Kenneth Davis

strug·gle - [ˈstrəɡ(ə)l] - verb
1. make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction: "before she could struggle, he lifted her up" · "he struggled to break free"

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns

     August 16, 2023: It has been a struggle to reach this new plateau, and the worst of the struggle is over. You can now establish yourself on this higher level of spirit life and awareness. You have made it through extreme challenges, and you have not only survived, but you will begin to thrive on this new level of existence. 1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
     T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     I really hate to see abusive behavior being passed on from generation to generation to generation, when we have access to health and counseling. I came from poverty and was part of those circumstances. My mother really wanted me to be in possibly a beauty pageant, not only for if I could win, but it helped improve my self-image because of trauma in my childhood and other issues.
     Let's start working towards wellness, a healing in our community, a healing in relationships, so male and female can finally sit down and understand that that young boy or young girl saw behavior exhibited by their parents that was negative and abusive and they're going to pass it on. 

~Pam Grier~

      Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC, one of four children of Gwendolyn Sylvia (Samuels), a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr., an Air Force mechanic. Pam has been a major African-American star from the early 1970s. Her career started in 1971, when Roger Corman of New World Pictures launched her with The Big Doll House (1971), about a women's penitentiary, and The Big Bird Cage (1972).

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
 
What Is ‘Drama Addiction’? 
Here Are a Doctor’s 7 Red Flags You Have One
Jaime Stathis - The Healthy / A readers Digest Brand

     Americans are more stressed and anxious than ever. The American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2022 survey showed what the APA referred to as “a battered American psyche” and a population that largely feels out of control. From civil liberties distress to worries about the economy to the environment, Americans report a lot is keeping them up at night. Some of this stress and anxiety is due to external factors, like the issues out in the world, and some due to internal stimuli (“I don’t have control”). All of it, says Dr. Scott Lyons PhD, DO, can lead to an addiction to drama. When crisis and chaos are the norm, drama can feel like a balm.
     Scott Lyons is a doctor of osteopathy and licensed holistic psychologist, as well as the author of the May 2023 book, Addicted to Drama. Dr. Lyons spoke with The Healthy @Reader’s Digest about drama addiction and even created a drama addiction quiz to help determine if you or someone you know is drama-obsessed.
What is drama addiction?
     Dr. Lyons admits there’s no easy way to describe addiction to drama, so he leaned on a quote from Alfred Hitchcock: “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” Dr. Lyons reframes addiction to drama to show how addiction to drama is an adaptive survival mechanism and how it helps us. “Addiction to drama is an avoidant strategy to help us keep distance from our underlying pain and trauma,” he says, adding that it’s about making sensations in response to numbness.
     “When we have trauma or pain, our body freezes and creates a protection response, and that freezing is essentially a layer of numbness,” Dr. Lyons explains. “Drama helps bring us over the height of the wall so we feel something,” Dr. Lyons says, “and it reminds us we’re alive.”
What are common symptoms of drama addiction?
     Dr. Lyons says he has experience being both in the drama himself and observing it as a researcher and therapist. He’s identified seven common symptoms.
Lack of control, which Dr. Lyons defines as “The inability to control the external world leads to feelings of being overwhelmed, helpless and victimized.”
Always Intense – “Intensity for people addicted to drama often translates to an unrelenting sense of urgency,” Dr. Lyons explains. “Without it, something feels wrong.”
Prone to Overreaction – “Extreme thinking, creation of big stories, and the meaning and emotion associated with them lead to overreactions.”
Feeling alone, isolated and abandoned – “Inherent in the sense of feeling abandoned and alone is a mistrust that anyone would or could support or be present for them,” Dr. Lyons says.
A constant sense of uneasiness – People with an addiction to drama feel like something is always about to go wrong. This looks different from the outside, where it feels like the drama addict is sucking the air out of the room, but from the inside the drama addict “is assigning meaning and trying to make sense of the constant sensation of dis-ease.”
Numbness and sensory overload – “They have a continuous sense of too much and not enough of anything, but especially feelings,” Dr. Lyons explains.
Dissociation – “Many people addicted to drama experience variations of disassociation, or a sense of being anchorless, detached from themselves, and lacking solid ground and a sense of stability,” Dr. Lyons says.
How to thrive with (and around) drama addiction
     Whether you’re a drama addict or close to someone who is, the most important thing is identifying it without judgment. When it’s someone else, Dr. Lyons encourages “empathic understanding,” which means you don’t try to fix them, and you reframe or reorient your orientation to the behavior. This may look like clarifying your boundaries and taking alone time to re-center yourself. Sometimes, it can mean walking away from a relationship.

