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Old soldiers
get into lots of mischief and Jo is no exception. In addition
to her writing and consulting business, she is a talented
craftsman, who weaves chair seats using a variety of natural
materials, both traditional cane and delightfully dyed combinations
of reed and twisted paper. Jo began learning this craft
over 35 years ago, when she wove a new cane seat and back
for an antique rocking chair that had been in her family.
She started out learning from a book, but she advanced to
an apprenticeship with one of Georgia's preeminent chair
caners, Hazel Malone, author of the University of Georgia
Extension Service publication Chair Caning.
In addition to
operating a business re-caning old chairs and crafting individual
chair works of art, Jo has taught chair caning at the John
C. Campbell Folk School (www.folkschool.org) in western
North Carolina for over ten years. She has also taught the
craft at a number of continuing education programs. Her
skills have been featured on the Do It Yourself television
network and at www.diy.net. Most recently she and one of
her classes were filmed by University of North Carolina
Television.
An active member
of her community, Jo served four years on the Board of Directors
of the Association
of Village Pride (www.avpride.org), an organization
dedicated to developing confidence and leadership abilities
among minority young people in the Fayette County, GA schools.
In 2005 she was appointed to the Library Board of the Fayette
County Public Library, where she led an investigation into
an extended pattern of diversion of nearly $1 million of
Fayette County taxpayer funds by the regional library that
supports Fayette County. Jo believes that there is no better
place for books and reading than public libraries that are
fully accountable to the taxpayers.
In June of 2005,
Jo and her husband, Johnny, embarked on a new adventure
when they moved from Fayette County, GA, to Waveland, MS,
on the Mississippi Gulf Coast near where Jo had grown up.
This turned out to be more of an adventure than they had
planned, however, when after three idyllic months in their
home on the beach, Hurricane Katrina came roaring ashore.
Jo had escaped the devastation of Hurricane Camille, the
last big storm on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, by ten days
when she joined the Army in 1969. Perhaps it was destiny
that Katrina struck exactly ten days after the last of their
household goods were delivered to Waveland. The Rusin's
house, along with those of all their neighbors, was completely
destroyed as Jo and Johnny and their five dogs sat out the
storm in Mobile, AL at the home of Margaret Ellis, Jo's
publisher ww.magnoliamansionspress.com). According to Jo,
if you have to survive a hurricane, it helps to be with
friends on high ground and to have a knitting project going
and lots of rescued retrievers to pet. Fortunately their
home in Georgia had not sold, so they had a house to go
to, furnished through the kindness of friends.
Among the few
things they were able to take with them before the storm
hit, Jo was able to take her computer and her writing. The
writing tradition in Mississippi is strong and there are
are even more stories to be told now. She is back to writing
(see essay Hurricane Katrina) and has returned to seat weaving
with renewed enthusiasm.
The beach at
Waveland was undamaged and the spirit of the Mississippi
Gulf Coast remains strong. Jo and Johnny plan to rebuild
on their lot and return to Waveland, so stay tuned. There
is no telling where this silver belle from the Gulf Coast
will lead you.
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