!