Thursday, June 23, 2022
A Ballin' Doctor!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
COLLEGE BASKETBALL STAR BECOMES FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO EARN DOCTORATE IN BIOCHEMISTRY AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
By Jeroslyn Johnson
 |
| FIU |
Chantrall Frazier made her way through college as a star player on the women’s basketball team. But she’s leaving the school having made history in another area.
As part of Florida International University’s 2022 graduating class, Frazier became the first Black woman at the university to earn her Ph.D. in biochemistry. Frazier brought her passion for biochemistry to the school after obtaining her bachelor’s degree at the HBCU–Savannah State University.
Through her groundbreaking research, Frazier received departmental funding and funding from the Dubai Police. The Florida Education McKnight Fellow and Florida AGEP Pathways Alliance (FL-AGEP) scholar’s work helped to pave a lane for collaborations with the FIU research community. She also created optimized protocols for examining human odor profiles to understand the odors that attract mosquitos.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Friday, June 17, 2022
Friday, June 10, 2022
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Monday, May 30, 2022
Dinner With Dad
@yourprouddad Happy Sunday❤️. Is school out for you??
♬ gymnopédie no.1 - Edits
https://www.upworthy.com/dinner-with-dad-tiktok?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7
Sunday, May 29, 2022
What a Kid!
A 5th-grade boy is going viral for his beautiful rendition of Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come.’ Jordan Hollins' performance won him Best of Show at a local talent contest in Shreveport, Louisiana. If you have 60 seconds, this might be just the video you need to watch today. pic.twitter.com/gelGiO9SxU
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 26, 2022
Saturday, May 28, 2022
The Same Story 21 Times
An excerpt from Buzzfeed -
Every Time There's A Mass Shooting, The Onion Writes The Same Story. Today, It Featured All 21.
The Onion's editor-in-chief, Chad Nackers, explained why after the Uvalde shooting it reposted every variation of its story "'No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens."
By David Mack, BuzzFeed News Reporter
It jokingly bills itself "America's finest news source," but for years now the Onion has done exceptional, biting coverage of a very American phenomenon.
Each time there is a high-profile mass shooting, the satirical website publishes a variation of the exact same story.
Starting with the 2014 attack in Isla Vista, California, that killed six people, the Onion published a piece titled "'No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens."
In the years since, it has published that same headline 20 more times.
"It's just incredibly draining and it's hard to actually find like new angles on it," Onion Editor-in-Chief Chad Nackers told BuzzFeed News in an interview on Wednesday. "And this kind of encompasses everything and it just works so well and it captures the helplessness of it."
On Wednesday, the Onion published its 21st variation of the story — this time in response to the murder of 19 elementary school children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, the previous day.
For the first time ever, the Onion devoted its entire front page to all 21 past stories and linked all the past pieces in a long Twitter thread.
"Today, it kind of shows how powerful that looks when the entire homepage is filled with showing that nothing has been done for eight years," Nackers said.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/onion-mass-shooting-story-no-way-prevent-this-uvalde
Disgraceful
From Newsweek-
See the whole list @
https://www.newsweek.com/republican-senators-nra-funding-texas-school-shooting-uvalde-1710332
Senators bankrolled by the NRA:
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) May 25, 2022
Mitt Romney: $13,648,000
Richard Burr: $6,987,000
Roy Blunt: $4,556,000
Thom Tillis: $4,421,000
Marco Rubio: $3,303,000
Joni Ernst: $3,125,000
Josh Hawley: $1,392,000
Mitch McConnell: $1,267,000
Ted Cruz: $176,000
An absolute disgrace.
Friday, May 20, 2022
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Monday, April 18, 2022
Friday, April 15, 2022
Black-Owned AirBnBs
An excerpt from Newonyx -
Black Couple Launches ‘Black Airbnb,’ One Of The Largest Lists For Black-Owned Airbnb’s On The Platform
“It didn’t take us long to realize that there should be an easier way for Black travelers," Jessica E. Boyd said.
by Jahaura Michelle
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| Photo Courtesy of Travel Noire |
The couple explained how difficult it was to find Airbnbs that Black people owned. However, they were determined to start the initiative due to the discrimination many encountered on the app.
“It didn’t take us long to realize that there should be an easier way for Black travelers to book Black-owned or hosted Airbnbs. So, we decided to put together an extensive list of Black-owned stays all over the country, not only for ourselves but for the benefit of the Black travel community,” Boyd added.
Earlier this year, the couple broadened their list by searching cities and listings on the platform, narrowing it down to a list with more than 200 plus Black-owned or hosted Airbnb stays across the nation.
The company has launched Project Lighthouse, an initiative that partners with other organizations such as NAACP to dismantle the growing discrimination on the app. However, Boyd and Hughes believe their list is much easier for Black guests and Black hosts to find, offering a quick and immediate solution to the problem.
