Appalachia, Okefenokee, the Lowcountry, Florida springs, remote barrier islands of Georgia, treehouse hostels, Indian mounds, cane cookings, martial arts tournaments, old family farms in Tennessee and more: Join author Michele Roldán-Shaw on Friday, July 8 at 6:30 p.m. as she reads selections from her new self-published “zine” about rambling around the South. The event is free, kid-friendly and will take place at ARTworks in Beaufort Town Center, (K-Mart/Bi-Lo at 2127 Boundary Street, 29902.) Copies of the zine, which features handmade covers and twine binding, will be for sale.
Michele is based in Bluffton and has been doing a zine — a self-published cut ‘n’ paste magazine — for more than a decade. She has written extensively about the Lowcountry and travels abroad. The “Rambler’s Life” project was inspired by the recession and her decision to forgo renting in favor of flying by the seat of her pants, which ended up taking her all over the South. Along the way she saw many beautiful places, met colorful Southern characters and learned a lot of lessons. Now she hopes others will share in the enthusiasm of her journeys.
An excerpt from “Ain’t a Rambler’s Life Fine:” “Lord, I love the South! How can it be that I thrill when I see a red clay road lined with broom straw and loblolly pines — three different levels of flat straightness — or a sharecropper shack under an oak? What is the feeling in an old man on his front porch, a scraggly second-growth cypress swamp with that bright green film over the water, a mean-lookin’ country store with bars on the windows and some black folks cuttin’ up in the parking lot? A possum, a junk pile, a white-steepled Baptist church! Redbirds, collard patches, signs that say “TOMATOE”! How could I ever leave the South? But I always feel that way when I go places, and of course I’ll ramble on ….”
This project is partially funded through a grant from the Arts Council of Beaufort County with funds from the city of Beaufort and South Carolina Arts Commission through the NEA. Additional funding is from the John & Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.
For more information, visit www.ArtWorksInBeaufort.org.
