Politics is so much about serendipity that we've got to have a bigger pool of women, so that when people drop out of the process, you've got others to turn to. Looking at female candidates today, other women are the hardest on them, especially older women who were brought up in a different culture. Today's young women don't really see inequities until they go out into the real world. ~Eleanor Clift~
DIANE ABBOTT (1953- )
Diane Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to the British Parliament, was born to Jamaican immigrant parents in 1953. Growing up in Paddington, London, she attended Harrow County grammar school before pursuing studies in History to Master’s level at Newnham College, Cambridge. Upon graduation, Abbott worked as a civil servant with the Home Office as well as being employed by the National Council for Civil Liberties. In 1982, she was elected to Westminster city council before winning the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency for the Labour Party in 1987. She was elected along with Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant who became the first black men to be elected to the British Parliament.
Abbott’s parliamentary career has been diverse and fruitful. For most of the 1990s she sat on the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. These posts allowed for global travel, with Abbott visiting Kenya, Uganda, China, Hong Kong, and many European states in an official capacity. Abbott was also the first black woman to hold the position of Equality Officer in the British Government. She was also elected to the National Executive of the Labour Party. Abbott is still serving as an MP in her original seat after she secured her place in the 2010 general election, which saw several Labour losses, with a 55% majority of the vote. Outside of Westminster duties, Abbott has been an important figure in community politics. She has been visible in work for the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) while voicing support for racial equality within the Trade Union movement. During the 1990s, Abbott founded “Black Women Mean Business,” an organisation established to empower and promote black businesswomen as well as various educational projects such as “London Schools” and “Black Child,” which are aimed at increasing educational opportunity in ethnic minority neighbourhoods. Other youth work has included a commitment to the “Scrap Sus” campaign which works to abolish police profiling of black youngsters in stop-and-search patrols.
Abbott has worked as a freelance journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker. In 2009 she was awarded the “Spectator Speech of the Year” for her condemnation in the Commons of the proposed 42 day detention policy which would have allowed the government to detain terror suspects for six weeks without charge or trial. This is one example of Abbott bucking the party line to stand by her beliefs. Another, which caused wide controversy, was her decision to send her son to private school despite the Labour party being opposed to fee paying education.
A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears. When I grew up, you needed to have straight hair. It's symbolic of needing to be like everyone else, needing to look like everyone else. And what that meant was looking like the dominant ruling class in America.
~Anne Roiphe~
JANELLE PENNY COMMISSIONG (1953- )
Janelle Penny Commissiong, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, was born in June 1953, migrated to the United States at the age of 13, and returned to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in 1976. After winning the Miss Trinidad title, she went on to be crowned Miss Universe 1977 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She was the first woman from the Caribbean and the first woman of African ancestry to be crowned Miss Universe. Commissiong is the daughter of a Venezuelan mother and a Trinidadian father. In 1976, just before winning the Miss Universe crown, she studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, New York. During the Miss Universe pageant, Commissiong was a very popular contestant who won the photogenic competition of the pageant. Nonetheless, she was not considered the favorite to win the pageant. Most observers claimed Miss Austria, Eva Maria Duringer, was the odds on favorite to take the crown. Duringer finished as 1st runner up.
During her reign (1977-1978) Commissiong was a public advocate for black rights in nations where people of African ancestry were minorities, and she campaigned for world peace. In 1977, Commissiong was awarded the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honor. Three postage stamps were also issued in her honor by her country. In 1978, Commissiong’s successor was Margaret Gardnier, Miss South Africa. For many it was tragically ironic to see the first Miss Universe of African ancestry crowning a woman from a nation that was internationally known for its racial injustice toward black people. As the first black Miss Universe, Commissiong attracted more than normal international attention. For the U.S. to Asian media especially she was a particularly interesting topic. She was also in demand around the globe as a speaker. Much of the interest continued after her reign. Soon after she relinquished the crown in 1978, Joaquin Balaguer, President of the Dominican Republic, invited her to interview him in the National Palace. As she did during her tenure as Miss Universe, she continued to visit many African, Asian, and European nations as well as the United States.
After her reign ended Commissiong married Brian Bowen, the founder of Bowen Marine, a Trinidadian pleasure boat manufacturing company. When her husband died in an accident in 1989 she headed the company for a brief period. She remarried for a second time to Alwin Chow, another Trinidad businessmen and they adopted a daughter, Sasha. Like many famous people of Caribbean heritage, Janelle Commissiong is considered an icon in her native Trinidad and Tobago where she continues to manage successful businesses.
Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source - a Sower of Dreams - just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true. Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach~
Birthday anniversary greetings to you Robert Gholson! Now that the time has sprung forward, you're the first of the "Daylight Savings Time" Spring Equinox Mix. According to "The Spruce" (https://www.thespruce.com/) website, March 16th is National Artichoke Hearts Day and provides us a twofold reason to celebrate. Presumablely, the top 8 Health Benefits of consuming Artichokes and Artichoke Extract are: loaded with nutrients, may lower 'Bad' LDL Cholesterol and Increase 'Good' HDL Cholesterol, may help regulate Blood Pressure, may improve Liver health, may improve digestive health, may ease symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and may help Lower Blood Sugar. If you're like me, you probably don't eat artichokes, but maybe I should start, due to the presumed benefits. Reminds me of an old "Little Rascals" scene when Stymie is looking at an artichoke and says; I don't know what this is, but I'm going to tackle it. He starts mysteriously peeling it apart only to find nothing at the bottom. He then says; "It may choke Arti but it ain't gonna choke Stymie" and tosses the demolished heart aside.
We probably have classmates who consume artichokes weekly for its alleged benefits. Marilu Henner stated; Everyone thrives most in his or her own unique environment. Foods high in bad fats, sugar and chemicals are directly linked to many negative emotions, whereas whole, natural foods rich in nutrients - foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes - contribute to greater energy and positive emotions. As you peel away the miraculous layers of grace and mercy bestowed upon you today, cherish and abide by these words, from a mighty Native American Indian Chief Tecumseh; "When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none". Should you chose to celebrate today or not, may the numerous gifts of gratitude received from family and friends reflect the words of James Allen. "A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings". I wish you a Wayman Tisdale kind of day. Having made that harmonious adjustment on account of the family surrounding you, you're always on your "Way Up". By virtue of their happiness, health and prosperity because of your love for them, "It's a Good Day"....on behalf of your classmates and friends, like Alfalfa and the rest of the Lil Rascals Gang would say; “You will only met your once in a lifetime friends…. Once in a lifetime”....enjoy your day and stay safe my friend....