“We’ve kept in touch with many of the Black hosts we’ve stayed with over the last seven months. We launched a separate Instagram account, @blackairbnbs, to amplify the Black-owned Airbnb listings from our blog and also share tips from the guest perspective to help [Black] hosts attract more bookings on the app,” Hughes said via press release.
What's the Lesson Here?
An excerpt from Business Insider -
There are 7 self-made billionaires under 30 on Forbes' billionaires' list this year, and more than half of them are Stanford dropouts
By Marielle Descalsota
 | |
| Left to right: Henrique Dubugras, Andy Fang, and Ryan Breslow. Brex; Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images; Cindy Ord/Getty Seven self-made individuals under the age of 30 were named in Forbes' World's Billionaires List this year. And of those seven, four dropped out of Stanford University. |
The world's youngest self-made billionaires all built their fortunes by founding startups. All but two individuals are US citizens. They are collectively worth $16.1 billion, reported Forbes.
Brazilian-born corporate credit-card startup founders Pedro Franceschi, 25, and Henrique Dubugras, 26, are the world's youngest self-made billionaires named in Forbes' list this year. The pair founded Brex in 2017 after quitting Stanford eight months into their freshman year. Franceschi and Dubugras are worth an estimated $1.5 billion each, per Forbes.
Nikole Schools Chris
Nikole Hannah-Jones teaches Chris Wallace about white people
OPINION: Either CNN host Chris Wallace doesn't know history, or he thinks Nikole Hannah-Jones shouldn't discuss how America's 'greatest generation' fought against democracy for Black people.
By Michael Harriot
https://thegrio.com/2022/04/08/nikole-hannah-jones-teaches-chris-wallace-about-white-people/
Chris Wallace Goes At Nikole Hannah-Jones for Claim Greatest Generation 'Violently Suppressed' Black Voters in Heated CNN+ Exchange https://t.co/6q1RyKcwzi via @mediaite pic.twitter.com/X95MhXtt7e
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) April 7, 2022
He's to Become a Doctor & a Lawyer
From Black Enterprise -
VICTOR AGBAFE IS ON THE PATH TO BECOME A DOCTOR AND A LAWYER
By Yolanda Baruch
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| Victor Agbafe (Screenshot) Image Credit: Victor Agbafe Twitter |
Victor Agbafe is an academic anomaly; he gained acceptance to all eight Ivy League universities and is enrolled in both medical and law school, WBTV reports.
After he made public of his admissions to the most prestigious schools, many took notice of the Wilmington, North Caroline native, a straight-A student, and an athlete from the Cape Fear Academy.
Agbafe went on to complete undergraduate studies at Harvard University and, two years later, enrolled in medical school at the University of Michigan and law school at Yale University, according to WBTV.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/victor-agbafe-in-on-the-path-to-become-a-doctor-and-a-lawyer/
In Celebration of National Peach Cobbler Day
Celebrate National Peach Cobbler Day With These 3 Recipes From Black Chefs
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
If You Hear This, You Have a Problem
An excerpt from INC -
These 4 Words Are a Sure Sign Your Team Has a Toxic Culture
If you find your team saying this phrase, you have some work to do.
BY JASON ATEN, TECH COLUMNIST
If you manage people, one of your biggest challenges is motivating your team and keeping them focused on what's most important. It's a challenge because people are people and are sometimes easily distracted. As a leader, however, you need everyone contributing and working together towards what really matters.
Of course, the most important thing for your team might look different depending on your business. Still, I'm guessing you probably spend a lot of time trying to build a culture that prioritizes taking care of your customers, and supporting each other. If you don't, most of the other things you're trying to accomplish won't really mean much.
He's a simple tip: If you find your team using these four words, you probably have some work to do. I'd even argue that if you ever hear them, your team might have a toxic culture.
"It's not my job."
Unfortunately, that's a pretty common mentality for a lot of people when they show up for work. A lot of people like to have a very defined role with a list of tasks they can cross off. Everything that's on the list is their responsibility, and everything else is someone else's problem.
Except, it doesn't work that way in the real world. Too often, a job description becomes an excuse to ignore anything that's not listed as a bullet point. It's easy to think that anything else is someone else's problem. It's easy to look at something going wrong and think "that's not my job."
Here's the thing--if it's important, it's never not your job.
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/these-4-words-are-a-sure-sign-your-team-has-a-toxic-culture.html
Men: A Profession to Avoid When Looking for a Spouse
@jettiegirl28 I think I just started a nuclear war #divorce #divorcetok #BigComfy #EasyWithAdobeExpress ♬ original sound - KK
He Speaks 24 Languages!
From the Washington Post -
The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 Languages
By Jessica Contrera
Sunday, April 3, 2022
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Even the Critters Are Doing Classwork
From Upworthy -
A professor asked students to send photos of their dogs doing classwork. It quickly got out of hand.
