A Walk Around Petersburg, VA

 

This week I had the opportunity to walk around Petersburg with model and photographer Sonnie Marie on a beautiful summer day.  We wandered around the Old Towne district and along the river, then had a beer at the new (and recommended) Trapezium Brewery.  A lovely day to spend enjoying the South.

 

Lost / Found: Confederate Flag

I played a show in Richmond last weekend to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the community house I founded there.  On the drive north to West Virginia, I barely glimpsed the colors of the Southern Cross in the grass along the side of the road.  Curious, I turned the car around and walked over to the cloth.  It was even more unique than a plain ole battle flag.

The relationship of modern people to symbols like this is complicated, and my personal experience is confusing, both of which I wrote about in my article for Quail Bell:

Confederacy Torn: A Modern War of Ancestral Symbols

That article was written before the row over the South Carolina statehouse had resulted in the removal of the flag there, but I think it's still relevant to current discussions surrounding the hated symbol.