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At the Intersection of Grace

At its center is two clasping hands – one black, one white; grasping at one another as though Michelangelo had chosen a concert rather than Creation as his Sistine inspiration.

Two women from very different backgrounds finding common healing in the rhythms and sounds of funk and soul.

On the left, the entertainer Sharon Jones: Sparkly-dressed, microphone in hand – she 15390944_10207730607091137_1912761181392023761_nwho would succumb to pancreatic cancer just 10 weeks later.

And on the right, another fighter: Missoula’s Susan Blair, who, deep into the throes of her own battle with cancer, showed up at The Wilma that September night to express admiration for a newfound hero.

It happened spontaneously, and it only lasted a split second – yet that’s all a photographer needs to preserve a profound moment for the ages.

“It was a spray-and-pray, I guess we call it – just shoot a bunch. It wasn’t really until I got home that I realized what I got.”

That’s Jeffrey Neubauer, staff photographer for The Wilma.

He’s been shooting live performances for years now. But this one, he said, was something different.

“A lot of times the pictures mostly showcase the party of the show, but this one really is a standalone picture that encompasses what Sharon Jones dedicated her life to – especially towards the end of her life,” he said. “Easily the best photo I’ve ever taken.”


You don’t have to know much about Sharon Jones to understand the significance of Neubauer’s image. Her drive to push through recovery and back onto the stage was documented hauntingly in 2015’s “Miss Sharon Jones!”

If you haven’t seen it, cancel your weekend plans.static1-squarespace

On the surface, “Miss Sharon Jones!” is the tale of a Jones’ emotional and physical struggles through invasive surgery and chemotherapy and the awkward balance of healthy self-care and meeting the demands of band mates, family and fans who count on her for financial stability.

But also, and perhaps more poignantly, it’s the story of the frontwoman’s lifelong struggles against poverty, segregation and a cutthroat industry – an industry that would eventually accept her into its folds just in time for her to assume a new, more deadly, foe.

As viewers, we get to witness the tender balance between Jones’ glowing charisma and tender pains on and off the stage – and the many lives she touched and inspired as she opted against wigs, self-pity and isolation in the face of what would ultimately be her demise.d


Enter now the 74-year-old Blair, who knew nothing of Sharon Jones until she saw the movie screening at the Roxy Theater last August.

Blair, who lives in a quiet home near the top of the Rattlesnake with her dog, Dora, and her 15-year-old cat, was diagnosed with lymphoma in February and had just completed the final of eight chemotherapy sessions in June.

This was her second battle with cancer; she had her spleen removed during an initial diagnosis 13 years prior.

After the movie, a theater employee told Blair of Jones’ upcoming Missoula show – the first of several people who made this moment between the two fighters come to fruition.

She calls them her “angels.”

“I wrote a note to her the day before the concert – I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated the movie, how I thought she’d been so inspirational,” she said. “It takes some bravery, you know. You either do it or you die, and sometimes you do it and you still die.”

Blair showed up that night with note in one pocket, standing-room-only ticket in the other. And there she stood, alone and exhausted in the back of the room, until she decided it was time.

“At least three people helped me get from the back of the theater to the stage,” she said – again, angels. “She reached out, and I was like, ‘Really?’ and I reached out to her – she was staring right at me,” Blair said. “I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to me. I just have so much gratitude; she didn’t have to do that to me.”


The first time we saw this iconic photo was in November, well after the show and just a week or so after Jones had passed.

Neubauer had posted it to his Facebook page looking for support in an online contest.

15391014_10207730602891032_516815209566835893_nIt seemed pretty clear to us what was going on, or so we thought: Blair was reaching out to Jones from the front of the stage seeking strength and solidarity in what was surely the fight of her life.

It wasn’t until we met with Blair in early December that the twist was revealed. It was Jones who was extending her hand, not the other way around.

Was she offering hope and support? If you know Jones’ story, that’s an easy hypothesis to believe.

Or perhaps she reached out seeking hope and support herself? For a strong woman determined to live out her dying days on the stage, that, too, wouldn’t be surprising.

More likely, just like Michaelangelo’s famous Sistene portrait depicts the intersection of deity and humanity, with no definitive flow from one body to the other, this photo simply captured the intersection of one woman’s grace with another’s.

“Maybe she had a need to reach out to somebody,” Blair said. “I just wanted to cheer her on because she is such a wonderful role model. And she had such a hard life, really.”


Beth Eldridge didn’t witness the two women embracing that night, but it doesn’t surprise her that such an emotional display unfolded at what was already an extremely heavy show.

Jones had already announced publicly the return of her cancer, and it was clear her days were numbered.e

Eldridge, who works as a registered nurse in the oncology unit at Saint Patrick Hospital in Missoula, said the type of connection those two experienced in that moment was perhaps as healing as any drug.

“You can get sort of isolated an lonely in a disease like that – everybody wants to help, everybody wants to do something, but nobody’s really in your shoes or knows what it’s like,” she said. “Just seeing the picture is pretty powerful.”

Aside from her two pets, Blair doesn’t have any family in Missoula. She made quite a few friends during a two-decades-plus stint as a volunteer at the Humane Society of Western Montana. But her closest family – her son, her granddaughter – live elsewhere.

Jones, too, was alone except for a few good friends and her musical partners.

But the funny thing? Because of their grace – that grace that intersected for a moment in September – neither have carried the burdens of disease and recovery all alone.

Doctors, nutritionists, band mates and fans; neighbors, friends, fellow concert-goers – even a movie theater employee and a photographer: The angels were there all along, just waiting to be called.

“It’s one of the gifts of cancer, I guess,” said Blair. “I really think it’s an angelic kind of thing. And if there is a heaven, she’s singing right there along with them.”

-story by Zeke Campfield; photos by Alanya Wissink

Jack has an unhealthy obsession with book ownership.

This is not to be confused with a reading obsession. C’mon – does Jack look like a guy that reads?

No – Jack just enjoys looking smart for the ladies, and nothing helps him meet that goal easier than a shelf stuffed with books.

imagesHere’s the thing: Buying loads of books Jack has no intention on reading really is a win-win situation. Not only does he look smart (for the ladies) but he also contributes to the local economy. Plus, hey, you never know when you might need to flatten something between those dusty old pages.

So if you’re looking for Jack this weekend, you might as well start at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Every November he loads up on new titles at their annual “Used Book Sale Extravaganza” – smart-lookin’ books, books that make Jack look like good relationship material. “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” anyone?

His secret weapon? Cookbooks. Yep, you heard it here first. Nothing says “Jack is the man for me” like a kitchen cabinet full of cookbooks.


So here’s the skinny on the big sale:

It runs Thursday through Sunday at the Fort’s Heritage Hall, which is the big yellow mansion-looking building at 30 Fort Missoula Road.

book-sale-300x141Every book except those stocked on the “specialty” table will sale for $1.50 per inch – and all proceeds will fund the museum’s new exhibits, the restoration and preservation of historic buildings and creating educational programming for all ages.

The sale starts at 10 am each day and runs until 7 pm Thursday, 5 pm Friday and Saturday and ends early at 2 pm Sunday.

Sunday is also “Super Bargain Bag Day,” with all books going for $10 per bag.

For more information, you can check out the event’s Facebook page HERE or you can call sale coordinator Jessie Rogers at 728-3476, ext. 5. She can also be reached at developmentdirector@montana.com.

Forget cologne – get BOOKS

A true hero isn’t attracted to glory.

But anyone who’s been on the receiving end of a heroic act knows that their humility is no excuse to neglect our gratitude.

That’s why we’re big fans of the annual Missoulian “Hometown Heroes” edition. It not only gives us an outlet to publicly express thanks to thunsung-heroe heroes in our lives, but we also learn quite a bit about the measure of the men and women whom we (sometimes unknowingly) work and play alongside each and every day.

Sometimes a hero puts his or her safety on the line to help save lives. Sometimes they’re just community visionaries who help solve problems previously deemed unsolvable. Sometimes a hero is simply that family member, friend or neighbor who says and does just the right thing to add a little light to the darkness.

Volunteers, coaches, nurses, teachers – our Hometown Heroes are those unsung people who make Missoula a better place to live, work and play. It’s important we take the time to honor them, and we thank the Missoulian for giving us a great outlet to do so.

If you have a Hometown Hero you’d like to be recognized, nominate him or her HERE.

You don’t have to be a wildland firefighter to know it’s not the most glamorous of jobs.

Hard physical labor under incredible pressure in suffocating heat far, far away from home? Yeah, no thanks. We’re doing just fine sleeping at our desk.
So when we lose a peer who put his or her life on the line for our sake, we feel a strange mixture of pride and guilt. Pride in the unbelievable heroics and sacrifice of humanity; guilt that someone gave their life, literally, to protect our comfortable lifestyle.

That’s exactly where we found ourselves upon hearing of the death of Justin Beebe.

Beebe, 26, was killed by a falling tree while fighting fire with the Lolo Hotshots in eastern Nevada last August.

According to the story, he left his home in Vermont with a stash of his family’s maple syrup and as he interviewed with fire crews he left a can behind – a memento of gratitude.

His endearing ways caught the attention of Shawn Faiella, assistant superintendent for the Lolo Hotshots. Seven months later, Beebe was killed.


 

So what do we do with this strange blend of pride and guilt?

The easiest way to handle it is the way we’ve learned to handle all hard truths – read about it, share a frown or two with coworkers and loved ones, and then forget about it. But that doesn’t allow for a meaningful manifestation of either emotion.

So how about this: How about today, instead of dwelling in the easy-to-dismiss toxic guilt, we feel instead a healthy sense of guilt – the appropriate kind that leads to empathy and compassion?

And how about we transform our internal pride into an external sense of gratitude? How about we show Beebe’s family, his peers on the Lolo crew and their families – in fact, all the great firefighters, military service members and first responders – that we really do appreciate what they do?

Some of you already undertake this important responsibility, and for you we are also thankful. But some of us know we could do better – and there’s never a better time to step up and start doing so than now.


Tomorrow night, join us at Lolo Peak Brewing Company for a special Beebe memorial and fundraiser for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

WFF provides financial support to the families of firefighters who are injured or die in
the line of action, including both immediate assistance with medical, transportation and funeral costs as well as long-term grief recovery and support.

The brewery has committed to donating a dollar of every pint sold 6-9 pm to the foundation, and members of the Lolo Hotshots will raise even more money through a live raffle.

Brewery managers have promised a large fire, and of course you’re always encouraged to partake in the brewery’s amazing pub fare.

So come eat, have a little fun, give a little time, give a little money. They’ll feel a little better and you’ll feel a little better – we guarantee it.

For more information about Wednesday’s memorial and fundraiser, call 493-6231.

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A beer worth drinking …