By Jisha Joseph
'I probably now have a collection of maybe 60 dogs. Some are at the computer. Some are reading,' the professor revealed.
https://scoop.upworthy.com/professor-asked-students-dogs-doing-homework-internet-exploded
Guaranteed to bring a smile. - Faye
Beautiful!
It is not a work of art made of black stone or granite. She is Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech. The most beautiful among the black beauties. She is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the darkest skin ever seen on earth. She is also known as the QUEEN OF DARK. pic.twitter.com/gbyoNizcEJ
— Mynameis...Miro (@zg4ever) February 17, 2022
Breaking Barriers in the Sky
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
24-YEAR OLD TO MAKE HISTORY AS YOUNGEST BLACK FEMALE PILOT FOR COMMERCIAL AIRLINES
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 |
| (Image: Blacknews.com) |
Miracle Izuchukwu, who is from New York City, will soon break barriers when she officially becomes part of the 1% of Black female pilots for major commercial airlines around the world.
Now 24-years old, she is currently in training to become a Commercial Airline Pilot and continues to inspire other people with her story.
Miracle, whose parents are Nigerian, says that she grew up in a very discouraging environment. She said her ambitions were often looked down on because of her gender, but she did not let it stop her from dreaming big.
How Late Is Too Late To Call Someone?
From Southern Living -
How Late Is Too Late To Call Someone? Southerners Know the Answer
Manners matter, even over the phone.
By Kaitlyn Yarborough
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| istock photo |
No matter the quickness and ease that texting and emails lend to our busy lives, nothing will ever beat an old-fashioned phone call. The stories and details simply cannot be mimicked in text form, no matter how cute and cheeky the smiley faces and heart emoticons seem. Yet, just like with anything else in the South, there are manners to mind, even when it comes to your weekly gossip session with a girlfriend or daily touch-base with your sister. When is it too late to call someone? Here's the Southerner-friendly breakdown, but it's not necessarily clear-cut.
Like with anything, social rules of any nature—but particularly etiquette-related ones—aren't set in impenetrable stone. In order to work, they need to bounce and bend to adapt to different situations, moments, people, and cultures. That goes for phone calls, too. The cutoff time you would call a cousin with young children isn't necessarily the same deadline you'd give to your best friend who loves to pour a glass of vino and plan the next girls' trip just as much as you do. You wouldn't call a professional acquaintance as late as you would one of your close family members. Basically, manners aren't manners if you don't wield them correctly.
However, there are general guidelines about phone etiquette that are always important to heed—unless in the case of an emergency, of course. Firstly, if the sun's down, so should be the cellphone. Busy weeknights and fun-filled weekends deserve their own precious consideration, so Southerners know to keep the calls to the daylight as much as possible, which albeit gives you more flexibility during the sunlight-filled summer months than the winter. Summer is for evening porch hangs and light-hearted gossiping phone calls, anyway.
Secondly, respect your elders. (This one applies to many scenarios in the South.) Likely, your mother and great-aunt didn't grow up with pings and rings coming in past dinnertime. It's best to handle any social business with your older family members and acquaintances prior to 4 p.m. This guideline isn't steadfast by any means, but a good rule of thumb is to respect people's time and evening routines, especially if they go to bed early.
Lastly, the later it is, the shorter to keep it. As the day winds down, it can be hard now for most of us in the modern technological world to wind down with it. Keep catchup "phone dates" with friends and family under an hour (and around 30 minutes if possible), especially if calling after business hours. This makes it easy for both parties to keep to their schedules and get things done.
In short, if the clock is ticking past 6 p.m., Southerners might not pick up. It's nothing personal—rather, it's just that dinner is on the stovetop and the next episode of Yellowstone is calling our name.
https://www.southernliving.com/culture/etiquette/when-is-it-too-late-to-call-someone
Want a "Cup of Joe?"
An excerpt from All Recipes -
Why We Call Coffee a "Cup of Joe"
Several theories attempt to explain the phrase.
By Stacey Lastoe
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| istock photo |
One theory on cup of joe's origin goes like this: In 1914, a ban on alcohol on U.S. Navy ships imposed by the Secretary of the Navy Josephus "Joe" Daniels meant that the strongest drink available aboard the ship was black coffee. It wasn't long before the angry sailors began referring to the hot drink as Joe or cup of joe, a nod to the Navy secretary.
Gabrielle Bernstein, co-founder of Joe Coffee Company, of which there are now 20 in New York City, subscribes to this theory: "What I always heard about the origin story of cup of joe was that it was during World War II, and there was a sergeant who didn't allow the troops to drink booze, so he gave them a lot of coffee instead." The booze-banning sergeant's name was Joe, and so, says Bernstein, "they started calling coffee 'a cup of Joe.'"
