Cliff Brown's Photos

Christmas Sales Rush?

2006-11-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

Twas the Saturday after Thanksgiving and all threw the town. Not a human was stirring. No one's around. In most places all across the fruited planes, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving is when people go to town. This is not the town they go to. I had my normal slow sales day in Mendenhall Saturday. It may have even been a little slower than a normal Saturday. Most of the stores held to the tradition of closing early on Saturday and by 3:00 pm mine was the only one open on Main Street. My only customers after then were a few people from across the rail road tracks who saw my car and came up the street. At 4:30 I walked out on the side walk and took a look around, then got the idea to take a few photos.

I keep a cheap camera in my desk drawer so I dusted it off and put batteries in it. The view finder is crooked and it tends to make every thing too dark but what the heck. The town is sort of crooked and dark so I figured it might be a match.

I started with my next door neighbor. The old theater is a reminder of the past glory of this town. One portion of the building is now a pool hall that opens 5:00 till about 9:00 pm most nights. He does it just to give local kids something to do. There is another small room in the theater that is now a law office. The lawyer owns the whole building.

These two photos are what used to be Main Street Hardware. It was a booming business for a while but is no more. That building was bought at auction by a man who stores junk in it.
I am not sure what that two story building used to be. I know that a layer does use one room up stares but the bottom is just storage. There are three more buildings in the photo up the hill. The first is an empty board front building with boards pealing off. The first white one with the round windows is Cash For Checks and is one of the busier places on main street. The white building higher up the hill is an appliance repairman.
This is the building on the other side of mine. It used to be a florist. Down hill from the florist was once a flee market store.
This is the view up main street from Old Hwy 49. The only car on the street is mine. The rail road tracks are behind me and the poor side of town are across the tracks.

Ok I admit it. I took the photos in a way that makes the town look more dead than it really is. When I get around to it I might get my better camera and take photos of places like Ed's and Stephen's. Those stores are still hanging on.

Photo Story

2006-11-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

My father, Clarence Brown Jr. In his army uniform during the Korean War.

Me at age five months.

The Brown family in 1974. Top row left to right is Me, Mother and Daddy.
The front row left to right is my twin sisters Bonny and Beverly and my brother Pat.

I admit that this might fall into the category of TMI (too much info). I have spent a lot of time on my other web sites, (Free Speech, On the Edge, and My Issues), telling people what I believe in and stand for. Several people have asked me to go beyond just issues and tell why I believe in them. People are asking me about me and not just about what I stand for.

I find it easier to talk about issues than to get personal, but I will make an attempt to use photos to tell a story. I choose four of my favorites out of my family photo files which sort of say where I came from.

I start with my father in his army uniform because a lot of what he taught me as a child came from that. He was drafted during the Korean War and went threw training fully expecting to fight in Korea. The truce was made just before he went so he went to Columbus GA. Instead. He always felt a little guilty because he was ready but not needed.

Just after the Army he went to Hinds Jr. College on the GI Bill, then took a job in a factory. He met mother working at the factory, got married and I was born. I use the photo of me as a five month old to illustrate that part of the story.

The next one is what I call that 70's photo. It pretty much speaks for itself.

The last one is what I call a lesson in patriotism. Growing up I was never far from the flag and my family never let me forget what it stands for.

I know that it is just a small sketch of a story with many huge parts missing. Self disclosure is not easy for me. In time I might fill in a few more blanks so stay tuned.

The Court House

2006-11-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

This is the historic old court house where criminal trials would be held if we still actually held trials in Simpson County. My store is down the hill in front of the court house so I have to see that underused building every day. The building is still used as county office space and the court room is sometimes used as a meeting room. Sometimes there is even concerts in the court room. The most common use for the building is simply pointing and bragging, but it is very seldom used for what it was built for.

The Man with a Beard

2006-11-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

I put an out dated photo of myself with a beard on my other blog which got a few laughs. It also got questions about an updated photo. Eventually I did put on a new one but that gave me the idea to start this new blog. This is a place where I will put on photos of myself, my family, my stuff and even other peoples stuff that I have to look at every day. When I have the time I will dig threw my old photos from my childhood and put on a few of the best. If I get in the right mood I might even put in some of the "art" that my brother splices together in his computer.