I’ll be a muse in the afterlife
I’ll live on the internet
You can look me up
and read all about it
I’ll make cameos
on YouTube videos
I’ll leave traces on searches
and poems on the cloud
_____Colleen Redman / dVerse Poets Pub / Poets and Storytellers United
1.
2.
3. 
4. 
5.
6. 
7. 
8.
9.
10.
11. 
12. 
13. – Photos 1. Hollywood 2. White House 3. Abby Road, London 4. Women’s March 2017 Floyd VA 5. D.C. art museum. 6. Plymouth Massachusetts 7. Floydfest 8. Monet’s Garden, France 9. My son Josh Copus’ Clay Compound 10. Chapel of Sacred Mirrors NY 11. Cafe del Sol Spoken Word Night 12. Outer Space Scrabble group 13. My son Dylan’s house, Floyd VA___________Thirteen Thursday
The latest Building Community Brick Project at my son Josh Copus’s Old Marshall Jail Hotel began in late September and ran until Saturday of this weekend when the project’s 4,000 goal was met.
The Old Marshall Jail, a boutique art hotel and restaurant along the French Broad River in Marshall NC, is itself a reflection of this community art project. Bricks designed and stamped by the community were incorporated throughout the repurposing of the old jail with tributes, historic notes, humor, sayings and signs of the time.
For this latest project, a public folk art monument will be created next spring using the stamped bricks to build a place to sit for contemplation on the OMJ patio.
It will be something between a ruin and cathedral, and in my mind a representation of resiliency and resurgence shaped by time and trials, such as the Helene flood that decimated the town last year and ultimately brought the community together to rebuild.
This is the way it works, Josh said on Friday, Joe’s and my first day helping the volunteer staff at the Building Community Brick Project.
“My mom taught me a long time ago that even a shopping list is interesting when it gets old enough,” meaning it tells a story of the time it was created and, like the correspondence of letter writing, can act as personal documentation.
Over the phone, I gave Josh a few good ideas for what I said I would stamp on a brick, until he said, “Mom, you need to come and do some yourself.”
Open for brick making from noon to seven, we started quite early on Day 2 of our Community Brick Project stint and others joined us. “I can’t see you, but I know you’re there,” was one of the early flirtatious things I said to Joe soon after we met and while at a bonfire. Now it’s part of the OMJ time capsule, going down and marking our history.
The Governor came to make a brick! Josh and Governor Josh Stein became friends through the town’s rebuilding. Always juggling one visionary project after another, Josh was not able to be there when the governor appeared.
I recognized him right away, and found myself saying, “Josh isn’t here but I’m him mom, so I think you should hug me!” (There were pictures in the media of Josh and the governor embracing when the Governor came to survey and offer assistance after the flood).
I set him up and showed him the brick-making ropes and Joe got Josh on the phone.
Other celebrities who made the day fun and memorable were renowned Ballad singers Donna Ray Norton and Sheila Kay Adams, who hold a ballad swap every second Wednesday evening at the OMJ. 
And some of Joe’s mentor/teachers and friends from his psychotherapy training joined in the fun.
We all had a grand ole time and look forward to seeing the finished art that we helped to create in the spring.
– More about OMJ Hotel and Josh Copus, ceramics artist HERE and HERE and on Facebook.
–The following was first published in Floyd Times on November 12, 2025
Parade attendees lined the streets of downtown for Sunday’s annual Veteran’s Day Parade. They applauded, cheered and held thumbs up as local Veterans passed by.
Alongside Veterans, the procession included Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, The Floyd County High School Marching Band, motorcycles, vintage automobiles, motorcycles, fire trucks and tractors, some pulling decorated trailers full of passengers.
Service was a theme. Volunteers from the Floyd Women’s Club ran a UFO-style canteen, serving baked goods, hot coffee and cider throughout the event.
Local Moose Lodge members road in the bed of a truck bearing flags and banners in honor of sponsors of the parade, VFW Post #7854 and American Legion Post 127.
Members of the Rotary Club, another civic organization serving the community, marched on foot carrying a bright Rotary Club banner, and the Kazim Shriners, whose primary charitable mission is to support Shriners Children’s hospitals, participated in comedic hillbilly style.
Army Veteran Jason Ehrhart, who lost a leg while serving in Iraq 20 years ago, paraded in his wheelchair with the accompaniment of a fellow Veteran.
His parents, Mike and Pam Estes, were interviewed by WSLS 10 News. Mike Estes spoke of the importance of honoring Veterans. “Some have paid the ultimate sacrifice and others, like Jason, have paid dearly.”
