American History

Review of ReShonda Tate’s book The Queen of Sugar Hill

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Before this book, I knew nothing of Hattie McDaniels except she played a maid in the movie Gone with the Wind and other movies and television.    I was thrilled to find out that she was the first black woman to win an Oscar/Academy Award for playing a maid in the Gone with the Wind movie based on Civil War America.

The author, Ms. ReShonda Tate, has done a wonderful job re-creating Ms. McDaniel’s life from her research as well as her own creative writing.  The sequence of her experiences was so well written.  Many times, I hollered at Hattie’s choice of men in the book as well as the amount of money she spent on parties to which White as well as Black attended. 

I also hollered at the movie producers and black newsmen who were not able to see Hattie as anything but a maid in all her movie roles, radio, as well as in television roles.  Ms. Hattie was dark like me, overweight like I was, and like me, she was an educated woman who could have played more diverse parts and was a sorority sister.  

I could identify even today with the prejudice from our own black people.  In the fifth grade, we had a brown skin teacher the color of cinnamon or a paper bag at that time, who didn’t like any children who were darker than her and treated us darker children badly.  Thank God our sixth-grade teacher, a very light black woman, treated all of us the same.

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen the whole Gone with the Wind movie at four hours long.   But, in the parts of the movie I did see, I had no problem with the way blacks spoke in the movie.  She represented well as Blacks were not allowed to be educated at that time in American history.   The woman “Mammy” she represented in the movie was realistic to me, educated in common sense and experience of life.

What upset me was the way Ms. Daniels was treated by the NAACP at that time who said she, an actress, did not represent black people. And shamed her for her dark skin as well.  This just pits dark women against light women, but all women are beautiful.  Reminds me of the Ray Burton and Helen Reddy song, “I Am Woman”.

Ms. Tate said her book was a historical novel and used as much historical fact as possible.   I am so sorry that after Ms. Daniel’s triumphs, she was not allowed to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery because of her color.   I so appreciate the book, The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate.

Written by Rosa Griffin

4/12/25

Tidbits 4

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Cheikh Anta Diop

Senegalese author, historian, anthropologist, physicist who thought that “Ancient Egypt was a Negro Civilization”.

Kim Moir said on Facebook that he read this author’s book The African Origin of Civilization.

Sarah Rector

At the age of 10, she became the richest black child in the world.  She received a land grant from the Cree Nation as part of reparations.

By 1912, revenue from oil on the land was $371,000 per year (approximately $6.5 million today).  Sarah resisted attempts to steal her land and fortune.  She attended the Tuskegee University and settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where her mansion still stands.

Tanya Deshields shared this information with us on Facebook.

Demisexuality

Discussed on The Real tv show, demi-sexuality refers to an emotional connection with another person before sex or before actually meeting.

“Demisexual people only feel sexually attracted to someone when they have an emotional bond with the person.  They can be gay, straight, bisexual, or pansexual, and may have any gender identity.   The prefix “demi” means half—which can refer to being halfway between sexual and asexual.

Demisexuality can be a type of graysexuality.    A graysexual person may experience sexual attraction only rarely, or they may feel sexual attraction but are not that interested in sex…  

They only feel secondary attraction—the type of attraction that happens after knowing someone for a while.”

“Demisexuality:  What Does It Mean?”, https://www.webmd.com, June 28, 2021.

Aromantic

“People who are aromantic can still have intense, loving feelings, they’re just not romantic in nature.  They can form emotional and personal connections, and they can provide and benefit from empathetic support. “

The first time I saw this word aromantic, I was reading Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s novel, Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? with my bookclub.   A female character, Nana, said she was aromantic.   Quote: “People like me don’t really experience romantic feelings.  We’re not fussed about getting into relationships…Don’t worry, I only found out about the term the other day.  Someone posted about it on Twitter, and I was like, wait a minute, that is so me.”

“What does Aromantic mean?”, https://www.webmd.com, June 27, 2021.

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Gone with the Wind Banned in Memphis [September 2017]

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I enjoyed the movie Gone with the Wind (1939) starring Clarke Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Hattie McDaniel because I like movies that are historical, showing how people lived back then–the housing, costumes, songs, etc.  But I always thought that a four-hour movie was too long.   Perhaps the movie has already been shown in parts like a mini-series.  [Exception:  The Justice League: The Snyder Cut 2021]

As a Black woman, I say things have gone too far when we are trying to ban or get rid of everything historical.   I agree that no confederate flags should be flying over any municipal or federal buildings anywhere in the U.S.   However, you can’t study history without including every ethnicity and ideology.  This is what makes up our world history.  [Today, there are Congresspersons who don’t want Critical Race Theory taught in schools at any level.  According to Wikipedia, CRT is a cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement that began in the United States in the post-civil rights era, as 1960s landmark civil rights laws were being eroded and schools were being re-segregated.]

