Author:CarespringPublished in:Caregiving

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and many families are starting to make preparations for their celebrations. This holiday is a great opportunity to gather with friends and family to share a meal, show gratitude, and enjoy the company of the people we love most. If you are preparing to celebrate the day with your adult parents or grandparents, here are a few Thanksgiving ideas for seniors to make the day enjoyable for everyone.

Read more…

On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics make Chuck Cooper, an All-American forward from Duquesne University, the first African American picked in NBA draft. With the selection, the first pick in the second round, Cooper breaks the NBA’s color barrier and changes the league for the better.

Read more…

On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th-inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers Al Downing. However, as Aaron was an African American who had received death threats and racist hate mail during his pursuit of one of baseball’s most distinguished records, the achievement was bittersweet.

Read more…

Nora Flanagan: What COVID-19 revealed about US schools — and 4 ways to rethink education | TED

The abrupt shift to online learning due to COVID-19 rocked the US education system, unearthing many of the inequities at its foundation. Educator Nora Flanagan says we can reframe this moment as an opportunity to fix what’s long been broken for teachers, students and families — and shares four ways schools can reinvent themselves for a post-pandemic world.

Want to Rethink Education After COVID-19? Creative Solutions Mean Taking More Risks

By Henry M. Smith     Nov 9, 2020

n 2005, Hurricane Katrina literally washed away the New Orleans public school system. You may not like the new charter school presence in New Orleans, but those schools came about because local educators seized the opportunities presented by Katrina and acted upon them as entrepreneurs. Organizational change in education is often preceded by an action-forcing event. Now, in 2020, as educators struggle to cope with the pandemic that forced K-12 schools to deliver instruction online, we should, like the leaders in New Orleans, take this tragic opportunity to think entrepreneurially about reopening public schools.

Read more…

Listening to Eddie Henderson at 81 was a treat and inspiring at the Township Jazz Festival. Eddie was trained by Louis Armstrong and once played for Miles Davis as a young boy.

The weekend of October 15 – October 17 has been one that I will remember for a long time. Jackson State University held it 2021 homecoming on Saturday. Although I did not attend the game, I have become more interested in the performance of the team. It was great to see on pictures in the news of a full stadium after the challenges of the past 2 years with COVID-19.

Friday, I visited with a great friend who I directly responsible for encouraging me to seek my Ph.D. Although we are in different fraternities, our friendship of over 37 years has sustained itself dispite years of distance. Our friendship started in college and was formed during the first few weeks of my Freshman year. We later hung out during summer interships with Eastman Kodak. He had been there before and introduced me to friend he had made during previous internships. Later when we both worked in the Maryland area, he invited me to participate in his fraternity’s weekend tutoring program. At no time did I feel like an outsider. During this time in Maryland, while he was persuing his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, he asked me to protor an exam for him. It was the first time I stood in front of a class. Following my time in Maryland, I decided to pursue my MBA at the University of Memphis. My friend would always encourage me over the years as we would touchbase each homecoming. That classroom experience from the initial proctoring experience made working as a graduate assistant at the Univesity of Memphis less scary. Teaching incoming students about the Microsoft Office Suite that they would use throughout ther collegiate career was rewarding. