“’TIS...” is Old English for “It Is...” followed by an ellipse expressing omitted material; thus, it leaves open at the end for what follows in direct address or on one's own mind, be it controversial militancy on the part of the author per essay/work for his kindred spirits or political and social orations evoking communion with some collective humanity's soul.– or even comments or rebuttals on the part of the reader's. This collection of his essays and letters with dates was intended originally for enlightenment of specific magazines, organizations, and newspapers to induce others to think a bit more; to see clearly another regional view of our world, concerns, and imperfections as all were and are; and to cause or induce a change in the land or body-politics. These letters and essays to editors or groups took place between April 1997 and October 2001. ’Tis (or “It is”) like a drop of water given time – each L.T.E. – which reduces the hardest stone (or mind) under its persistent and accumulated drip, upsetting tightly held bonds duly set by chance or nature and time. It was Old English that brought a great deal of us to these distant shores, leaving its marks quite well in the colloquial slang or tortured language and accents of slaves and commoners and their descendants. As a whole, “’TIS...” can be a treatise of a pious and idolatrous nature of mankind, given embedded traumas as memories reproducing pedological desires and disdains force-fed years ago.

Urban Legend: Southern Roots

Talking or singing for the field black was a form of entertainment which also served as a way to vent hostility if someone else were a problem to them as was often the case. Norris King being a kin and a member of a large clan had allies to vent her verbal opinions skillfully and successfully. She likewise represented those able-bodied black women and girls, strong and bold, who strutted their stuff to walk among various generations all trying to scrape out a meager living performing back-breaking labor in the worst of times in the deep South. Still the African's desire to use language to challenge one another was a daily contest in getting their points across, in determining the victors of this sport of wits. They indeed had no equals upon the earth in getting their points across singing and talking or sassing or rapping, which sustained a culture and tradition like Bro Rabbit's sayings that were as entertainment and for kicking tempting butt. These rituals of the field are as a whole a legacy of African slaves in America.

First of all, though tiresome and punitive, field work was considered among the respectable forms of labor for most black women like Norris, Sister (Elizabeth), and Mat (Matie Mae) King, Miss Susie, Irene Carter, Arwilla Adams, Eva Mae Roddy, Mamie Jones, Georgia Ann Sparks, Alice Anderson, Eula Crapps (Miss Pots), or other renowned field queens of Worth County black communities. Many of whom were related in some manner whether by blood or marriage, a legacy of the plantation system, mongrelized and victimized. The field was a living for many black families in SOWEGA of the times before the 1960's. It was a livelihood where the planter culture ruled with an iron hand much unchanged since the days of slavery where chastisements were culturally imposed. The field was, however, the passion and rhythm which connected these people to the motherland, despite her misdeeds. It was there that the women maintained a hierarchy and a rite of passage going over generations connecting young folk to souls that the reality of then and now couldn't or wouldn't paint. The field was a place to settle a score whether by fist or by mouth. The later was preferred and expected as it entertained and sustained them with its rich improvisational skills allowing the women, many with children, to attack verbally opponents as equals to find assertive leaders. It all represented a kingdom of the field hands in field black culture, a darker shade of an exploited people coping with themselves in extreme conditions being put upon by everyone else.

Field humor was a daily war of words among the women of Worth County where these wise-talking women would fight with spicy words and angry fists if need be. It represented a salty reminder of the women's plight. Tales told in the field might also have been passed on in this setting or occurred in this fashion. Thus, Norris King's, a departed family member in April 2003, tale of a premonition about a weird incident involving witchcraft recounts: "Moving around the house," She said, "I looked hard for the telltale signs of them things which I had seen in my dream or something. All of a sudden, there on the outside I saw a strange packet wedged between the wooden house's side and the brick chimney. It was odd that I never seen it before. Just as I touched it the darn thing burst; powder spewed out of it, and it got all over me child! From that came the ants that crawled right out of my skin!"

Norris King had a premonition alerting her about something rather unusual which might be left in or around her shotgun style house. Her culture understood such reoccurring premonitions of importance as this fanciful dream-like encounter of hers. It turned out to be no dream but a seer's insight relating to a voodoo attack on her by an enemy that she had apparently enraged somehow. As stated, it didn't take much to "root" when evil fixations were the norms. Norris was a charming woman, strong in every sense of the word. She had a long history of spats with local black women of her day as fearless Eva Roddy remained a close friend and defender. All seemed to be consumed with her nice appearance given a determined attitude born by poverty and race and place. This matter of the flesh is a sure way to get fixed in a voodoo culture like that of the deep South where "roots" were a form of black non-judicial punishment imposed by nearly everyone in the black community whether they knew it or not – as usual with some whites tapping in too once the lights go out, commingling with our two-headed doctors.[1] It was and is a form of collective remembrance of those ancient arts which the curse of slavery didn't undermine; for in both primeval voodoo became a means to an end – revenge on one's own terms!

Cellular Memory

Born in Worth County, G e o r g i a < / s p a n >, in December 1949, Alto Griffin, Jr. is a < / s p an> V i e t n a m < / s p a n > and Desert Storm veteran. Six months prior to graduating from J.W. Holley High S c h o o l < /span>, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to be called into the service 19 June 1969 and served in the 101st Airborne Div., Air Assault as a sergeant E-5 Squad Leader. His final service would be with the 1st Infantry Div., the Big Red One while attached as a member of the 2nd Armored Division (Fwd) in < / s p an> G e r m a n y < / s p a n >, “Hell On Wheels” in the Gulf War. For his outstanding dedication and service he received a Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, as well as other medals and distinctions from his < / s p an> V i e t n a m < / s p a n > service. As a senior enlisted service member, he likewise received honors as one of the nation's finest combat-arms leaders and received his third and final Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) and Bronze Star (BSM). During his 22 and a half years in the U.S. Army, he served many tours in < / s p an>West G e r m a n y < / s p a n > and at Fort Benning, G e o r g i a < / s p a n >. The latter – then Drill Sergeant Griffin (an OSUT PSG/E-7), he self-published “Cadence Songs” (copyrighted 1983 by Carlton Press) to aid other Drills in the fine art of singing military cadences for training and motivating troops to fight with all their might. However, his first effort in publishing occurred at Fort Benning as an additional duty assignment in 197th Inf. Brigade (Sep) by singlehandedly researching, testing, writing, and printing the “Ambush” portion of “the 1976 U.S. Army Training and Evaluation Program” (ARTEP) and processing the manuals for the entire Army with a small team. He innately implemented suggestions or ideas and designs of new weapon systems or improvements in the past as now. Essays and poems and songs are also among his personal interests. His Liberal Arts degree was heavily into essay writing. He received civilian education while serving at M i s s o uri's Kemper Military S c h o o l < /span> and College (1985-89) as a Senior ROTC Instructor which earned him an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts. Mr. Griffin retired from the Army in October 1991 to continue his education at a technical college in Albany, G e o r g i a < / s p a n >, in Machine Tool Technology as a machinist graduate. He currently resides in Poulan, G e o r g i a < / s p a n >, a home since 1978 with his wife, Claries Roddy-Griffin, whom he married in 1975. The couple has three grown children (his step-children) who have nine kids of their own.