Category Archives: Culture

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When Death Befalls…(My Tribute to the Class of 1992)

Hello World,

Some of the graduates from the class of 1992, and our very own version of Joe Clark, Mr. Gunn, our loveable but strict principal...Remember that huge pencil he carried with him?

 

I would rather not write about this topic this morning, but I feel that I ought to do so – simply because it is a part of life although I would like to avoid it…

This week via Facebook I found out a high school classmate passed away. I was shocked and saddened to hear the news. I guess I was shocked because the last time I remember seeing her was in high school, and I remember how easily she smiled and how loudly she laughed. She was not a shy person at all. She was full of life as we all were back then…I think the very first funeral I went to was in high school. A high school classmate had committed suicide. As sorrowful as I was at that time, the fact that this classmate chose to take his own life seemed more acceptable in my mind than someone in my age group dying for a cause outside of his or her control…But as we get older, that seems to be the case more and more…and I hate it…I really do…

 I also found out via Facebook that the the viewing of her body and funeral would be nearly down the street from me, and I knew I had to go although I really didn’t want to…but I knew I had to pay homage to the girl that she was when I knew her and the woman that she became…I decided to attend the viewing…I was surprised to see how calm and even jovial her husband was at the viewing until he explained why he was determined to not be melancholy although it would be justified.  He told us  in the chapel that he was glad to see her pain and suffering end although he was sad for their two daughters that no longer have a mother…

As I said, I had not seen my high school classmate in years, and the body that I saw on Friday did not look like the vivacious person that I remembered. And I don’t want to remember her that way. That’s why I was relieved when a video of pictures from her life were shown. In all of the pictures, her easy smile was the centerpiece. And then her husband and friends shared story after story of her apparent  mischievousness. I always knew there was more to her than what I saw in the halls of Benjamin E. Banneker High School. I was reunited with a few of my high school classmates and childhood friends at the viewing, and it brought back memories of the blissfully ignorant days of childhood when the world was only as big as your block and the most evil you experienced was getting into a fight on the bus…

Yesterday, as I was driving to a more happy event, a bridal shower, I saw some kids in my neighborhood riding bikes and jumping up and down on the asphalt like they were on invisible pogo sticks. One little girl was so oblivious to the outside world that she was riding her bike with her eyes closed. I said a silent prayer for her as she whizzed by my car, and I contemplated stopping to tell her it was dangerous to ride her bike on the street out in the open with her eyes closed…But the image of her did capture my world circa the ’80s and the ’90s…I thank God and my parents that I had a really wonderful childhood…My childhood brings to mind this verse…

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,  “ I have no pleasure in them.” Ecclesiastes 12:1

I don’t know why God permits death or why evil befalls us time to time, and I would prefer not to think about all of that any further this morning…This morning I want to reflect on 1992 and the years before “difficult days”  came to be…Excuse me while I open my time capsule of memories…(I wish I would have actually buried one somewhere…)

Two other trends from the '90s - fingerwaves and school boy glasses...thank God I got better with time, but you gotta love that thick and lustrous black hair...

 
    • Movies that came out in 1992 – Basic Instinct (I went out on a double date to see that movie), Wayne’s World, Sister Act, The Bodyguard (The soundtrack to this movie can stand alone), Lethal Weapon 3…
    • Songs that came out in 1992 – Baby, Baby, Baby by TLC, Jump by Kris Kross, Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus (1992 was a really good year for Billy Ray, as his daughter Miley was born in 1992 as well. Can we say meal ticket? I know that was wrong…sorry…), Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Baby Got Back by Six Mix-A-Lot (This song made me feel pretty good that I had something to show for my love of red beans and rice..
    • Remember these slang words from the ’90s -” Boo Ya!, ” “Talk To The Hand,” “Save the drama for your mama!,” “Peace Out,” “Not!”

    Anyway, I could go on, but I won’t…Even though the class of 1992 is sure to continue dwindling as the years pass by, I promise to always remember the good times…R.I.P.  S.P.J…

Any thoughts?

This is probably my favorite song from 1992 and seems apropos right now…

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Christmas & Children Go Together aka Jackie Loves The Kids!

Hello World!

