http://www.cloudybright.com/ cloudybright communications en-us Carmen Sisson (c) 2004-2013 Carmen Sisson 120 http://www.cloudybright.com/991.php

Pimiento cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich, courtesy of my kitchen. ]]> 991@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:22:30 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0991pimientocheese.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0991pimientocheese.jpg Southern Paté http://www.cloudybright.com/990.php

]]> 990@http://www.cloudybright.com Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:38:26 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0990biloxibeach.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0990biloxibeach.jpg Perpetual Redemption http://www.cloudybright.com/989.php

]]> 989@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 24 Dec 2012 21:55:26 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0989dauphinisland.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0989dauphinisland.jpg Ravages of time http://www.cloudybright.com/988.php

Years ago, I left the writing world to pursue my first love, photography. I started this blog, made a lot of new friends, and had a lot of fun. Of course, life has a way of changing, when you least expect it. I've moved three times since then. Lost seven cats — four to death, three to a breakup. Lost the house, lost the guy, lost a lot. Gained a sense of self. Because you see, I had never known life without being the other half of someone else's sentence. I started traveling, and occasionally, I would see a glimpse in a mirror of a girl I liked better. She was smart and confident, but most of all, she was independent. Of course, right about that time, I took a staff newspaper job and traded my freedom for security. And in a way, that's why I'm here tonight, at 3 a.m., when I have to be up for work in 2.5 hours. Because I realized that I miss my carefree days as a photographer. I was a writer because people said I was good at it. I was a photographer because I loved it. Big difference. Over the next few weeks, I think I will redesign the blog. Update it to suit the modern era a bit more. Add in the usual social media bells and whistles. And just as it did the first time, I hope it will restore a bit of happiness to my life. ]]> 988@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:55:51 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0988dauphin.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0988dauphin.jpg Rebirth http://www.cloudybright.com/987.php

]]> 987@http://www.cloudybright.com Sun, 25 Nov 2012 21:21:51 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0987dauphinisland1.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0987dauphinisland1.jpg Thanksgiving 2012 http://www.cloudybright.com/986.php

Mississippi man receives Legion of Honor medal, France's highest military decoration. For the full story, please click here. ]]> 986@http://www.cloudybright.com Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:25:13 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0986LegionofHonor2.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0986LegionofHonor2.jpg Légion d'honneur http://www.cloudybright.com/985.php

]]> 985@http://www.cloudybright.com Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:01:18 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0985Dauphinislandsunset.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0985Dauphinislandsunset.jpg Dauphin Island Sunset http://www.cloudybright.com/984.php

Images from the April 27, 2011 tornado that ripped through Smithville, Miss. ]]> 984@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:46:14 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/ http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0984tornado.jpg Smithville, Mississippi: An Abiding Faith http://www.cloudybright.com/983.php

]]> 983@http://www.cloudybright.com Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:12:26 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0983Crossroads.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0983Crossroads.jpg At the Crossroads http://www.cloudybright.com/982.php

Two Mississippi children proudly show off "Psycho," their three-month-old Pit Bull puppy March 12, 2012 at Noxubee Wildlife Refuge in Macon, Miss. ]]> 982@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:48:09 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0982psycho.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0982psycho.jpg "Psycho," age 3 mos. http://www.cloudybright.com/981.php