Hey Estella and Joycelyn! Your comments are always a welcome site to subdued eyes. Your comments always add lighting and color to the website. Estella, I listened again to the song and I couldn't tune in on Lou Rawls, in particular. Thank you for your attentive ear, because it caused me to check it out. Back in the day, many of us took pride in knowing the different vocalist and instrumentalist performing on each alblum. So, I did a little research and found some additional record credits. Was surprised in particular to find the "Cheaper To Keeper" vocalist was a former member. Many of us know The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spaned over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and Motown, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.
The Soul Stirrers - Origin - Trinity, Texas, United States - Genres - Gospel - Years active - 1926-1960s Members Willie Rogers, Ben Odom, Gene Stewart, Michael Grady Jr. Past members Sam Cooke, Paul Foster, Jesse J. Farley, Johnnie Taylor, Jimmy Outler, Lou Rawls, Martin Jacox, Thomas Breuster, Jackie Banks, Roy Crain, R.H. Harris, Bob King, Julius Cheeks, James Phelps, Arthur Crume, Leroy Crume, Dillard Crume, Rufus Crume, James Davis, James Hardy, Frank Davis, Calvin Henderson (Drummer), Luther Gamble, Eddie Huffman, Justin Morris, Jackie Heard, Glenn Darden (Drummer), Gary Blackshear (Drummer)
Joycelyn, some of those ailments that artichokes are alleged to provide benefits for normally are considered hereditary. However, some of us military veterans experiance the complications because we served. They say confession is good for the soul and I initially didn't know that today was considered National Artichoke Hearts Day. I kinda figured that someone in the class was partaking of them, but hadn't suspected you. From your picture, looks like you enjoy canning and Aloe Vera plants, which also have medicinal benefits. Maybe it's the combination usage of both which causes you to look ageless. Think I'll buy another jar of artichokes....to help lower my'Bad' LDL Cholesterol and Increase 'Good' HDL Cholesterol.....
Estella and Joycelyn, I wish to thank you again for your pledges of financial support for the original form of communicating with each other and the character of the class that its represented over the years. "Character is power" (Booker T. Washington). Joycelyn, don't be surprised should you see your image circulated again on the 22nd, 27th and 29th.....stay safe my friends...
I would just like to say that opera is no longer about fat people in breastplates shattering wine glasses. What people really should be able to be confident in, is that the standards of music- making that classically trained musicians present is elite, it is the best and all of us as artists should be committed to that. There are a lot of unseen elements to having a successful singing career. ~Lesley Garrett~
MEASHA BRUEGGERGOSMAN (1977- )
Measha Brueggergosman, Canada’s most recognizable young opera star, is working hard to bring classical music to a popular audience. The Canadian soprano has emerged as one of the most magnificent performers and vibrant personalities of the day. She is critically acclaimed by the international press for having both a voluptuous voice and a sovereign stage presence far beyond her years. Brueggergosman’s ancestors fled slavery in Connecticut during the American Revolution in the 1780s, settling in Fredricton, New Brunswick. Measha Brueggergosman was born in Fredricton on June 28, 1977. She began singing in the choir of her local Baptist church and studied voice and piano with the director of the choir. As a teenager she spent summers on scholarship at the Boston (Massachusetts) Conservatory. She studied one year with New Brunswick soprano Wendy Nielson, before moving to the University of Toronto (Ontario) where she obtained a Bachelor of Music. Brueggergosman then pursued a Master’s degree in music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany.
In one of her premiere performances Brueggergosman played the lead role in the opera Beatrice Chancy by James Rolfe. Produced in Toronto in 1998 and in Nova Scotia in 1999, the opera portrayed the tale of a slave girl in 19th-century rural Nova Scotia who murders her abusive father and master. The opera and Brueggergosman won praise from critics and audiences and in 2000 it was filmed for Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) TV. As Brueggergosman’s career rapidly gained momentum, her mature musicianship and powerful voice have placed her in demand both in concert and on the operatic stage. She has appeared throughout Canada, and has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In 2002 Brueggergosman was featured in Cincinnati (Ohio) Opera productions of Elektra, Jack Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and Turnadot. Meanwhile, she has continued to develop her concert repertoire, often combining songs by greats such as George Gershwin with her own arrangements of black spirituals. In 2003 and 2004 she performed at recitals in all major Canadian cities and made debuts at festivals in Germany, Norway, and Scotland. She has also worked with such distinguished musicians as Christoph Eschenbach, Margo Garrett, Rudolf Piernay, and Jessye Norman.
Brueggergosman has been the recipient of a number of national and international awards, including prizes at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London (2001), Jeunesses Musicales Montreal International Competition (2002), Oslo’s Queen Sonja International Music Competition (2003), and the ARD Music Competition (Munich 2003). She is also the recipient of the prestigious Canada Council and Chalmers Performing Arts grants. Brueggergosman has been twice nominated for Juno Awards, winning the 2008 Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year.
The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man's right to his body, or woman's right to her soul. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being. Women need not always keep their mouths shut and their wombs open. ~Emma Goldman~
MAYANN ELIZABETH FRANCIS (1946- )
Her Honour the Honourable Mayann Elizabeth Francis, O.N.S., DHumL, is the first African Nova Scotian and only the second woman to have held the position of Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in its 400-year history. Francis was born and raised in the Whitney Pier district of Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Archpriest George A. Francis and Thelma D. Francis. By pushing her limits, she achieved her dreams through education. Upon completing high school in Whitney Pier and attending junior college, she went to X-ray technical school and gained her certification as an X-ray technologist. After graduating from St. Mary’s University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts, she accepted a position with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. In 1974 she moved to New York City, New York where she studied to be a paralegal at Long Island University. While working, she also studied for her Master’s in Public Administration at New York University, graduating in 1984. Additionally, she completed a Certificate in Equal Opportunities Studies from Cornell University. From 1986 to 1990 she was Administrative Manager in the Office of the District Attorney, Kings County, New York.
