FLASHBACK

dance of the arboreal nudes

The snow accumulted to about 8 inches. It was pretty all day. Below freezing all day. Snow everywhere. It's beautiful out the windows. I like the looks of it. But I'm not tempted to go for a walk in it. Can't get motivated for that yet. The sunlight all day melted the surface a little bit and tonight at below 20 degrees it will freeze making a crust on it. Crystal and Justin dropped in on their ways to and from the waterfalls in the snow. She had her camera ready to get some pictures. I'm like old man Tom Pruitt, I seen it. There was a time some years ago when everything here was new to me, a snow like this pushed my call of the wild button to get out there and be in it, have it all the way around with dog walking ahead, a body guard, a guide and a friend in one.

Justin and Crystal in their cold weather gear were like the michelin man and woman in color. Crystal dominant red and Justin in cammo, hobbling along with arms stiff like children in new winter coats and mittens. Crystal is a lit up personality. She started up her own photography business a short time ago and hit the ground running. Sparta photography studio the next generation. She's of the M&M generation. Hip like an i-pad commercial with a hint of country punk. She brings Gretchen Wilson's great liberated song to mind, Redneck Woman. I'd guess Crystal has that cd. She has a liberated air about herself, a post-women's liberation child who lives her life as if the ERA had passed back when the DC stooges blocked its passage attempting to stop time. They blocked the passage. Time kept on going.

Now the young women take it for granted they have equal rights, equal everything. A lot of men may not think so, but a lot of men do, and an awful lot of women think so. In social evolutions I've paid attention to along my way, it makes me double-take to see young women uninterested in women's liberation, knowing nothing about it, living liberated lives, on equal footing in the home with husband because that's how she is and he respects it in her. She's like the ERA passed. Country girls everywhere are getting it and city girls have been there a good bit longer, some of them. I like the drive she has. It's something sorry old me never had.

I like to see this new attitude among young women. I've watched it evolve actually throughout my lifetime. I don't remember details and what was behind it, but I recall in 5th or 6th grade, I had thought it through about women not being quite up to men. When a woman talks, a man's ears tend to shut. I grew up in a time when women were mothers or whores in the attitudes of my peers. That's the old belief for how many thousands of years. It's only recently that women were allowed education. Girls ran faster than boys. The girls I knew were every bit as smart as me, smarter. I couldn't see where boys had anything on girls. We grow up in 2 different cultures, boy and girl. Boys are raised to be GI Joe and girls to be Barbie. I never even thought about a possibility that in my lifetime I'd see a generation of girls modeling themselves after Barbie. Britney Spears and Christinia Aguilera, grown up Mousekateers, look like they're in competition to see who can do Barbie the best. Gotta stay in shape. The look that sells. So I put on the Clash's Sandanista album, jamming white urban reggae.

Back to Crystal. She doesn't model herself after Barbie. As a portrait photographer she's developing her eye and learning business skills with the help of her mother and dad. She's showing pictures on facebook getting enthusiastic responses. Each time she puts some up for viewing, they're a step ahead of the ones before. She's developing an interesting eye with her camera and is more creative in setting up a photograph as time goes by. She's learning by doing, learning it well and in a hurry. I wait now to see what she'll be posting next. She gets more creative in the setups for babies and toddlers. She has the woman's eye for seeing the person in the baby.

It's an enjoyment for me to see her creating a career for herself the way she's doing, step by step, and she's getting there. She has the freedom to do that. She has a feminine eye and photographs the intimacy between couples young and in love. She catches it. She photographs a kid in touch with the kid's personality. It's fun to see her grow as fast as she's growing. It's like she's pregnant and something inside her is growing, in her mind instead of her belly, approaching a time of birth in the not too far away future. For one thing, she's finding her own eye right now. She plays with spontenaiety sometimes. She's coming into a new place visually and conceptually. I'm glad for her like I'm glad to see a young somebody from here decide to stay here after high school and train self in a trade, get good at it, make a business of it and go. I find it spectacular. Not many do that. Not many are able. It's like learning the banjo. It takes more than just wanting to.

The only way I know how to tell you to find Crystal's facebook space is the way I found it. It's called Flashback Studio. I googled Flashback Studio Glade Valley. It came up top of the list. Nothin to it. What Crystal is developing is her talent that is her individual gift from above. That's why it's growing in her so fast. It's a joy to see. I think of myself at her age and break out laughing. All the more reason for me to applaud what she's doing. It's as far away from me as making A's in chemistry.