First Presentation Now Just a Memory

The Southern Women's Writer's Conference has come to a close, and my first presentation was very successful. It was a small conference, so all that stressing I did over my little paper was for nothing. The Berry College community (about one and a half hours north of Atlanta) was very welcoming and the campus was beautiful, idyllic even. But, my most memorable moment at the conference was...no, not my presentation. It was meeting Ms. Vertamae Grosvner. She spoke at one of the lunches, but while I walking accross the scenic campus, I heard that distinct Gullah accent asking for directions to the dinning hall. She was radiant and hip and I just had to introduce myself. Poet, actress, culinary anthropologist, and writer Vertamae Grosvenor is the reason I know how to cook rice ("properly" she added). She also had a featured role in Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (one of my most favorite movies), on which she was a language consultant.