Another theory plays into this story: Many believe that the nickname cup of joe is a way of saying coffee is common — it's a common man's drink. Joe, being a common name, represents the basic beverage (though these days, coffee is often anything but basic). Coffee wasn't a cappuccino or a latte or a flat white or cold brew. It was coffee grounds and water. Hot, caffeinated, and open to milk or sugar additives, coffee was regular. Low-brow, low-key, cheap, and purpose-serving.
The third and no less compelling explanation for how cup of joe came about goes back to the 1930s when coffee's most popular nickname was jamoke, from mocha java. Some linguists say joe is a shortened version of jamoke. British etymologist and writer Michael Quinion's research supports this understanding of cup of joe's origin.
Black Life We Rarely See
From the Huffington Post -
These Black Photographers Showcase Images of Black Life That Too Often Go Unseen
By Erin E. Evens and Christy Havranek
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| Burden Bearer |
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-photographers-everyday-life_n_6214f954e4b0d1388f0b52cb
California's Cup Runneth Over With Billionaires
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Why So Many Billionaires Live in California
Blame Silicon Valley.
By Soumya Karlamangla
 | |
| From left, the Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, and the Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.Credit...From left: Eric Thayer for The New York Times, Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times, Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images |
Of the 100 wealthiest people in America, 26 live in California.
That’s more than any other state, and not simply a byproduct of California’s large population. If the country’s 100 top billionaires were evenly distributed, we would expect just 12 of them to reside here.
Yes, this is largely because of Silicon Valley. But it’s also a reflection of the fact that California has the fifth-largest economy in the world, said Richard Walker, an emeritus professor at U.C. Berkeley who studies economic geography.
“California has been the main engine for American growth for the last 50 years,” Walker told me. “This is not sufficiently acknowledged — how immense the California economy is.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/us/billionaires-california.html
A Lifelong Lesson Learned at 11 Years Old
An excerpt from the Washington Post Magazine -
A story about some words I can’t say
By Damon Young
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| (Monique Wray for The Washington Post) |
The first thing I learned about my new White classmates at St. Bartholomew Catholic School was less a “new thing learned” and more a rejection of an old thing thought.
Months earlier (this was in the early ’90s), my parents decided to pull me out of Pittsburgh public schools and enroll me there to start sixth grade. If you’d asked Dad why they made that decision, he’d probably talk about “pre-AP courses” or “the benefits of didactic parochial instruction” — exactly what Black parents who ship their kids to predominantly White suburban schools are supposed to say. But if you knew my dad, and you asked that same question, he might tell you the truth: I was a talented basketball player, and their ball program was the best in western Pennsylvania. Getting me there was one step toward his (later successful) master plan of getting me a full ride to college.
Anyway, I assumed the White boys there would be soft. And it’s not like I was hard. But I was hood. And I thought that meant I was inherently tougher than anyone not from a place like where I was from. Especially suburban Catholic White boys. But my new classmates and teammates were the sons of plumbers and deli owners, school nurses and construction workers. They ripped and roasted and fought just as quickly — and just as well — as anyone from my neighborhood did. Months later, when we outfought the rest of the diocese to cap an undefeated hoop season, I never felt so good to be so wrong.
The second thing I learned about my new White classmates happened my third day there. It was recess, which meant each of the 50 sixth-graders finished whichever combination of carbs and veggies were served at lunch that day and then rushed to the rectory-adjacent parking lot for our 16 minutes of freedom before the fifth period bell rang. Most of the boys took part in a football-like substance where the football was a Koosh ball and we played “stop-grab” instead of two-hand touch.
You can't stop here. Click the link to get to the point he's making. - Faye
This is NUTS!
From the Washington Post -
An assistant principal read the children’s book ‘I Need a New Butt!’ to second-graders. He was fired.
By Jaclyn Peiser
 |
| Toby Price with his wife, Leah. (Toby Price) |
When a guest who was scheduled to read to second-graders over Zoom this month didn’t show up, Toby Price, the assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school, improvised.
Price’s boss at Gary Road Elementary School suggested Price read to the students, so he reached for one of his favorite children’s books: “I Need a New Butt!” written by Dawn McMillan and illustrated by Ross Kinnaird.
“It’s a funny, silly book,” Price, 46, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I’m a firm believer that … if kids see that books can be funny and silly, they’ll hang around long enough to see all the other cool things that books can be.”
The students “thought it was hilarious,” Price recalled. But the superintendent for the Hinds County School District near Jackson, Miss., did not, and about an hour after the event, Price was placed on administrative leave. Two days later, on March 4, he was fired.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/11/toby-price-principal-fired-childrens-book/
Ukraine & Racism
An excerpt from PUCK -
Ukraine, Racism, and the Wars We Ignore
War shatters lives, but also reveals what binds us together. I’m clinging to a hope that this war will bring out the best in us, both in Ukraine and beyond.
 |
| Photo by Murat Saka via Getty |
I’ve been feeling more tired than usual these past two weeks. It took me a few days to identify the reason. Maybe it was the rapid unmasking of my fellow Americans? Or was it the fact that I took two cross-country flights in five days? No, it turns out the real reason for my fatigue was that I hadn’t scheduled a war in my calendar. Yet war has been occupying my mind, my heart, and my screens. Watching Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has drained, enraged, and inspired me all at once.