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS
 TO 
ERMA SANDERS HOLMES

     The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair, you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.

~Gustave Flaubert~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Marsha McMillian (Sherrod)

This posting is on behalf of Classmate Willie Taylor coordinator of the class event "BTW Barbecue Contest". Willie is asking for class participation. He is asking for a donation of 25.00 to help with the cost of food, supplies and other incidentals. The entry fee 150.00 will be covered from funds (your donations) left over from the memorial picnic. If you would like to help make this class event successful you may send your donation to.

Bonnie Pippin Mills

1784 Tahiti Lane

Memphis TN 38117 Phone:901-649-3928

Cash App to Cherlyn (Mickey )Conner

$CherlynConner Phone:901-652-2472

Your donation will be greatly appreciated by Willie. I am sure Willie would love to see you there as well

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Anytime in radio that you can reach somebody on an emotional level, you're really connecting. For years everyone looked toward the demise of radio when television came along. Before that, they thought talking movies might eliminate radio as well. But radio just keeps getting stronger.
     Songs used to be short, then they became longer, and now theyre getting shorter. But otherwise, music is about a beat and a message. If the beat gets to the audience, and the message touches them, youve got a hit. Despite all the technical improvements, it still boils down to a man or a woman and a microphone, playing music, sharing stories, talking about issues -- communicating with an audience.

~Casey Kasem~

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER

Kenneth Davis

OBITUARY PROVIDED COURTESY

OF

JAMES STONE

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N   

          An artist, if he is truly an artist, is only interested in one thing and that is to wake up the minds of men, to have mankind and womankind realize that there is something greater than what we see on the surface. Music is one of the closest link-ups with God that we can probably experience. I think it's a common vibrating tone of the musical notes that holds all life together.
     To be an artist is a blessing and a privilege. Artists must never betray their true hearts. Artists must look beneath the surface and show that there is more to this world than what meets the eye. I don't make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don't today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time.

~Marvin Gaye~

WELCOME TO 
SMOOTH
 CONTEMPORARY JAZZ 
FRIDAYS

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS 
TO 
LILLIAN MARSHALL

     You can look in the mirror and find a million things wrong with yourself. Or you can look in the mirror and think, 'I feel good, I have my health, and I'm so blessed.' That's the way I choose to look at it. 

~Isla Fisher~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N 

     A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. The garden is growth and change and that means loss as well as constant new treasures to make up for a few disasters. One thing is certain, and I have always known it - the joys of my life have nothing to do with age. They do not change. 
     Gardening is one of the rewards of middle age, when one is ready for an impersonal passion, a passion that demands patience, acute awareness of a world outside oneself, and the power to keep on growing through all the times of drought, through the cold snows, towards those moments of pure joy, when all failures are forgotten and the plum tree flowers. 

~May Sarton~

SATURDAY MORNING GARDENING TOOLS

August in the Garden: 5 Chores to Do in Late Summer
Story by Joy Yagid - https://www.gardenista.com/