I don’t have a problem with White people showing pride for their own history on their personal belongings. Remember, the Dukes of Hazzard–a popular tv show–had their General Lee car.   And, remember, the statues were dedicated during a different era, but they are still part of American history. 

[In the movie, Places in the Heart, the white hooded store owners tried to discourage a widow (Sally Field) from keeping her farm and growing cotton.   The Black farm hand (Danny Glover) was beaten and forced to leave.   But one of the store owners’ relatives, a blind man (John Malkovich) was also helping her out because his relative coaxed her into hiring him, recognized all the voices of the hooded men and shamed them into letting her alone.   I’m sure there were people in power over the store owners who directed them to threaten the widow.]

Since the statues are a part of American history, museums are the places for the statues, etc. although dedicated to slavery and prejudice.   They should all be moved/given to the Smithsonian system of museums.   [I suspect that U.S. President No. 45 missed the whole point of Black and White protesters being able to protest the statues without getting shot or bludgeoned in 2020.]

Like I saw engraved on a monument to the Jewish holocaust, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  George Santayana, 20th century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism.

https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Santayana

{I posted most of the above article on 9/4/17  to http://www.chicagonow.com/friendly-curmudgeon/2017/09/gone-with-the-wind-banned-in-memphis-actually-indicts-the-confederacy/

friendlycurmudgeon@yahoo.com} 

[bracketed information is new]

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Reading Expands Your Mind

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Reading has been one of the important things in my life along with writing.   They both can teach and transport us safely to unknown places.  Some books whether fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s, etc. can add value to our lives. 

One of the eye-opening books of my life is John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath published in 1939.   It alludes to White people treating other White people criminally during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.   A mass migration began from Oklahoma and other states to California.   Along the way, we find why there developed a need for unions (who will pick a bushel of fruit for a $1, then .75, then .50, and before you know it your family has to pick several bushels at .25 per bushel.  Certainly not enough to feed a family after buying essentials in that same farmer’s store), tenant farmers who gave their lives to work land they would never own, and man’s inhumanity to mankind.  Even in the Bible, the Jews were instructed to leave some of their crop for the poor.

“Steinbeck’s book is historical fiction and was banned and burned by citizens although it was the best-selling book of 1939.  It won the National book award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Nobel Prize for Literature.   The most fervent attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California, and the book was challenged off and on into the 1990’s.”  (Wikipedia) Director John Ford made the book into the movie Grapes of Wrath in 1940.

Don’t be afraid to tackle a thick book.   The more you read the better you get.   Some books are now in audible form and can be borrowed from the library, my favorite place.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Review of book The Nickel Boys (2019) by Colson Whitehead

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This fictional book starts off with a reference to the Nickel school and skeletons found buried there by archaeology students.   One can hardly believe a government agency/state does nothing to help their reform school youth they claim to help.  They work them until they pass out.  They don’t keep track of their medical conditions.   Their punishment of the youths entrusted to them amounts to capital punishment from which some died.

This reform school for boys is in Tallahassee, Florida.  This is Elwood’s story.

Elwood was a nerd.   He was teased because he was a black boy who liked to read.   Reading got him away from the fact that his mom ran away with a boyfriend when he was a baby.   He was left with his grandmother who, as an act of love, bought him a 10-cent book by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther King at Zion Hill (1960), which formed his views on life as he was growing up.   I could relate to Elwood because I was considered a nerd because I liked to read and write all the time while growing up.

A new militant black male teacher made Elwood see even beyond Dr. King to the bigger picture of the plight of the black man in the south, even to the point of participating in protests.  The new teacher asked the black children to go through their used books to cover up the racial epithets written by white youths who knew the books were going to be passed on to black children.   I remember getting hand-me-down textbooks from elementary to high school from what I thought were prior black students, but I never knew they were old books from white schools.

