Monday, July 31, 2023
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Righting a Wrong From So Long Ago
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
At last, a diploma for Black deaf students who set historic precedent
A court victory in 1952 allowed them to attend school in Washington. On Saturday, Gallaudet University finally gave them a diploma and an apology.
Perspective by Theresa Vargas
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| Janice Boyd Ruffin tears up after accepting a diploma on Saturday during a ceremony at Gallaudet University honoring students who attended a segregated school on the university's campus in the 1950s. (Minh Connors/The Washington Post) |
Robbie D. Cheatham knew her worth. She also knew other people didn’t always see it.
“She had a lot of things that happened to her in life, really hard, hard stuff, because of being deaf, because of being Black, because of being a woman,” Cheatham’s daughter Krissi Spence told me. “She was so strong mentally and emotionally because she had to be. She had to fight.”
She had to fight in ways that Spence only fully realized after her mom’s death in December at the age of 86.
It was then that she learned Cheatham was part of a group of Black deaf students who weren’t allowed to attend the only school for deaf children in Washington, the city where they lived, until their families filed a class-action lawsuit in 1952. Then, despite a court victory, they weren’t treated the same as the White students who attended kindergarten through 12th grade at the Kendall School on Gallaudet’s campus. Black students were enrolled in the Kendall School Division II for Negroes. They were placed in a separate classroom with separate teachers, and when it came time for them to graduate, unlike their White peers, they weren’t given diplomas.
On Saturday, Gallaudet University held a poignant ceremony aimed at righting that wrong. Officials handed out diplomas for 24 Black deaf students who should have received them more than six decades earlier. Five of the six students who are still alive made it to the ceremony.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/22/deaf-black-gallaudet-diploma/
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
I'm Ready to Head to Chicago Now!
An excerpt from The New York Times -
A Pie Shop on Chicago’s South Side Serves More Than Dessert
With her first brick-and-mortar bakery, Justice of the Pies, the pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard focuses on creativity — and inclusivity for people with disabilities.
By Kayla Stewart - Reporting From Chicago
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| The pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard has opened a new bakery in Avalon Park on the South Side of Chicago. Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York Times |
The South Side of Chicago brims with inimitable African American culture and history, and the pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard is adding her brand of sweetness to the place where she was born and raised. In June, Ms. Broussard opened the first brick-and-mortar store of her longtime delivery and wholesale pie business, Justice of the Pies.
The shop, in a former dentist’s office in Avalon Park, one of the South Side’s many historic, predominantly African American neighborhoods, serves Ms. Broussard’s inventive pies and pastries, such as her calling cards — a blue cheese praline pear pie and a strawberry basil Key lime pie — along with unorthodox items like her salted caramel peach pie and a deep-dish chilaquiles quiche.
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| One of her signature desserts, strawberry basil Key lime pie, is available at the bakery. Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York Times |
Ms. Broussard, who lost 75 percent of her hearing in a childhood accident, may be the industry’s most prominent hard-of-hearing Black pastry chef. She has gained a following for her pies through social media, pop-ups and appearances on the Netflix competition show “Bake Squad.” “I realized that being a member of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community actually gave me a superpower,” she said, “and that superpower includes a heightened sense of smell and taste.”
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
LeBron + FAMU = Nice Kicks!
An excerpt from hbcusports -
Nike unveils official images of latest FAMU x LeBron collaboration. See the heat
By Brandon King
Since the inception of the branding partnership between NBA legend LeBron James and Florida A&M, the Rattlers have some of the most visually appealing team-exclusive footwear in recent memory.
The FAMU men’s and women’s hoops teams have taken to the hardwood in team-exclusive iterations of LeBron XVIIIs, XIXs, and XXs.
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| Photo Lebron-FAMU XX |
Florence Price Violin Concerto No. 2 (A Lost Voice, Found At Last)
Words of Wisdom From Bill Gates
Excerpts from Inc.
Bill Gates Says the Path to Lifelong Success and Happiness Comes Down to 4 Simple Choices
Four memorable lessons about achieving success from Bill Gates.
Bill Gates on embracing your uniqueness
Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world ... if you do so, you are insulting yourself.
~~~~~
On failure and learning from mistakes
Gates once said:
It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.
Monday, July 3, 2023
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Tamia Potter: Black Woman Neurosurgeon
From TeenVogue -
Tamia Potter Is One of the Only Black Women Neurosurgeons in the U.S.
Only 0.6% of neurosurgeons in the country are Black women.
BY ADAIRA LANDRY
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| Tamia in the operating room STEPHONX PHOTOGRAPHY |
Tamia Potter will soon become the first Black woman neurosurgery resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, an institution founded nearly 150 years ago. This achievement is even more remarkable given that, as of 2019, only 0.6% of neurosurgeons in the United States were Black women. Potter is on the brink of breaking a barrier, yet her origin story provides insight into just how much distance a Black woman must travel to succeed.
Potter was born and raised in Crawfordville, Florida, a small town where front doors are rarely locked and neighbors feel like family. And as a child — when she wasn’t outside mud bogging on an ATV or eating fresh food from her grandparent’s farm — she studied the human body. Inspired by her mother, a nurse, Potter developed an early, insatiable curiosity for anatomy and science. During high school, Potter became a nursing assistant and cared for patients in nursing homes suffering from dementia. While in college she was able to observe neurosurgery in the operating room, a moment that truly inspired her path. Potter would go on to complete medical school at Case Western Reserve University with plans to become a neurosurgeon herself.
Teen Vogue explored her journey — full of sacrifice, insecurity, and mentorship — into one of the most competitive and time intensive specialties in medicine.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/tamia-potter-black-women-neurosurgeon
Hello Again!
Hello Folks,
It's been so long since I've posted; I forgot my address, login, and everything!
So much has happened.
I retired as a K-8 principal after 24 years in education. Returning after COVID was exhausting.
I moved from Sacramento to Houston. The cost of living is so much cheaper in Texas.
I purchased a home sight unseen that I absolutely love and have had so much fun making into a home.
I discovered I needed back surgery. Had it. Thank God it was successful, and I'm recovering from that nicely.
I've missed you.
But I've had mixed emotions being in my office. This is where I lived when I worked remotely and I hated it. If I never have to Zoom again, I'm OK with that.
I know it's silly, but I still avoid this room.
Anyway, I'm back.
If anyone is interested in continuing to FollowFaye, I'll be posting more than once a year from now on. Promise.