Four Generations Photo
This four-generation photo was submitted by RN-T reader Jessica
Fischer.
The photo features Jim Mccubbin, Carleen Jones (his daughter), Jessica Fisher (Carleen’s daughter) and Elijah Fisher (Jessica’s son).
Jim just celebrated his 100th birthday. “My grandfather lives at the Renaissance Marquis across from Georgia Highlands College,” Jessica said. “He is a World War II veteran. Over his time in the Air Force, he was a pilot of the P-51 Mustang. He was an ace pilot who shot down 9 enemy planes, was a prisoner of war and was missing in action for a bit. They fed him so little he could barely stand up. He even ate worms to stay alive. But he was such a warrior, made it through and still lives to tell many impressive stories.”
On March 5, Jim celebrated his 100th birthday and has been active all his life, playing tennis, teaching his grandchildren life skills, walking several miles and to this day, enjoys walking around the lake at Georgia Highlands College, feeding the ducks as he takes in the beautiful scenery.
“This man has lived a wonderful life and has touched many along the way,” his granddaughter said. “He has been an incredible leader for our family and each person he meets along his journey in life. We love him and are so proud of who he is and just wanted to share with everyone else how great 100 years looks.”
From Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism
The Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism announces a call for entries for the 2021 Georgia’s Rome Photo/video Contest & Exhibition. Photographers and videographers are encouraged to submit photos and videos that showcase the beauty of Rome, Cave Spring and Floyd County. Prizes will be awarded and it is free to enter.
Participants can submit entries in nine categories to include Historic Sights, Outdoors, Downtown Rome, Cave Spring, Events, Paws Permitted, Food, Holiday, Sports and Video. Entries will be accepted March 11 through April 25.
The public will have the opportunity to voice their opinion for the People’s Choice Awards for best photo and best video. All entrants’ photos will be uploaded onto the Georgia’s Rome Facebook page, and all videos will be uploaded to the Georgia’s Rome Youtube page. The public will be invited to vote April 26-29. The photo and video with the most combined Likes, Comments, and Shares will each win the People’s Choice Award.
Photos and videos will be considered for selection in the exhibition from all entries received. An exhibition for the photos and videos selected will be held at the Rome Area History Center June 8-19. Of the photos submitted for the exhibition, prizes will be awarded 1st Place ($100 Gift Card), 2nd Place ($50 Gift Card) and 3rd Place ($25 Gift Card). People’s Choice awards ($50 Gift Card) will be selected by the public online. Winners will select a gift card from any one of Georgia’s
Rome Hospitality Members: Restaurants, Retailers, Service providers, Hotels. Awards and prizes will be presented at the opening reception to be held Tuesday, June 8, 5-7 pm.
Imagery that best captures the uniqueness and beauty of Georgia’s Rome will be selected for the exhibition. All entries will be considered, however preference will be given to imagery captured in high resolution.
“We encourage participants to submit entries that share a sense of place,” said Kristi
Kent, communications director for Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism. “Submissions should capture the beautiful qualities and characteristics of Rome that make our town unique.”
Photography and video selections will be showcased throughout the year in print and online with credits to the photographer and/or videographer. Photographers whose work is selected for the exhibition will have the option to sell their work displayed at the exhibition and will retain 100% of the total sale.
Submit entries online at Romegeorgia.org/exhibit. Entries may also be submitted on a USB drive with completed entry form (available at Romegeorgia. org/exhibit) and delivered or mailed to the Georgia’s Rome Welcome Center & Gift Shop located at 402 Civic Center Drive, Rome, GA 30161.
For complete details on image and video formats, entry forms, submission guidelines, and the exhibition, please visit Romegeorgia.org/exhibit or call 706-295-5576.
“We must be rooted in the absence of a place. We must take the feeling of home into exile.”
— Simone Weil Growing up, underlying all the awkwardness and feelings of not belonging despite my outward successes and what most people thought, I knew I would leave home and not return. Deep within me, though, I harbored an idea I would return and bring with me a more confident and proven history. If Simone Weil is correct, I have been in exile long enough any idea of returning to those midland South Carolina sand hills has left me for good. Home, after many years, means something entirely different, though I agree, the feeling of home remains. Discarding it would mean a loss of all self. Like self, I am forever tied to it. Home, after all, is not just where you are from but who you are, an idea rooted both deep within that self and the examination of perspective against one’s surroundings. Finding home meant leaving home.
One incontrovertible memory from those years is Mother’s love of vegetables and my equal dislike of them. Part of leaving home meant never having to be forced to sit at the table until finished and consume cruciferous vegetables. I longed to be free from the dogma of “it’s good for you.” Rebellion began young in me, enough that my sister and I frustrated Mom by covering our turnips with a napkin as if we were finished and telling her so. She knew, of course, and relented. Sometimes we won, mostly, she did. Forced consumption and submission was a cross I bore, my rebellion, Mom’s, which is also the meaning of cruciferous — bearing a cross. Or maybe, serving me turnips was her grand plan to get me to leave home. Well, it worked.
There are other crosses to bear in life. Some, we choose. Some, we do not. Leaving home, being free from parental constraints was the lie in my rebellion. Moving on just meant new constraints would come. I have harbored other lies, perpetuated them for my convenience. Time rinsed out those lies formed at home, but what is left are the truths learned that won’t die, in my lifetime and the lifetimes to follow.
I wonder if what we believe does not have an ingredient of being man-made, some hybrid formed, a falseness to shield us from truth and God’s love. Maybe those hybrids are the means by which we leave God because facing Him is too terrifying. Doing so exposes our lies and who we are. Home is never far.
But is truth not also like home, rooted in its absence, the feeling of it follows us into our self-imposed exile, our self-seeking comfort and in some strange way, brings us around to God.
Simone Weil again: the feeling of being at home, that’s what we’re meant to retain, that’s what will save us. There is a resignation in this statement, not defeat, but recognition. That’s what truth does. No lie.
Would you please pass the turnips?