loving day

loving vs virginia . and pain in my heart

my mom, my dad, and me - manomet, massachusettes

that’s pip me with my folks at the beach in the early 70s. family lore says i could not abide touching the sand.

my parents got married in September of 1966 at trinity church in boston. Loving vs Virginia Supreme Court decision occurred june 12, 1967.

they would tell the story, when they were standing with the priest outside the church near boston commons after the wedding rehearsal, a couple from scotland came up to them and asked, "do they let blacks and whites marry in this country?" ... again. it was 1966 and the answer was well. no, not really.

i know lots of kids parents divorced but i always thought it *funny* that it would consistently be one of the very first questions anyone would ask me about them, if they stayed married. they were in love and committed to each other for 40 years separated only by the death of my mum.

my folks both were profs at the university of iowa. the first photo is from a hike at lake mcbride...early 80s some time. the middle photo is later, at their home in maine. the last photo is from an xmas in iowa where they were playing our new speak and spell.

many years later - during the first go-round with the toxic orange slime, we created a series of hand silkscreened posters of important folks fighting the good fight, getting in good trouble. the poster of maxine waters “reclaiming my time” made its way into the hands of a friend and colleague of ms. waters’ - he researched us and reached out to express his joy that we honored her in our work. thru our talks it was realized that a friend of his was on the board of trinity at the time of my parents’ wedding and would have had to approve the ceremony.

i think of that often.

my folks in their first home in windsor, ct.

man i miss them so much. very cool, kind and very intelligent people. i wish you could meet them. they were awesome.

xoxo
c