"Give me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy" F. Scott Fitzgerald Day 19 Montgomery Alabama

Today was another huge surprise.  Not sure what I expected to see in the capitol city of Alabama but I sure didn’t expect such a beautiful city, again, filled with gorgeous architecture and NO PEOPLE?!?Maybe it’s because it’s a Saturday and there was a big game going on but seriously, the whole city was completely deserted.  Suited me fine. 

And there was this amazing chain of connections…Civil War plus Civil Rights plus the Gatsbys.  But I didn’t know it was all connected till the end. 

The original White House of the Confederacy is right next to the Capitol Building.  The White House saw all the main players in the Confederacy including my beloved Mary Chesnut who complained to her husband James that the carpets were “squishy with tobacco spit” and the accommodations were definitely not first rate.  I stopped here briefly to pay my respects before walking across the street to pay my respects to the front steps of the capitol where Martin Luther King made his amazing speech AFTER the long walk from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 (I remember that on the news).   But then I noticed William Sayre,  the architect for the White House across the street was also involved in the capitol building and that’s when the connection happened.  

ZELDA SAYRE.  WIFE OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD….I had spent the morning after I arrived in Montgomery taking a wonderful tour of the house she, Scott and Scottie, their daughter lived in.  

  The whole story was very sad on every level.  Not because she was a diagnosed (and badly treated medically) schizophrenic  and was locked up til the mental hospital burned down but because her “loving” husband Scott cheated on her over and over, stole her one goal in her life: to have a book of her own published which she did 10 years after Scott was nothing but a drunkard.  The horrible part is whilst she was in the hospital trying to recover from a bout of the crazies,  her book was at the publishers and they sent it back saying it was ready to go but needed a few changes made.  HE DID IT!  Without telling her, he basically re wrote the book and sent it back.  They rejected it!  She found out and re re wrote it back to as close as she could remember the original and it was finally published…to good reviews but rotten sales.  

Then he ran off to Hollywood and had Zelda committed.  He died shortly after (at his lovers apt) and Zelda died years later in the fire.  Amazingly, critics HATED the Great Gatsby saying it was too late to be glorifying rich folk in the 20’s by the 1930s.  It roared to popularity in the 40’s and seems to be going strong.   Zelda’s other passion in her life was drawing and she was obsessed with paper dolls.  She wanted to make a history book of nothing but paper dolls.  Her dolls and her artwork was racy, cutting edge and very unique (quite Erte).   

the hospital where she died in the fire

Their graves. They were both paupers when they died even though Zelda was the grand niece of the famous architect of so many buildings in Montgomery…too many hospital bills.  

 

And that leads me to the election.  There are some people that believe Trump will abolish the ACA if he gets elected.  He can’t.  That would take congress and there are too many people on it to do that but there’s a pretty serious problem with the ACA now.  It was never intended just for sick people to use.  It was only going to work well if EVERYONE got on it.  (sick people only will overtax the system which is exactly what has happened).  The good news is that LOTS of people are seeing their premiums not change or ever go down.  Some are certainly seeing theirs go up.  PLEASE BE PATIENT AND GO THRU THE PAPERWORK TO FIND A PLAN THAT WORKS FOR YOU.  They’re out there.   

Tomorrow I will cross the famous Selma bridge and head to my last Civil War site,  VICKSBURG.  Tonight and am camped by the spectacular Alabama river…it’s huge, the fish are jumpin’, the sun is setting and I’m sending you all hugs from the road.