Watch for my stories from the Old Man River Mississippi on http://emmapalova.com
Pictured in the selfie are Ludek and Emma in McGregor, Iowa on the banks of the big river.
It was a trip into the past at its best. I rediscovered treasures like Paper Moon for my cover photo and the magnificent river.
Father, the founder of immigration
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- As we ready to head out west for the Rendezvous in Prairie du Chien, I can’t help but think about my father Vaclav Konecny. Mom Ella calls him the founder of immigration.
“Without him we’d be back home,” she said.
I never know if mom is sarcastic when she says this.
Once my father sets his mind on something, he goes and pursues it until he gets it. It doesn’t matter what it is. It can be a math problem, a new shower or toilet.
“He’s a perfectionist,” mom says about dad.
Dad, former math professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, still calculates math problems for journals. He will be 80 this July. He has always been fascinated by Fermat’s Last Theorem and sought to solve it. Originally, a physicist, dad loves Einstein’s relativity theory and makes endless jokes about it.
He has proposed many math problems himself.
“That can sometimes be harder than solving them,” dad says.
Math is still the anchor of his life to which he turns when times are good or bad.
“In my mind, I can travel anywhere,” he said.
His co-anchors are languages. At 60, he learned Spanish motivated by a trip to Mexico and Spain. At 75, dad started studying French motivated by my daughter Emma’s wedding in France.
Dad now reads novels in Spanish and French.
He relentlessly pursues perfection in all its forms, whether intellectual or physical. Dad has always been on a strict diet, never gaining an extra pound.
“He gets his discipline from the seminary,” Ella says.
Both dad and his brother Tony went to the seminary in Kromeriz.
But, paternal grandpa and grandma too requested 100 percent obedience. I found that out the hard way when we went back to Czechoslovakia in 1973 from the USA. We lived in their house under strict rules.
The ruling nature of grandparents has never transferred on my dad.
“He never yells,” says mom, “he’s forever patient.”
Dad can patiently wait for hours at the airport for a delayed plane. His quest for perfection has rubbed off to a certain point on me; that is in my creative work. But, I lack both his discipline and obedience.
Only once, dad yelled at mom, when he was teaching her how to drive in Africa.
Dad taught me how to drive in 1990 in Big Rapids.
“The car is a weapon,” he said, “be careful with it.”
Unlike my mom, dad has always been encouraging and positive about everything.
“You have to pursue things,” he says.
A great educator and a lifelong student, dad continues to pursue things with the same energy he had, when he emigrated some 50 years ago.
Happy Father’s Day, dad
Emma
Copyright (c) 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
Rendezvous in Prairie II
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI- I still have souvenirs from those 19 months of life from 2007 to 2009 when I lived alone in our house, while husband Ludek was working in Prairie.
These include trapper’s fur sacs, collector metal signs and the transporter bag for food and snacks.
But, what I find precious about the time on the Mississippi is that we made good friends. Brian and Sheryl Groen took us for a ride on the river that I will never forget.
We discovered a sunken ship that we called the Mississippi Titanic, and went under a bridge that was fixed with clamps.
Even though Prairie is isolated, the area around the river is hauntingly beautiful especially at night. It’s a wildlife paradise with eagles nesting and turtles in the river.
Ludek changed his lodgings quite a bit as he moved across the river to McGregor in Iowa.
I like McGregor a lot as it reminds me of European spa towns. There were some great finds in McGregor as well. I discovered a store with costumes owned by a gentleman who makes costumes for Hollywood.
He also built a Bed & Bath complete with a salon downstairs.
The Rendezvous, one of its kind in North America, takes place on the Feriole Island in Prairie on Father’s Day weekend.
I find it very authentic with trappers in teepees and real Indian food. There are plenty of treasures to purchase.
“It was a consolation for what happened to us,” I always say.
To be continued
Copyright © 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
Rendezvous in Prairie du Chien
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI – One of the most difficult times in my life came in the summer of 2007.
My husband Ludek lost his mold making job in the nearby Grand Rapids. After months of searching, he couldn’t find a job in our area.
He finally landed a job at Zeman’s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm was opening a new mold making shop in Prairie du Chien located on the Mississippi River right on the border with Iowa.
The town is approximately eight hours away from where we live.
Ludek left on Aug.19 of 2007 before the last concert of the season got rained out. I have great photos of the storm moving in with scary funnel dark clouds.
I had to stay back in Michigan because of my reporting job and our house. I would be alone for the next two winters.
Looking back I don’t know what was the hardest whether the loneliness, the harsh winters or a combination of everything.
The dog got sick, I got sick, the car broke down and the snow kept falling.
At first Ludek was driving every weekend home, but it got to be too much.
I dreaded every Sunday afternoon when he left for the eight hour drive through Chicago. I got him a transporter bag for snacks and food.
