JUANITA BYNUM SPOKE A WORD HERE…

If ever I agree with someone I must say that I certainly agree here.

Yes, it has gone much too too too too far the way that many of the women who called themselves ‘saved’ and are a part of the gospel music world of today.

When you see Shirley Caesar dressing like a fool then you truly know something is wrong.   She was a staple… a solid rock…  a rock … a torch bearer.   But it appears that she too is becoming carried away with the style and attitudes of the world.  And it is very sad.

I have been trying to find that first dress I saw on Yolanda Adams where.  It was utterly ridiculous that I wondered how in the world she had put it without realizing that THAT DRESS was certainly going to start a stir in the black Christian world.   And it must truly have done so… because it is nowhere to be found on the internet.

For years now we have known that a vast majority our gospel singers were interested in crossing over into the secular world.  They looked over and saw the money… the cars… the houses etc… etc… etc.   But if the truth be told the gospel artist who are on top make plenty of money some demanding more than $20,000 a show.

I have paid $4,000 for an act to come in to do a prayer breakfast.  Well, almost we haven’t seal the deal.  I expanded it into doing a concert later that evening.   Because I just could not see myself paying anyone $4,000 just to show up at our prayer breakfast… and then have to fly them in and put them up in a hotel too without getting the full benefit from my investment.

But gospel artist demand a lot of money.   I once over heard my past mumbling after having brought a certain, used to be a bit heavier and fuller breast, gospel singer in.  She demanded a limousine and to stay in a 5 star hotel.

They want to be treated like rock stars… super stars.   Oh, they bring the anointing… 

Well, some of them.   But are they really worth the big ticket many of them want to demand.   I think not.

But it is not a matter of the money which this blog is about… but about their matter of dress.   And it speaks volumes.

The Bible tells us to ‘come out from among them.’   And ‘to be ye transformed.’ 

Then why are some many of our gospel artist negating ‘the word’ to want to become more and more like the world?

It is hard to believe that today we see many gospel female artists who want to dress like Lil’ Kim or Nicki Minaj.

What happen to dressing in a way becoming to a woman… not like a woman trying to sing and sell her wares too?   Because that is very much what it looks like.

They are exposing their breast…  their shoulders… thighs…   legs…. and everything else.

They are getting implants… breast implants… hip and thigh implants  etc.   all designed to make them look more voluptuous.   But didn’t the Bible say that a woman should be modestly dress, as not to draw attention to her body?

But the flesh is alive and well sadly in the gospel world.  And it appears that the more these women show of it the happier they are about it.

SMH…

I didn’t think it was robbery how Mahalia Jackson used to dress… or any of those old gospel women groups.   Even Shirley Caesar… somebody I would have never believed would be trying to follow the ways of this world… is getting into the act, and looking like she enjoys it.

But if the truth be told this trend is showing up in their music too.   Most the music that comes out today is just plain garbage.   And I don’t know who told these so-called song writers that pulling a few words of scripture from Psalms and singing over and over and over and over and over… is really a song or song writing.

What Rev. Timothy Wright’s wife did with ‘Jesus Jesus Jesus’ cannot be duplicated.   And we are told in scripture that there is nothing like the name of Jesus, and this song certainly proved that because I never have to think about the tone or key to sing it… and I feel the power in that song whenever I hear it.

But this other mess or repetitive words is just plain junk for the most part.   It has no power and touches nothing down deep inside you.  It is a key change after key change without any real meaning or significance… not really worth singing and definitely not much worth hearing.   Because there is usually nothing to these songs at all but a waste of time.

I am sorry to see our real song writing in the gospel music world take a decline… and a back seat to this junk of repetitive words which have no anointing whatsoever… outside of Rev.  Timothy’s Wright’s wife song.   It is kind of odd that not much after she had written this song that that fatal accident coming from A.I.M, a Church of God in Christ convention held that year in Detroit… took place in which God took her and a grandson… and not long after her He took the Right Reverend Wright too.   But what a song… and songs they left us with.   And also a firm belief in God… and a knowledge that they were ‘real religious people of God’... not like many of these perpetrating gospel singers ‘wanna be’ secular people of today.

Well, God bless….    Well, it is wet here but my cousin tells me that they are in for snow today.   But it is spring and we are just a couple of weeks away from Easter.