Francis returned to Nova Scotia in 1990, where she was appointed the first employment equity officer at Dalhousie University in Halifax where she became the first black woman to be appointed a senior administrator. She continued in that position until moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1994, where she became the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Women’s Directorate, a position she held until July 1997. Her next posting was as Assistant Deputy Minister, Provincial-Municipal Education and Training Secretariat, Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Her return to Nova Scotia for a second time came in 1999 as Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. She was concurrently appointed Provincial Ombudsman for Nova Scotia; a role she fulfilled from 2000 through 2003 with the distinction of being the only woman to have held that position in that province. She continued as Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission until her appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia June 20, 2006. She assumed the office of the Lieutenant Governor September 7, 2006, for a term that normally does not exceed five years.
Greetings Warrior Family. I received the following email from "Class Creator" concerning the renewal of our subscription;
Subscription Expiration
Thu, Mar 17 2022 4:01 AMFrom:"Class Creator" <noreply@classcreator.net>
To: sbrown027@nc.rr.com
Priority:Normal Attachments Print
Booker T. Washington High School Memphis, TN Class Of 1970 https://www.classcreator.com/Memphis-TN-B-T-Washington-1970/
NOTICE OF SITE EXPIRATION: We hope you have enjoyed your class web site on Class Creator. Your paid subscription is set to expire in 30 days. If you let your subscription expire, your site will automatically change to our "Free (with ads)" Plan. This means your site will continue to function normally, indefinitely, and will contain advertising. The Free (ads) plan does not include Support or access to the Class Creator forums. Support will be reactivated should you choose to resubscribe in the future. If you do not wish for advertising to appear on your class web site please log into your site, click the Subscription link, and add time to your current paid subscription. Whether you continue your paid subscription or begin utilizing our Free (ads) Plan, thank you for remaining a valued participant in the Class Creator community.
More pledges have been received this week and we have exceeded all expectations in a phenominal fashion. A deposit was made earlier today, and as mentioned prior, I prefer not to hold an individuals check. As discussed previously, transparency will always be my objective. Here's the update, as promised, on funds received. You've donated enough to renew 10 years at the Premiun level or 10 years at the Platinum level. I continue to anticipate additional receipts prior to the next update on Friday March 25th. If you have mailed your pledge and have not received an acknowledgement, or a thank you gift from me, please let me know immediately.
WEBSITE SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL LEVELS
Monthly 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Premium $16 $165 $385 $495 $825
Platinum $21 $220 $495 $660 $1099
FUNDS RECEIVED TOWARD RENEWAL AS OF MARCH 18, 2022 - A GRAND TOTAL OF $1,320
Here's the images of all deposit slips, as of March 18,2022.
More discussion to come concerning the excess funding. I've had a few conversations with some of our pledges concerning a donation to the school on behalf of the "Class of 1970". Each one that I spoke with agreed with the suggested opportunity. I will be communicating with the appropriate staff at our school, inorder to access the greater need for application....The subscription shall be paid on April 13, 2022. Should any other classmates desire to contribute a donation on behalf of the "Class of 70" between tomorrow and the scheduled date, please don't hesitate to contact me at sbrown027@nc.rr.com for additional information. Another deposit will be made as soon as I receive those pledges from everyone else, only 8 of 26 remain. A pledge was even made this morning by a dear friend who wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you to all who have contributed to this noble effort and also to those who've yet to mail their contribution....enjoy your evening and stay safe my friends....as we Ride Along together.....
Unfortunately, we are still in an age where individuals may be discriminated against because of health conditions. Nurses serve their patients in the most important capacities. We know that they serve as our first lines of communication when something goes wrong or when we are concerned about health. Studies have indicated there is a strong correlation between the shortages of nurses and morbidity and mortality rates in our hospitals.
~Lois Capps~
VERONICA D. ABNEY (1951- )
Veronica D. Abney is a training and supervising psychoanalyst with the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (1991). She specializes in trauma associated with childhood sexual abuse and practices psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Santa Monica, California and Los Angeles, California. She works with preteens, adolescents, and adults. Her client focus is African American and other ethnicities and includes bisexual, gay, heterosexual, transgender, and veteran. Her religious orientation is Jewish. Academically, Abney specializes in the history of African American psychoanalysts in the United States; diversity; and the psychodynamics of racism. Abney was born in New York City, New York to Nina Abney and John Donald on July 27, 1951. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College in Claremont, California in 1973 and her Master of Social Work degree from Smith College School for Social Work in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1975. She worked, from 1975 to 1976, as a psychiatric social worker for a Boston drug treatment program, and from 1976 to 1977 as a psychiatric social worker for Boston’s Lindemann Mental Health Center.
Abney moved to Los Angeles in 1978 to work as a clinical social worker for the Central City Community Mental Health Center (1978 to 1980); as a casework supervisor for the Hathaway Home for Children (1980 to 1981); as senior therapist for Kedren Community Mental Health (1981 to 1984); and as a clinical social worker for the University California (1984 to 1996). In 1992 Abney began working on her doctorate in psychoanalysis at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP) in Los Angeles, California. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on “African-American Psychoanalysts in the United States: Their Stories & Presence in the Field” and received her doctorate in 1996. She serves as co-chair of ICP’s Ad hoc Committee for diversity and has served as president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).
Abney’s presentations include the New Center for Psychoanalysis (NCP) (2005), an organization that focuses on advanced psychoanalytic education and research and is an affiliate of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA, 1911) and the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA, 1910). Here she participated in “Slavery’s Shadow on the American Psyche,” which discussed two 2016 documentary films: Ava DuVernay’s 13th (about the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States’ constitution to outlaw slavery), and Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, about the mind and politics of James Baldwin. In 1996 Abney wrote “Cultural Competency in the Field of Child Maltreatment” for the APSAC Handbook on Child Mistreatment in which she emphasized the importance of understanding cultural differences in the therapeutic setting and how to engage clients across those differences. Additional publications focus on the impact of group therapy on survivors of sexual abuse; surviving incest; and cross cultural psychoanalytic practices, as well as the psychological effects of school desegregation on black children.
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. The world presents enough problems if you believe it to be a world of law and order; do not add to them by believing it to be a world of miracles.