In front of the courthouse, a group held black and white signs that spread out across the length of the building and read “THANK YOU VETS.” – Colleen Redman
1.Quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) said, “The total number of minds in the universe is one” and that a universal Mind accounts for everything, and our individual minds are not unique but rather like the reflected light from prisms. More HERE.
2. Dream: She had a woman hidden in her house. She could hear her but not see her. When the sounds stopped, she knew the woman was dead.
3. Dream: “I can’t keep the door open. It’s too heavy,” I said to the people behind me. We were doing something fun, like hopping from place to place through rooms and doors.
4. I’m really uncomfortable knowing that I have more blog readers from China than from the U.S., according to my Stat Counter.
5. My PT describes attention deficit disorder as being in a situation where you’re not comfortable in your body, so your mind and/or body wanders off to do something else to avoid the discomfort.
6. I have a laser headlamp used to do my PT exercises. It’s red but I wish it was green so I could play being Tinkerbell.
7. I’ve been very good at not doing what I don’t want to but not as good doing what I don’t want to.
8. “Can you see Neverland? / “Have you met Tinkerbell?” / I wore a feather in my hair / like Peter wore in his cap / fell in love with a John named Joe / sewed a fallen hem with the point of my pen / and jumped off the plank into the underworld… Read The Lost Adults of Neverland in its entirety HERE.
9. Petal or Peddle?
10. The brain is a physical organ composed of tissue and neurons, while the mind is the abstract collection of mental faculties like thoughts, feelings, and consciousness that emerge from the brain’s activity. Think of the brain as the “hardware” and the mind as the “software” that runs on it.”
11. Why do so many women today have eyebrows that look like Groucho Marx?
12. “I’m going to run death like a stop sign and keep going. I pick you to finish.” Andrea Gibson, poet
13. “One day my body / will fall like a star / I’ll burn like a poem on paper / I’ll radiate ember / and scatter like ash / Someone will make a wish” Read A Ticket Home in its entirety HERE.
_______Thirteen Thursday
From the South Main Café to The Pine Tavern, and now Dogtown Roadhouse.
We’ve been following The KIND since 1988, and it never ceases to be our happy place.
It’s a sing-along dance-together Grateful Dead party with all the right ingredients.
Great music, lights, jams, atmosphere and community.
We drop our burdens and lose our inhibitions.
We twirl with friends and love our neighbors.
Mara read her poem How to Stop a War.
And the band closed with what has turned into an anthem for these times… Every silver lining’s got a touch of grey… and … We Will Get By.
I bet you can’t watch the below without smiling.
Watch for the dancer cameos and the “We Love you guys” hopeful finale! – More on KIND shows HERE.
1. That was the name of my “Halloween Party at the historic Epperly Mill” Facebook album.
2. “A handsome devil” is an idiom used to describe a charmingly attractive man who may have a mischievous or playfully roguish quality. It is typically used in a lighthearted or flirtatious way to comment on a man’s good looks, which might be perceived as having a hint of danger or a self-aware charm.
3. We look oddly coordinated. I really just wanted to wear a simple costume – no wigs or masks over my eyeglasses – that wouldn’t interfere with dancing, or with eating. We got a meal with our ticket, prepared by Two Trees catering, which is the business of our host Adam Morisson along with being the co-owner of the renovated Mill with his wife Marcie Morrison.
4. Our friend Tammy Brown, who came as Cruella de Vil, won the costume competition, a two night stay at Epperly Mill.
5. I asked Epperly Mill Band guitarist Shawn Matuk, who went to Blue Mountain School with my son Dylan, if he was wearing a costume and he said, “Yes, I’m a grown up.”
6. The rest of the band is Shamani Hyldahl on drums and singer songwriter Adam on vocal and guitar. Listen HERE.
7. Featured musician Jontavious Willis was outstanding. He’s a Grammy nominated musician from Georgia. Listen HERE.
8. The Blues is so good to dance to.
9. We also went to a Tea with Rumi poetry and music event at Living Light Studio with my friend/poet Katherine and Indian music musician Jagadisha.
10. Katherine says: There’s only one thing to do and I’m doing it.
11. I think of Rumi’s poetry as love poetry. Whether it’s about the divine in the beloved or the beloved in the divine. Ecstatic or erotic? By the seventeenth century in Christian mysticism the word ecstatic had come to mean the erotic rapture experienced in contemplaton of the divine.
12. I read three short poems, including my early ’90s Spring Mating Flight which begins: Like bees collide / Not afraid to be stung / Spring is a reckless commotion / Like hawks lock and dive / We make impact then fall / Not afraid to spin out of control
13. Read more of my stories on the historic Epperly Mill HERE and HERE.
Meanwhile, We have a new governor in Virginia – Abigal Spanberger.