So, let me be the first to wish you a happy and safe Easter.   What a grand time it is as we move forward to celebrating the purpose our Lord and Savor and… to lay down his life that he would rise again… so that we all may have a right to life over death.

Thank for reading…

Well, I hope you  tell your friends, co-workers and family… everybody even the man down the street and … “pass it on… ” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2017

Add a comment April 6, 2017

Mauh…and me…technology..

Well, it is snowing again.  It is suppose to snow through the night… then turn to rain and sleet by tomorrow morning.  So, I know that tomorrow will probably be a day to stay home.  But I don’t mind all the snow.

For the past few days the mounds of snow which we already have had started to melt down pretty good.   For February this really isn’t so bad… not yet.  It has been said that February goes out like a lion… meaning either a lot more snow or plenty more cold.

On Monday, I decided to do something that I had been hoping to pay someone to come in and do for me.  Through the years my parent’s house has taken such a beating.  And the kitchen walls and woodwork looked so terrible…and I would have liked to have found someone other than me to come in and clean them.  But since the house is without heat due to our blown furnace as you may or may not have read in a couple of my earlier blogs…I have been keeping the stove on with a couple of pots boiling water.  This has caused everything in the kitchen area to stream up.  Which meant that all that filth that I had been forced to look at which had caked upon the doors and other woodwork over the years in the kitchen have been steaming down off  the doors etc…etc…   So, since it had already loosened up the years of  grime… I just decided to pull out a bucket and an old scrub brush and get busy.  And that is how I spent my President’s Day.

It  felt good to be finally getting those doors scrubbed down and then standing off  to view my handy work.  Real good.  I had been loathing touching the doors or anything else in the kitchen… or for that matter around the house.

When we were kids… I hated those Saturday mornings when my parent’s woke us up early in the morning with buckets of soapy hot water waiting on us.  It meant that we would be scrubbing most of the day.  

Oh, how I hated those Saturdays when they would have us scrubbing down all the woodwork in the house and then scrub the floors too.  And my father liked to have us get on our hands and knees to do that.  Oh, how I hated it.

But as I started washing down those filthy doors with the old scrub brush thoughts of those days came back to me… and I was filled with pride.  Because here I was… in my parent’s house again… and I was taking care of their property just the way they had taught me so many years ago.

While my son was talking to me last night… he happened to mention that I wouldn’t be able to watch TV anymore if I didn’t go out a buy a converter box.  This is the thing I hate about new technology.

Why do they have to force it down our throats?

There are so many people who went out and invested in those large projector type televisions or other older models… only to find out that  that television system is now out dated and they have no option but to convert it to a digital reception system.

They did the same thing when they decided against 8-track tapes, beta systems, turntables, records, VHS tapes, cassette tapes etc…etc…etc…all gone now.   What you see is…is that the old stuff goes on sale and those looking for great deals rush out unaware that the only reason the stuff is on sale in the first place is because they are out dated…and that format is no longer going to be available…because they simply stopped making it.

Today, I’m looking for someone to build me an external floppy drive disk reader.  I hadn’t realized it until the other day when I was looking for something… that I didn’t have those files on anything digital… but on a floppy disk.  For which I have also run into the same problem with my word-processor files which I had saved on my processor’s little disk.  I had not been paying any attention and before I knew it word-processors were no longer on the market… they had been replaced by computers.   And it had took me a long time to convert from a regular typewriter to a word-processor.  

So, by the time I finally bought one…a word processor… the item was nearly dead already… and computers were coming into the marketplace taking over their place.  And I had never noticed.

This is why when my son wanted to buy a 10″ DVD player…I cautioned him and told him no.  I suggested that he invest in a laptop computer instead…where he would have a choice of much larger screens plus be able to do more with it.  And he did just like his mother had suggested… just like the good little boy he is (smile).  Now, when his mother is away from home or can’t get on-line on her own computer… I just use his laptop.   Now, how good is that… for being resourceful?

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/38843

http://www.dtv.gov/

https://www.dtv2009.gov/

No, no need trying to fight it.  It is a done deal.  If you want to continue to watch television… and got rid of your cable provider years ago… then you will have to go out and invest in a converter box.  The good part though is… I rarely watch television.  So, it really doesn’t affect me much.

Well, it is still Black History Month… and I really haven’t spoken about anyone in these blogs… outside of giving you their names.  What good is my telling you all about them… when researching to find out that information for yourself will prove more valuable to you… in that you may remember them or something about them because you looked up info on them on your own.