As I contemplate my Christmas plans, it seems like whatever I plan, nothing will bring the immense joy that I felt as a child at Christmas time. I love to watch my nephew opening up his gifts on Christmas. It’s as if each gift he opens potentially possesses the keys to life, and he must ravage each package in his yearly quest. Every year, I get him a remote control car at his request and months later, the car has disappeared or no longer working properly. This year, he has requested a remote control truck. I guess at 9 years old, it’s time for an upgrade…lol…I plan to get my 2-year-old niece a doll for Christmas this year. I hope she relishes dolls as much as I did when I was a little girl. She probably doesn’t get the whole Christmas gift thing right now, but I look forward to the day when she starts making requests as her older brother does…Christmas & children really go together…

Aside from the whole gift giving thing, people also relish the singing voices of children at this time of the year that is not duplicated any other time of the year (unless you are Willow Smith ). And so in this post, I hope these Christmas songs sung by children or for children will bring a smile to your face today…

“Happy Birthday Jesus” is sung by the children of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. This song is achingly sweet…

This is “Carol of the Bells” by the Ishmel Sisters. These cute girls have got it going on! Go girls! Look out Willow! You have some competition!

And what would Christmas be without the “Chipmunk song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)?” This song is guaranteed to make me giggle and remember the almost annual long road trip my family and I take to Memphis to celebrate Christmas with my cousins. It always comes on the radio while my family and I are making the trip.

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I Love the A (aka Peace Up. A-Town Down Shawty…)

Hello World!

Yesterday, I was chatting it up with a teenager at my church. She moved from L.A. about a year or so ago and forthrightly told me that she plans to return to her hometown as soon as she finishes high school and will attend UCLA or Pepperdine University. And then she started listing reasons why she loves L.A. and is not as enthralled about the A…As she eloquently listed her reasons from the A’s lack of a beach to most of her family living in L.A., I found myself being slightly ruffled while trying to appear understanding…But then again, after she finished, I got it…I love my city too…Most people who grew up in a particular city or hometown have an affinity for it like other…Although I was born in Hays, Kansas and my family hails from the best Caribbean isle in the world – Jamaica, I have lived in the A since I was six years old and claim it as my hometown…

A friend of mine hipped me to this cool website last week named Atlanta Time Machine, which includes pictures of various structures and interesting locales the city from years pasts juxtaposed with the same structures and locales now. Read an article about how the website came to be here.

Below  are a few pictures from the website…

This theater was located in the infamous West End, specifically 960 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., SW, which was named Gordon Street in 1946…

And y’all see how times have changed…the same location as of 2004…

A pic of the Decatur branch of the First National Bank located in downtown Decatur or the Dec if you are straight from the A…apparently no date information is available about this postcard, but obviously it was long time ago…

And the same location as of 2004…no bank in sight…

I did not know that the A has a replica of the White House…it’s located at 3687 Briarcliff Road NE…I might have to check that out…Someone needs to invite President Obama to take a look if it hasn’t been done already…

You know I had to post a picture of a church…This is Mt. Moriah Baptist Church as of 1963 located at the 200 Ashby Street SW…

And now 200 Ashby Street SW is 200 Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard…Hmm, I prefer the older architecture…what say you?

To peruse more of these wonderful photographs, please go to the website…

And now I will offer my Top Ten Ways to Know if the A is Your Hometown…

10. You remember the A before the 1996 Summer Olympics…It seems that the A attracted so many people after the Olympics that fateful and beautiful summer of 1996, but I think the A was a world-class city even before…

9. You remember when Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway was Bankhead Highway and Metropolitan Parkway was Stewart Avenue…Although the names have changed, I still think Bankhead Highway and Stewart Avenue when I am driving on these thoroughfares…

8. You remember Freaknik at its prime…Read my post about Freaknik memories…

7. You remember when black people did not live in Clayton County…

6. You remember when no one had heard of T.I., the self-proclaimed King of the South and Ludacris was a radio deejay named Chris Lova Lova. And you remember when rapper Kilo Ali was on the rise and everything Raheem the Dream made was  the jam…

5. And speaking of jams, you remember the show “Atlanta Jams,” a A-version of “Soul Train.” I once appeared on the show, and yes, Mom, that would mean that I did visit a night club before I turned 18 years old…Sorry Mom, I had to do it..

4. And speaking of night clubs, you remember Mr. V’s Figure 8 on Campbellton Road…I don’t think I actually visited the night club because it was one of the hot spots in the ’80s and the early ’90s…but I do remember passing by the night club and wondering what went on there as I sat in the back seat of my parents car…

5. You rode in the Pink Pig ride on top of the now closed Rich’s department store in downtown…

4. You remember the first  Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebration after it became an official federal holiday..Thank you Lord!

3. You remember being scared Wayne Williams was going to snatch you out of your bed in the middle of the night…Google him if you are not from the A…

2. You remember when nearly everyone you met in the A grew up in the A…

1. You remember the A before it the A or the ATL and was just simply Atlanta…

 

What do you remember? Any thoughts?

 

And I have to give a special shout out to DJ Smurf now known as Mr. Collipark! Benjamin E. Banneker High School Alum Baby…