They say there are no atheists in foxholes, and I've found that to be true. It wasn't that I didn't believe; it was that faith was a thing I did, not a part of who I was. It stormed the night I arrived in Mississippi. Three days later, a tornado destroyed Smithville to the north, Eupora to the west, and Tuscaloosa to the east. The lights went out in Columbus. It didn't even rain. As days turned into weeks turned into months, I wrote and struggled to adjust to pressures, quotas, and deadlines stacked like corpses in a morgue. I couldn't say how the new job was going, because my brain was too numb to form any words beyond the tidal wave that was both expected and required. That's when the dreams started. Always the same, winding through my subconscious like a reel-to-reel documentary. Omaha Beach, Normandy, 1944. Men thrashing in the mud, flailing against the shore, tripping over the bodies of those who fell before. Bombs exploding, rain sheeting down, rendering visibility to near nothing. I clutched my notebook and pressed my helmet harder against my skull. The sounds of the dying drowned out my own screams. Through the curtain of rain, an outstretched hand, a familiar voice. He had the same slim notebook, the same green helmet, the same mud-spattered flak jacket. But he didn't have the fear. Red poppies lay scattered like blood on the beach, the only color in this grainy, black and white hell on earth. I was crying, trying to gather the petals to me, saying over and over, "There are so many, the dead — there are so many." A mortar shell exploded at our feet, muffling the questions I couldn't parse. When the smoke cleared, he was still waiting, hand outstretched. "Just write what's in front of you," he said. And so we began, heads bent over our notebooks, one walking in the other's footsteps. The human story, laid bare. The names behind the numbers. The narrative behind the pedagogy. I knew what to write, because I had been taught hard and taught well. I woke up calm, collected, no longer haunted by deadline fear. I went to work and wrote what was in front of me. Over and over and over until I could do it in my sleep. The dream has changed slightly in this year of transition and loss. The message has not. Never alone. Never so lost that I cannot be found. Never so lost that I cannot be saved. I stopped fighting words. I stopped fighting the clock. I stopped fighting change. I let it wash over me, listened for my mentor's voice and found the words I needed. And somewhere along the way, a foxhole mirage became a catalyst for reconversion — the narrative spine upon which I could hang a new story. A better story. A story of courage, honor, sacrifice, and commitment. A story that will carry only my byline, but could not have been written alone. Addendum: The photograph was taken at the Civil War Interpretive Center in Corinth, Miss. The city was the Confederate Army's stronghold before the Battle of Shiloh. Today's music, on constant repeat: Where I Belong, by Building 429 ]]> 981@http://www.cloudybright.com Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:35:06 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0981corinth.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0981corinth.jpg Mississippi Lost, Mississippi Found http://www.cloudybright.com/980.php

My beautiful boy, the love of my life — nearly four-years-old now. ]]> 980@http://www.cloudybright.com Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:11:38 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0980cowboy3.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0980cowboy3.jpg Lovestruck http://www.cloudybright.com/979.php

]]> 979@http://www.cloudybright.com Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:19:10 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0979houses.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0979houses.jpg Life on the Water http://www.cloudybright.com/978.php

]]> 978@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:14:00 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0978shell.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0978shell.jpg Lost and Found http://www.cloudybright.com/977.php

]]> 977@http://www.cloudybright.com Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:53:45 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0977ChristmasPrey.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0977ChristmasPrey.jpg Christmas Day, Bird of Prey http://www.cloudybright.com/976.php

My beach. My Gulf. Possibly my favorite place in the world. I had to travel the country to realize that. ]]> 976@http://www.cloudybright.com Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:47:11 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0976dauphnislandwalker.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0976dauphnislandwalker.jpg Don't Look Back http://www.cloudybright.com/975.php

]]> 975@http://www.cloudybright.com Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:55:03 -0800 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0975dauphinislandjetty2favorite.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0975dauphinislandjetty2favorite.jpg Trust http://www.cloudybright.com/974.php

]]> 974@http://www.cloudybright.com Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:28:47 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0974pumpkins.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0974pumpkins.jpg Mississippi Harvest http://www.cloudybright.com/973.php

]]> 973@http://www.cloudybright.com Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:14:02 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0973columbusautumn1.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0973columbusautumn1.jpg Southern Light http://www.cloudybright.com/972.php

A 3,0000-degree electric arc furnace prepares to receive a "charge" of scrap metal which will then be melted and converted into steel. ]]> 972@http://www.cloudybright.com Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:17:21 -0700 Carmen Sisson http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/0972steel.jpg http://www.cloudybright.com/images/photoblog/thumbs/t_0972steel.jpg Melt Shop