Before Elwood’s graduation from high school, he was given a chance to take college classes while still in high school.  Even his custodial grandmother agreed that things were looking up for him and his family until that unusual day when a black man offered him a ride to the college instead of Elwood’s taking the bus as usual.   The car was as big as a luxury cruise ship to Elwood.   That ride turned his life upside down because the car was stolen.

Elwood’s life went downhill fast as if he was skating on an extremely steep icy hill with no way of turning around.   No more school.  No more grown-ups to admire him and give him jobs so he could pay rent to his grandmother.  He rarely saw his grandmother who did what she could for him on her visits.   Lawyers didn’t help, and the last one ran off with his grandmother’s and other friends’ money that was supposed to be used to get him out of the prison “school” or at least a new trial.   After all, Elwood had not committed a crime.

If there was a hell on earth, this “reform school” Nickel was it.   Most of the funds given to the school to feed and clothe the black youths were used for whatever the “warden” wanted, including giving their food, clothes, etc. to white town officials, white business owners, etc.   Reminds me of staff in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, when the white staff ate like kings and had heat, but the white orphaned children were lucky to get a bowl of oatmeal and perhaps a crust of bread and some did freeze to death.    Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre also reminded me of how white staff treated poor white children in orphanages through no fault of the children.

The black boys even had to work at the school as well as at the white homes for no pay.   There were no books to read, nothing to write with, a “teacher” who babysat, a doctor who handed out aspirin no matter what the injury, but plenty of shovels, picks, axes, and whatever other things were used for the boys to work.  Even if you didn’t know the rules, it didn’t matter.   A boy could be beaten within an inch of his life (some died) or outright killed and buried as in the case of the young black boxer who refused to throw the fight against the young white boxer from the white “reform school” next door on the same property.   There were also rapes of the black boys by white staff.   Even if you avoided trouble, you could get snatched up in it somehow.

The Nickel Boys was not a pleasant book to read but the story had to be told.   Mr. Whitehead tells well a story of depravity, desperation, and hope, “based on the real story of the Dozier School in Florida that operated for 111 years and had its history exposed by a university’s investigation” (Wikipedia).

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Caregiving Part 2: Where is it on the National scene?

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Get ready.   I will be talking about politics—a taboo subject for me.

As I said in Part 1, a caregiver is anyone who gives care to another whether for pay or not.   By that definition—parents, siblings, other relatives, friends, nurses, doctors, morticians, clergymen, teachers, writers, politicians, policemen, fire fighters, social workers, therapists of mind or body, trainers, counselors, lawyers, actors, etc.—nearly everybody gives care of some type.

I’ve never cared much for politics.  Most of my life in elections, I’ve voted for what seemed like the lesser of two evils.  But I did vote!   I felt Jimmy Carter was a good example of what a U.S. President should be because he tried to bring the nation together and avoid divisiveness. To this day, he and his wife are still doing good for those in need—what a caregiver does.

I have to say that President 45 was the polar opposite.   Once you “won” the election, 45, did you bother to do research to find out what people’s needs are—even the people in your own base? Whether the 49 Senate Republicans who voted for removing him by impeachment the first time really were serious or it was just for show, I like to think that there are still some thinking women and men among Republicans.

Although it’s been said that Russia interfered with our voting in 2016, America, you knew who President 45 was—dishonest, dishonorable—before you picked him from the other much more capable and experienced Republican candidates in the debates.  Had you done right, he would have never been among the candidates.

The ”man” cares for no one, ever, or he wouldn’t have done the things he did over the past 5 years.   You knew he was incapable of handling money at all.   He owes money to everybody and pays no one.  You knew, or should have known, that President 45 had at least five bankruptcies;  that he demeaned women and people of color every chance he got.   Why do you think there are women with 26 or more sexual claims against him?  Would you have wanted him around your young girls and women?   You knew and your actions show that you wanted slavery of people of color to be re-established.   Otherwise, most of you Republicans, why would you drink the poison consistently for five years?

Some white people who voted for President 45 said on newscasts, “What was I thinking?”.   Obviously, you had a taste of the poison drink.   And, from day one of the last five years, he broke every law and Presidential tradition there was.  Checks and balances can’t really occur when everybody you appoint is someone who only donated to your campaign or was just one of your unqualified “friends” that you constantly fired. 