I don’t generally operate on a daily basis with Ukraine or Russia on my mind. That changed within two days of the invasion after a friend from Eastern Europe, currently living close to me in Southern California, asked his American wife whether his family could move in with them, if it came to that. Without warning, I found myself near tears. This couple had previously been plotting the reverse migration: spending more time in Europe, that civilized place where universal healthcare is the norm and school and childcare costs don’t bankrupt families. But suddenly America looked safer and more stable, even with our wealth inequality and no-longer-notable school shootings. Being in Putin’s line of fire was a clearer and more present danger.
Then, after the unanticipated and deep sadness, came an even less familiar feeling: violent rage. I had a sudden urge to go to Ukraine and fight Russians.
https://puck.news/ukraine-racism-and-the-wars-we-ignore/
You'll need to sign up to unlock 1 free article. This is so worth the trouble. - Faye
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Monday, February 21, 2022
Peanuts in a Coke
An excerpt from Hunker -
Why Do People Put Peanuts in Coke?
By ANNA GRAGERT
 | |
| Image Credit: @djunaskye/Instagram |
Have you ever seen someone put shelled peanuts into their bottle, can, or cup of Coca-Cola? If you're not from the South, the answer is likely no, and you're probably questioning the combination we just described. However, it really is a thing!
According to the National Peanut Board, food historian Rick McDaniel revealed that the peanut-Coke trend likely started during the 1920s. This is when packaged, shelled peanuts began making their way into country stores and gas station aisles — the same places where you'd find a bottle of Coke.
But, how exactly did the peanuts end up inside the Coke? McDaniel believes that working Southerners would pour the peanuts directly into their Coke to avoid getting their hands dirty or to prevent their already-dirty hands from touching the peanuts, since places to wash up might not have been readily available. Pouring the peanuts from the bag into the Coke could have also been a way for them to keep their hands free for work.
"What resulted was a mix of savory and sweet deliciousness," says Esquire writer Justin Kirkland, describing his first time trying peanuts in Coca-Cola as a child growing up in the South. "Better yet, the peanuts stick around, stay crunchy, and give you a nice little snack at the end of your beverage. Think of it like the working man's strawberries in champagne."
https://www.hunker.com/13770660/why-do-people-put-peanuts-in-coke
Friday, February 18, 2022
Monday, February 14, 2022
Facing Britain's Ugly History
An excerpt from the New York Times -
David Olusoga Wants Britain to Face Its Past. All of It.
For more than a decade, the historian and broadcaster’s work has focused on bringing his country’s uglier histories to light. Recently, more people are paying attention.
By Desiree Ibekwe
 | |
| Olusoga in a scene from the docu-series “One Thousand Years of Slavery” on the Smithsonian Channel, for which he served as an executive producer.Credit...Smithsonian Channel |
LONDON — In December, when a British court cleared four Black Lives Matter protesters of criminal damages for toppling the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, in June 2020, it was thanks in part to David Olusoga’s expert testimony.
Olusoga, a historian whose work focuses on race, slavery and empire, felt a duty to agree to address the court on behalf of the defense, he said in a recent interview, since “I’ve been vocal about this history.”
At the trial in Bristol, the city in southwest England where the Colston statue was toppled, Olusoga, 52, told the jury about Colston’s prominent role in the slave trade and the brutalities suffered by the African people Colston sold into slavery.
The closely watched court decision was greeted with concern by some in Britain and relief by others, and Olusoga’s role in the defense offers just one recent example of his work’s impact on British society.
Olusoga’s comments in court are consistent with a frequent focus of his wider work as one of the country’s most prominent public historians: that long-forgotten or buried past injustices can be addressed in the present day in public-facing, accessible media.
Olusoga’s latest TV work is “One Thousand Years of Slavery,” which premieres on the Smithsonian Channel on Monday. The show, which he executive produced alongside Bassett Vance Productions, a production company helmed by Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett, takes a wide-ranging, global look at slavery through the familial stories of public figures like Senator Cory Booker and the actor David Harewood.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/arts/television/david-olusoga-black-history.html
FAMU Student's Star Shining Bright
An excerpt from WCTV.TV -
FAMU student’s design featured in Target stores nationwide
By Raghad Hamad
 |
| Kah’Milah Ledgester's Target 2022 design submission. (FAMU Communications) |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - A Florida A&M University student won Target’s 2021 HBCU Design Challenge, bringing her design to Target stores nationwide.
Participants created t-shirt designs and graphics for Target’s 2022 Black History Month campaign challenge, and Kah’Milah Ledgester, a senior graphic design student at FAMU, won a top three reward.