     Summer is winding down, but a gardener’s work is never done. Fall is approaching and there are a few things you need to do to prepare your garden for its arrival. Here are five things to do in August.
1. Clean up the dead and diseased.
     Are your tomatoes petering out? Did blight get the better of them? Has your basil flowered? Do your roses have black spot? Time to remove either the whole plant, as in tomatoes and spent annuals, or just the diseased parts, as in roses. It is very important to remove all diseased plant material and throw it out in the trash. 
2. Plan for next year’s garden.
     Now is the time to order tulips, daffodils, and other spring-flowering bulbs. Spend time looking at those catalogs and pick out some fun blooms for next year. You could wait another month or two to order, but why risk your first choices selling out?
3. Plant a cover crop.
     Cover crops can enrich the soil, stop weeds from taking over in empty vegetable beds, and prevent soil erosion (if you live in a dry and windy area). With some, you can plant it and forget it until next spring. Others need to be more actively managed and turned over before frost to get the benefit.
4. Shop the sales.
     Fall is the perfect time to hit your local nursery’s sales. Many nurseries have sales after Labor Day to clear out stock still on hand. Take advantage of this. Some of the plants may look the worse for wear—after all they have spent the summer in a pot. But if the roots are healthy and the price is right, give it a shot!
5. Divide perennials.
     Dividing perennials is basically getting free plants. Heat can stress out plants and the cooler temps make this a perfect time to divide and move things around in your garden. Don’t forget to water. Even though the temperatures are lower, dividing damages the fine feeder roots. Plants need care to recover and watering helps them get through transplant shock.

Kenneth Davis

     Your website administrators, Estella, Joycelyn and I are co-sponsoring a "Canned Food Drive" to benefit "The Neighborhood Christian Center". We're requesting donations of two or more cans per individual attending. All items donated, will be delivered to the NCC at the conclusion of the BTW Alumni Activities.....

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

I was out of town last Saturday. Just got back from Nashville. Did not want to miss another Blues Saturday. Here it is. Enjoy!

Kenneth Davis

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns

     August 20, 2023: Do not underestimate your position in the Kingdom. Many of you feel like you are ineffective and even expendable. You may not be called to reach multitudes with the Gospel, but you can establish righteousness and peace where you are. You can exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in everything you do. You can bring love where there is hatred, truth where there is deception, and acceptance for all people. You can make a difference. 
     Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N   

     Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.
     Every time somebody opens their mouth, they have an opportunity to do one of two things - connect or divide. Don’t just be yourself. Be all of yourselves. Don’t just live. Be that other thing connected to death. Be life. Live all of your life. Understand it, see it, appreciate it. And have fun.

~Joss Whedon~

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     The past is something for you to learn from and the future is something that you hope is going to happen, but I'm always speaking to my actual fans in present tense. Genius is often called crazy, but crazy is never called genius. So, you just have to put out the work and let the chips fall where they may.
     I can remember thinking, at the age of 3, that I invented the concept of lying. By a brilliant thought process, I figured that I could fib and avoid the repercussions for something I had done, because lying meant that it never happened. However, by the time I was 5, I came to hate lying and to think of it as the worst thing in the world. That's my earliest memory. Weird, but true!

~Katt Williams~

IT'S TIME FOR 
JUST JOKING MONDAYS

     A man is walking in a graveyard when he hears the Third Symphony played backward. When it’s over, the Second Symphony starts playing, also backward, and then the First. “What’s going on?” he asks a cemetery worker.
“It’s Beethoven,” says the worker. “He’s decomposing.”

~Jeremy Hone~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

dis·trust /disˈtrəst/
verb - doubt the honesty or reliability of; regard with suspicion.
noun - the feeling that someone or something cannot be relied upon.

doubt /dout/
noun - a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.
verb - feel uncertain about.

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Where the mind goes energy flows. When prayer removes distrust and doubt and enters the field of mental certainty, it becomes faith; and the universe is built on faith. The mind is a magnet, and we attract that with which we identify the self. In order to get the most out of life we must learn consciously to change many of our habitual thought patterns. This is not easy, for our old thought patterns cling to us with great tenacity, but being thought patterns, they can be reversed. If you are filled with fear, refill yourself with faith, for faith always overcomes fear.
     I live in the faith that there is a Presence and Power greater than I am that nurtures and supports me in ways I could not even imagine. I know that this Presence is All knowing and All Power and is Always right where I am. Love is within us. It cannot be destroyed. It can be ignored. To the extent that we abandon love we will feel it has abandoned us. Denying love is our only problem, and embracing it is the only answer. Through the power of love, we can let go of past history and begin again. Love heals, forgives, and makes whole.

