Fort Scott Bugle

"A Wake-up Call to the Community from one member of the Peanut Gallery."

Monday, March 20, 2006

"Long Talk with a Jazz Guitarist from Aurora, Colorado..."

The internet is an amazing thing. I received an email last night from a jazz guitarist in Colorado. He said he heard about my blog through a chance meeting with a distant relative of his from Yugoslavia who was doing some genealogy research. (I guess this blog is now truly World-renown!) He and I aren’t related, not even remotely, but he felt he had found something of common interest between us. Anyway, earlier today he and I had a good 2 hour plus conversation on the phone. You see he is originally from Fort Scott. He was born here about 61 years ago. He filled me in on how he felt about his life growing up here, and he was quite frank about what he felt was a very dysfunctional up-bringing, despite his family having a "name" in the community at the time. I found it odd that he referred to his deceased parents by their first names, and his “biological brother” by his last name, which they both share. In our talk he asked whether different folks he remembered from his past were still around and how they were doing, and he was especially concerned about his Aunt who he called “Maudie.” He said she would be over 100 if she were still alive, but he didn’t expect to hear of her passing from his “brother” since his “brother” had not informed him of their Mother’s death until after she was buried. He had much to share about his brother and his knowledge of his brother’s past, and his dealings with others, and openly expressed his resentment toward his brother‘s dealings with him, especially concerning inheritance. He told me of the various paths he has traveled in life with great detail, even to places I’d never heard of like Lake McConaughy near Lemoyne, Nebraska, or trips to see his cousins in Canada, even things he witnessed while visting his brother who was attending college in Lawrence, Kansas. I wondered just why he picked me to share his witness of all of the disturbing things he knew about. Before I asked him he explained that he felt compelled to contact me in particular because he was aware of his brother’s attempt to bring public ridicule to myself and my family, as well as other’s in the community and he felt it was only fair to let me know. Besides informing me of many very personal matters concerning his brother, things I’m sure were told to him in confidence and never expected to be shared, we talked about how he felt about such things as the visual changes he witnessed in the architecture of Fort Scott after urban renewal and his concerns about the downtown fire. It was interesting to get a view of things from someone outside the community yet has a connection here, and someone who is also concerned about citizen's and their need to know the truth. Thanks again, CK.