Wrote OINK on a mask and wore it when I went out for my daily walk around the neighborhood. I knew the seniors would be worrying and whining about catching the swine flu so I wanted to bring a little levity and maybe not have to listen to a lot of negativity. No one over 60 found it funny. Everyone under 60 did.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
April 29 It was on this date in 1845, Macon B. Allen and Robert Morris Jr. became the first blacks to practice law in America.They opened their practice on May 3rd of that year in Massachusetts.
Still haven't discovered what's going on with my flickr account and who's taking my pictures and posting under a name similar to mine.
Temperatures back to normal today. Yesterday it was 90 again. Went to the pool deck after 7pm. Sat outside and ate tacos and talked with nabes. Later went into the bar and watched the 6ers lose.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Beautiful Day
April 26 Sarah Boone received a patent on this date 1892 for an appliance that would help to neatly iron clothing. This device, the forerunner to our modern ironing board was made of a narrow wooden board, with collapsible legs and a padded cover and was specifically designed for the fitted clothing worn during that time period.
Reference:Created Equal The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators By James Michael Brodie
Beautiful 90ยบ day. Going to Miss Tootsie's in town to have a reunion with some 5th graders I taught in 87-88.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Borders' search
April 24 On this date in 1944, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was incorporated with 27 member colleges. UNCF is the nation's oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization.The UNCF’s mission is to enhance the quality of education by raising operating funds for their member colleges and universities, providing financial support to deserving students, and increasing access to technology for students and faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
UNCF has raised $2 billion in its 59 years of existence.
Sis took Mom to a new doctor in the nearby Chestnut Hill neighborhood. I walked up to Borders while they were there to search for a book for my sponsored children in Africa. Looking for a book of Philadelphia photography. Didn't find a suitable one so i'll buy the one I saw on amazon.com then make notes on each page.
Did errands at the farmers' market and post office and met Mom & Sis for lunch.
that hat
Sis wants a hat like that to store her keys and things while she's paddling in the dragon boat. I'll look on magellan.com
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Summer is comin'
April 23 On this date in 1872, Charlotte E. Ray became the first Black woman admitted to practice before the district Supreme Court (Washington D.C.).
Walking home, I noticed this guy cleaning the pool. It will open on Memorial Day. I never get in the water before July 4th as it takes that long for the water gets warm enough for me.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Ready for Earth Day
Dressing to go to dentist and for daily walk. Looking for globe earrings to wear. Found two, but they don't match. No problem. It's the idea that counts.
John' s Earth Day tee
Got out the Earth Day tee made by my student John Robotham at sometime in the 70s. I only wear it once a year so it'll last forever.
Huey Earth Day
We celebrated every year by cleaning up the park across from the school. Don't remember what we're making here. My hat was made from a styrofoam tray from the lunchroom. We used those trays to make many things throughout the school year. Don't know in what year this picture was taken.
Goree pens
April 22 The date remembers Goree Island. Goree Island is a small 45-acre island located off the coast of Senegal. Goree Island was developed as a center of the expanding European slave trade. Millions of West Africans were taken against their will. An estimated 20 million Africans passed through the Island between the mid-1500s and the mid-1800s. During the African slave trade, Goree Island was a slave-holding warehouse, an absolute center for the trade in African men, women and children. www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=1519
I visited Goree island in 1982 and can still feel the painful and sorrowful reactions. Please read the full story of Goree Island @ the site listed above. Know about and fight against the slavery that is still happening in today's world.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
flower shower
April 21 This date marks the founding of the National Urban League (NUL) in 1911. The National Urban League is a nonprofit social service and civil rights organization with headquarters in New York City. The mission of the National Urban League is to assist African-Americans in achieving social and economic equality.
I remember that my aunt, Hazel Holmes, was the executive secretary to Lewis Carter, the president of the Armstrong Association which joined the Philadelphia Urban League. The Urban league was assisting Bell Telephone in hiring Black women to work as operators, a position from which they had been excluded. My mom was able to get a job at Bell in the late 50s and worked there as a long distance operator for 30+ years.
yesterday it rained water
today it rained flowers
walked in the sunshine for
over three hours
talked with Katye, Knudsen,
Phyllis & Mare
and other fine neighbors
out enjoying the air
bought vitamins, bananas
and products for hair
then walked home
and continued to stare
at the flowers that drifted
and blew through the air
Monday, April 20, 2009
not ipodic
On this date in 2004, the University of Alabama publicly apologized for the schools associated history of slavery against Africans in America.
This apology was to the descendants of slaves who were once owned by faculty members or who worked on the campus before the Civil War. U of A’s faculty Senate passed a resolution in Tuscaloosa acknowledging and apologizing for their historic role in slavery. An overwhelming majority of the members present voted in favor of the resolution after an extended debate over amendments and discussion of the meaning of the word “atone."