~Louis D. Brandeis~
ALICIA GARZA (1981- )
Alicia Garza is an activist and writer who now lives in Oakland, California. Although she has organized around issues related to health, student services, and rights for domestic workers as well as violence against trans and gender nonconforming people of color, she is best known one of three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. Garza was born in Los Angeles, California on January 4, 1981. She has a mixed-race background; her father is white and Jewish, while her mother is black. Garza describes herself as a queer social justice activist. In 2002, she graduated with a degree in anthropology and sociology at the University of California in San Diego. In 2008, she married her husband, Malachi Garza, who is a transgender male activist.
In 2009, Garza served as the Executive Director for People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) for the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2011, Garza was also board chair for Right to the City Alliance (RTTC) in Oakland which fought gentrification and police brutality. On February 26, 2012 when unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by neighborhood security guard George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, Garza took her frustration and rage to Facebook and crafted a post and first used the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” In 2013, Garza along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors officially created the Black Lives Matter Movement. The movement works to end the violence towards African Americans particularly by the police and fights against the institutional issues of poverty and mass incarceration.
In addition to the work she does with Black Lives Matter, Garza is currently the special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) which strives to get better pay and working conditions for nannies and housekeepers. She also serves on the board of directors for the School of Liberation and Unity (SOUL) in Oakland. This school works to help underprivileged youth and people with low-income develop skills so they can improve their communities. Garza also on the board of directors of Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), another Oakland organization which helps black activists further develop their organizing skills. Garza has written for WarTimesmagazine and her articles and editorials have also been featured in The Guardian, The Nation, The Feminist Wire, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, and truthout.org.
In 2015, Garza and the two other women who founded Black Lives Matter were runners-up for The Advocate’s Person of the Year award and in 2016, the trio was added to Fortune magazine’s 50 of the Most Influential World Leaders list. Other honors that Garza has received are recognition on the Root 100 list of African American Achievers between the ages of 25 and 45, the Local Hero award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Jeanne Gauna Communicate Justice Award from the Centre for Media Justice, and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club’s Bayard Rustin Community Activist Award (won twice). In 2017 Garza, Tometi, and Cullors were awarded the 2017 Sydney Peace Prize in Sydney, Australia.
You don't want to get complacent and just accept things - just because we've had those moments and we have come so far, you don't want to ever take that for granted, because the moment you do, it can all go away. The most important thing is for women not to tear other women down. Everyone in our division is helping each other, and that's a message we send behind the scenes: that we are a unit and working to make the best product and highlight women as strong and independent superstars. ~Charlotte Flair~
YVETTE M. JARVIS (1957- )
Yvette M. Jarvis has the distinction of being the first African American woman elected to serve on the Athens, Greece City Council from 2002 to 2006. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957, Jarvis traveled to Greece in 1982 after graduating from Boston University (Massachusetts). An accomplished basketball player, Jarvis was recruited into the Panathinaikos, becoming the first salaried female athlete in the Greek Women’s Basketball League. Jarvis quickly became well-known in Greece and used her celebrity status to spearhead social and political causes within her adoptive homeland, becoming an advocate for minority rights. Jarvis chose to participate in Greek NGOs that emphasized the rights of immigrants, women, and people with special needs.
After playing basketball for the Greek Women’s Basketball League, Jarvis became a model, a TV personality, and a professional singer. Jarvis became a celebrity presence in Greece, widely known throughout the country simply as “Yvette.” In 2002, Jarvis became the first African American to be elected to the City Council of Athens. During her tenure at the Athens City Council, Jarvis focused on issues of women’s rights and domestic violence, immigrants’ rights, assistance for people with special needs, and important initiatives in youth and sports. While an Athenian Councilwoman, Jarvis established Greece’s first domestic violence hotline and drew media attention the issue of women’s rights and domestic violence. During the 2004 Olympic torch relay around the world, Jarvis was chosen to represent Athens, Greece and traveled with the torch. Jarvis continues to serve Athens and the people of Greece as the Special Advisor to the Mayor on Immigration.
We also have to make sure our children know the history of women.
Tell them the rotten truth:
It wasn't always possible for women to become doctors or managers or insurance people.
Let them be armed with a true picture of the way we want it to be.
~Anne Roiphe~
YELENA KHANGA (1962- )
Yelena Khanga is a journalist and writer who was born in 1962 in Moscow, Russia. She is the daughter of Abdulla Khanga, who was the onetime vice president of Zanzibar, and Lily Golden, a Russian woman who was a historian and educator. She was also the granddaughter of a black Christian, Oliver Golden and a Polish Jew, Bertha Bialek. The pair met in jail after being arrested during a union demonstration and migrated to the Soviet Union in 1931 after being disowned by Bialek’s family for being in an interracial relationship. Khanga grew up in Moscow, attending schools where she was often the only child of African ancestry. She said that she “was never made to feel less intelligent, less capable, less likely to achieve than my white schoolmates.” However, Khanga said that she did realize that she was different and she felt like an outsider. As a teen Khanga started playing tennis and was able to travel the Soviet Union as a member of the Army Tennis Team. After finishing public school, she attended Moscow State University and graduated in 1984 with a degree in journalism.
After graduation Khanga became the first black TV correspondent in Moscow for Moscow World News and at one point, she interviewed the leaders of the Soviet Union. In 1987 she participated in a journalist exchange program where she wrote for an American newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor in Boston. She was the first female journalist to be selected by the Soviet government to be included in this type of journalist exchange. Consequently she traveled between the Soviet Union and the United States and then officially emigrated to the U.S. after the exchange program was complete and as the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian Federation was formed in 1991. Although raised in Russia, Khanga traced her roots to Poland, Tanzania, Mississippi, and several large American cities. Her attempt to track her family background led her to a number of discoveries about racism in Russia and the United States. Those discoveries became the basis for her writings. In 1990, Khanga began writing Soul to Soul: The Story of a Black Russian American Family: 1865-1992 with Susan Jacoby which was published in 1992. She also wrote a number of articles for the Chicago Tribune. All of her writings describe her experiences in her native land and abroad.
Khanga became a minor celebrity in the United States after she was profiled on the television news show, 20-20 in 1991. That exposure led to articles in a number of major newspapers. After the 20-20 interview, a cousin of Yelena’s late grandfather recognized his picture while watching the show and as a consequence she began to establish connections with her African American family members. Khanga began to research her geographically and racially diverse family tree with a grant that she received from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1991. Later that year, partly because of her research, the various branches of her family gathered at a family reunion in New York in her honor. Currently Yelena Khanga lives in New York and divides her time between the United States and Russia. She is working on an autobiography and social history of her uniquely diverse family background and ancestry.