I can only say that I have a deep fondness for black people… and have for all of my life.  I have read many books… and loved Langston Hughes’ book on Jesse B. Simple.  I used to always have a copy of the Black Anthology.  Read Baldwin’s  ‘Amen Corner’… which I saw performed by Kumuba Workshop under the direction of  Val Grey Ward.  It was one of the things which also inspired me to move to Chicago… besides, of course, my hopes of getting hired by a radio station there… WGCI or WJPC.  I have forgotten the other black radio stations they had in Chicago back then.  But I loved those productions by Kumuba.  But even more I enjoyed the time I actually met James Baldwin.  He wasn’t a very big man…and he looked very much like his photos.  But there was something about him… an aura about him… I guess you could say.   He extended his hand out towards me looking me right in my eyes.  And I knew I was in the presence of greatness… yet so humble… and kind.  He was quite gracious and unassumming.  I loved him.

I had seen the play… ‘Amen Corner’… and I had read his book ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain.’   But at that time, I never knew that he was still alive until he went to Mt. Holyoke College to teach.

Alexis, a friend of mine had introduced him to me.  They had become very close and I could see and understand why.  They shared something in common.  It is hard if you have never felt that you looked as good as everybody else…it is hard to understand how some people battle with these feelings most of their lives…as did James Baldwin and myself.  It is what I thought about Gwendolyn Brooks when I looked upon her picture as I added it into my last blog.  Yet, in every picture of her…she always seemed so happy and smiling.  And as I looked upon her pictures…I thought-

“She must have been a most beautiful person in ever possible way.”

Most recently I had to take some pictures.  I should preface this by saying…I am not a big picture taking person…because I have never liked the way I looked.  But I needed a promotional picture for my book.  So, I set about trying to get one that I felt I could live with.  But upon taking a few pictures and looking at them…I found that I have my grandmother’s nose.  I must admit I have been laughing and smiling ever since.

I have my grandmother’s nose.  And I never knew it.

My grandmother didn’t have just any old nose…it was unique.  And I had not seen anyone else with it until we went to the church convention in Detroit this past July.  While there we re-united with some long lost family members.  And I sat there almost the whole time looking at this woman…a cousin…and thinking-

“She has Mauh’s nose.”

It was all I could think.  I just kept thinking that over and over again in my head…and I rarely took my eyes off of that woman’s nose because I loved seeing it.  So, to look into a picture and find that I have my grandmother’s nose is like finding out that all of these year’s God had played a trick on me.  I have my grandmother’s nose.

I love having my grandmother’s nose.  I can’t believe I have it.  And I have it all by myself… no one else just me and that woman… my mother’s cousin in Detroit.  We’ve got Mauh’s nose.  Seeing that nose I didn’t feel so ugly anymore… because Mauh was not ugly.  And in her day… she really must have been something… and even up to the time she died… she still had a boyfriend.  Or should I say… male friend.  I used to kid her about Mr. Alexander…the old man who everyday used to come by her house to visit with her while we were down there. 

Mauh’s entire wardrobe was made of red.  Everything in her house was red.  Every pocket book she had was red and every pair of shoes.  Her bed spreads…everything…table cloths…everything all red.     Everything Mauh owned was red.  And if  it wasn’t…then it was pink.

Daddy used to say that from the time he met Mauh-

“She’s always been 30.”

He would grin real wide when he said it…because Mauh never admitted her age to anyone. 

But she was never ugly.  And I had her nose.

And from that moment I started seeing myself in a different light.  And you know what?

I’m not ugly.  I’ve got Mauh’s nose.

I’m not ugly.  And for all these years I thought I was.

Hope you enjoy your day tomorrow.  I will probably be buried up under the snow…but I will be loving every minute of it…and still smiling.  Because…well…because I’ve got Mauh’s nose.  And it feels so wonderful.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

Add a comment February 19, 2009

Talented…

I had never heard a group that I thought more should have made it than these girls.