________Thirteen Thursday
-The following was first published at Floyd Times on October 28, 2025
A group of approximately 25 people gathered at the Jacksonville Cemetery gazebo on Saturday (Oct. 18) to tour the old part of the cemetery with Floyd Historical Society president Gino Williams.
When the town was formed in 1832, the first cemetery in the area, other than a church, was the Old Jacksonville Cemetery in town. It became the official cemetery of the town of Floyd in about 1854 and lasted until approximately 1886 when it ran out of room, which was when the Jacksonville Cemetery (also known as the Jacksonville Burial Ground) was formed on an initial two acres, Williams told the group. 
Williams referred to the gazebo as the “Summer House” because that’s what it was called at the time. He explained that citizens wanted part of the cemetery to be used as a park with ornamentation, stating that up until about the end of WWII, cemeteries were used as parks, where people picnicked, enjoyed music and young people congregated on Sundays.
“At that time, the area just below us was the African American part of town,” Williams said. “The Armstrong School was there by the water tower and the church here was an African American church.”
He explained that the property wasn’t worth much at that time and that the deed allowed for Blacks to be buried in the cemetery, but only over the hill. “It was a different time period, post Civil War, and a lot of things were wrong,” Williams said, adding that the African American community moved to the New Town area in the 1920s and established their own cemetery (Big Oak) and church.
After speaking about the layout of the grounds (currently 18 acres) and the changes to the cemetery over the years, Williams led the group through the old part of the cemetery, where important people who influenced the forming and running of the Floyd (called Jacksonville at the time) were buried.
Stopping at the grave of Dr. C. M. Stigleman, a physician, school superintendent, mayor and Civil War veteran, Williams said, “He was probably one of the three or four most important people in Floyd, in terms of what he did. He was a leader in getting people educated.”
He noted the gravestone of Rev. John Harris Kellogg, who established the Oxford Academy and explained that Floyd drew leading educators from all over the country because the Oxford Academy was recognized as a preparatory school, giving students the proper background for entering college in New York and other states. 
“This is Anne Marie Smith,” Williams said, pointing out an old and ornate pillar stone. “This stone was put here by the memorial society. I don’t know what memorial society did it, but this space was given to her by the trustees of the burial ground for her service in the community.”
Smith was an educator from Connecticut who taught at both the Oxford Academy and the Jacksonville Female Institute. She was the one who was rumored to have been the subject of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Annabel Lee, but there is no evidence to support that, and many scholars believe the poem was written for Poe’s wife Virginia Clemm Poe.
“She was one of the early female educators in the county,” Williams said. “We were unique in this county in the way the women were educators and leaders. It was different in Floyd for whatever reason. For all the things that may have been wrong that was one thing we did a better job with. The women had a better opportunity to lead.”
Ruby Bishop West was another educator and community leader who was buried in the cemetery. She was involved in historical work, put together the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the county and was influential in establishing libraries. Williams also noted that the Floyd Woman’s Club was the group behind creating the new cemetery entrance with brick columns and planted dogwoods.
Williams stopped to pay respect at the grave of Marguerite Tise, a noted genealogist and historian who died in 2002. Tise was active in the Floyd Historical Society. She did extensive research on the history of the county and donated the land for Floyd’s Jessie Peterman Memorial Library.
“George W. Via, apparently, didn’t want anyone to think he lived in Floyd County,” Williams joked, which caused the group to break out in laughter. One of the funnier gravestones in the lot, Via’s gravestone read, “Always Lived in Patrick County,” and “Born in Franklin County.” ______Colleen Redman
PHOTOS 1. The Summer House. 2. There used to be a lot of trees here in this area. They had to get cut down to protect the (1930) Brammer Mausoleum, which would have cost the cemetery trustees a fortune to repair if it was damaged, Williams told the group. 3. “You can tell where the wealth and power were by looking at the stones and pillars,” Williams said. 4. “This is the way they repaired the stones,” said Williams, pointing out a metal bar that gave the stone support. 5. Oxford Academy educator Ann Marie Smith was given her gravestone and plot for her service. 6. A gravestone. 7. Williams stated that a lot of the work they do at the Floyd Historical Society came from Marguerite Tise. 8. Some of the stones faced the Buffalo and some faced the road. 9. The crowd. 10. George Via’s stone.
The following was first published in Floyd Times on October 29, 2025.