~Ernest Holmes~

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     I've been a vegetarian since I was 19. I'm not trying to win an award for being the best vegetarian, just want to be healthy. Take a salt bath. Do things that my parents were never able to do. I'm blessed to do anything I want, so I decide to take the best care of my body and my family in the same way. Holistically. Vitally.
     Vegan food is soul food in its truest form. Soul food means to feed the soul. And, to me, your soul is your intent. If your intent is pure, you are pure. I could do a few more sit-ups and my waistline would be less difficult.

~Erykah Badu~

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

A cardiologist shares 3 simple tips for aging better,

from eating less to socializing more....

Story by amichelson@insider.com (Andrea Michelson)

     Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern Medicine and former president of the American Heart Association, is not interested in living longer just for the sake of it. "I'm less interested in the lifespan and more interested in the healthspan," he told Insider.
     While lifespan simply sums up how many years a person has been on this planet, healthspan is a better measure of productivity — "and just enjoying life, if you're healthy and you can do the things that bring joy to you," Yancy said. In fact, Yancy believes that many of the harms that come with growing older can be prevented or delayed. 
     "Whether it's arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, cognitive dysfunction, certain cancers — everything we fear is driven largely by age," he continued. "That age is not an inevitability, but in fact, it is something that we can control, and we can manage, it's a fascinating concept."
     Yancy's academic focus includes heart failure, which is the leading cause of hospitalization in older adults, and how age and race affect individual health risks. Slowing the pace of aging could have great implications for cardiology outcomes, as age is a known risk factor.
     Here are three of Yancy's top tips for aging better and preventing age-related disease.
1. Practice mindful eating
     Longevity research has identified one common thread across populations that live longer: They tend to consume fewer calories. Yancy said the best way to adapt your lifestyle for better aging is to eat smaller portions and fewer meals. In many communities where people live to be 100 years old, this is achieved through a plant-based diet and the "80% rule," or eating a little less than what you need to feel full.
     In a study recently published in Nature Aging, researchers found that people who cut their caloric intake by about 12% saw a small but significant change in their trajectory of aging, as measured by DNA markers that increase as we age. More research is needed to understand what forms of caloric restriction work best; Yancy said it's not clear whether intermittent fasting would have the same effect as a gradual caloric cutback.
     In addition, dieting can be a slippery slope that can lead to dangerous eating disorders — and being underweight is not actually a predictor of good health, especially for older adults. For now, mindful eating seems to be the way to go: Stop eating when you feel you've had enough, rather than continuing to snack socially or eating to clear your plate, Yancy said.
2. Drink less alcohol
     Drinking alcohol has been linked to signs of biological aging, especially in the brain. Researchers at Oxford Population Health confirmed that even moderate drinking has the potential to age your brain over time. The more the individuals in the study reported drinking, the greater the loss of brain volume, which could have a cognitive effect.
     Although people with long lifespans have gotten away with moderate drinking in the past, Yancy recommends at least cutting down your alcohol intake. Tobacco should be eliminated entirely, he said — and that includes secondhand smoke.
3. Make one new friend
     Yancy said the medical literature is also clear on the importance of social networks to combat loneliness in old age. "Loneliness is associated with accelerated aging and earlier demise," he said. Recently, a three-generation study of adult happiness conducted at Harvard found that people with strong social connections had a lower risk of dying at any age compared to those without social ties. Those who self-identified as having happy relationships also seemed to weather the aches and pains of getting older better.
     While loneliness is a complicated factor to measure in terms of biology, Yancy said "the easy way to think about this is, make certain you've got a good collection of friends and are making new friends."

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Everyone is related to Africa; everyone comes from Africa. We are all distant relatives. You say 'African music' and you think 'tribal drumming.' But there's a lot of African music that's like James Brown, and a lot, too, that sounds very Hispanic. 
     I would never say that being Bob Marley's son has been a pressure. It has been a door opener. It's my luck to be at the frontier of what looks to be a resurrection of roots music on the international scene. That's really what reggae music is about: that voice against oppression and struggle. 
     In Jamaica, them always have throwback riddims, recycled old beats, and the hardcore reggae scene is always present. You have faster stuff like the more commercialized stuff, but you always have that segment of music that is always from the core, from the original root of it. 