The Jones Girls…I really didn’t play much by them when I was on the radio…basically, because I was not the one programming the radio stations that I worked on back then.  But if I had…

It is hard to say exactly why their career as a recording group didn’t take off.  It certainly was not because they couldn’t sing.  Because they could definitely sing.  Nor was it because  they didn’t want it bad enough…because they did.   Nor was it because they were from the wrong place…because they came from the Motor City…Detroit.   And everybody comes out of Detroit.    Stevie Wonder is from Detroit…the  Clark Sisters are from Detroit…Rance Allen…Aretha Franklin…Temptations, Diana Ross, the Supremes…Motown…etc…  Almost everybody comes out of Detroit.

In fact, when I first saw or heard of the Jones Girls they were on tour with Diana Ross.   They were so good it was hard not to notice the singers backing up Diana in that show.  And then Diana showcased them…and I have never forgotten their names since that night.  They were more than just talented…far more.  And far better than just good.

And even the Boss Ms Ross knew it…who was far from being shabby herself that night.   And so didn’t Motown to have packaged the Jones Girls on tour with their diva of all divas at the time…Diana Ross.

So, then what happened?

I don’t know.   But whenever I hear ‘Nights over Egypt’….I think of them…those Jones Girls.

It sadden me to read last year sometime while searching the internet for something or other at the time….that one of the Jones Girls had passed some years ago.  And more surprising was the fact that she had died supposedly…based on the information I was reading…that she had died from sclerosis of the liver…due to alcoholism. 

What a sad end to a story I would have thought would have ended otherwise.

http://www.radiocafe.co.uk/jones-girls

http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Respect2001.html

Valorie Jones died in Detroit on December 2, 2001…she was the middle sister of the Jones Girls.  She was 46 years old.

Have another young nephew who will be heading to DC for Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday.  And I am so happy.

It is so important for our young children to know that nothing can hold them back…block them…or stop them from achieving success in their lives but them…themselves.

I believe in successful living…and living well.   And to do that is very hard to achieve…today…without a good education.

There is something about accomplishments that make you feel good all over.  No wonder Barack Obama’s smile is as pretty as it is….he has managed to achieve one accomphishment after another.  And he never let anything hold him back…or let anybody tell him that ‘he couldn’t.’

 The sky is the limit.  Set your goals and start working towards them now…you just may surprise yourself. 

But remember to be deligent in everything that you do.  And never let anything bearing your name not be done to the best…or to its  highest level.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009  

For history on Diana Ross CLICK LINK BELOW.http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/r/diana_ross/index.html

Add a comment January 19, 2009

the Wendy Williams ship wreck…

Tell me…

“Who really listens or watches that stuff…called ‘The Wendy Willams Experience’?”

“Do you not have anything going on in your life that you would take your valuable time to give someone like Wendy Williams one second of  it?”

She is a ship wreck…just look at her. 

When you sell yourself for what you consider ‘fame’…then you are on a fast track to one big ship wreck.  There is little wonder that H0t 98 in New York showed her the door, and then Philly decided to slam it in her face when they too had had enough, and gave her the boot.  Now, back in New York she is still trying to create high arbitron  ratings by stirring up controversy.

Wendy is a sinking ship.   Better yet…a ship wreck. 

You can only go but so long…trying to cause havoc in the lives of others as a means of your talent.   Beyond a point people will begin to look for more.  And more…is something which Wendy Williams does not have.  That is why she can only do what she does…..try to create a living while living off others. 

It is sad when someone so visabily sells their soul to the devil and grins at you as though they are happy.  And you can look into their eyes and see that they are not.

You cannot be happy living the kind of life  and lie that Wendy Williams lives.  First of all she has no real talent.   What she has is just a trick of the enemy…created to deceive.  

How dare she be sitting on the radio calling herself giving advice to people…when she needs to be sitting on a psychiatrist couch herself.   Better yet…calling upon the name of the Lord for some help.

I will never forget once while driving through the streets of Manhattan and somehow the radio happened to be on WBLS and the Wendy Williams Experience…and now that I think about it.  I was in the car with one of my nieces…when she turned the radio to the Wendy Williams Experience. 

That day was a day that Doctor Wendy was on duty.   A woman called in, and I don’t  know if it was real or something  Wendy and crew had invented.   But now that I think of it,  it was a fax supposedly faxed into the radio station telling Wendy that she was married to someone she was considering leaving.  The person to whom the woman was married to was supposedly suffering from cancer and was very sick…near dying.  And she was asking Wendy for help to decide what to do because she wanted to leave him.