“We all are God’s children. We all are brothers and sisters.
And our Father’s desire is that our hearts are ‘knit together in unity and . . . love one towards another’
(Mosiah 18:21-The Book of Mormon)
Happy Birth Anniversary and a shout out to William Arnold today. William, aka "Doc Arnold, aka "Big Will", aka "Shaky Jake", aka "Flukey Luke" is and has been a compassionate dedicated servant of and for the "Class of 70". Whenever called upon to participate, assist, honor or serve, his family, church or classmates, there's never any hesitation. It's an honor to call him "My Friend" and I consider him a devoted preeminent man of Memphis, who has walked, rode a bike or a bus and driven through her streets. Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright shared a few words to describe William. Oscar said; "One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go". William has created happiness, wherever he goes and his enemies are happy, whenever he goes, truly a man of great stature and beloved by family and friends.
As you celebrate today or not, may all of your expected blessings become full fleshed, now that you've accomplished the words written in the book of Psalm 90:10; The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years. I wish you every reception of grace and mercy which comes along, so that you may also experiance the "reason of strength", for your eightieth anniversary. Now that the website subscription will be renewed with your dedicated pledge, we can expect to extend you another Happy Birth Anniversary at eighty. Russian Novelist Leo Tolstoy told us "The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness. True life is lived when tiny changes occur". Many tiny changes occurred over the previous sixty-nine years William, which allowed you and your family, to reach this moment in history. May you continue to serve humanity and constantly revive the lives outside yourself, so that you and others may sustain their personal happiness. I wish you a Rick Braun type of day. As you celebrate this milestone, may you greet each moment with the love and admiration from others equal to and greater than the energy you've entended on their behalf. May it overpower you into an abiss which causes you to shout, I "Can Feel It". Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead (Oscar Wilde)....enjoy your day, and stay safe my friend....
One of the criticisms I've faced over the years is that I'm not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I'm empathetic, it means I'm weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong. I want to be a good leader, not a good lady leader. I don't want to be known simply as the woman who gave birth. ~Jacinda Ardern~
MICHAELLE JEAN (1957- )
Michaelle Jean, the Governor General of Canada, was born in Port au Prince, Haiti in 1957. At an early age Jean and her family fled the Papa Doc Duvalier dictatorship and settled in Montreal, Canada. Jean later attended the University of Montreal where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Italian and Hispanic language and literature, and continued her studies toward a Master of Arts in comparative literature. Upon completion she pursued linguistic and literary studies at the University of Perouse, the University of Florence and the Catholic University of Milan, becoming fluent in five languages. During her early working years Jean actively contributed to the establishment of a network of emergency shelters for battered women throughout Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. Jean’s appreciation of national and international realities led her to a career in journalism. She has been a highly regarded journalist and anchor of information programs. In 2001, Jean started her own show in Montreal, Michaelle, which was broadcast on French-language public television. The program featured a series of in-depth interviews with experts, enthusiasts and visionaries.
On September 27, 2005 Michaelle Jean was installed as the 27th Governor General of Canada. Canada, a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, recognizes the Queen of England as the Head of State. Canada’s Governor General, who is appointed by the Queen, carries out Her Majesty’s duties in Canada. Samuel de Champlain, Canada’s first Governor General, was appointed in 1608. After her appointment, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean promised to make the Office of the Governor General more meaningful to Canadian youth by demonstrating the impact it can have on their lives. As the first Black Governor General of Canada and a former refugee, Jean is striving to ensure that her office is particularly accessible and relevant to youth who experience social exclusion. Jean has committed to helping develop opportunities for young Canadians from across the country build networks of solidarity that span regional, racial, ethnic, gender, class and other differences.
Governor General Jean has won numerous honours for her professional achievements, including: the Human Rights League of Canada’s 1989 Media Award for a report titled La Pasionaria, on the struggle of an immigrant woman in Quebec; the Prix Mireille-Lanctot for a report titled Partir a zero dealing with spousal violence; the Prix Anik for the best information reporting in Canada for the investigation of the power of money in Haitian society; the inaugural Amnesty International Journalism Award; the Galaxi Award for the best information host; the 2001 Gemini Award for best interview in any category; and the Conseil de la Langue Francaise du Quebec’s Prix Raymond-Charette. Michaelle Jean has also been named to the Ordre des Chevaliers de La Pleiade by the Assemblee internationale des parlementaires de langue francaise, and has been made a citizen of honour by the City of Montreal and the Ministere de I’ Immigration et des relations avec les citoyens of Quebec in recognition of her accomplishments in communications. Michaelle Jean currently lives at Rideau Hall and is married to documentary filmmaker Jean Daniel Lafond, they have an eight year old daughter.
It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners. I do earnestly wish to see the distinction of sex confounded in society, unless where love animates the behaviour. How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions? ~Mary Wollstonecraft~
BARBARA SMITH (1946- )
Beginning in the 1970s, Barbara Smith broke new ground as a black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, and book publisher of women of color. She and her twin sister, Beverly Smith, were born on December 16, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio. Their mother, Hilda Smith, maternal grandmother, and a great aunt raised the girls there. Smith’s activism started in high school when she participated in boycotts, marches and civil rights protests in the 1960s. Education remained a high priority in the household. As the first member of the Smith family to graduate from college, their mother Hilda expected the twins to do likewise. She died when the twins were nine years old, and consequently Smith’s grandmother and aunt continued to stress the importance of learning and education. Barbara Smith earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1969 and her MA in 1971 from University of Pittsburgh. She completed all but the dissertation (ABD) in her doctoral studies at the University of Connecticut (1981).
Smith co-founded the Combahee River Collective in Boston, Massachusetts in 1974. The organization was best known for its Combahee River Collective Statement (1977), which she co-authored with her twin, Beverly, and with Demita Frazier. This document became one of the earliest explorations of the intersection of multiple oppressions, including racism and heterosexism, critiquing both sexual oppression in the black community and racism within the wider feminist movement. For the first time, according to the Statement, black women openly and unapologetically communicated their sexual orientations in the midst of their social justice work. The Collective disbanded in 1980. Around this time, Smith realized that very few publishing opportunities existed for female scholars of color. She and colleagues founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1980, the first U.S. publisher of books for women of color. One of the books edited by Smith, Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983), broke new literary ground by integrating black lesbian voices with those of other black women. Kitchen Table’s success spurred the mainstream press to begin publishing these scholars.