Sometimes he took the boat from Muskegon across Lake Michigan. I joined him a few times for a wild ride on rough waters.
I’ve never liked Sundays, but I started hating them. Even today seven years later, I still can recall the desperation of those moments.
Twice I took the Amtrak train to LaCrosse to visit with Ludek. I wrote on the train.
I was even more desperate when I arrived in Prairie because of its isolation from the world.
We stayed in an apartment in downtown on Main Street near an Irish pub Mulligan’s. They had awesome pork right from Iowa. Ludek liked going to Sawmill bar after he arrived at night in Prairie.
We tried to find good things about the whole situation, and one of them is the Rendezvous, a trapper re-enactment one of a kind in the USA.
The Rendezvous is always held on Father’s Day weekend.
…..to be continued
Copyright © 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
Search for contributors
Based on a suggestion from glassware development services, I would love to include other people’s work on my blog for diversity and increased exposure.
If you are interested e-mail Emma Palova at emmapalova@yahoo.com
I am looking for various content that can range from fun slice-of-life pieces to bigger issues, but basically sky is the limit.
Thank you
Emma
Literacy against mental illness stigma
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- “Where are my men?”
Screams a war veteran with a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as he storms into a Battle Creek restaurant thinking it’s a battlefield somewhere in Afghanistan.
The guests call police on him rather than perform CPR. The guy ends up in jail.
Fiction?
No, true.
But what is CPR for mental illnesses?
“Literacy and awareness,” says Robert Lathers, director of Ionia County Community Mental Health. “Mental health literacy.”
Lathers extensively spoke about an important societal issue, which is reducing the stigma of mental illness. He also compared the issue to the fight against racism.
“Let’s understand mental illness first,” he said.
Lathers teaches classes on cultural competency or diversity for mental health workers.
“Nobody else wants to do it or come to them,” he said. “Now, I have a full classroom.”
Diversity and cultural competency including acceptance is a mindset based on personal beliefs. That can be changed, according to Lathers.
“We need to experience humanity,” he said, “and understand the culture of how we grew up.”
We can experience humanity by talking about what we had for dinner on Sundays as well, laughed Lathers.
Lathers along with the Michigan Humanities Council suggest educating oneself about mental illness by reading a book by Steve Luxenberg “Annie’s Ghosts.”
Luxenberg is an editor and writer for Washington Post who grew up in Detroit.
The reviews include the following statement by Deborah Tannen:
“…a riveting detective story, a moving family saga, an enlightening if heartbreaking chapter in the history of America’s treatment of people born with what we now call special needs.”
Copyright © 2014 story and photo by Emma Palova
Writing; a wild journey into the unknown
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- Three things prompted me to think about the writing business: 101 Challenge by WordPress, 100 Posts & beyond that I have achieved in a year and my worsening eyesight.
Sometimes people ask me what would I be if I wasn’t a writer.
“I’d be a queen,” I answer laughing. “The queen of hearts.”
First of all writing is a business and it should be approached as such. I never quite got the idea of some of the Internet writers’ magazines screaming out loud on Facebook:
“Writers, do you want to get paid for writing?”
How is writing any different than going to get your groceries and paying for them? Or gas at the local station? Air ticket?
Actually it should be paid higher than your average retail position because the fact of the matter remains that minority entertains the majority.
“People would die of boredom if it wasn’t for writers and artists,” I always say. “What would you do without us?”
But, there does come a time when you feel like giving up after all the ups and downs, the encouragements and the discouragements.
It is that time when you’re bombarded by self-publishing houses that want your credit card number for your book on demand; by your spouses who want you to make money rather than use it on print cartridges, your aging parents who want to hold that long dreamt about book.
Then, kicks in the thing about driving traffic to your Internet sites and likes, which somehow magically will transfer into sales.
Not to forget about traditional publishers who want everything by snail mail, and 10 months later they still haven’t responded to you.
I don’t know how to change things to get different results or more likes and followers.
I like to encourage others to keep on trying doing the things they want along with the wanted outcomes.
My wanted outcomes are the publishing of my memoir and a book, but I seem to be lost in a sea of unexpected results on winding paths. This is not always bad, it’s just something else than you wanted.
It’s like going into the woods to get morels, and instead you bring back blackberries.
“It leads to new discoveries,” I say.
Like in this typical example of having a blog to increase your online presence and publishing capabilities while writing your memoir.
Well, accidentally you pick out WordPress, the best of the bunch. You are a perfect match, and you’re on your way.
“I love doing the blog more than writing my memoir,” I told my husband the other day.
There’s better and instant feedback, the constant challenge of maintaining the blog and coming up with new things, new challenges.
Then in turn you get picked up by other Internet giants and you’re headed into the unknown, like on a spaceship.
“I like being its captain,” I say.
