By Jessica Gorman

First, an admission. I’ve been seriously considering giving up this column or at least taking an extended break. I’m tired, I’m stretched thin, maybe I’m feeling a little discouraged. I missed the last two weeks because I just couldn’t manage to find the time to write anything. Usually, I can manage to write something, but it just wasn’t happening. One thing I’ve learned is that when inspiration doesn’t come, don’t fight it, and always listen to the topic that does present itself. Write it. Whatever is asking to be written is what I write. Always. Even now, I started out thinking I was writing one thing, but as I started to type, my thoughts and my focus shifted elsewhere, and I realized that what I thought was this week’s topic isn’t.

I do not and have never felt like this column belongs to me. I write it, it has my name on it, but I don’t think of it as mine. It belongs to the stories of the past. I’m simply the instrument being used to tell them. I’m not the first, certainly not the best, and I won’t be the last. (I sure hope not anyway.)

It has been suggested to me in the past that this column should be a vehicle for attention, but I could never reduce it to that. The stories that are told are of value. They don’t have to be flashy to be worthy. I care about the story and how it’s told. I care about the people and how all their stories intertwine to tell the bigger story of Webster Parish.

Sunday night, I received a message. If you’ve been a reader for a while you may remember Emily Garrison and her diploma. It’s like the story that just won’t stop, Emily and her 171-year old diploma. (By the way, I finally worked out the details of my relationship to Emily by stumbling across a document that confirms the identity of her grandfather.) Sunday’s message was from a lady in Memphis who said, “about 3 years ago, you received a young lady’s diploma from the Minden Female College.” She was pretty sure that her great-great grandfather, S. L. Slack, had signed that diploma as President of the Minden Female College. She was right. As a matter of fact, we have two diplomas from 1855 that bear the signature of S. L. Slack. The other is that of Emily’ s classmate, Anna Harper. I was thrilled to be able to send her photos of both diplomas and the signatures.

Maybe that signature isn’t exciting to everybody, but it’s exciting to her. It means something to her and that means something to me. That’s why I write. That’s what drives me. Connecting people to the stories that are important to them is the whole point. I had almost made up my mind to put this column aside, at least for a while, but that message reminded me that I can’t. And so, I won’t and hopefully, I’ll see you back here next week.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association and Museum, Inc., Webster Parish Historian, President of the Minden Cemetery Association, and an avid genealogist.)