Smith taught her first class on black women’s literature in 1973 at Emerson College. She has been visiting professor, writer in residence, freelance writer, and lecturer at numerous other universities and research institutions, including Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (1995-1996). She entered politics in the early 21st century and was elected to the Albany, New York Common Council (city council) in 2005, where she focused on community efforts to prevent youth violence. Among other honors, Smith received the Stonewall Award for Service to the Lesbian and Gay Community (1994). She was also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Hate, emotionalism, and frustration are not policies. As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view. It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven't exactly been non-aggressive - including me. ~Madeleine Albright~
AYAAN HIRSI ALI (1969- )
Writer and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia on November 13, 1969. Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a prominent Somali intellectual and revolutionary leader. As a child, Ali had to move with her family to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, due to political turmoil in her own country and her father’s political background. Ali was educated in Kenya at the Muslim Girls’ Secondary School where she was exposed to Islamic scholarship and religious life. She was also exposed to Western culture and values in Kenya and began to lament what she saw as the rise of radicalized Islamic traditions imported from Saudi Arabia into East Africa. Ali asked for political asylum in The Netherlands in 1992, claiming a forced marriage. Although the story of her asylum is shrouded in controversy, Ali worked in a variety of social service and other jobs while studying Western political and social theory. She also studied at Leiden University where she earned her MA degree in Political Science in 2000 and went on to work as a Researcher at the Wiardi Beckman Foundation in Amsterdam from 2001 to 2002.
Ali’s growing disenchantment with Islam as well as her exposure to Western thinkers caused her to become an atheist and virulent critic of the religion. She served as a member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006 and worked actively to integrate non-Western immigrants into Dutch society. In 2004, she collaborated with Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on the film Submission, which portrayed the oppression of women in conservative Muslim immigrant societies. Van Gogh was assassinated by a Muslim religious extremist and Ali was forced into hiding as a result of the film. Controversy arose as to how she received her citizenship and false statements which may have been made in the process as well as the vast resources the Dutch state had to spend to protect her.
Her books include the controversial memoir Infidel (2007) and The Caged Virgin (2006) about the role of the individual in Islamic society, the question of Westernization, and gender. She has also participated in a variety of forums and written numerous articles related to contemporary religious, political, and social issues. Ali is a Visiting Scholar at the conservative think-tank The American Enterprise Institute where she focuses on Islam, Gender, Westernization, and Immigration. She is a staunch advocate of the forced integration of immigrants into Western societies and the acceptance of Western values and traditions as well as an activist, pre-emptive Western foreign policy with regard to the Muslim world. Ali is also a critic of the place of women in Islam, female genital mutilation, what she perceives as a lack of reason and rationality in the Muslim world, and her interpretation of the religion as intolerant. Ayaan Hirsi Ali remains a controversial figure with numerous critics. In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.”
Additional pledges have been received this week! We have been pleasantly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, which exceeded all expectations. A deposit was made on March 22nd, moreover another this morning. As mentioned previously, transparency will always be my objective. Here's the update, as promised. We've donated enough for renewal at the 10 year Premium level. Only four of the initial twenty-six pledges are outstanding. The subscription shall be paid on April 13, 2022, regardless, as I continue to anticipate additional receipts prior to the next update on Friday April 1, 2022. There will be no April Fool's jokes, it's just a simultaneous event. If you have mailed your pledge and have not received an acknowledgement, or a thank you gift from me, please let me know immediately.
WEBSITE SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL LEVEL
Monthly 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Premium $16 $165 $385 $495 $825
FUNDS RECEIVED TOWARD RENEWAL
AS OF MARCH 25, 2022 - A GRAND TOTAL OF $1,520
Here's the images, of all deposit slips, beginning on February 28, 2022.
I have forwarded an email to the appropriate staff at our school, inorder to access the greater need for application. A reply has yet to be received. In the interim, please copy and paste this link for your personal review of the specific areas established for an alumni donation.
B T WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL LAUNCHES ALUMNI OFFICE • GET INVOLVED https://btwashingtonhighschool.gradsgive.org/
For those unable to log onto the site, here's a description:
(1) Now more than ever, our public schools need our support.
As students, our lives were shaped in profound ways by our years at B T Washington High School. We learned, we discovered, we struggled, and we grew. Now, as graduates, we have a responsiblity to help make sure our school has the resources to put current and future students on a path to success.
Student Exposure
With your help, we can provide opportunities such as college tours & job shadowing opportunities for all students in grades 6-12
Student Incentives
Your support could allow us to supply a thorough inventory that provides students with enticing incentives that encourages student attendance and academic success.
School Beautification
We are restoring all flower beds, painting outside doors and all student restrooms. Your donation can help these beautification efforts.
Instructional Essentials
Our classes provide students with the strong foundation they need for career success. Working together, we can build strong skills and sharpen young minds in ways that will last a lifetime. Join us to support academic instruction for the 2021-2022 year.
(2) You can be a high school hero. Give to B T Washington High School today. As a founding member of the B T Washington High School Alumni Leadership Team, your support will help students to build brighter, more successful futures. Support from alums like us can make all the difference in students' lives. Our donations can be used to provide teachers with additional resources, make our high school a place where every student feels challenged and supported, or make our high school building a more welcoming place. Together, we can show our support for B T Washington High School and strengthen our hometown Community. So please - make your donation today , to help make sure our school has the resources it needs - and that B T Washington High School students deserve.
Student Instructional Essentials could be considered as number one, however, we'll await the recommendations from the staff. More discussion and the results of the communications with staff will be forthcoming. Concerning the donation to the school on behalf of the "Class of 1970", I've had no objections from anyone who has donated a pledge. Should any other classmates desire to contribute a donation on behalf of the "Class of 70" between tomorrow and April 13, 2022, please don't hesitate to contact me at sbrown027@nc.rr.com for additional information. Thank you to all who have contributed to this noble effort and also to those who've yet to mail their contribution....enjoy your evening and stay safe my friends....as we "Picture This", happening "Along The Way".......
Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.Our humanity rests upon a series of learned behaviors, woven together into patterns that are infinitely fragile and never directly inherited. If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place. ~Margaret Mead~
CÉCILE KYENGE (1964- )
An Italian government official and medical professional, Cécile Kyenge Kashetu was born in the mining town of Kambove, Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1983 she moved to Italy and worked as a maid while studying medicine and surgery at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. Though she had entered the country illegally, by the mid-1990s she was a naturalized Italian citizen, a certified doctor of ophthalmology working in the city of Modena, and married to an Italian engineer. Concerned by increasing tensions over African immigration to Italy, Kyenge became involved in organizations defending the rights of migrants in the country and in 2002 founded an intercultural association called DAWA (Swahili word for “medicine”) to promote better relations between Italy and her native Congo. She delved into local politics and in 2009, running as a member of the center-left Democratic Party (Partito Democratico or DP) was elected to a seat on Modena’s provincial council. Through her committee work, and as party spokesperson on immigration issues, while serving on the council she continued her efforts to revamp social welfare and immigration policies in her region of northern Italy.
The fall of the government of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2011 provided the opportunity to institute more humane immigration measures. Kyenge’s propitious election to the Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies in February 2013, representing Emilia-Romagna, increased her stature in the DP. On April 28, 2013, the new Prime Minister and DP leader, Enrico Letta, appointed her Minister for Integration, thus becoming the country’s first cabinet member of African descent. Kyenge soon began making proposals to revise immigration policies, most notably scrapping the requirement that citizenship and/ or nationality be strictly determined by blood. Currently, whereas a person who has never visited Italy and is descended from a line of Italian-born ancestors has an automatic claim to citizenship, a person born on Italian soil to legal immigrants from, say, Africa or the Middle East, cannot be considered for citizenship until age 18. Her initiatives to reform immigration legislation and facilitate citizenship for Italy’s rapidly-expanding minority-race population met with immediate and, to many, surprisingly nasty protests from a number of current and former high-profile politicians, particularly members of the rightist Northern League (Lega Nord).
Seemingly in competition to outdo one another in making crude references to Kyenge, they compared her to a Congolese monkey, a prostitute, an incompetent “housekeeper,” and said that she was “tribal,” a “black anti-Italian,” and a woman deserving of rape. One went so far as to picture her as an orangutan on his Facebook page, and bananas were tossed at her as she spoke on immigration matters at a venue in Cervia. The unexpected racist onslaught prompted Kyenge to express concern for the safety of her two daughters. Though disappointed with the tepid response to intolerance and lack of outrage shown by the country’s leaders, Kyenge’s supporters were encouraged that the widely publicized attacks on her had sparked a needed self-examination and national conversation on race. And international support for Kyenge came from the 17-member European Union in the form of a statement of principles known as the Declaration of Rome, which reasserted the group’s commitment to diversity and its opposition to manifestations of racism and xenophobia on the continent.
Even though the world seems to be filled with evil and hatred, you are not of the world. You have the ability to create an environment of love and respect. How you feel and what you do will make a difference in your atmosphere, and it is to your advantage to do what is good and kind rather than what is selfish and defensive. Let My Spirit lead you. John 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
T H O U G H T F O R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it's perhaps far more terrible than it's ever been. I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement. We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society. ~Angela Davis~
Christiane Taubira is an economist, politician, and writer who was born on February 2, 1952 in Cayenne, Guyana. Founding president of the Guyanese Walwari Party, she is also an author of a number of writings on the topic of slavery and political equality. In May 2012 Taubira was appointed Minister of Justice of France in the Ayrault government under President François Hollande. Taubira, who is divorced and a mother of four, is one of six children of a single mother who worked as a nurse’s aide. In 1978 she became an economics professor and from 1982 until 1985 she served as the director of Caricoop (Caribbean Confederation of Agricultural Cooperation), an organization that she founded.
In 1993 Taubira was elected to the French National Assembly as the representative from Guyana and was reelected in 1997, 2002, and 2005. In 1994 she became a member of the European Parliament. In addition to her legislative work, in 2002 Taubira was the first person from the French Caribbean, as well as the first woman and the first person of color, to become a presidential candidate in France. One of the principal points of Taubira’s political program is the need for government to address the concerns of people of color, women, and others who have been excluded from the mainstream political systems. She has been called a “free electron” in politics because of her sometimes independent stances apart from party politics.
In 2001 Taubira was the principal author of the Taubira Law, which recognized the slave trade as a crime against humanity. Under this legislation the French government expressly recognized the dehumanizing impact of the transatlantic and Indian Ocean black slave trade and slavery that were practiced from the 15th century in the Americas, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and Europe on African, Amerindian, Malagasy, and Indian populations. It declared the slave trade a crime against humanity. The Taubira Law requires school curricula and research projects in the fields of history and the social science to accord to the subjects of the black slave trade and slavery “the important place they deserve.” The law also further calls for “sites and actions” that will guarantee the perpetuation of the memory of this crime to future generations.
Some of Taubira’s most recent books address the place of blacks in French history and society. In L’Esclavage raconté à ma fille (Slavery Explained to My Daughter), Taubira discusses the history of French enslavement of Africans and their descendants and describes the moral, social, economic, and political effects of slavery that persist among the descendants of enslaved people. In Égalité pour les exclus: le politique face à l’histoire et à la mémoire colonials [Equality for the Excluded: Politics in View of Colonial History and Memory] Taubira considers the extent to which French politics takes into account French colonial history. In Mes météores: Combats politiques au long cours [My Meteors: Political Combat Over the Long Term], Taubira detailed her political journey.
Happy Birth Anniversary greetings to you Joycelyn! As the third member of the Daylight Savings Time Mix, it's your day to "GLOW". March 27th is also National Spanish Paella Day. A Spanish paella recipe includes perfectly cooked rice with seafood, beans, roasted tomatoes, and olive oil. We're not perfect, but friends are the most important ingredient in the recipe called life. In the thick of bringing us stories about the latest "Fads N Fashions", to our later-days of sharing a special occassion or meal among us, you've always been considered the perfect friend to have by a multitude of individuals. Julia Hartz, an American Businesswoman once said; " If you think about stripping away 80 percent of the things that don't matter and focusing on the the 20 percent, that will actually make a difference, I think you'll find great results even in the toughest of situations and the harshest of environments". It's my opinion, that you've endured some tough situations and harsh environments over the years, as we all have. Suitably, you've been that dear individual, unknown to many, who has sorted and stripped away that 80 percent of things that didn't matter and you made that 20 percent personal deviance, as an educator and a friend. That's the way things became clear, all of a sudden, even in the toughest of situations, and the harshest of environments. As a savory ingredient, you've made a difference in this recipe called life.