Now, that show has stayed with me for a very long time…because Wendy very uncaringly trying to create humor out the situation gave some of the most bogus advice I had ever heard.  She asked of herself in the reading of this fax…well, how long have you been together?   Was he ill when you married him or did he just become sick?     WHAT?

Wendy told the woman that as long as she continued to received some kind of benefit from being with the man then she should stay.  But if there wasn’t a benefit to staying then the woman should get out of the marriage.  And Wendy said this as if she were an ‘all knowing’ and ‘learned pyschologist’…or some kind of prophet.

Yes, I have a problem with people trying to pass themselves as something which they are not…and with people who think that everything is funny when it is not. 

I have had a problem with ‘The Wendy Williams Experience’ for a long time.  

When you sit in a position where you can ‘speak life or death into a situation’ and chose to speak death…then you are wrong. 

The Bible says that the power of  ‘life and death is in the tongue.’

When you have millions of people hanging onto your every word you have to temper your tongue…and seek not to give bad sinful council. 

There may not be profit from speaking truth…but there is peace.   Which of…Wendy Williams has none.  Practically ever rapper, dancer, singer and everybody else is out to get her. 

How can you live like that?

Then to mess up your body and life so much.   Come on, Wendy.

That breast job…really.   Come on…a grown woman trying to play and look like one of the kids.     It looks ridiculous.  Grow up…grow up.   And get saved.

The time for foolishness is offer.

And poor little Robin Givens.

What?

Getting happy because Wendy has a list of every white male she ever went to bed with. 

And we wonder why the kids are in the state that they are in?

Look what they are listening and watching.   These are the role models they fashion themselves after. 

TURN THAT MESS OFF!

And shut it down.

No wonder Whitney Houston threaten to pay Wendy Williams a visit one day.  I wish I had a recording of that…when Whitney told Wendy that she was from Newark.   Whitney didn’t even say that she was from Jersey.   No, she made a point of saying that she was from ‘Newark.’      And that does mean something.  To those people who know…it spoke volumes…believe me.  And Wendy understood it…loud and clear.   Because she started stuttering and lost her train of thought. 

And Whitney was not joking.   I still laugh when I think of that day.  

I love you, Whitney.   One of the few people who has ever put Wendy Williams in her place.  

Whitney, I pray that you come victoriously out of that wilderness that you are in.   Be mindful…that God is able.  And let not deceivers deceive you.   You already have the victory.

How dare Wendy try to reap rewards off the suffering of others.

My Lord…

God bless…Happy New Year!

Praise ye the Lord…he is mighty in all things.   For He is just and merciful.   And I am sure He has so much more for you…in 2009.

Well, God bless again…and thanks for reading this blog…and  please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2008

“Happy New Years!   And may God bless you all.”

Add a comment December 27, 2008

Looking for someone just like my dad…

Felt like I wanted a donut…

Why can’t I have a donut if I want one?

It is not like I wanted 4 or maybe 6 of them…or even like I splurge heavily on food or go on things like ice cream binges.  Because I don’t.  I only eat ice cream occasionally.  And that is about as often as I eat a donut.  But sometimes you just want one.

So, every now a then…sometimes I just feel like I want a donut.  Sometimes it could be a piece or chocolate cake…and real good chocolate cakes are hard to find nowadays.  But sometimes I feel like I want one of those old time good tasting pieces of chocolate cake.  Now, that I might have to have a couple of pieces  if  I could find it.

I don’t know…I guess from time to time we all get a taste for something…andwhen we do…  Well,  we just want it.

Well, this evening about 9:30 p.m. my urge was for a donut.

So, I jumped into the car and headed for the local Dunkin Donuts.  But the one near the house was closed…just goes to prove I don’t get a donut urge often…otherwise I would have known that. 

So, since I really wanted this donut and the place nearest to the house was closed…and I was already in the car…and even though gas is $4.16 per gallon…I decided to go for it…and get my donut anyways.

I drove right pass the second donut place believing that it too was going to be close.  And even though I had my glasses on…I totally missed the big bright  and very lit up sign reading “Dunkin Donuts.”

So, I had to make a u-turn.  And as I drove home smacking on my donuts :).    I started thinking  wouldn’t it have been nice to be able to say-

“Baby, I want a donut.”

And someone would get up and go get in the car and get me a donut.

At any part of  the day when my mother would come in, shower and lay down on the bed…if  she desired something she rarely called any of us…her 8 children.  Instead she could be heard calling for my father.

