Serious stuff from a funny lady

Tumbleweed Smith of Big Spring is a newspaper columnist and producer of The Sound of Texas radio series.

Courtesy Photo

A woman in Crowley calls herself Z, the first letter of her first name.

“My first name is Zandra,” she says.  “When I was born, my mother went to see a Tarzan movie, “Tarzan and the Amazon Woman.”  The head Amazon honcho woman, the big strong girl who ran all these women on this island, was named Zandra, and that’s where my name comes from.”

She’s a writer and goes by the name Z. Mink Fuller.  Her father was named Oscar Mink. 

“My daddy was an old country preacher from Appalachia and he used to say, ‘I am what every woman desires.  Everybody would love to win an Oscar and they would love to have a mink, and with me they get them both.’”

She had fun growing up.

“I was just a tom boy and such a hippie kid running around you know, had my hands in paint or mud or something, always doing something crazy.” 

When she was a young woman, she did clown work. 

“When you put on that grease paint and make-up, you can become someone else.”

  Z and her dog, Peaches, are all over social media.

“I’ve got a little bit that I do called “Ruby Pearl and Peaches Southern Wit and Wisdom.”

She presents short little glimpses of everyday life.  Here’s an example: “Hey there my lovelies, it’s Ruby Pearl here.  It’s 98 degrees, and I swan I’ve got the vapors.  I tried to find a cool place today to write, just didn’t happen.  Peaches is takin’ a nap, so I’m goin’ to grab some sweet tea, sit on the veranda ‘til big daddy gets home.” 

Her poetry, essays, and other writings have been published nationally.  She’s working on an anthology of her work.  She wrote a hardback children’s book titled “Hope and Hollyhocks.”

“It’s about imagination and fantasy, and, in the middle of it, I have pages where they can color and draw their own stories and draw the characters the way they want to create them.  It’s sold at Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, and Half Price Books”

All profits from the book go to help abused children and adults through missions, such as Rapha International based in Missouri.

“Feed, clothe, educate them, you know, give them a better life.”