“This was my challenge as a creative,” Ledgester said. “I felt elated because I did something that scared me.”
Her work, according to the Adel, Georgia, native, highlights Black women and the vibrancy that surrounds them. Ledgester stated that she wanted to demonstrate the beauty of Black women through this project.
https://www.wctv.tv/2022/02/07/famu-students-design-featured-target-stores-nationwide/
Caramel Corn
From Bon Appetit -
Making Caramel Corn Is Easier Than It Has Any Right to Be
It’s caramel corn’s world and I’m just living in it.
BY JESSIE SHEEHAN
Here’s how to make my caramel corn:
Heat your oven to 250° F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper and securing that paper at each corner with a little cooking spray. Next, make 10 cups of unsalted popped popcorn. You can do this (my favorite way) by microwaving ½ cup unpopped kernels in a large microwave-safe bowl covered with a microwave-safe plate on high for 6–8 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave. Or, if you’re not as fond of your microwave as I am, you can place ½ cup unpopped kernels and 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large, covered pot on the stovetop over medium heat and pop away, shaking the pot over the flame periodically. (More details here, if you need them.) Transfer the popped corn to a large bowl.
Now it’s caramel time. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring 1 cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup, 2 Tbsp. molasses (which will give the corn a little bit of a Cracker Jack feel), and 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter to a boil, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. Let the caramel boil without stirring until thick and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Now take the pot off the heat and whisk in 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt, ½ tsp. baking soda, and 2 tsp. vanilla extract. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir to coat.
Scrape the coated corn onto the prepared baking sheet—you’ll need to pile it on—and bake, stirring every 20 minutes, until the caramel has darkened slightly and the popcorn is dry to the touch, about 1 hour. Let the caramel corn cool to room temp before giving it away in cute little bags, serving it in a large bowl, or indulging straight from the baking sheet.
But regardless of whether you share it with your pals or eat every last kernel solo, consider yourself warned: Caramel corn this good and this easy will be made again (and again, and again).
Let's Teach Them Our History
An excerpt from Slate -
What Happens to Middle School Kids When You Teach Them About Slavery? Here’s a Vivid Example.
The topic is emotional. That’s not a bad thing.
BY MARY NIALL MITCHELL AND KATE SHUSTER
 |
| Group project of eighth grade class at Olentangy Orange Middle School in Lewis Center, Ohio. Photo by Kristin Marconi and Christine Snivley |
When she found the advertisement for Maria, an eighth grader named E.D. was struck by the details in it. The ad was posted in a local newspaper, in 1846, by an enslaver in Tennessee. When Maria escaped, she was only 18 or 19 years old. She did not act alone. Maria ran with “a free man” named Henry Fields. For faster transport, Maria and Henry also liberated a gray mare. Maria’s enslaver suspected Henry had his free papers with him. But he was certain that Henry carried something else: a fiddle.
E.D.’s teachers had asked their students to respond creatively to an ad they found in Freedom on the Move, a digital collection housed at Cornell University of thousands of ads by enslavers and jailers seeking the return of self-liberating people, printed in American newspapers before emancipation. E.D. decided to make Henry’s fiddle. She made it life-size, out of cardboard and papier mâché. She covered it with a collage that tells the story of Henry and Maria’s flight. The enslaver placing the ad suspected “they will make for Kentucky and from there to a free state.” So E.D. used the image of a running horse, a “Welcome to Kentucky” sign, and a heart symbol—this last because E.D. wondered “if Maria and Henry were in love.” E.D. pasted a copy of the ad on the fiddle seven times, for the number of times the ad ran in the newspaper. It was her personal monument to Henry and Maria and their acts of resistance. “My fiddle represents Henry and Maria’s story, their fight for freedom,” E.D. explained, “but it also represents all of the thousands of other stories just like theirs, waiting to be told.” She carried the fiddle to school in a violin case.
E.D. and her teachers, Kristin Marconi and Christine Snivley, who teach middle school students in Ohio, were part of a virtual learning community created for Freedom on the Move by the Hard History Project. The goal of these workshops was to tap the genius of teachers to build a bridge between the digital archive and K–12 classrooms. As a crowdsourced archive, FOTM was built with the public in mind. Still, it takes the expertise of teachers to reach, arguably, FOTM’s most important readership: young people.
We are in a cultural moment in which teaching about racism and the world it has made is both essential and controversial. Critics rallying under the banner of “anti-CRT” describe this teaching as divisive and disturbing. But we can’t teach the history of the United States without teaching about slavery. And of course, they’re right about the emotions involved—there’s nothing comfortable about slavery. But they’re missing something: There’s a lot of good, and even joy, to be had in talking about the relentless and omnipresent resistance to slavery that we see again and again in newspapers before the Civil War, in ads seeking the return of self-liberating people.