She would call him softly…never in a barking or rough tone…and she never called daddy by his real name…instead she called him, Douglas.

Whatever daddy was doing he would stop and go to mommie and see what it was that she wanted.

And sometimes mommie would just say-

“Douglas, bring me a glass of  water.”

Daddy never complained…and always went to do or get whatever my mother would ask him for.

He was a businessman who had a very prosperous barber business that had serviced many generations of men in our town.  His business did so well that we were literally the richest people in our church, probably on our street and perhaps in many of the circles in which we travelled even as teens and young adults.

They were very good together…my parents. 

Daddy was 15 years older than mommie but you would have never had guessed it.

I have never met anybody who had all the capabilities of daddy.  He could have been a tailor if  he had wanted to…or a chef, or a mechanic, or an architech.  Daddy could do everything.  And he could do them all well…even better than well.  He was superbly proficient in everything that he could do…and there was nothing that daddy could not do.

Sundays and Mondays were daddy’s days to cook.  Though my mother would help out on Sundays doing things like baking (cakes, pies, fresh rolls etc.) and making macaroni & cheese, and cooking the greens…things like that.  But daddy prepared all the meats which would entail him cutting up many onions, scallions and all kinds of spices. 

He always seasoned his meats hours before cooking…and if  it was curry goat he would season it the night before.  Daddy would take his hands and mesh the seasoning into the meat.  He would pour in hot water and allow the seasoning along with the curry and the onions to steam into the meat before placing it into the refrigerator to sit overnight.  That is how he always cooked the curry goat.

He also prepared the rice, whether it was rice and beans, or regular rice, mashed potatoes etc.

Both mommie and daddy were fantastic cooks…and they could do everything from scratch.  And didn’t have to refer to one cookbook.

Dinner was always a feast at our house no matter what day it was…but on Sundays even more so…we would 2 or 3 meats to chose from.  And there were always guest whom my mother would bring home from church to share our Sunday dinners with us.

It wasn’t until I lived in Chicago…and was a thousands miles away from home that I came to realize just how special it was to be able to open up your home to other people.  When I was in Chicago, I was away from family and all my friends…and there were many times when I was in need.  This, of course, I never shared with my parents.  No, I couldn’t do that.

I went to Chicago to become this big-time radio personality.  As bad as things sometimes got for me, I managed to even send some money ocassionally…though at one point I was virtually homeless in Chicago. 

Sending money home to my parents was something I had seen my parents do throughout our years of growing up…so, when I became of age it was what I wanted to do too.  So, I sent…I never thought about whether or not my parents needed it.  Because clearly my parents had more than enough…as our family was exceedingly blessed.

But while in Chicago there were some holidays that came around…Christmas and Thanksgiving.  And when you are alone and away from your family for the first time in your life it can be very sad and lonely those 2 holidays.

While in Chicago, I never got a job on a radio station…but I had talked to Tom Joyner, Barry Mayo, BB Banna and several others on a regular basis trying to get in.   But I ended up working at a church instead as a church secretary.  I was in need and after a long period of  looking I finally landed this job.  At first I felt myself above it.  “Me”….a secretary….”me…”

Big time me…a church secreatary? 

No.

But my no soon turned to a yes when I met my would be boss during an interview…which I nearly refeused to go to because “it was just too beneath me.”   Thank God, I did not.

Of all the jobs I have ever had that job has meant the most to me,  and I know today that it was right where God intended for me to be.  For the lessons that it taught me and the greatest example of  mentoring and leadership anyone could have possibly have gotten…I got there.

The church was 6th Grace United Presbyterian Church, 35th and Cottage Grove, on Chicago’s South Side…right down the street from the White Sox stadium.  The Pastor was the late Dr. A. L. Reynolds, Jr…who from the moment I met him, I began to marvel at him.  I have never met anybody like Dr. A. L. Reynolds, Jr…not even to this day.  And at the moment I met him I knew he was special…but I had never realized that I had stepped into the presence of greatness until years later.  What a man.

Why am I telling you this story…I have no idea.  I will have to go back and read some of  what I just wrote to see where I’m suppose to be going with  this….give me a minute….

I sometimes get lost.

Oh, yes…oh, yes….

While at home with our parents, I used to wonder why we couldn’t spend our Sundays and holidays with just us…just our family.   Why did we always have to have people over our house, eating our food and taking up our time?

