.:james t scott:.

I have never seen so many DSLRs and videocameras in one place in my life.

James T. Scott is a name that few recognized until recent. As the story goes, the Columbia Missourian ran an article with the headline "Columbia was Once the Scene of Lynching: How many people in Columbia today would believe that a law-abiding town, such as Columbia is now, was ever the scene of a lynching?" Only, that headline ran in the evening paper of the Missourian in 1920. James T. Scott was lynched in Columbia in 1923, only three years later.

The daughter of a white Mizzou professor, Regina Almstedt was assaulted by a black man while walking home one day on April 21st, 1923. The man told her that a white man had stolen his wife and that he was determined to ruin the next white woman he saw. Regina tried to defend herself by using her umbrella to deal out quite a few blows to her attacker, so much so that she ended up breaking her umbrella in the process. Though the attack, thankfully, did not end in her defilement, Regina was still badly bruised and cut and was slipping into shock by the time she reached home. James T. Scott was picked up April 25th when a witness came forward to claim the large sum offered as a reward for any informants. The witness stated that he had seen James T. Scott in the area of the attack at about the right time. Regina picked him out from the line-up of men (James had a Charlie Chaplain mustache like the one she said her assailant had). She identified him for a second time at the jail, declaring that he was the one who had attacked her despite the fact that James had no bruising or cuts on his face like the ones Regina, by her own admission, said that she had given her attacker in the struggle. Also, James was still happily married, unlike her assailant who had declared his revenge for his wife leaving him. Despite these major inconsistencies, James was charged with attempted rape--a sentence that could bring anywhere from five years to death. He was placed in the county jail to await his trial.

The night of April 28th an angry mob began to form. The mob demanded the sheriff hand over Scott for justice. The sheriff refused. Calls were made to the National Guard and to the Governor of Missouri to come and protect Scott. No one ever responded. By the time it busted into the county jail, it was almost 500 men strong. The men had chisels and hammers but when the iron doors to Scott's cell proved impregnable they called for a torch. The sheriff and police watched on as the mob swarmed in after they got the door down and wrapped a noose around Scott's neck and took him from the jail. The story continues that the mob took him down the street to the Stewart bridge where more than 2,000 people were waiting, cheering and calling for justice. Scott lost his life that night, a little after midnight on April 29th. A mob lynching took place in Columbia, Missouri. A place that only three years prior had scoffed at the idea that such an event could happen. An innocent man lost his life and for that we should all be saddened.

Scott was buried in the segregated black part of Columbia cemetery with no marker. Eventually it was determined through several descriptions where he was likely laid to rest and a temporary marker was placed in the 1990s. In September of 2010, a committee was formed to try to raise funds for a permanent headstone to be placed for Scott. The committee decided that they would have a time to celebrate Scott's life and his new memorial gravestone on the anniversary of his death in April. The support they received for their efforts was so overwhelming that not only did the committee raise enough funds for a beautiful headstone, but people from all over the country wanted to come and be a part of the celebration of James T. Scott's life. It was time to undo the terrible injustice that happened so many years ago.

So on Saturday, April 29th, exactly 88 years to the day that Scott lost his life, he was greatly celebrated by the citizens of Columbia and beyond. Relatives of Regina Almstedt and several other key players in the pursuit of getting Scott real justice were present. The service began with a dedication and a joyous celebration of his life at Second Missionary Baptist Church and moved on to a New Orleans style funeral march to Columbia cemetery where a graveside memorial was held. James T. Scott has now been honored as a citizen and a wonderful man, as he should have been so many years ago.

If you would like to read more of the story, you can visit the short e-book written several years ago here.





Second Baptist was packed, with even more people in their fellowship hall. It really was standing room only. Everywhere.




These are the children of Leigh Nutter, a journalist who not only reported the event, but also later became part of the trials to convict the persons responsible for Scott's lynching.




Rev. Clyde Ruffin helped to start the initiative in the first place. He is a pastor, a department head at Mizzou, and a man of much wisdom and dedication to history.














The Columbia Police Department shut down the streets for the procession and led the way.




The procession New Orleans-style with a band from St. Louis.




Our current mayor next to one of the honored guests.




The procession was LONG.


We had a few bystanders. = )










Rev. Ruffin and his beautiful wife, Sheila.




Photo courtesy of Justin Mayfield, who stepped in after we had to head to a wedding!


Photo/ Justin Mayfield.


Photo/ Justin Mayfield


Photo/ Justin Mayfield


Photo/ Justin Mayfield


May James Thomas Scott finally rest in peace as a man no longer forgotten.


Peace and love.

