From the Publisher—
I’ve always loved history.
As someone who considers herself a lifelong learner, it’s easy to marvel at the point that comes with each and every one of these stories, from the seemingly least significant of anecdote to most fantastic — on the largest imaginable scale.
It really happened!
That means “history” can give you a leg up in building on what has been accomplished by others, hopefully taking things even further. On the other hand, it can provide cautionary tales of what not to do, when you see what other people suffered through taking the wrong path, the prices they paid.
A few weeks ago, we started taking a look at what we would have the opportunity to highlight throughout the month of February with photographs published to our Instagram Feed. Up ’til now, there’s been sort of a Whitman’s Sampler feel in the sequence. One day, a delightful likeness of Mr Spock as marionette from Dreamland Theater in Ypsilanti. [1,2]
Then another, featuring an almost-visible look on my face that blended both the worst fear and greatest thrill I have ever experienced, having unexpectedly encountered a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains. [3]
Some named occasions have for one reason or another called out to be revisited. “National Tie Month,” for example, had to be commemorated with a nod to the exquisite tastes of our own Mayor Brian Marl. [4]
It also provided an opportunity to encourage a most intimate connection with the tragic loss of Northwest Flight 2501 over Lake Michigan on a stormy summer night in 1950. The necktie of one passenger is part of what little has been recovered from that reckage all these many years later. [5,6]
So I wondered, what could we find if we devoted all twenty-eight days of this February to images tied to “Black History Month”?
Together, we’re going to find out.
Starting today.
Following the same approach that we established with our first photograph posted to Instagram on June 19, 2018, all images will be original to Saline Journal. No repeats from Instagram. But I do see this as an opportunity to possibly revisit images from Flickr, and definitely from Saline Journal feature stories as a sort of “time capsule” review of what we ourselves saw as important to cover at the time. Because I believe that that should serve to add to the ongoing future of Black History.
As publisher, I don’t know what images will be selected for this or when they will appear. What I do know is that those selections will inevitably suggest an accountability of our own historic interest in telling the story of this subject, in the context of being a news magazine based in Saline Michigan.
And I hope that we’ll have a range of content to show at least enough variety to help readers understand why that the substance of Black History Month is so much more than any given month, in any given year.
It is, in fact, most worthy of ongoing, lifelong studies. For everyone.
References
- Saline Journal (Instagram Feed).
- “Alien Day” Saline Journal (April 26, 2020) Instagram.
- “International Mountain Day” Saline Journal (December 11, 2020) Instagram.
- “National Tie Month” Saline Journal (December 14, 2020) Instagram.
- “Immerse in still-mysterious disappearance of NWA Flight 2501 through traveling exhibit at Yankee Air Museum” Dell Deaton (November 30, 2020) Saline Journal.
- “National Tie Month” Saline Journal (December 19, 2020) Instagram.
- “What Is Black History Month and How Did It Begin?” Lisa Vox (January 31, 2021) Thought Co.
- “Juneteenth” Saline Journal (June 19, 2018) Instagram.