I was selfish…terribly so.

It wasn’t until I was a thousand miles away from home that I came to realize just what a blessing my parents…my mother and father were to other people. 

My parents didn’t invite people into our home who had a lot of things, or who were rich or popular…they invited people who didn’t have family, some were even in nursing homes…whom we would go and pick up to bring to church then take them to our house for dinner and back to church, and  then later back to their nursing home at the end of the day. 

They, my parents…they brought sunshine into people’s lifes and they never asked for anything in return.  They enjoyed doing it.

In Chicago, I spent 2 holidays in the home of the Rippleton’s.  Mr. and Mrs. Rippleton were the parents of the late singer Minnie Rippleton…and they had been members of 6th Grace.  They were extremely nice people and full of alot of fun.  Mr. Rippleton was a real comedian.  Mrs. Rippleton sometimes talked to me about Minnie and the cancer, and how difficult it had been for Minnie…and their family watching her go through that.

My very first day on that job…I got a call early in the morning from someone asking to speak to Dr. Reynolds.

The woman said, “Hello, this is Minnie Rippleton.  Is Dr. Reynolds in?”

I almost dropped the phone…that 6 octive voice, Grammy Winner…Minnie Rippleton was on the other line talking to me.  And here I had come to Chicago to get into radio…and couldn’t get in.   And here was Minnie Rippleton on the other end of my office line…the very first call on my first day on the job.

CLICK to LISTEN Loving You – Minnie Ripperton They don’t make music like this anymore…nor like her family, the Rippertons, whom I shall always love and have the greatest and  highest regard for… for their love and hospitality to me… as well as the whole 6th Grace family.

Minnie died that evening but she had called and conversed with Dr. Reynolds, her spiritual advisor and Pastor.  She had called in the first thing that Monday morning.

It was also at 6th Grace that I met Harold Washington…but that is another story for another time. 

And perhaps I will get around to telling about when I met James Baldwin…what a day that was.  I never met anyone like him…he was quite gracious.  But that too is another story that perhaps I will get around to sharing with you at some other time.

Let me go back to telling you about my father.

Daddy could make the best ice tea, Kool-aide and lemonade.  He also made homemade ice cream,  in  a variety of  tropical favors, which we all gladly churned on Sundays.

Daddy was so good at everything including his business that in the morning men would be outside our door waiting on him to give him a ride to work…so that they could be the first one in his barber chair.

Daddy caught the bus to work usually.  His barber shop was in the downtown area of our town.  He always got up on time and would arrive at his shop every morning that it was due to open, Monday-Saturday, at 7:30 a.m. where a few of  his customers were sure to be there waiting on him.  And because he was so popular…this was, of course, the reason why some of them would come to the house to give him a ride. 

Daddy loved it.   He loved his customers…and always respected their time.

The one thing daddy never did…he didn’t eat sandwiches. 

Mommie always prepared daddy a hot lunch which she would drive down to him some time during noon.  But most of the time daddy would bring the food home mostly untouched because he would never get a chance to eat it.  He was always busy taking care of customers right up until the time he closed his shop for the night.

And when he came home mommie always had him something good to eat…and it was always fresh and hot.  He didn’t eat what we ate.  Where mommie might make us spaghetti some nights, or homemade chicken pot pie, or meatloaf on others etc…which of course all kids love…but daddy would get stuff like smoothered steak with green peppers and onions over mashed potatos, and some sort of vegetable. 

Another thing about daddy…he was a saver.  He was also one of those people who as soon as a bill came in he would pay it.  He never waited on due dates to pay anything.  He managed money very well…and had the bank accounts to prove it.   And though he only had a 7th grade education which render his reading skills weak…he could sure count money.  He stayed on top of  his money and his bills. 

Though my mother worked as well…her money was her money.  Daddy provided for our family.  He paid for all  our  household expenditures, mortgages, grocery bills etc.  And anything to do with us…he paid for it.

Daddy was clearly the husband that the Bible calls men to be…a provider.   And our household wanted for nothing. 

As children we spend our Christmas’ in Florida…and by the time we would return home over the holiday it was as if  Toys R Us had made a special trip just to our house. 

As we grew up we started spending our summers in Florida instead.

My parents spared nothing.

And as we  became of age they bought us all cars.

When they wanted a new car…they bought it.  And they bought nothing that we all could not fit in. 