But, you who were still worthy Republicans and Democrats couldn’t break the same rules he broke or 45 and Fox and Friends (entertainment show) would cry, whine, fall on the ground, throw tantrums and say Snoop Dogg should have been killed for making fun of 45 in a video or blackballed Kathy Griffin for doing worse in a video or other newscasters who were fired for telling the truth about President 45 or had an NFL football player fired for kneeling during the National Anthem.  Killing an Iranian general was just another tactic to start a war so 45 couldn’t be put out of office as a war-time President.   President 45 tried every gimmick in his playbook to stay in office a second term.

And citizens and non-citizens became victims of political insanity in the fight against disease, homelessness, unemployment, injustice, business loss, and prejudice.   His illegal dealings and actions made a laughingstock out of the United States around the world and he alienated every ally we’ve ever had.   Even his own state, New York, didn’t want him there.    And, poor Mar-a-lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, is probably being bankrupted by his constant golfing and security expenses for the past 5 years.  

We didn’t even get the crumbs from the table.  President 45 ordered hundreds of refugees’ children in cages while we don’t know where their parents are to this day.  And, several female women and children disappeared during that time.   Were they lost to international sex trafficking?   The better solution would have been to keep the children with their parents while organizing a solution to the problem.    It’s time for the good gals/guys in both parties to stop following the rules 45 never followed, grow a pair, and make sure he never comes back.

 Certain politicians on both sides (Democrat and Republican) are multimillionaires and looking out for their own Wall Street interests.    So, of course, they are looking to help other millionaires avoid taxes and make more money.    

Then, there’s the filibuster tool used by the Senate.   Was there ever a bigger time waster/bull shit tosser when the American people are suffering in every way possible?  Business as usual you say?   I watched Trevor Noah’s If You Didn’t Know, Now You Know episode on his Daily Social Distancing Show on March 18 in which he explained what a filibuster was.   Originally it was started to keep debate open, but I feel that debate should stop when you have run out of things to prove your point and just vote!  I thought the job of a public servant was to care for all our American people.   Obviously, we don’t have enough public servants.

But, it appears that we as a nation have adopted John Wycliffe’s (c.1380) Charity should begin at himself.   It appears that President 45 took that literally.   Did he do anything for his base?   His base seems to think that he did, but they couldn’t tell you what that was.   Where’s the money he collected for himself from the Saudi Arabian arms deal?   Why was the American journalist cut up? 

Did he bring manufacturing back?   He can’t count the temporary manufacturing that Ford and other companies did making ventilators and other personal protective devices during the pandemic.  Dude, they still manufacture cars which they have no problem selling in a pandemic since they didn’t have to close like restaurants and other small businesses had to.  Car dealerships staying open sell cars to the well-to-do.   President 45 tried to talk Harley Davidson into keeping their manufacturing in the U.S.  But, even that fell through because the trend of companies to move to other countries so they can pay workers less will never stop.  Where is Harley Davidson now?   Not in the U.S.

On March 5, 2020, I heard President 45 say that the COVID-19 virus was a Democratic hoax.   A week later, on March 15, he conceded that the virus was real.  Right now, no longer in office, he boasts about how fast he got those vaccine companies to produce vaccines.   Yes, after putzing around for a few valuable months and coming up with quackery in the form of his advice to insert ultraviolet light under the skin, swallow disinfect, sunshine/heat would get rid of the virus, he wasn’t going to wear a mask, etc.

The last lie—President 45 told his base to go to the Capitol Building, and he would go with them.   Some of the crowd waited patiently for him.   Others still waited for him to keep his word.   But he waited and watched to see what the crowd that he, his son and Giuliani sent there would do.   I know he was laughing the whole time watching the coup he caused—bloodshed, bodily harm, damage to government property, possible kidnappings, etc.  

How come the President and the Republicans did not come out and join their base—the people they claim to represent?   Why did the Republicans run and hide just like the Democrats did?  Yes, the Capitol Building and the White House belong to the people of the U.S., but even they don’t have the right to destroy it and the people within.

Although a U.S. President gets paid to be a caregiver, 45 never earned his money.   But he counted his money, all the while scheming where he would get more!   Even people on welfare, disability, social security, etc. sent him a big hunk of their money.   What did they get in return?   More talk and more poison drink.

Republicans who backed his every little whim for the past 5 years forgot they were supposed to be caregivers for ALL of the American people including the military, the CIA, the FBI, medical workers, medical research, fire department, police, etc.—all U.S. and future U.S. people.      Republicans said they didn’t want to help those unemployed who can still work.  Where were they going to work in a national shut-in?   Amazon, McDonald’s, car companies, etc. can’t hire everybody.

