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Memorial Day used to be an all day trip to the cemeteries.
Most family plots held everyone since families still lived close to one another
as opposed to moving far away. Also almost everyone had a soldier from some war
buried near home. Picnic lunches were packed, hoes for weeding and new flowers
for planting were loaded. I remember my grandmother-in-law telling about the
hired hands going along to help in the South. It was a day of meeting, catching
up on stories, of exchanging gossip.
DH went to small rural school. The building was closed in
1967 for consolidation. But the community has worked hard to keep that old
building in one piece and operational for local events. There is an all school reunion
held there every Memorial Day weekend assuming folks are about doing cemeteries
by day. Last night we drove over to attend. Now the tables are not packed so
closely together as they once were. We give uncomfortable laughs that we are
moving closer to the front of the gym each year. With no new classes, the room
shrinks with each year’s losses. This year one woman at the first table had
graduated 76 years ago! The gathering is a dying breed of people. These folks
are independent farmers, dressed in their best jeans and plaid shirts for the occasion.
Tan lines across their foreheads shine on one of the few occasions they leave
their caps at home. The night starts with the Pledge of Allegiance and closes
with singing God Bless America.
Today the rain continues here. Slow and steady, nice if it
had not done it most of May. I lounged about, reading and writing letters. I
got another rejection this afternoon which makes it official: everything but a
piece of fiction I sent out in the winter has returned home like carrier pigeons! So I must either give up or
dig back in finding new markets.
When I started writing, publishing was still “old style” in
that I submitted and was either rejected or published for money. Now the
developments are that writers other than staff writers or powerhouse novelists
either write for free or publish their own work. Now it costs to put your work
out there. Entry fees to contests are large enough to buy a nice steak. Some
magazines now even charge just to read your work! If you are published, often your pay is a
copy of the publication or graciously being allowed to buy one at reduced
prices. Ah, but Walmart will not accept that in trade for milk and bread!
I know change is the operative word in this world, but I am an
old-fashioned gal. I long for the old traditions of Decoration Day, for editors
like Maxwell Perkins, to see publications with short fiction, and writers like
Cather, Hemingway, and Sinclair Lewis. If you are snickering at my folly, just consider
the source!
Have a good Memorial Day and be grateful to our veterans.
6 comments:
I am so sorry that you have met with rejections - but please don't give up. I love your way with words, and hope that someday I will see more of it than your blog posts.
Your post was a blast from the past. I remember my dad going to a rural burial plot on Decoration Day to visit relatives' graves.
I feel the same way about the writing industry. Markets are shrinking and more space is being reserved in publications for advertising. Still, I plod on. Wishing you success in placing your work.
Claudia--I remember well going with the family to cemeteries on this holiday to decorate the burial plots.
Keep the flames of your nostalgia burning. Once our memories are gone, they're gone forever... unless we write about them.
Claudia, I agree about the "old days!" I was at a small town (Greenfield, Iowa) Decoration Day ceremony a few years ago and it was very powerful! Plus, there were crosses for deceased family members. Please don't give up on your writing!! I agree with Elephant's Child! You have a remarkable way with words and I envy you for your talent. Wish you were here (again!) and that we could sit and chat for days and days! :)
First, try not to be too discouraged with those rejections. I've had rejections that I've resubmitted turn out to be published anyway. This is such a subjective business!
The cemetery gatherings you mention I do remember, though nothing so extensive in my experience. And now, being scattered to the four corners, we've lost the ability to do more than say prayers of remembrance.
Though we lived close by the area cemetery, we never participated in Decoration Day. Now that there are5 different family plots there--and I live the closest--I go occasionally and change out the flowers. Saturday before this Memorial Day, I walked there carrying a big sack of new flowers, some old ones, filler, and my wire pliers. It was about noon. Being a trustee, I was amazed (appalled?) that the place had not been mowed. I pulled weeds and placed fresh (silk, but fresh in color) stems. After I'd huffed and puffed back up the hill after an hour and a half, I called another trustee and he mowed that afternoon.
Re writing, turn those mss around with a new envelope, stamp, address and send them out again. Persistence pays (pun intended) in publication, but not always in $$. Wish I lived close enough to visit, too.
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