When we went on trips…we all went. 

When they decided to go to Jamaica…it was a family affair…which was the way my parents treated everything. 

My mother loved to shop and that is what she did with her money.  But she not only loved shopping for herself…but for us as well…as well as for daddy.   At eighteen she was still buying all of my clothes.  And everything she bought was top shelf.

And that is how daddy bought too.  He did not buy cheap…and he tailored all his own clothes.  He had the measuring tape, the pins and the white chalk to make the marks…the whole works.   Daddy took  everything  serious.  He was  very  percise and took such care in whatever he did.  And he could sew by hand…as well as anyone could with a sewing machine.

In the basement he had all his tools; saws, drills, snakes for the plumbing system (which comes in handy when you have kids), levers…everything.  Because daddy could build and make things, and was always working around the house. 

Including gardening…daddy did that too…as well as service our cars and bicycles.

Mommie loved daddy’s tomatoes, green peppers and cabbage, strings beans, greens  etc… 

Yes, along with everything else daddy also had a green thumb too.

I don’t know who taught daddy…but they taught him well.

Though daddy might not have been able to read well…that, however, never stopped him from picking up a book and trying to sound his way through a few words…or from starting his business.  And when I think on it…the thought of me helping him to learn to read never even came into my mind.  I do not know why.

Mommie had been the first black nurse in the little town she grew up in down in a small town in Florida.  When she retired she had been a nurse supervisor at a state institution. 

Their schedules rotated around their children.  We were their pride and joy. 

They treated us to everything…everything good.  They were not drinkers, smokers, cursers or things like that…nor did they allow cards or card playing in their house.  Though we could play Ol’ Maid, checkers and stuff like that.  And I do not know  how  Daddy could do it…but  he was a master even at checkers. 

Who could beat him?

Before you knew it he had the board loaded with  kings…and just blowing you away with his moves taking everything you had on the board.  What a mind.

We were never allowed into people’s houses, nor could any of our friends come into our house.  As my parents said that they had had 8…and that 8 was enough.

We were not allowed to stay over people’s houses.  And they did not believe in paying us any allowances for helping out around the house.  Which sometimes included getting on our knees and scrubbing the floors, or wiping down all (and I do all) the woodwork  in the house etc…etc…   Oh, how I hated those Saturday mornings when we would be  waken up to find buckets in the kitchen with rags in them…waiting on us.

From our parent’s house have sprang graduates from Moorehouse, Florida A & M, Princeton, University of Alabama, University of  Kentucky, Brandeis University, etc…etc…and they are still coming.  We’ve got a few more who will graduating in a couple of years and some whom we have began to set up for Spellman and Harvard…you’ve got to plant these seeds early.

My parents were believers in education.  My mother was always taking classes.  I can’t tell  you  how many times she took typing… she kept flunking it.  But she kept on taking it anyways.  She also took bookkeeping and a few other classes…including voice lessons.

Mommie definitely could not sing…but that didn’t stop her. I have to admit that the voice lessons did do a little good though.

Whenever mommie would go to school for a conference regarding me…she would come home with the report to my father.  Whenever I tried to explain to my father about the teacher and how she didn’t like me…my father would always stop me short…and never hear whatever it was I was trying to tell him. 

He would glare at me saying-

“The teacher got her’s you’ve got to get yours.”

I hated hearing those words…but today I understand them well.  And daddy was right.  I’ve even come to recite them a few times myself. 

Daddy was full of witticisms also.  He was some kind of  special…and I don’t know how he and mommie met. But one thing for sure they sure loved each other.

Yes, daddy was very special and if ever I were looking for someone…I doubt that I would ever ever find anyone quite like daddy. 

Well, if  you feel like a donut…I hope you have someone who can go get you one.  Or go with you…or take you to get one.

I hope I didn’t rample on and on…and that you got some sense out of this blog.

Enjoy your day…and I’m working on my rib business.  I have spent so much money that I have actually run out of money.  I have the whole set-up  but I don’t have the money to buy the goods.  So, maybe we will up and running by next weekend…this weekend looks a bit bleek.   But it is all part of the process.  Sometimes you have just got to learn how to go with the flow. 

You know I really learned that from my friend in New York whom we are expecting to pass.

In her words…”Whatever God allows.”      ….God bless…  ©2008

Add a comment July 16, 2008