The search

I got a phone call yesterday that totally blew me away for a few reasons.  It will take me a few minutes to get to the phone call.

When I was younger I spent a good deal of time with my maternal Grandparents Frank and Dorothy Jordan or as I knew them Pop-Pop and Grammy.  Grammy and I were very close, a good deal of my childhood memories include her.  We would sit together she would watch television with me or she would read and I would play.  She would talk to me about her childhood and her family in Boundbrook, New Jersey.  Grammy had a few issues, that she was dealing with, she was a bastard (her mother was not married to her father). That is not such a big deal these deays but in 1909 it was a scandal.

Most of the family belived that Grammy's mother Anna, had died from pneumonia.  I was told that Anna had been murdered.  That in 1922, Anna had been seeing a married man, and for some reason Anna had started seeing a second man.  The first man was not happy about it and shot Anna, the Second man, and then himself.  My sister also remembers this story.

I have tried to search the internet to find anythig that I can about the death of my great grandmother.  In June 2011, I emailed the Boundbrook, New Jersey library system, asking for some help.  I don't know much.  I know that her name was either Anne or Anna.  That her last name was either Krowman or Kroehner, She was living in Boundbrook, New Jersey.  My mother remembers the last name of Marlowe, but can't remember why.  I received an email back from Mary Nelson at the Library, ashe couldn't find much information.  But she did find info about a woman named Anna Knutter who died in 1921.  I didn't think that was anything, I thanked Mary and went about my life. Occassionaly typing  the words: Anna Krowman, Murder, 1922, Boundbrook, New Jersey, into the google search bar and not coming up with anything.

Now onto my phone call from yesterday. 

I received a phone call from Mary Nelson, she had found a series of articles about a girl named Josephine who had been stabbed 20-22 times in April of 1925.  Mary sent me some information through email.  I now know that this story has nothing to do with my Great Grandmother.  Josephine was 11 years old when she died. 

What really got me going though was that after a year, Mary was still searching on her own for me.  I was amazed.  I still am.

I will continue the search.  If anyone has any tips on how I can keep searching please let me know.

Fathers day

Today is a difficult dayfor me.  I have lost the three men who were my Fathers.  One was genetically my father, He  died of cancer 8 years ago.  One was my father because he choose to be, He died a year ago.  One was a father not by choice, but by cirumstances, He died 3 years ago.    I have Uncles who are great men, and by example taught me to be a man.  My Brother, is probably the best example of what a Father is.  He is the perfect mix of strength, love, and humour.  I love watching him with his kids.  They love him so much and also have a healthy fear of him.  When I have children of my own, I hope I am like him.

It's a weird day today, I feel abit like I am outside looking in.  I am not a father and I am fatherless.

I have to remember that just because you are not genetically a father, that you can not influence peoples lives.  I have the privledge of working with so many amazing kids, There is a few of them who have changed my life.  They make me see the world diffrently.  I want to change the world for them so that they won't have to struggle, I want to help protect them.  I have comforted them when they were upset, dried tears, given hugs, spoken words of encouragement.  I have loved them as if they were my own. 

Today I received a text wishing me a happy fathers day, wishing me love and saying that I was missed.

I know that I have done something right. 

So to those who are Fathers or who are Father figures.  Happy Day

The great outdoors, ohio style

For almost 6 months now, John, our friend Randy and me have been walking the ohio/erie canal towpath trail.  One of the things I love about ohio, at least the northeast part of it, is that there are huge metroparks through out the cities.  Akron has miles and mile of trails to walk, hike or bike on. 

When the weather is nice, this winter was very mild and we were able to walk alot, we try to do something fun with Randy.  Fun could be taking a walking historical tour of a cemetary, a tour of homes, a walking tour of a downtown district.

Randy is the kind of guy who decides that he wants barbacue, will get in his car and drive to Kansas City, then decide that the food he had was good, but not as good as this one place in St Louis.  So off to St. Louis he goes.  After he has eaten, Oh wow since I am in St Louis, I am not far from this house I like, so off he drives.  Then he thinks, wow I am not far from Minneapolis, I should take a drive there.  Then he will head back to Akron.  For this and many other reasons he is my friend.

I am not a huge fan of walking, it is too much like excercise. LOL.  Not far from our house is the Gorge metropark.  I don't like walking, but I do like history.  Dotted throughout the parks are historical markers, and sometimes markers about the park and land.  The history helps make the walking more fun. 

Info from two of the signs.
In 1759, a 12-year-old girl was captured in Pennsylvania by Delaware Indians and reportedly brought to a cave in present-day Gorge Metro Park, where she lived as a child of Chief Netawatwees. Young Mary Campbell, for whom the cave is named, unwittingly became the first white child in what was then the wild frontier of the Western Reserve. Mary later settled with the tribe in a village along the banks of the Cuyahoga River, not far from the cave. She was released in 1764 after a treaty ended the French and Indian War.

Thousands of years before Mary's adventures, the Gorge was cut when glacial debris blocked the former route of the Cuyahoga River (near present-day downtown Akron) and caused the river to find a new course. Today, the rushing water flows over a shale riverbed, between ledges made of Sharon conglomerate sandstone. Oak, blackgum, tulip and yellow birch trees are common in the woods that cover the valley walls.

John and Ryan walking in the gorge park.

Randy has decided that he wanted to walk the entirity of the walkable towpath trail.  I don't wantt o bore any of you with the history so if you want to take a look at some of the information here is the summit county metro parks website http://www.summitmetroparks.org/parksandtrails/TowpathTrail.aspx

So far Randy has walked 63 miles of the path.  John and I have walked 40 of it.  The thing I like about the towpath trails is that it is a free family inclusive thing. Two weeks ago we walked a stretch from Clinton ohio to Canal Fulton.  This stretch was 3.5 miles.  The canal was flowing for most of the path.  we were walking along this beautiful sction. the canal on one side, a small patch of land with trees, then the river and a section of pastures with trees along the river.  John stopped and was looking at the trees. " I can't figure out what that is?"  He kept looking at these things buy the trees.  "They aren't Rocks"

Look at the base of the trees. Can you make out what is laying there?

I tried to get closer.

As we were watching, We realized that they were cows.  One got up and walked closer to the river and mooed. 

Further down the path, A Canal Boat was in water and was being turned around by 2 men with long sticks, that they used to push along the bottom of the canal.  Once turned the boat was pulled by a team of 2 horses on the towpath. Which is how it got its name.

This past sunday the three of us went to Massilion, Ohio and did a walking tour of the historical downtown.  It was cool to hear the history of the downtown area and see some cool old architecture.  Then we walked 5.5 miles on the towpath.   From Navarre to Bolivar.  This stretch was not my fave, it was too long of a stretch and the scenery didn't change much.  It was also not a very heavily populated stretch.



Base of a girder from a factory in Massilion, Ohio.

Close up of the art work on the Girder. Circa 1912

After all that walking we usually eat.  Randy is an encyclopedia of local food establishments.  We are always on the search for the perfect meatball.  If you are ever in North Canton, ohio, stop in at "That Little Italian Kitchen"  The food is so yummy.  I usually get a "Bake" which is a pasta mixed with their Homemade tomato sauce and homemade alfredo sauce.  Um YUMMMMMMMMM.  They also have good canoli.

 

Also in Canton is Schnabs Burgers. http://www.schnabsburgers.com/  I had the best Chocolate Malted there.  The burgers were so good and fresh, and the Boys were really cute.

 I wish we would eat then walk.  I have not lost any weight.

 

I can't wait for our next walk and dine. 

 

Hope you are well. 

