On the Road

Meandering in Mississippi

“On the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
Seein’ things I may never see again.
And I just can’t wait to get on the road again.” Willie Nelson

We arrived in Biloxi in a driving storm yesterday, and rain continued to gush down throughout the evening. We visited the Walter Anderson museum in Ocean Springs, and spent the entire afternoon viewing his incredible paintings of sea birds and aquatic animals as well as huge murals he painted on the walls of his cottage and on the walls of the local community center. Walter Anderson, like Vincent Van Gough, was schizophrenic and lived as an eccentric recluse, hardly able to feed himself, while he painted relentlessly. As long as he was free to gamble about the shore and draw everything he found, he was content. Once when he was hospitalized, he tied bed sheets together and even as he scaled down the institution wall, drew with chalk on the side of the building. He left behind a wife, four children, and thousands of drawings and paintings that are now housed in the museum that bears his name.

Looking at his body of work yesterday reminded me of two things: first, how even a mind that is hopelessly broken by the world’s standards can produce a bounty of riches of immeasurable value; and, secondly, how little we as a culture, cherish and support those gifts. With the news last week that services to people with mental illness and developmental disabilities will be cut due to funding shortages, I realized once again, that our most vulnerable citizens have little or no voice in how they will live. Walter Anderson and Vincent Van Gough were able to do what they did because their families realized their amazing gifts and provided for them. Most people with mental illness don’t have that luxury. How sad it would be if the world never has another gift such as theirs.

If you ever come to the Mississippi coast, besides going to the casinos, take an afternoon to gamble about the Walter Anderson museum. You’ll be glad you did.

On the road,
Jane