~Damian Marley~

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER

Curtis Farmer

Covid is real and is more aggressive. Pleas be careful. 

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     What is scurrilously called ragtime is an invention that is here to stay. That is now conceded by all classes of musicians... All publication s masquerading under the name of ragtime are not the genuine article... That real ragtime of the higher class is rather difficult to play is a painful truth which most pianists have discovered. Syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music... Joplin ragtime is destroyed by careless or imperfect rendering, and very often players lost the effect entirely by playing too fast.

~Scott Joplin~

WELCOME TO 

SMOOTH
 CONTEMPORARY JAZZ 
FRIDAYS

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS
 TO 
SHIRLEY TILLIS EVANS
 & 
TOMMIE McKINNEY

     Grace is available for each of us every day - our spiritual daily bread - but we've got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow. 
~Sarah Ban Breathnach~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     We have the ability to make the connection, make the time to pray and meditate. We have to find our inner voice that will guide us. But we can only find it if we get quiet.
     I have always gone to nature, since I was a kid. I was brought up in the woods, I did not have lots of friends, so I spent lot of time alone. My mother always loved to live in the forest; she loved gardens, birds and nature and taught me a deep respect for that. She taught me about growing food and vegetables and to take care of animals. They also have feelings. So nature was always something sacred for me, the place I can go, meditate and pray. It's like a church in the nature for me.

~David LaChapelle~

SATURDAY MORNING GARDENING TOOLS

     As the days shorten and temperatures cool, add these plants to your garden....
Story by Laura Duerr -  https://bestreviews.com/

     Summer is winding down and kids are getting ready to go back to school, but your garden still has lots to offer in September. Not only is fall the best time to add many kinds of shrubs and trees to your landscaping, lots of flowers, vegetables and herbs thrive in the cooler weather September offers. Whether you want fresh vegetables all winter or beautiful blossoms come springtime, planting in September can transform your yard.
What to plant in September
     It may be fall according to the calendar, but many parts of the country are still experiencing the kind of warm weather that makes gardening enjoyable and productive. Along with vegetables and annual flowers, September is also a good time to add ornamental perennials to your landscape, such as Helleborus, flowering quince, camellia or forsythia.
Flowers to plant in September
     Flowers such as zinnias and mums can by planted to enjoy colorful flowers until first frost, while pansies, with their longer flowering season, can bloom throughout winter with minimal care. 
     Planting flowering perennials such as peonies and asters in September allows them time to get established before rewarding you with abundant blossoms for many years to come. Depending on the flower and where you live, you may need to layer mulch over the plant to prevent weeds and protect it from harsh conditions.
Vegetables to plant in September
     September is a key harvesting month, but starting certain crops in September will reward you with winter and early spring harvests. Brussels sprouts in particular love cooler weather. For less hardy vegetables, a cold-frame greenhouse can help seedlings grow strong enough to survive the winter before being planted in the ground.
     Many growing zones can safely plant spinach, kale and other salad greens to add to meals throughout the winter. For longer-term harvests, plant radishes and scallions to enjoy in springtime and longer-growing vegetables such as garlic and spinach to enjoy next summer.
     The best herbs to plant in September include cilantro, which has a tendency to bolt in warmer weather, and rosemary, which is hardier and can keep growing through mild winter conditions. Chives, thyme, lemon balm and sage are perennial in many growing regions and do well when planted in containers in September.
Bulbs to plant in September
     If you love spring daffodils, now is the time to plant them. Tulips, crocuses, hyacinth and daffodils should all be planted in the fall so they have enough time to develop their root structure before winter frosts.
     A good rule of thumb for planting bulbs deep enough is to dig a hole two to three times deeper than the bulb's height. Make sure to plant them roots-down in an area where they'll get lots of sun. If you're worried about squirrels or other pests snacking on your bulbs, you can spread out some mulch or lay a piece of chicken wire over the planting area.

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

Ain't nothing you can do to keep me from posting the Blues on Saturday

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)