In the crowd of people outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, I saw millions of dollars in 45 paraphernalia and merchandising that benefited 45.  If those same people had used that money to benefit their families, think what they could have bought instead—food, clothing, paid bills, car, etc.   Remember, he as a care giver is supposed to be taking care of us all, especially you, his base.

In the Twilight Zone movie (1983), a racist white man (played by deceased Vic Morrow) was put into a situation where he is bundled onto a train taking him to a Jewish internment camp.  Everybody sees him as a fellow Jew which he denies.   What if you were seen as every race you despise?   What then?  

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Review of book American Apartheid by James S. Wright (2013)

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.   That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.   That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  (his quote from the Declaration of Independence)

This is a short history of three races—Native Americans, the first Americans who were nearly enslaved, African Americans who were enslaved, and the attempted decimation of the Jews during the Holocaust.   There were times in American history in which the things that happened to the three races were interrelated.

Mr. Wright explains the origin of Native Americans and how eventually they were moved west from their land so often that many of them died along the way, for example during the Trail of Tears.  Agencies that were supposed to help them did not.  If they were not Christian, they were considered savages.   Also, freed black slaves were recruited by the Union army to fight against American Indians in the “Indian Wars”.

He repeatedly says that his book is not a history book.  Rather it is his opinion so he does not include footnotes or a bibliography.   Actually, I believe footnotes, etc., would interrupt the flow of his narrative.

There are so many details lacking in many histories that his book should be taught as part of a history curriculum starting at least by middle school when I feel that children of all races should begin to start understanding issues.  

I remember when I was starting junior high school, we had a white history teacher who said that “all slaves did all day was sit on the porch playing the banjo.”   I don’t remember anything else she ever taught us.

“I believe in God.  I love my family, and I think the United States of America is the best country in the world.   [However]  For the past 15 years or so, the Civil Rights Movement, which was aggressive in the 60’s and 70’s, has slowed to a crawl.  Hopefully, this book will inspire a rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement…  This book is a wake-up call for those of us who have gone to sleep on the problem of racism in America.”   James S. Wright

Mr. Wright’s book is easy-reading nonfiction and flows well from chapter to chapter.   His opinions are eye-opening.   He also includes the contributions of the races to America.  This is an appropriate book for these tumultuous times with people of all races demonstrating in masses all around the world against racial, economic, and cultural injustices.

American Apartheid is my personal copy and it should be yours, too.   The reading of his book would certainly be worthy of your time.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

V O T E ! The 2020 Presidential Election in Maryland

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Unlike the ballots automatically mailed to most registered voters for the June primary election, voters in the General Presidential Election will have to apply for the mail-in ballot.

Ballot request forms (applications) were mailed to Maryland’s 4 million registered voters from August 24 through the end of August.    The actual requested ballots will not be mailed back to those requesting a ballot until early October.   The State Board of Elections has set a deadline of October 20 to request a mail-in ballot (apply).   Election day, November 3, is the deadline for ballots to be received.

The law has been changed so that in Maryland absentee ballots are the same as mail-in ballots.   Absentee voting is the same as mail-in voting.

Early voting begins Monday, October 26 through Monday, November 2 between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

To get a mail-in ballot

Go to elections.maryland.gov   

Click on the Request a Mail-in Ballot graphic or Mail-in Voting under quick links.   Complete and return one of the forms by U.S. mail today or fax to 410-886-0894 today or email a scanned attachment to the fax number today.  There are English and Spanish versions.

Or Text Message

Text VBM (English) or VPC (Spanish) to 777-88 today.  The election board will text you a link to request your mail-in ballot online.

Or Go to the local Board of Elections

Fill out and turn in the form as soon as possible.   The Baltimore County board of elections is located at 11112 Gilroy Road, Suite 104, Hunt Valley 21031.   Phone 410-887-5700, fax 410-887-0894.

When you receive your form, read the instructions, complete the form, print it, sign it, and return it by U.S. mail or place it in a drop box.  There will be at least 270 ballot drop boxes.

Otherwise, Vote In-Person

Early voting begins Monday, October 26 through Monday, November 2 between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.  At elections.maryland.gov, you will find the locations for approximately 80 voting centers statewide.

General Presidential Election is officially Tuesday, November 3, 2020, same hours as above.

Election Judges Needed

To become a judge, visit baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/elections/ or call the Baltimore County Board of Elections at 410-887-5700 whether you are a state employee, college student, etc.