Lifelong Readers
An excerpt from The Atlantic -
Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers
A lot rides on how parents present the activity to their kids.
By Joe Pinsker
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| Chris J. Ratcliffe / Getty |
They can be identified by their independent-bookstore tote bags, their “Book Lover” mugs, or—most reliably—by the bound, printed stacks of paper they flip through on their lap. They are, for lack of a more specific term, readers.
Joining their tribe seems simple enough: Get a book, read it, and voilà! You’re a reader—no tote bag necessary. But behind that simple process is a question of motivation—of why some people grow up to derive great pleasure from reading, while others don’t. That why is consequential—leisure reading has been linked to a range of good academic and professional outcomes—as well as difficult to fully explain. But a chief factor seems to be the household one is born into, and the culture of reading that parents create within it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/09/love-reading-books-leisure-pleasure/598315/
No Welcome Wagon Here
An excerpt from NBC News -
‘We don’t look like them’: Black figure skaters face barriers to entry from a young age
Figure skating has long excluded Black athletes. The disparity can be seen from youth competitions all the way up to Team USA.
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| Michael Baker.Courtesy Shirley Brown |
Before figure skating practice, Michael Baker would ask his mom to let him out of the car before they got to the entrance of the ice rink.
“He would say, ‘Mommy, why don’t you just drop me here?’” Shirley Brown, Baker’s mom, told NBC News. “And I knew exactly why he was doing it.”
They still haven’t replaced their beat-up 2007 Toyota Rav 4, one in a long list of sacrifices made to support Baker’s skating. Brown has delayed her retirement. They can’t go on vacation.
Baker, 17, dreams of one day competing in the Olympics. But even if he has the talent to make it, the family worries the cost may hold him back.
Baker started skating at 13, when he signed up for lessons at a mall on his birthday. A coach saw that Baker had talent and offered to teach him.
“In the beginning, it was very, very, very tough,” Brown said. “I find that it’s an elitist sport. You’re not welcomed by some of the parents. We don’t look like them.”
Baker is the only Black skater training at his rink in New Jersey.
From formal gatekeeping to high barriers to entry, the sport has a long history of excluding Black figure skaters. There aren’t any Black skaters on the U.S. team competing at this year’s Olympics, and the last time an African American skater competed at the Games was 16 years ago. There aren’t many Black fans, either. U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s national governing body, found that only 2 percent of fans were African American. This disparity can also be seen throughout the sport.
Friday, February 4, 2022
Saturday, January 29, 2022
What's the Story Behind Wavy Walls?
An excerpt from Family Handyman -
If You See a Wavy Brick Wall, This is What It Means
By Karuna Eberl
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| CONSTRUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES |
Serpentine "crinkle crankle" walls are an ancient, aesthetic idea that deserves a second look.
Every once in a while you might notice a brick wall that serpentines instead of cutting straight across. These so-called crinkle crankle walls are more common in England, but are found here and there in the U.S. as well. Their jump across the Atlantic is probably thanks to Thomas Jefferson, who directed them to be built at the University of Virginia (UVA) in the 1800s.
“Thomas Jefferson was such a genius,” says Gary Porter, technical director at the Masonry Advisory Council. “Authorities at the time thought that Jefferson invented this design. However, he was merely adapting a well-established English style of construction.”
What Are Those Wavy Brick Walls Called?
The term crinkle crankle walls probably came from the Old English word for zigzag. Sometimes they are also called ribbon, wavy, radius, serpentine, sinusoidal or crinkum crankum walls. The Dutch engineers who originally built them in England called them slang muur, which translates to snake wall.
Why Are They Wavy?
They serpentine for economy and strength, and likely also aesthetic reasons.
A single row of bricks laid in a sine wave pattern is as strong or stronger than a standard straight wall and requires fewer bricks. (In the case of UVA’s walls, about 25 percent less.) That’s because straight walls need two rows of bricks and sometimes buttresses to survive over time, whereas wavy walls need just a single row.
“So it was more efficient, and that’s why they did it,” says Porter. “These walls actually act like an arch, and so that makes it strong for wind loads that might push on the wall.
12 Cello Piece Performed All By Himself!
From Upworthy -
Cellist performs a piece for 12 cellos all by himself and it's absolutely stunning
A Legacy Unveiled
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
An old Virginia plantation, a new owner and a family legacy unveiled
By Joe Heim
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| Sharswood in Gretna, Va., was built in the middle of the 19th century and at one point was the hub of a sprawling plantation. The Pittsylvania County property now consists of 10½ acres. Out of the frame behind the large tree at right is a cabin that may have been used by enslaved people as a kitchen and laundry for the main house as well as a residence. (Heather Rousseau for The Washington Post) |
GRETNA, Va. — There was so much Fredrick Miller didn’t know about the handsome house here on Riceville Road.