This is part of the 100 Posts & beyond series.
Copyright © 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
A day in the country, a true American story
By EMMA PALOVA
EW Emma’s Writings
Keene Township- Smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, butt rub, jalapeno sausages and maple syrup, all in one place.
I stood in a line for one hour to get my share of the country goodies at the Jones Farm Market deep in the fields of the Midwest.
It was a chilly May morning with wind blowing from the west that also hauled in the smell from cows and pigs.
The line stayed the same all along due to the steady stream of visitors. Right in front of me there were three big blue striped tents and a band playing Stevie Wonder songs underneath. You would expect a country band.
The Jones Customer Appreciation Day takes place once a year always on the third Saturday in May. Speaking about killer timing: the event takes place between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. Who doesn’t want to grill?
Moreover, four generations of owners, are right there on hand to chat in spite of the overall frenzy.
The younger ones were sporting black t-shirts that on the front read, “Where’s the beef?” With the answer on the back, “Next to pork.”
Pork is big here. It’s sold by the tons.
“We probably sell more than a ton of pork strips and steaks,” said the owner jovial Phil Jones. “Three thousand pounds of bacon and 9,000 pounds of ground beef.”
“I bet, I saw the commercial on TV,” I said referring to Jones son Lee talking about meat on the camera.
“Yes, Lee wants to be a movie star,” Phil laughed.
This down-to-earth man has led the meat business for the last 40 years, 20 of which he served as the Keene Township supervisor.
“You know you can do only so much in church,” Phil said in our previous interview.
“Now it seems like I am going to retire for the 25th time,” he laughed.
The last time I was at the market for a story, Phil’s wife Janet was watching their great grandchild who slept in a large meat box.
“That’s how we raise them right here at the market,” said Phil.
Most customers know the Joneses on a first name basis.
The Customer Appreciation Day has grown over the years from a small picnic to an annual event worth waiting for.
The younger son Karl was in charge of grilling. And what a meal for one dollar. One dollar here buys you, the Jones signature sausage, potato salad, sauerkraut, baked beans, and a cookie.
I browsed the booths in search of a treasure and I found a metal artist. I started taking photos of his metal welded Emu. The Emu had a belly with a pot of flowers and his tail was made from license plates.
“That will cost you $5,” he said.
“But I am a writer,” I said.
“Then, you can take all the pictures you want,” he said.
I have his business card. It states boldly, Jamee’s Repurposed metal art.
I have a knack for finding these special treats at country festivals. They range from great men to great women, and whatever they make.
Sometimes they’re weavers, soap makers and bird house makers. Artists and artisans who want to make it big, just like the metal guy Jamee and his nurse girl friend who supports him.
And of course there’s a whole different chapter to this great American story: the old car collectors with a Ford 1915 convertible on display at the grounds of the farm market. The vehicle was sort of reminiscent of a tractor.
We came here for meat and sausage & we found a special bond, something that we all have in common: love for the big country.
Copyright © 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
Watch for my true American stories “A day in the country” with the Jones family and “Reducing stigma of mental illness” with Ionia County Community Mental Health director Bob Lathers.
Follow me on Emma Blogs as I enter the next 100 posts on word press.
Copyright (c) 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova
Waiting for Dr.Verdier
By EMMA PALOVA
EW Emma’s Writings
In the spirit of 101 Challenge: The Commons I wanted to write about finding your feature niche II for your blog yesterday. I wanted to thank everybody for participating in the challenge yesterday. I wanted to write about the month of May being the mental health awareness month and my friend CEO of Ionia County Community Mental Health (ICCMH). I wanted to do everything yesterday.
But destiny wanted something else.
I can hardly see the screen. Yesterday, I couldn’t see at all. I couldn’t write. The screen was dipped in a faraway 3=D mist. Google was floating somewhere in a distance.
I barely made it back home from town with my medication as I couldn’t see the oncoming cars.
I went to see the eye doctor this morning. Eyes are the second most precious asset that I have.
“What brings you here on a Friday,” asks the eye doc.
“I couldn’t see yesterday, it was creepy,” I said.
The eye doc conducts a thorough exam and says:
“Putting something in front of the foggy lens is not going to solve your problem,” he said. “You have cataracts in both eyes at a young age. It’s very progressive.”
“Does it run in the family?”
“Most definitely,” he said.
“I need to see Dr.Verdier,” I said.
“You know him,” asks the eye doc looking at me through his spectacles.
“I wrote about him,” I said. “He travels around the world fixing eyes.”
“Did you write that article about him on the Orbitz plane,”asks the eye doc.
“I did.”
“Then you know he’s worth waiting for,” says the eye doc.
The first consult appointment with Dr. Verdier is on Aug. 22. I still have to write. I have a book deal in the making, but I need to see.
Copyright © story and photo by Emma Palova
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