news & opinion
News & Opinion www.connectsavannah.com/news
Two who went their own way by Jim Morekis | jim@connectsavannah.com
JUL 7 - JUL 13, 2010 | WWW.CONNECTSAVANNAH.COM
editor’s note
city notebook:
08 Savannah takes
more steps toward a bike-friendly environment. by patrick rodgers
09 Blotter 10 Straight Dope 11 News of the Weird
culture
www.connectsavannah.com/culture
Arts: Ja Ja18 Visual hannes explores
Sunday in Savannah at the Beach Institute. by patrick rodgers
There are people in this town doing great things who in my opinion don’t get enough credit for what they do, generally because they’ve preferred to work outside the local good-ole-boy networks. I want to talk about a couple of them today. Dr. Ja Jahannes is, quite simply, one of the most interesting, delightful and knowledgeable people you’ll ever meet, and also one of my favorite people in town. A writer and a photographer, he is also quite conversant in politics, psychology and sociology, and is always good for an enlightening lesson in local history. Jahannes has been contributing in all these fields for many years, and his latest effort is a remarkable collection of photographs, “Sunday in Savannah,” now on display at the Beach Institute downtown. The photos largely deal with the sights and experiences of typical church services throughout Savannah’s African American community. A lot of people tend to focus on certain iconic aspects of local life, such as St. Patrick’s Day, SCAD, Paula Deen, ‘The Book,’ the port, the Landings, the military, Creative Coast, etc. But the African American churches are no less an influential part of life here, yet usually go strangely unremarked. Jahannes’ exhibit sheds light on what Martin Luther King Jr. famously called “the most segregated hour in America,” i.e., that time on Sunday morning when white people go to their churches and black people go to theirs.
The exhibit is now up at the Beach Institute, 502 E. Harris St. Read Patrick Rodgers’ story about the exhibit in this issue. Many of you might know Bess Chappas from her efforts with the Savannah Story Spinners organization, a labor of love intended to keep alive the spirit and practice of storytelling in this increasingly digital, remote world. What not enough people know is that Chappas is also a successful children’s book author. Her first book, Kiki and the Red Shoes, tells the story of a six-year-old Greek girl who in 1939 receives an important gift from her aunt who has emigrated to America. Illustrated by Sandy Branam, the book is available locally and at online retailers. Chappas’ second book is out, a sequel of sorts called Kiki and the Statue of Liberty. Also illustrated by Branam, the second book tells the story of Kiki and her brother’s voyage to America and unite with the rest of her family. Chappas will be on hand at E. Shaver Bookseller downtown for a booksigning this Saturday from 2-4 p.m. Kudos to both these special Savannahians. cs
Hear and Now Dance: The 23 Coastal Danse
Collective practices hit-and-run art all over town. by bill deyoung
12 Music 22 Food & Drink 24 Art 26 movies
by Robin Wright Gunn rgunnsav@bellsouth.net
A boat ride to where Truman meets Vernon One hot Thursday morning in June, Orlando Montoya, myself and eight other landlubbers gathered at Rodney Hall Boat Ramp at Skidaway Narrows (sometimes called Butterbean Beach) for a boat
trip to Vanishing Georgia. Our mission: to see the Vernon River, from the water, before the Truman Parkway cuts across it and changes it forever. “Here’s this river that’s right
A photo by Ja Jahannes from ‘Sunday in Savannah’ at the Beach Institute
here in my own backyard and I’ve never seen it,” said Montoya, our host and the idea man behind the boat ride, who took a stay–cation that week from his role as News Producer for Georgia Public Broadcasting. “I drive past the Vernon River every single day on the way to work. It’s behind the houses that you can just sort of glimpse. I wanted to see it before it was altered.” Earlier this year, construction began in earnest for the Truman Parkway’s fifth and final segment, connecting Whitfield Avenue to Abercorn Extension. Most of this segment will consist of an elevated roadway, or
a long bridge, across the Vernon River, one of the few remaining unbridged rivers in Chatham County, as well as its associated tidal creeks, hammocks and salt marsh. (Sticklers for detail will point out that Whitfield Avenue traverses a narrow feeder creek of the Vernon River about a half mile south of Montgomery Crossroad. Point taken.) Our guides for the morning were Captain Michael Neal of Bull River Cruises and his co–captain Heidi Hays. After Neal’s safe boating briefing (“If Captain Heidi puts on her life vest, that’s a good time to put on your life vest,”) we chugged west/southwest along Skidaway Narrows toward the