 

J

A break from sewing

I have been spending many hours in my small costume shop in the basement.  I am getting ready for the final show of my fourth season at Weathervane.  I am designing "The Drowsy Chaperone"  It is a great show.  Nice music.  I will add some links at the bottom, so any of you that would like to know more about the show can take a look.  This will be my 31st show designing for Weathervane, I am not sure what the total is off the top of my head, close to 80 I think.  I don't even want to think about how many costumes I have sewn or worked on over the 20 years I have been working on costumes. 

I often get asked about how I got started in costume design, and I giggle.  There are 2 stories that make this up.  When I was a child my grammy (my maternal Grandmother) sewed all the time.  She would take our long pants and cut them into shorts, take our long sleeved shirts and cut them into short sleeves. Clothes were expensive back then, and we didn't have lots of money to spend on clothing, so you made clothes last as long as you could.
 For those of you that are too young to know, there was a time when it was cheaper to make your own clothes, than to buy them at a store.  Clothing Patterns were much cheaper, now a pattern starts at almost $15.00, and the fabric is more expensive than it should be. 
Anyway, Grammy had read an article in the mid 1970's that said if you taught young boys to cook, clean, and sew, and if you allowed them to play with dolls, that they boy would grow up to be a better husband and father.  Grammy was a woman ahead of her times.  I learned to sew at her knee.  I started by helping her Iron hems and pinning.  One time a button popped off my shorts.  I threaded the needle and she had me sew it on.  Over the years I would help her do small repairs.  In the late 80's I was bored and i started sewing to keep my mind occupied.   I then didn't touch a sewing machine again until I was a senior in High school.  I had to make a shirt and shorts for my home ec class. 
When I started college in the fall of 1991, my work study job was to reshelve books in the library for 20 hours a week.  5 days a week, 4 hours a day, I walked around the library, in silence (those of you who know me well, know how hard it is for me to be quiet.) 
I was a theater major, I was cast in the fall show "The Comedy of Errors"


Comedy of Errors, Huntingdon College, October 1991

After about 3 weeks of my hating the Library job, I heard that the costume shop was looking for someone to sew.  I talked to Fiona Macleod, the head of the Theatre Dept, she had me sew something, and I was in.  Beth Atkins, was the Designer my freshman year.  She Designed the costumes for Comedy.  It was set in the 1920's during Prohibition.  The Idea was that we were all silent movie actors.  The costumes were all Black, White, or shades of Grey, By act 5 we all had a punch of color. 

The next year Beth, decided not to design any shows, I was still working in the shop. Fiona saw something in me and encouraged me to grow. 

I designed and acted in alot of shows at Huntingdon, I was in and designed "Buried Child",and I was not having a good time in the show, thats when I decided to stop acting for a while,  It was a long time before I stepped on stage again.



Shakespeare in Hollywood, Weathervane Playhouse 2011

Medea, Case Western Reserve University 2008

Dancing at Lughnasa, Weathervane Playhouse 2012

Tartuffe, Huntingdon College. 1999

Much Ado About Nothing. Case Western Reserve University



This summer I have an intern.  She just finished her freshman year of college and wants to be a Costume Designer.  Jamie has been with me 2 weeks.  She is so full of energy and a desire to learn.  I see so much of myself in her.  I can't wait to see her 10 years from know.

You have heard the old adage "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."  I have been taught to fish.  I have taken a simple every day task and with some natural talents have carved out a career.   I know how precious that is.  When ever I have the oppurtunity to teach someone to work in the costume shop with me, I know that this may be the seed to something wonderful for them. 

I have been blessed with many awesome people in my life.  Fiona Macleod, Danny Davidson, Dale Di Bernardo.  You are heros to me and give me inspiration.

If anyone is interested in learning about Weathervane Playhouse or "The Drowsy Chaperone" you can click below for more info.

Jasen

Weathervane

www.weathervaneplayhouse.com

The Drowsy Chaperone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drowsy_Chaperone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKtGK1hcVoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILywa8o5TLk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohTfazLtJY&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R_yNejh7y4&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FaiSp-u82w&feature=relmfu