Source:  Northwest Voice, July/August 2020 (A free publication serving Owings Mills, Pikesville, Randallstown, Reisterstown, Windsor Mill, Woodlawn and Catonsville neighborhoods), P.O. Box 47266, Windsor Mill, MD 21244, Phone:  410-508-1424, Web:  nwvoicenews.com, Email:  info@nwvoicenews.com, Publisher:  Kenneth C. Brown, kennybrown@nwvoicenews.com

Attack of the Virus, Keeping Calm in Turbulent Times, The Why of Design, What You Want to Watch When You Want to, O yeah!

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‘‘’Seismic’ Events and Loss Have Shaped US History: World Wars to 9/11— Catastrophe Has Long Driven Social Change”, by Marco della Cava, USA Today, Weekend, April 17-19, 2020, 1A.

“The virus is a modern-day terrorist attack on us all, so if I lost my father or friend to 9/11 or Oklahoma City or COVID-19, the loss is the same,” Watkins says.  “The sacrifice is the same.”

“Whenever we go through these national tragedies, people have to have a chance to rebuild their lives and move forward,” Watkins says. “So many are dying now, but we have to make the very best of the very worst.”

“We might take baby steps together, and maybe there will be mistakes on both sides of the political aisle.  But we should all be working together now for America.”

Kari Watkins, Executive Director, Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

“Keeping Calm in Turbulent Times” by Margaret Foster, The Beacon in Focus for People over 50, Vol. 17, No. 5, p.1, 7.

“We’re all having anxiety about the future,” said Dr. Sally Winston, co-founder of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland, located on the Sheppard Pratt campus.

“Acknowledge your emotions.  What you resist, persists (Carl Jung).  Turning on the radio to drown out your thoughts is distraction which doesn’t work for long.  The other way is to say, while one part of my mind is worrying, I might as well listen to music.  It helps to acknowledge fear, anger, or confusion.”

“Stay in touch with others.  Pick up the phone and call a friend.   Learn some video chat programs that you can use on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.   Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger and WeChat are free.   Many churches are live-streaming services.”  [Someone did a program on letter writing and journaling is also helpful.   I keep a daily diary as a mental activity.]

“Go on a news diet.   Restrict your news-gathering time” especially if it stresses you out.   [I look at one news cast a day and spend no more than an hour on Twitter every other day.]

“Try for mindfulness (staying in the present moment).   Pause for self-reflection.  When you are worrying, there’s a ‘what if’ mindset in which you are in the future.  Try to do something that is sensory or active.”   [I listen to an opera called the Flower Duet-Lakmè by Lèo Delibes which is two sopranos singing to each other.  It is beautiful and restful.]

“Move your body.  Exercise has therapeutic and physical benefits.  Follow a free exercise video on YouTube.”  [I have attended a Tai Chi for Better Balance class at a senior center for nearly four years.   It is slow movement and you’ll find great company and make friends when things get back to normal.   I also have an exercise video called Aging Backwards 3 Essentrics by Miranda Esmonde-White which is slow stretching.  It also includes chair exercises (beginner-beginner) for those who have a hard time moving at all.]

“How to get help.    Extreme anxiety or depression?   Reach out to a mental health professional at the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland 410-938-8449.   Or read Winston’s Psychology Today column, “Living with a Sticky Mind”, at bit.ly/worrytips.   In Baltimore City, call the city’s free Crisis, Information, and Referral Line at 410-433-5175.”

Check out the Beacon for the details of the article from the news stand or online at www.thebeaconnewspapers.com.   “How are you faring?” p.2 “The undeniable loss of experiences.  Enjoyment is seriously lessened.”   [The Beacon newspaper itself can also have a calming effect with the variety of topics it covers each issue.]

“These 25 Photos Show Why Things Were Designed the Way They Were”, by John Poe, Fetch Sport, April 15, 2020, online.

For example—the fifth pocket on jeans; ridges on the edges of corners; lines on outside of Solo Cups; cap holes on pens; loops on the grocery cart; notebook margins; dimples on golf balls; the arrow next to the gas gauge; the secret message in the exit sign; free fabric in new clothes; and so much more.

“Quaran-Stream”, by Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly, May 2020, pp.50-51.

“People—or most of us, at least—need people.”

“…pop culture is often what’s keeping us sane, from one uncertain day to the next.”