Mallory & Brian (our photo courtesy of Jordan Berry of the very talented Berrygood Video)

.:spring:.

A quote Brian has been using these past few months has really struck a chord in me lately:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -Albert Einstein

I'm so excited that spring is finally here--rain, laughter, joy, new friends, grand new adventures, and, of course, CHANGE!

Speaking of change, we've made some changes here in the Avia household. We've been working on getting healthier (almost 15 and counting!) and adhering to a real schedule to get our life in order. And finally, just FINALLY I squeeze in the time and creative energy to get a new logo designed. I've been dying to change it for awhile and, well, now we have! A new spring. A new season. A new day!

Happy April, everyone! May it be full of joy and life, my friends!


This particular spring day a few weeks back, Brian and I were taking a break from photography. We walked around a nearby park and ended up sitting down, as we often do, to talk about life, our hopes and our dreams. In the middle of our conversation out of the corner of my eye, I began to notice a gorgeous tree blooming with a rich golden sunlight streaming through the other trees, acting as a beautiful spotlight. We hadn't brought our cameras on this trip so I took a few shots with my iPhone (this being one of them). I was a little bummed, as the photo didn't do the tree justice, so Brian, being the wonderful, kind, amazing husband that he is, agreed to pause our conversation and run back to the house with me and grab some camera gear. Sadly, by the time we returned a few minutes later, the golden spotlight was gone, but we continued our journey around the park, enjoying creation for what it was: absolutely marvelous, miraculous artwork. = )

Brian being oh-so-sweet and waiting on me while I worked on some close-ups (he was not feeling so great that day, which made it doubly amazing that he was so patient!).

This was the photo he was waiting on. The blooms from the first tree. I'm not usually a magenta fan, but with bare branches and a vibrant blue sky, how could you go wrong?








What in this photo doesn't belong (and subsequently makes it different from the previous photo)?



I *LOVE* seeing these everywhere!

The beauty of this next set was almost overwhelming when we encountered it. I couldn't delete many!




This one encapsulates my life. Seriously.






*sigh* I love spring!

Can you see him? He's hiding. = )


Yay spring!

Mallory (& Brian--who seems to be yawning, not growling, in this photo)

.:even cats have love languages:.

Hello everyone! Meet Balthazaar, one of our cats. (Say Balthazaar five times fast! Guess who named her?)



Balthazaar was the first kitty we got when we first were married. Brian begged me until I relented a few weeks after our honeymoon. We made a trip out to my parent's farm and, because she was the bravest of the kittens we found, she was the one to come home with us. Her personality came out almost immediately, much to my surprise. We noticed that she was a little lazy, a little moody, and absolutely did NOT like to be touched. She hasn't changed. We've noticed that she's happiest when we do things for her that she likes. She likes to be furminated, she likes clean and cold water in her large bowl in the kitchen, she likes to drink out of the humidifier bin when Brian changes it, she likes for her hind legs to be scratched when she asks, she likes fresh kitty litter, and she likes to sleep alone. Rather than sleeping with us, she generally crawls into either Brian's sock drawer (as she is pictured above) or into the drawer with my pajamas. In short, she's pretty independent.

Brian, within her first year, decided that he wanted to get Balthazaar a companion. He thought it was sad that we were leaving her alone all day with our jobs so, after some more begging and convincing of me, we made a second trip to my parent's farm to go get Mr. Mostly Mittens. We found him at the bottom of a barrel and fell in love. Brian thought he would be the perfect companion for Balthazaar. We brought him home and had to bottle feed him for a few weeks.




Now, check out what he started to do immediately:

Can you tell what is most important to this little kitty? Snuggling!

I know, adorable, right?
Mr. Mostly Mittens was the exact companion Brian had been hoping for Balthazaar. Mr. Mostly Mittens was sweet, gentle, affectionate, and loved to snuggle. However, we soon noticed a problem with this new companionship. Look at Balthazaar's face. Think she looks annoyed? That's because she is. The new little one would move in to snuggle her and she would tolerate it for a few moments and then either whine or move away. You'd think Mr. Mostly Mittens would get the picture and move on, right?

Nope. As he got a little older, he learned a few tricks. If he came into a room and she was sleeping he would quietly get inches away from her and stay still for a few moments.


Then, he'd ever so quietly creep closer and closer and then gently pounce across her body to drape himself over her for a super close nap. Inevitably, each time Balthazaar would wake up and scream at the top of her lungs as if he was trying to kill her.


Still today every morning after breakfast he will jump back into bed with Brian and get as close and as cute as humanly possible. If I'm there, too, he'll make sure that he reaches out his paw to touch my face so that he's touching both of us:

While Balthazaar sits feet away, and could care less:


So despite Brian's best intentions, two years later, the cats still aren't best friends. Mr. Mostly Mittens continues to annoy Balthazaar on a daily basis and she continues to insist that we express our affection for her through the little things that she loves.

My point is that Valentine's Day is coming up. (You're wondering right now why I switched from cats to Valentine's Day) Valentine's Day, in theory, is a day to celebrate our love for one another and for many of us, it is a day for exactly that. However, for some it brings up more emotions of emptiness and despair than love and joy. We remember failed relationships or all of the ways we feel unloved by our boyfriend/spouse.

"He never buys me flowers anymore like he used to when we were dating."
"He never helps me out with the kids at night when he comes home."
"He doesn't ever talk to me anymore, I'm not sure if he even likes me."
"He never tells me I'm beautiful."
"He never holds my hand like we did when we first got married."

Here's the connection! Our cats speak different love languages--Balthazaar receives love through acts of service while Mr. Mostly Mittens receives love through touch--and, chances are, if you are feeling lonely and unloved, then you and your partner likely speak different love languages.

Years ago when I first learned about this concept it was a HUGE revelation. I had several close friends and family members that I felt positive did not care about me. But then I realized they were speaking a different love language than I was. They constantly did things for me (acts of service) while others brought me little trinkets/treasures they had purchased or made for me (gifts) but, because these were not my love languages, I didn't understand that my family and friends were communicating their love for me in their love languages.

So, for Valentine's Day, take our cats as your example! Learn your love language and learn your partner's love language. Then, after you've done this, make your love languages a priority every single day. If you never learn your partner's love language and make it a priority, there will be continual misunderstandings and hostility just like our cats (as I type this I can hear Balthazaar screaming in the next room because Mr. Mostly Mittens is trying to snuggle up next to her). If we could just get Balthazaar to tolerate Mr. Mostly Mitten's affection and get Mr. Mostly Mittens to scratch her hind legs when she asks, so much would be solved! So learn how your partner feels most loved and make their love language a priority!

In case you've never seen it, here's a summary we put together of the Five Love Languages (we're teaching a class on love and relationships and one fellow got so excited when he heard about this that he left the room immediately to go call the girl he liked and tell her about them!) We pray that this information is as much a revelation and a healing hope to your relationships as it has been to ours:


F I V E L O V E L A N G U A G E S

1. Words of Affirmation. If your primary love language is Words of Affirmation, you feel most loved and cared for when someone tells you how wonderful or beautiful or amazing that you are. It could be verbally through a written note or through another way that expresses all of the great qualities you possess and all the ways the world is a better place because you are in it. (Examples: "You are so beautiful. You are so smart. I think you are an amazing woman and I could not imagine a more perfect wife in all of the world.") If your love language is words of affirmation, you are most hurt when someone says negative things about you or to you about yourself. Negative comments and words about you hurt a lot.

2. Acts of service.
If your primary love language is Acts of Service, then when someone does something for you then you feel very loved. (Examples: washing the dishes, cooking a meal, cleaning the house, making repairs to the apartment, working long hours at a job to provide for the family, re-decorating the home, watching the children, etc.) If your love language is acts of service, you are most hurt when your spouse or friend forgets to or neglects to do common chores that would help you in your daily or monthly routine.

3. Affection (touch).
If your primary love language is Affection then simple touch is the way you feel most loved. (Example: holding hands, kisses, sitting very close together on the couch, hugs, intimacy within a marriage.) If your love language is affection, you are most hurt when your spouse will not touch you for days (or months!) at a time. Your spouse refusing to give affection when you are arguing is one of the most painful things you can experience.

4. Quality time (or conversation about meaningful topics). If your primary love language is Quality Time, you feel most loved when you are spending purposeful time with your friends or your spouse. (Examples: attending a play together, playing basketball together, watching a movie you have both picked out and then discussing it, having long conversations on a couch about meaningful topics.) If your love language is quality time, you are most hurt when your friend or spouse does not make the time (or have the time) to spend with you and only you. You will feel lonely and abandoned if your spouse does not make consistent time to be with you.

5. Gifts. If your love language is Gifts, you feel most loved when someone gives you something. If someone makes something for you especially you will feel very honored and cherished. (Examples: receiving a few wildflowers from your spouse, receiving candy, receiving something new that you had been wanting, receiving a handmade gift even if it is ugly!) If your love language is gifts, then if your friends or spouses never give you gifts you will assume that they no longer love nor care about you.



So Happy Valentine's Day, folks!

-Mallory (& Brian)