He grew up just a half-mile away and rode past it on his school bus every day. It was hard to miss. The home’s Gothic revival gables, six chimneys, diamond-paned windows and sweeping lawn were as distinctive a sight as was to be seen in this rural southern Virginia community. But Miller, 56, an Air Force veteran who now lives in California, didn’t give it much thought. He didn’t know it had once been a plantation or that 58 people had once been enslaved there. He never considered that its past had anything to do with him.
Two years ago, when his sister called to say the estate was for sale, he jumped on it. He’d been looking, pulled home to the place he left at 18. His roots were deep in this part of Pittsylvania County, and he wanted a place where his vast extended family, many of whom still live nearby, could gather.
The handsome house set on a rise had a name, it turned out. Sharswood. And Sharswood had a history. And its history had everything to do with Miller.
Slavery wasn’t something people talked much about in this part of Virginia when Miller was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. And other than a few brief mentions in school, it wasn’t taught much, either.
The only time he remembers the subject coming up was when Alex Haley’s miniseries, “Roots,” was broadcast in 1977.
“For a lot of us, that was our first experience with what really happened during slavery,” he said. “It just wasn’t discussed.”
Miller assumed his ancestors had been enslaved. But where and when and by whom were questions that were left unasked and unanswered.
“People didn’t want to talk about this stuff because it was too painful,” said Dexter Miller, 60, a cousin of Fredrick’s who lives in Java. “They would say, ‘This is grown folks’ business.’ And that’s how some of the history was lost.”
Another cousin, Marian Keyes, who taught first in segregated schools and later in integrated schools from 1959 to 1990, said that for a long time there was little teaching about slavery in Pittsylvania County.
“We weren’t really allowed to even talk about it back then,” said Keyes, who turns 90 this year and lives in Chatham. “We weren’t even allowed to do much about the Civil War and all of that kind of stuff, really.”
Even outside of school, when she was growing up, Keyes said, the subject of slavery was avoided.
“I just thought everything was normal,” she said, “because that was the way of life.”
But the unspoken history left a gulf.
It wasn’t until after Fredrick Miller bought Sharswood in May 2020 that its past started coming into focus. That’s when his sister, Karen Dixon-Rexroth and their cousins Sonya Womack-Miranda and Dexter Miller doubled down on researching their family history.
What neither Fredrick Miller nor his sister knew at the time was that the property had once been a 2,000-acre plantation, whose owners before and during the Civil War were Charles Edwin Miller and Nathaniel Crenshaw Miller.
Miller.
Fredrick Miller and so many members of his extended family were born and grew up in the shadow of Sharswood — and perhaps it was a clue to a deeper connection. It wasn’t uncommon after emancipation for formerly enslaved people to take the last names of their enslavers. But establishing the link required more research.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/22/virginia-plantation-slavery-owners-history/
Congratulations Dr. Overbey!
An excerpt from the Elk Grove Tribune -
Dr. Jennifer Overbey Named Physician Of The Year For Methodist Hospital
Posted by Dr. Jacqueline "Jax" Cheung | Jan 21, 2022 | Community & Events
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| Dr. Jennifer Overbey |
Physician of the Year
Methodist Hospital recently announced that Dr. Jennifer Overbey, the Chairperson of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has been awarded Physician of the Year of Methodist Hospital. In the history of Methodist Hospital, Dr. Overbey is the first woman and African American to receive this award. Congratulations Dr. Overbey!
https://elkgrovetribune.com/dr-jennifer-overbey-named-physician-of-the-year-for-methodist-hospital/
Bath & Body Works Celebrate Black History Month
An excerpt from Stylecaster -
Bath & Body Works Is Launching Its First Black History Month Collection — With a Huge Donation
by ELIZABETH DENTON
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| Photo: BATH & BODY WORKS. |
When I hear a popular brand is launching a collection for Black History Month (or Pride, or Women’s History Month, etc.) I’m a little cynical. Before supporting, I need to make sure the brand is actually giving back to the community in some way, whether in terms of employment (such as when Target hired LGBTQ+ designers for its Pride tees) or a monetary donation of some sort. With Bath & Body Works’ first-ever Black History Month collection, I don’t have to worry. Not only is this collection really, really cute, but the brand is also making a $500,000 donation.
“This Black History Month, Bath & Body Works is proud to continue its longstanding commitment to the Columbus and National Urban Leagues through a $500,000 donation,” Ronak Fields, community relations and philanthropy, said in a statement. “These funds will support underserved communities with workforce development and economic empowerment programs throughout America. I am grateful for the opportunity to work at Bath & Body Works and side-by-side with passionate associates who are committed to uplifting our neighbors.”
https://stylecaster.com/beauty/bath-body-works-black-history-month/
Fall Asleep in 2 Minutes!
@justin_agustin Technique to falling asleep in 2 minutes! Insp. AsapSCIENCE on YT #sleep #fallasleep #insomnia #insomniac #learnontiktok #howto ♬ You - Petit Biscuit
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