From the freezing fog of the Bay into the sauna of Mississippi

I returned to Greenwood, Mississippi, after living in San Francisco for nine years. San Francisco has continued to evolve decade after decade. Greenwood hasn't changed much in the last 50 years and maybe even before then. But if you can believe it, that's one of the reasons why I needed to come back.

An anthem for some Delta kids

When I was in high school, we seniors had to vote for our class song. The choices were "Small Town" by John Mellencamp and "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. I voted for "Small Town," but it lost.

I still stand by my vote. Greenwood always been a small town, and it probably always will be. That is something to celebrate. I miss the variety in San Francisco, but I came back to Greenwood because it was familiar. Not just the streets and the businesses but mostly the culture. Here we live by the Golden Rule, and no one's a stranger. That's something San Francisco doesn't have.

Sampling a song on a pin (or two)

When I sketched ideas for my Mississippi pins, I had to include some designs about Greenwood. "Small Town" has stuck with me all these years, so of the four Greenwood-themed pins I designed, two borrow lines from "Small Town."

When I'm in Greenwood, I can relax, so "I can breathe in a small town" sums up the comfort of being here. The other line, "My bed is in a small town," echoes that Greenwood is where many of us feel safe enough to call home.

The lyrics are the stars in these pin designs, so I chose beautiful fonts and added minimal graphics to support the text. I also styled the words "Greenwood" and "Mississippi" in the same way for both pins to further tie the related themes together.

Both pins are made with an iron base. The "breathe" pin uses white enamel paint with rose gold plating. The "bed" pin has a dark blue enamel color for the main background with nickel plating. The light blue stars and the text were screen printed due to size and detail.

As with all my Mississippi pins, these have butterfly clutches and two pin backs to keep them from rotating.

My kingdom for a small town

Besides mine, I don't think I've ever seen any Greenwood, Mississippi pins out in the wild, but we need more to advertise this town. Greenwood has so much to offer, and the world deserves to know. ❤︎