Unfinished Musings While Escaping Humidity

Here I am at a MacDonald’s restaurant in Mobile, Alabama escaping the deadly humidity and ironically drinking hot coffee in the air conditioning right across the street from L & M automotive where my car is sitting. The shop is now closed, as it is mid afternoon on a blistering hot Saturday, and all of the mechanics have left. Thankfully I brought my laptop, books and bag that doubles as a very full purse slash laptop bag. I knew the possibilities of waiting for a ride where great, as the noise around my tires sounded pretty serious this morning on my way back from volunteer work in Prichard, Alabama, a primarily African American neighborhood known for having the highest crime rates in the state. I had the opportunity to speak with an African American woman who came in with the weight of the world on her shoulders. A woman in her situation with a husband and family to care for, who is trying to make it in society with a professional career has many issues to face because, while things for her may seem great now on the outside, she has emotional baggage from growing up in an environment that was not the kindest to girls of her color and economic upbringing…