“She needs no introduction!” announced Karen Baker, Floyd County Democratic Committee Chair, as candidate for Governor of Virginia Abigal Spanberger took the Event Center stage at Floyd EcoVillage. The crowd of nearly 200 citizens rose from their seats, cheered and waved flags of support.
Spanberger thanked everyone for coming. She had just come from Lee County and Bristol and was planning to head to Blacksburg after her visit to Floyd. “We are out on our Virgina Votes Bus Tour. The weather is a little bit chilly but the people are warm,” she began.
“The focus we have right now,” she continued, “is making sure every person across the commonwealth knows the stakes of this election, knows what is possible, knows who I am as a candidate and why I’m asking for your vote. I’m running for Governor because I believe in Virginia and I want to serve.”
Spangler, who grew up in Henrico County, comes from a family where service to community and country was a focus. She has worked as a federal agent involved in narcotics and money laundering cases, and a CIA officer who worked on counter terrorism and nuclear proliferation cases.
In 2014, when her oldest daughter was five, after spending time overseas and then living on the west coast, her family made the decision to go home to VA. She left her job with the CIA, got a private sector job, started a girl scout troop and volunteered.
“I thought that’s how things would continue, until the lead up to and the aftermath of the 2016 election when I decided that the political landscape was something I didn’t find acceptable. I wanted to change it for my kids and for all our kids,” she said.
In 2019, she won a seat in the U.S. Congress. “I got to work serving the people of Virginia’s 7th district. I was rated the most bipartisan member of Congress from the VA delegation because I built coalitions to get things done. I was rated most effective legislator in the House and Senate on agriculture issues because I worked to bring coalitions together and get things done for the farmers and producers I represented,” Spangler said.
Since Spangler made the decision to run for governor in 2023 and finished up her term in Congress, she’s been putting her whole heart into her campaign. She spoke about some of the issues she will stand up for as governor, strengthening our health care, supporting stronger schools, lowering costs of necessities, standing up for our federal workers and improving infrastructure – bridges, broadband, road congestion – while refusing the politics of division and anger.
Following her address, Spanberger spent time connecting with attendees, mostly Floyd Countians. A line formed to meet the candidate. There was excitement, lots of smiles and sometimes hugs, like the one with Janet Keith, after Keith told her, “I’m a retired teacher and an active farmer. You have my vote, and you have my prayers.”
Photos: 1. The Event Center filled with close to 200 attendees waiting to hear Abigal Spanberger, Democratic candidate for governor, speak. 2. Karen Baker introduced Spanberger to a full house at EcoVillage Event Center. 3. The crowd cheered enthusiastically as Spanberger spoke. 4. Some raised and waved signs in support of Spanberger. 5. A line formed of attendees wanting to speak to and take photographs with Spanberger. 6. Meeting and greeting. 7. Spanberger and Janet Keith spoke at the end of the rally and exchanged a hug.
-The following was first published in the Floyd Times on October 25, 2025
Murder and Mayhem continue this weekend at the June Bug Center with The New River Theatre Guild’s performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, a perfect play for the Halloween season. Weekend performances have been well received and continue for October 31 at 7pm, November 1 at 2 pm and 7pm and November 2 at 2 pm.
The classic dark comedy, directed by Theda McCutchan, features a cast of zany characters, Brooklyn accents, physical comedy and unpredictable plot twists. The elaborate set designs and period costumes, headed up by Mim Ukes, are outstanding.
“Step into a world of lace doilies, vintage tunes, and darkly funny secrets hidden in a sweet old Brooklyn home,” the NRTG social media page invites.
The home belongs to two sweet aunties, sisters Abby and Martha Brewster, played by Charisse Skinner and Elsie McCombs.
But there is something not quite right with the Brewster family. The aunts are eccentric. Young Teddy Brewster, played by Arrow Bowman, believes he is the 23rd President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt. His brother Mortimer Brewster, played by Nico Anderson, says it best when he says, “Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.”
It’s not so much a ‘who done it?’ story as it is ‘who drank the poison? Be ready to laugh.
PHOTOS 1. Homemade elderberry wine is served by the Brewster sisters, Martha and Abby, to a potential boarder (far right), but not to nephew Mortimer Brewster. 2. Police have active roles in the production. 3. Left to right: Dr. Einstein (Hannah Hill), Teddy Brewster (Arrow Bowman), Aunt Abby Brewster (Charisse Skinner), Aunt Martha Brewster (Elsie McCombs) and Jonathan Brewster (Jovie Jeppson). 4. Nephew Jonathan Brewster has a dark history, and the aunts are not welcoming of his arrival. 5. Plot twists are unpredictable. 6. Mortimer Brewster (Nico Anderson) and his finance Elaine Harper (Brittany Back), get in on the mayhem. 7. A convincing and no-nonsense Lieutenant is played by Grace McCutchan (left). Happydale Sanitarium director (right) is played by Scott Haugh. 8. Cast takes a bow.
