THIS Rhett Butler Will Never Die

Long time readers know that I've had this obsession/fascination with the idea of obtaining a handful of grave dirt from Eugene O'Neill's gravesite for a very long time now (over 2 years). Not having a jet-setting income and being able to get myself to Boston to do this myself I sought a web buddy that lived in the area to do the deed for me. Two years of searching forums, posting to craigslist-boston, begging area photographers that had an inkling for the bizarre... this last option proved the most promising as this past summer there was a young woman in northern Massachusetts that was doing self portraits in cemeteries and she became intrigued by the idea of doing this for me. Alas, I know not why she failed the task other than she got busy with school and other elements of life. Then, about two weeks ago I created a new group in Flickr called "Cemetery People". A place to contribute photos of people inside cemeteries. I spent a weekend combing Flickr looking fo...

there will be things that you just can't get someone to help you with. case in point: my efforts over the past year to find someone that lives in the Boston area to visit Eugene O'Neill's gravesite in Jamaica Hills, and obtain a handfull of dirt for me. so today i found inspiration to improvise. i called the National Park Service on Monday to make a reservation for a tour of Eugene O'Neill's house, here in Danville. i wanted to go yesterday because it was his birthday yesterday, but they only give tours Wednesday through Sunday. today had to suffice. yesterday would have been a great day to go too because it rained yesterday. the forecast for today was sunny skies. oddly, it actually rained this morning and there were cloudy skies. i got a call at 10am from the park service confirming a spot in the 12:30 tour for me. i scrambled together my camera gear because i wanted to get lots of photos. i'm working on those now as we speak and they will be up on my flickr a...

ok, one of you must be responsible for the things that are suddenly coming together and i want to know who it is NOW! no, i'm kidding. i don't believe that any individual is any more responsible for the synchronicity of events than saying that a divine force could be responsible... but still, something has shifted significant, symbolic and timely events into focus and i'm getting a little blown away by it. one thing that sort of started this whole ball rolling was meeting this guy in town named "Phil". he is a painter and there is an amazing portrait that another painter in town painted of him.; it's on the wall at this Starbutz on Love Lane in Danville and "Phil" likes to sit beneath it. i'm beginning to think of him as an unofficial mayor of this town as he knows everyone it seems and you can always seem to find him when you need to with little effort. anyway, the first day i met him we got onto the subject of "my novel" about Eugene ...