Local author finds healing in new book

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BY Sarah Langland

When she was 15-years-old, Tyler Renee started writing her fi rst novel to process her grandmother’s death.

“I needed to get out of my reality,” she remembered.

Nothing But Trouble is a story about a girl who gets in an accident in the exact location where her friend had died previously. When she regains consciousness, she is in a peculiar place with people she does not know.

“(The novel has) secrets, adventure and a love story. It touches base on losing someone while grieving and healing,” Renee said.

Renee would come back to writing the book o and on for several years before a conversation with a co-worker sent her into a full on pursuit of completing it.

Last June, it was fi nally published.

When she was fi fteen, Renee knew she’d be a writer. Now, she can see herself doing it as a living.

There were many di erent motivations for publishing a novel she had been writing since she was a teen, she explained.

“I wanted to show others it’s okay to not be okay, and it’s also okay to let go of the past and of those who have hurt you.”

After a few weeks, she started her second novel. Like her fi rst novel, this one covers the topics of loss, healing and letting go.

In Secrets Back Home, Aphrodite witnesses her brother’s death, leading her and her mom to leave town to get away. Aphrodite learns more details about her brother’s death when they return. During this time, she reconnects with an old friend and fi nds love again.

Renee said Secrets Back Home ends with a cli hanger, but fans won’t have to wait long to fi nd out what happens next. She has already begun the second book in the series. Novels are not the only thing Renee dabbles in though. She also writes short stories. Writing has helped her process what was happening in her world.

“I had to write down my thoughts and feelings,” she said.

When Renee isn’t writing into the wee hours of the night, she is a barista. She grew up in the Piedmont area and now resides in Culpeper with her husband, grandfather and pet Yorkie.

Nothing But Trouble and Secrets Back Home can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Noble online.

SUBMITTED Tyler Renee’s Secrets Back Home is about main character Aphrodite’s journey in witnessing her brother’s death, leading her and her mom to leave town to get away.

BY Maria Basileo

A local artist paints his way into Culpeper Renaissance, Inc.’s third installment of its Culpeper Downtown Walls Mural Program.

“Having grown up as an artist in Culpeper, it has been a dream of mine to create something for the town that helped shape me into the person I am today,” said artist Layton Scarbrough. “When this opportunity popped up, I was so excited to dive headfi rst into the research and development of a mural that would mean something more than just a few strokes of paint on a wall.”

CRI, Windmore Foundation for the Arts and Culpeper downtown property and business owner, Brian Lam, partnered for the mural installation entitled The Trailblazers in the 200 block of East Davis Street.

The mural features Culpeper’s fi rst African American town councilman and owner and operator of Lightfoot’s Grocery Henry Lightfoot, Culpeper’s fi rst African American physician Dr. Elijah Barbour, female owner and operator of Boxwood House Restaurant and Motel Ruby Beck, Culpeper’s fi rst African American police o cer Roscoe Ford, a Culpeper native and talented baseball player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 Joseph Preston “Pete” Hill, the fi rst female police offi cer in the Town of Culpeper Ella Drumgoole and a single soldier from the United States Colored Troops, representing the approximately 120 African American men who left Culpeper to join the Union Army.

A quote from late author and civil rights activist, James Baldwin is also adorned on the wall.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

The area, once referred to as The Wharf and Fishtown not only housed a thriving African American commercial and residential community post-Civil War.

“When they couldn't get products and services elsewhere (due to Jim Crow Laws and segregation),” said local historian Zann Nelson, “as a group, they didn’t whine. They said, ‘OK. We’re going to be entrepreneurs. We’re going to be creative. We’re going to o er those products and services ourselves.”

“(The Trailblazers mural gives) the other side of downtown history,” said CRI Design Committee member Sanford Reaves, Jr.

“Community, art and history are part of our Collage Spa brand values,” Lam said, who owns the spa. “We are so happy to collaborate with CRI and artist, Layton Scarbrough, on the mural project. The mural highlights and honors key African American Culpeper leaders. It makes their legacy visible and gives a sense of place for the present and future.”

Lam, in part, was able to play a role in the mural project after applying for and being awarded a $2,500 Culpeper Downtown Micro Marketing Leverage Grant, a partnered program through the Town of Culpeper Tourism and Economic Development, CRI and the Virginia Main Street program through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

In addition, CRI and Windmore Foundation for the Arts have allocated additional funding for mural expenses.

“It’s my hope that The Trailblazers’ will continue to bring awareness to the amazing contributions of these individuals who faced adversity in the hopes that one day others wouldn’t have to,” Scarbrough said.

If interested in supporting the Culpeper Downtown Walls Mural Program or for more information please contact CRI Executive Director Jessica Jenkins at 540-825-4416, cridirector@ culpeperdowntown.com or visit www. culpeperdowntown.com. maria@culpepertimes.com

TIM HICKLING | CULPEPER TIMES Artist Layton Scarbrough works on the mural in the 200 Block of East Davis Street.

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BY Maria Basileo

A non-profi t working through its 10th Annual National Relay to raise awareness for the true meaning of Memorial Day crossed through Culpeper on May 9 and hosted a presentation at the Culpeper National Cemetery.

“It’s always an honor to see you folks and understand what you do, not only for veterans but for veterans’ families and the true meaning of Memorial Day,” said Culpeper National Cemetery Director Jason Hogan.

Carry The Load is a non-profi t that provides active ways to connect Americans to the sacrifi ces of our nation’s military, veterans, fi rst responders and their families. The 32-day, 20,000-mile relay includes fi ve routes crossing 48 states and 100 rallies before culminating at the Dallas Memorial March on Memorial Day weekend.

Two lone walkers walked from Lowe’s on Montanus Drive to the cemetery to Gary’s Ace Hardware on Meadowbrook Drive before hopping back on their bus to travel to Charlottesville.

East Coast Relay Member Bryce Roland of Tifton, Georgia carried Corporal Karl Linn, who was a marine who died in the line of duty, as he walked the approximately fi ve miles through Culpeper.

“There are two deaths,” he said. “You have the physical one when the body dies and the second death when it's the last time someone ever says their name.”

“This allows this person to live one more day.”

According to Hogan, Linn, who is buried in section K21B in the cemetery, was born in June 1984 in Virginia. The Sept. 11 terrorist attack inspired Linn to join the Marine Corps in June 2002. He was deployed to Iraq as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On January 6, 2005, Linn took part in a mission involving enemy insurgents near a mosque. After leaving the mission with no discoveries, the unit was ambushed, injuring Linn and causing him to succumb to his injuries.

The nonprofi t was founded by U.S. Navy SEALs Clint Bruce and Stephen Holley as a way to restore Memorial Day beyond car and mattress sales and barbecues. maria@culpepertimes.com

TIM HICKLING | CULPEPER TIMES The 32-day, 20,000-mile relay called Carry The Load includes fi ve routes crossing 48 states before culminating at the Dallas Memorial March on Memorial Day weekend. East Coast Relay Member Bryce Roland of Tifton, Georgia carried Corporal Karl Linn, who is buried in the Culpeper National Cemetery.

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