1. Over the weekend I went to cover an event undercover. That means I have no assignment or obligation to write about it, but I might.
2. And I did. In the last week, I have covered a No Kings protest, a cemetery tour, a ribbon cutting, a play and a rally with Virginia candidate for Governor Abigal Spanberger for our new independent and Floyd-centric news source, Floyd Times
3. I saw a lot of skeletons this week.
4. I caught some of the Rosebud band playing at Outer Space.
5. Where kids made smores to the cover tunes of Grateful Dead.
6. I also went to a Tea with Rumi poetry event where we enjoyed original poetry by my friend Katherine Chantal and sipped tea.
7. Not to be confused with the sipping of the elderberry wine laced with arsenic that we saw a couple of days later at the New River Theatre Guild’s Arsenic and Lace play at the June Bug Center. Stories coming soon.
8. I read a couple of poems too… If you are quiet / be loud / If you are loud / be quiet / Don’t laugh / if you don’t get the joke / Don’t cheat / Wear red / -Read Remedy in its entirety HERE.
9. Katherine says: There is only one thing to do and I’m doing it now.
10. You’ve heard the saying ‘It’s written in stone.’ It might as well be at my son Josh’s mobile brick factory, happening at the Old Marshall Jail in Marshall NC. People are having their say on brick for a new monument project. Josh says: The format is simple! We invite participants to express their feelings, thoughts and sentiments in the moist clay. We provide all the bricks and tools for mark making. After we make all the bricks they will all get fired and we will build a sculptural folk monument at the Old Jail in the spring.
11. Next up? The Plum House. Barb, the Outer Space owner, is closing Outer Space (an outdoor venue) for the winter and will be opening The Plum House. It’s purple and will be featuring noodle dishes to warm us up for the winter.
12. Soon they will fade and crumble to dust / Some are skeletons already/ Some have been eaten like the red wool hat / that I left in my pantry all summer / Others I suspect have leapt to their death / the way people jump off the Brooklyn Bridge / They land like broken-hearted sunsets / that absent-minded people later walk on / Read Eulogy for Falling Leaves in its entirety HERE.
13. Check out my author page at Floyd Times. HERE.
________Thirteen Thursday
The following was first published on at Floyd Times on October 21, 2025.
Approximately 300 citizens gathered around the Floyd Courthouse on Saturday for the NO KINGS DAY 2.0 rally to protest the executive overreach of our country’s current administration and to stand up for democracy.
American flags were flying and participants held homemade signs that gave voice to their concerns and frustrations: No Kings No ICE, Dignity for All, Release the Epstein Files, Our Grandparents Fought Fascism Will You?
Pastor Wanda Childs of the Floyd-Willis Lutheran Parish marked the beginning of the peaceful protest with a benediction. One participant dressed as the Statue of Liberty.
Two Vietnam veterans held a large American flag. Another veteran held a sign that read “I’m a Veteran and I support the Constitution.”
Karen Baker, a former candidate for Congress and current Chair of the Floyd County Democratic Committee, introduced speaker Freeda Cathcart, the founder of Indivisible Roanoke, through a megaphone, saying, “Listen up patriots!
Speaking of Cathcart, Baker said, “She’s an elected official representing Roanoke County on the Blue Ridge Soil and Water Conservation Board. Her ancestors fought in the American Revolution to protect people’s rights against the tyranny of King George. Her grandmother was a suffragette. She has taken up her ancestors’ patriotic torch to peacefully defend our constitutional rights.”
Cathcart addressed the crowd, “I heard a rumor. Ya’ll might have heard it too. There’s supposed to be some hate America rallies out there happening today. I haven’t seen anything like that.”
She added, “We’re here together because we love our country,” before leading the crowd in a U.S.A. chant.
Baker, wearing an American Revolution hat, made her way through the crowd with her megaphone, asking protesters, ‘how do you resist?’ “With kindness, every way I can, by raising anti-fascist children and hell yes” were some of the responses. Several people answered by saying, “I vote.”
It was an upbeat 2-hour demonstration with live music and singing. Many drivers of vehicles passing by showed their support by cheering, beeping their horns and waving.
In the following days, news outlets reported that an estimated 7 million people participated in 2,700 No Kings protests across the country and in all 50 states. Watch HERE. _____Colleen Redman
