A few days ago, I happened on some books and old play scripts in our high school media center. I took a moment to glance at them, not sure if they were for discard or re-shelving. Then I noticed the name at the top of each paper cover, written in a familiar hand. I looked down the stack at the titles: a script from a familiar play “Voices From the High School;” another that I recognized titled “The Phantom Tollbooth;” a new-looking copy of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam;” and a number of other plays, collections of brainteasers, and other books full of instructions about the process for properly deconstructing and criticizing the novel, and how to decipher plays and understand theatrical characters.
On each one, in careful lettering, was that name. As if she had painstakingly noted this interesting, eclectic collection was lovingly handpicked for the edification of the talented high schoolers special enough to spend part of their senior year with her. I wonder if many of them knew that much, really, about her. After all, she was, to them, just another of the teachers that cajoled them about reading and homework, part of the dance of educational role-playing that all students and teachers perform.
There must have been some, however, that got to glimpse a little deeper inside that unique personality, to see that remarkable intellect, and to experience some of those dramatic flashes of theatricality she so often displays. A friend once commented that every conversation with her was like visiting a rehearsal for a new play – all blunt tension and anticipation and coated with a southern sweetness that is mixed with recklessness. Yet, when you are at last free to contemplate what the whole conversation you just had with her meant, you appreciate that it was more multi-layered and meaningful than you previously realized while it was actually occurring.
Like her persona, Dr. Jo Demmond, the first lady of “Crooked Rivers’ Sisters Three” is a more complicated and complex work of art than she appears on first viewing. Her history is remarkable in that she wasn’t just a teacher in Camden County that ushered hundreds of graduates through reading plays and understanding literary characters. No, she has also appeared in plays, so many in fact that they sort of run together when you try to pin her down about those days on stage. I vaguely remember one that I saw in Atlanta in my earliest days there, in which I am certain I saw her perform with the then doyen of local theatre, Mary Nell Santacroce. (Santacroce later became famous for her inauguration of the role of Miss Daisy in “Driving Miss Daisy” at the Alliance Studio Theatre.) And, unlike other teachers, Demmond hasn’t just explained to students how authors create characters; she has also created them herself. Just a couple of years ago, she revealed her first storybook for children (that is filled with meaningful lessons for adults, as well) “Darren, the Different Dragon.” I have no doubt that in some carefree, whimsical fashion; she will announce her second tome that continues to follow the adventures of Darren and his friends.
Today, we know her as the visionary and persistent soul of “Crooked Rivers’ Sisters Three.” It was through her leadership over the past four years that this remarkable, evolving community phenomenon came to be. Her continuous and often prickly challenges to enthusiastic and some less sanguine supporters gained “Crooked Rivers” both notoriety and acceptability. Her support and encouragement allowed me to begin this mission of sharing ideas, both conceptual and personal, with you. When we take pride in what “Crooked Rivers” has become and anticipate what it might yet develop into, it is important to place Jo Demmond into her proper place in that evolution: essential its conception, vital in its development and critical to its eventual reality.
Today, she says she is ready to lead a calmer life, content to reflect on the flowing waters of the Satilla River, as it eases past her dock. I prefer to think that maybe she is just storing up psychic force for our next round, our next edition of “Crooked Rivers.” And maybe she is also reliving some of her own personal stories, relishing a still energetic and remarkable life, while she puts them in perspective of all the other stories she helped find on the banks and around the bends of the crooked rivers of Camden County.
Opportunities for this week and the future: don’t miss Camden Area Players musical “Honk” at David L Rainer Elementary on Friday and Saturday, 8.4 and 8.5.
If you have ideas or events you want me to share with readers, send me a note at pkraack1@tds.net.
8.2.06
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