Social Justice Personified

Atlanta actor Brenda Bynum turned herself into famous Georgian Lillian Smith before an appreciative crowd in the theater at UGA’s fabulous Russell Special Collections Building Saturday night. Smith was a writer who spent much of her life on Screamer Mountain above Clayton, where she also ran a girls’ summer camp. Lillian Smith’s 1944 novel Strange Fruit, about the love of a bi-racial couple, shocked her native state and region but became a bestseller. A few years later, she published Killers of the Dream, an examination of the deleterious effects of racism on white people, further cementing her reputation as a pariah in the South. Yet, as Bynum showed us, Smith was a Southern lady herself and could hold her own no matter how refined the company. Lillian Smith was a pioneer in the matter of race relations, clearsightedly pointing out the naked truth about King Racism.

Through her research into Smith’s letters and other papers held in Russell Special Collections and using her skill and experience as an actor, Brenda Bynum transformed herself into Lillian Smith and for an hour chatted with us in Smith’s words and voice and brought us into the presence of this almost forgotten Georgian.

Since the leaders of our state are determined to take us back to 1944 in race and other social matters, we need as much as ever to know about Lillian Smith, who was one of us and showed us the way toward equality and justice. Bravo to Brenda Bynum and to Russell Special Collections and Piedmont College (Smith’s alma mater) for this performance! Here’s hoping there will be an encore in the Athens area soon. Meanwhile, you know Avid Bookshop can order these books, if they don’t already have them on the shelf. (Shameless plug.)

Hear This

If you’re hard of hearing like me, you wonder if you need hearing aids. (You do.) And you wonder where to go to find out. Here’s another shameless plug. I have been going to the UGA Speech and Hearing Clinic over in Aderhold Hall on the south campus for over a decade, and I am a fully satisfied customer. I have always received the highest quality professional care, and I have never felt that anybody was trying to sell me anything. As I have always told folks who have asked me, I recommend the Speech and Hearing Clinic unreservedly.

Now’s your chance to see for yourself. The UGA Speech and Hearing Clinic is celebrating its 60th anniversary this Friday, Feb. 28 with an open house and a tour of the facilities on the fifth floor of Aderhold Hall. The clinic will offer free speech, language and hearing screenings from 8:30–10:45 a.m. Make an appointment by calling 706-542-4598.

The open house and tour follow the screenings, from 10:30–11:15 a.m., and then there’ll be some remarks and some refreshments and a video presentation with “special guests.”

Here’s your chance to get a feel for the clinic, and it won’t cost you a thing. Parking is available at Performing Arts Center, East Campus, Carlton Street or South (Georgia Center) parking decks.