“So, will these methods of consumption become the new normal?”

“Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, says ‘There were all these other ways that [content] used to be delivered to us, and now it’s one single means of delivery, and that is online, to whatever device you feel like looking at it with…  And once you’ve learned to stream stuff—what you want to watch, when you want to watch it—it’s hard to go back.’”

[I still have magazines delivered to me.  Streaming to a phone can be hard on the eyes.  A few of Barbara Streisand’s songs come to mind: “The Way We Were”, “People” (Needing People) and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”.]

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Review of book, Becoming, by immediate former U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama, 2018

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Make no mistake—this is Michelle Obama’s memoir!   Michelle’s book is about her life.   Her name is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama.  

I can relate to former First Lady Michelle Obama’s life growing up.   Michelle was a black child from the south side of Chicago, Ill., and I was a black child from the east side of Baltimore, MD.    Michelle and I both grew up in a working-class community that rented.     As a young black child, she had neighbors of different ethnicities getting along just as I had when I was young.   She was considered a nerd just as I was growing up because we liked to read and write.    Her father died of complications of multiple sclerosis and my father died from complications of diabetes.   Neither man sought medical attention until it was too late. 

Black people became store owners, teachers, bus drivers, policemen, mail men, etc.   The neighborhoods were close.   Neighbors could discipline your kids.   She had grandparents, aunts and uncles living in the same neighborhood just as I did.  “Urban towns are full of good people who wish the best for their children.”  Michelle was just one of the young treasures growing up in every city in the world.   But Michelle does not try to paint herself as perfect in this book.  She talks about her flaws.

I believe her husband Barack Obama, U.S. President, was the epitome of what a President should be—to care for all people, new and old, not just some.    He respected all parties and attempted to work with everyone.  Michelle believed that Barack was the right person for that moment in history.   He would inherit a mess.   The president vows to protect the U.S. Constitution.   Oh, that’s what presidents swear to do when they lay their hand on the Bible at their inaugurations.

The President sees almost everything first:  tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; extremist shot up Army base in Texas; mass shooting at movie theater in Colorado; shootings inside Sikh temple in Wisconsin, as well as shootings at elementary schools, high schools, and colleges.  20 first graders and educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.   Hurricane Katrina’s assault on Louisiana in 2005.   1800 people died and a half million were displaced.  A tragedy exacerbated by the ineptitude of the federal government’s response.   I can’t imagine having that much responsibility, knowing you have to try to do something about the problems that others can’t.

She wrote in detail about the difficulty of the presidential campaigns while trying to raise two children, run a household, maintain a job, plan and execute traditional White House parties and dinners, and personally organize and promote campaigns against obesity in children.

Michelle wrote positively about political opponents like John McCain.   Hillary Clinton’s gender was used against her relentlessly, but Michelle admired Hillary’s ability to stand up and keep fighting.     

I didn’t know that the President and his family do have to pay bills such as food and toilet paper, although the White House is rent-free.  They also have to pay for every invited guest’s overnight stay or meal.  Michelle paid for her own clothes and accessories.  

In 2008, Twitter was new and most adults had cell phones.   General Motors bankruptcy was coming.   North Korea was doing nuclear testing just as they are today.  There was an earthquake in Haiti.   A Louisiana oil rig was spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico.    The BP oil spill was the worst in U.S. history causing local southern economies to suffer.   Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals.

Most humbling to Michele was visiting military communities and hospitals.  Wounded soldiers still wanted to rise and greet the President and First Lady.   Teachers, nail technicians, and physical therapists from one state weren’t recognized in another state which affected military spouses’ abilities to bring in additional income every time they had to move.   Childcare was not affordable.

If one didn’t vote, it could affect what kids learned in school, health care options available, or whether troops were sent to war.   Any U.S. economic crises sent devastating ripples across the globe just as they do now.

“No matter what I did, I would disappoint someone.”   She and her husband visited Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Nelson Mandela, and other world leaders.   “Life was teaching me that progress and change happen slowly.  We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see.”  

In 2011 the last American soldiers left Iraq.  A gradual drawdown was under way in Afghanistan.   Major provisions of the Affordable Care Act had gone into effect.   There were terrorist attacks on American diplomats in Benghazi, Libya.

This was one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.  However, it was not an easy read, knowing that we lived through most of what Michelle talked about.   I salute you President and First Lady Obama for a job done as well as it could be done under the circumstances.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin