To Experience The Puzzle Jug StoryCast
The Puzzle Jug is a story that sat waiting beside the Savannah for more than 150 years until the conditions were just right. And now that time has arrived.
Real people lived by the river on, what was known in those days as, the old Lamar Swamp Plantation. Some of them were born and died right there, looking across the water at Augusta, Georgia. But for some, that place was just about as far away from their home in Africa as they would ever be able to imagine.
The story of The Puzzle Jug of this uniquely-American tale begins on July 4, 1856, in the midst of a rite of passage for the 8 year-old, Hannibal, which is guided by Granny Venus, the 90-year-old matriarch of the Swamp Plantation.
Two years later, the entire community - comprised of both the enslaved and their enslavers - must decide which side of their conscious and culture they'll stand upon when a group of captured African children is delivered to their doorsteps.
Through clever resistance and courage, the story explores what happens when a country stands at the edge of its own soul.
The Puzzle Jug is presented as a serialized historical novel told in a dramatized audio form.
If you are new, begin with Chapter One or listen to the latest chapter by clicking one of the buttons above.
New chapters are added each week.
Solar Printed Portraits
These PORTRAITS D'ESPIRITS are created using a nearly two-century old photographic printing process where the sun (or an ultra-violent light source) creates an image on a surface coated with an iron-salt emulsion.
The result is a print called a cyanotype. In Greek, cyan means “dark blue substance.” Although the process was invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, a remarkable astronomer who discovered the planet Uranus, it was first used to make solar prints of botanicals by his botanist friend, Anna Atkins in 1843. She's considered the first female photographer.
Cyanotypes are initially shades of dark blue but can be toned using a variety of natural, non-toxic substances.