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable. That's the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they've been all along. Because you're not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who, in truth, you are (Madeleine L'Engle). I'm in agreement with Madeleine as she says; because you're not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who, in truth, you are. The only power that we own is the ability to reciprocate the foundation of mutual friendship and the truth extended from you on our behalf. Like a horse wearing blinders, many have attempted to blind themselves to who, in truth, you are. But you've not hidden the truth and we all should be grateful that you're alive and vulnerable. As an ageless wonder, may you be so blessed in the future, as the recipient of gratuitous distributions, of grace and mercy, daily. As you celebrate today, or not, "Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years (Ausonius). I wish you a Byron Miller type of day. May your happiness consume you on your journey to "Higher Ground"....enjoy your day...stay safe my friend....and that's the truth!!!!
I am truly overwhelmed with the birthday recognition from you, my classmates, and dear friends. My gratitude goes beyond words or expressions... all I can say is (Wow!)...Thank you!
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. Working for a federal agency was like trying to dislodge a prune skin from the roof of the mouth. More enterprise went into the job than could be justified by the results. ~Caskie Stinnett~
SANDY CANE (1961- )
Sandra “Sandy” Maria Cane was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the younger of two daughters of an African American father, a US Army paratrooper during World War II, and an Italian mother, whose family had established a stonemason business in northern France. At age 10, in 1971, Cane’s parents divorced and she moved from Springfield to her mother’s hometown of Viggiù, Italy, roughly 31 miles northwest of Milan in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Interviewed about the nearly four decades she had spent in her adopted country, she professed deep affection for the people of her province and said she had experienced an incident of blatant racism “only once, by a drunk guy in a nightclub.” A college graduate, Cane worked as a translator and a tour guide, and had fashioned a successful career in the hospitality industry, managing hotels from Stresa to Florence, before taking the plunge into politics.
Claiming that she voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election, she also confessed her early attraction to the rightist Northern League (Lega Nord), which was her party affiliation in June 2009 when she was narrowly elected mayor of Viggiù. Though the remote town has a population of only 5,300, the historic election of the first-ever mayor of African heritage in Italy made headlines worldwide. But the glow of her triumph was dimmed by her statements in defense of her party’s push to crack down on illegal aliens. International attention on Cane soon faded and she was left alone to attend to her official duties and to make good on her promise to create jobs, boost tourism, and spruce up her municipality, which she described as “beautiful but dirty.” In the spring of 2013, with the appointment of Cécile Kyenge, a naturalized citizen from Africa, as Minister for Integration in the coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Cane was again quoted as downplaying not only the extreme anti-immigration rhetoric of popular leaders of the Northern League but also the vulgar, racist characterizations of Kyenge by party members reported by the world press. Long associated with xenophobia and disdain for southern Italians, the Northern League seemed an unlikely political refuge for a foreign-born person of color. Nonetheless, Cane, like Nigerian-born Northern League administrator Tony Iwobi, provided cover for the party’s far-right members who could cite them as examples of the party’s tolerance, fair-mindedness, and good intentions.
In 2009, Cane reaffirmed her support of Umberto Bossi, then leader of the Northern League, who had declared that African immigrants sailing toward Italy should be intercepted and bombarded with cannon fire that “blows everyone out of the water.” In explaining her support for the party’s opposition to relaxing laws that would allow foreign and Italian-born nonwhites an easier path to citizenship, Cane commented: “People think the League is racist but now it is much stronger and more mature than it once was. It is not racist to be against illegal immigration.” And in 2013 when another party member, Mario Borghezio, was expelled from the European Parliament for making numerous racist remarks, some of which were directed at Kyenge, Cane volunteered to gather signatures for a petition to return him to office, arguing that “Mario says things that are colorful but he is not a racist Nazi.” One of the most widely viewed Internet photos of Cane shows her posed in front of a Northern League poster that pictures a horde of dark-skinned people supposedly trekking from Africa to Italy that reads “We Can Not Accept All.” Cane, whose personal life until now has escaped notice of the press, will finish her term as mayor of Viggiù in 2014. Her current home is located in Gressoney-La-Trinité, a remote resort town close to the Italian-Swiss border.
While the women of the older generation were thankful if only they succeeded in obtaining 'a work and a duty,' however monotonous and wearing it might be, the will of the younger generation for a pleasurable labour has fortunately increased. ~Ellen Key~
MAXINE CASE (N.D.)
Maxine Case is an accomplished novelist from Cape Town, South Africa. Her mother, Dianne Case, is an author of children’s books and her sister Bonita Case writes as well. Her debut novel, All We Have Left Unsaid, was published in 2006 by Kwela Books. In 2007 she won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book, Africa Region. That same year she was a joint winner of the Herman Charles Bosman Prize. Although the year of her birth is unknown, Maxine Case comes from a family of writers. Her mother is Dianne Case, a children’s book author, and her sister Bonita Case is also a writer. After high school Maxine studied advertising at IMM in Johannesburg. After graduating she joined Kwagga Publishers and also worked as a ghostwriter. Case later became the deputy editor of Indulge, a women’s magazine published in Nigeria, before accepting a position as a marketing and promotions coordinator for NB Publishers. Before the publication of her prize-winning novel, her short story “Homing Pigeons” was included in African Compass: New Writing from Southern Africa 2005. Her second published short story, “Making Konfyt,” was included in In Nice Times! A Book of South African Pleasures and Delights.
Case came to the United States in 2009 as a resident at the University of Iowa International Writing Program for international established and emerging writers, poets, and dramatists. Through this program Case conducted several talks and performed readings from her works. She also spent three months as a writer-in-residence for Sampsonia Way, an online magazine. Her residency was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Maxine Case currently has a monthly column, “The Last Word” in Soul Magazine. She has contributed to several newspapers and magazines in the past, including Real Simple, Reader’s Digest, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Fine Arts from New School University in New York City, New York and is expected to complete this degree in 2012.
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