Any reparations, people??
walking in the rain
listening to Coltrane
on my casette player
don't have an ipod
i'm not that mod
have lps and cds
and concerts on dvds
but if you buy me
an ipod
and program it
i'll move up to
this century :)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Macy's Flower Show
On this date in 2002, the first Black man won the scoring title in the National Hockey League.Jerome Iginla of the Calgary Flames took home the Maurice Richard Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy as professional hockey’s points leader.
Our Flyers, now behind in the playoffs, could use a guy like this!
In town looking @ Macy's first ever flower show in Philadelphia. It's a good beginning.
Renegades
April 18 Bob Kaufman was born on this date in 1925. He was an African-American poet. He has been described as an "innovative poet" and an important writer who gained his prominence during the “Beat period.”
In 1958, Kaufman moved to San Francisco and quickly became acclimated to the lifestyle led by many of the writers and artists who were prominent during the Beat period. Much of his writing became "surreal" and was often inspired by jazz music. He published Crowded with Loneliness and founded a magazine called Beatitude in 1965.
He was certainly acquainted with our panel of Renegades:Radical African American Voices in the Arts. AmiriBaraka, Ed Bullins, Sonia Sanchez and Charles Fuller--a quartet of genius writers.
Unfortunately the discussion wasn't long enough because there was another group scheduled for the next hour; but we were able to enjoy what brilliance they were able to share and were able to continue at the signing upstairs.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Another one rides the bus
April 17,1863 a black woman was forcibly removed from a horse-drawn streetcar in San Francisco. Her father, brought suit on her behalf against the Omnibus Railroad Company. The successful suit resulted in $5,000 in damages awarded as well as the right of blacks to ride the street cars. The Charlotte Brown case was one of a few civil rights cases brought by prominent free blacks in California to protest discrimination on public transportation.
Mom was telling Pam the story today of how, in 1944, she boarded the trolley to town and there was a *soldier* with a *rifle* on the bus! The 10,000 white employees of the Philadelphia Transportation Company had gone on strike in protest of the company's proposal that Black men be allowed to drive the trolleys. The memory is still very vivid even though she is now 95 yo.
Read about this story www.historycooperative.org/proceedings/asslh/wolfinger.html
Thursday, April 16, 2009
I can see clearly now
April 16 On this date in 1862, the nations capitol ended slavery. President Lincoln signed an act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, an important step in the long road toward full emancipation and enfranchisement for African Americans.
Before 1850, slave pens, slave jails, and auction blocks were a common site in the District of Columbia, a center for domestic slave trade. This included compensation to slave owners for their lost “property” in a total amount of $993,407 dollars.
"Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day."
SUCH a lovely day!! SIS FOUND MY PHONE IN HER CAR!!Tra here cleaning the apartment. G'bye dust and coughing. Hello clean smell all around. Out to Exhale Beauty Salon. So many great women (ages 42-82) to talk with . We discussed Limbaugh's dittoheads and their tea parties.
I love this service that Septa offers. The person in the wheelchair calls to see what time there will be a bus that can acommodate the chair. The platform lift,etc. that the buses are fitted with give them the freedom to get around town. Outstanding!!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Listen to the pouring rain
April 15 marks the birthday of A. Phillip Randolph in 1889. He was an African-American labor and civil rights leader. Concerned over the treatment of Black employees on railroads, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly Black workers to be granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. He was also one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington.http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=820
Still exhausted since yesterday, but I had to go out into the pouring rain and chilly winds to an appointment. Of course, the people never showed. Worse, I couldn't call them because I'd left my cellphone *at home*!!
Well, the phone wasn't there when I got home!! Called it. Heard no ringing. WHERE IS MY PHONE??
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
upsidedownsquirrel
April 14, 1955, Elston Howard became the first Black man to play for the New York Yankees baseball team.He played catcher and won the American league MVP award leading the team in batting (.348) in 1961.
Exhausted.Feeling 69 yo. Strange for me. Been out in the chilly, misting rain all day. Going to lie down until bedtime. TTYT
(The squirrel was eating the buds.)
Monday, April 13, 2009
I want this shirt!!!
April 13, 1854, Lucy Laney was born. She was a black educator and pioneer in secondary education. in 1883 she opened her own school in a Presbyterian church in Augusta, Georgia. The school grew rapidly and in three years received a Georgia charter as a normal and industrial school.
Read more about her work www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=815
My friend in Northern England celebrated his 63rd birthday yesterday. Lookin' good! I do want that shirt!
Out walking today taking pictures of trees in bloom. Went to Dr. Lenny's for an adjustment.
So saddened by the news of the death of Harry Kalas, the voice of the Phillies. He's OUTTA HERE! Good-bye Harry K.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
April 12 On this date in 1861, the Civil War began. This war is also referred to as "The War Between the States", "The War of Rebellion", or "The War for Southern Independence."
The war lasted until May 26, 1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered. The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at 5 billion dollars, brought freedom to 4 million enslaved Blacks, and opened wounds that have not yet completely healed.
Easter Sunday. Up 8 AM!! Going to a church service and out to a brunch.
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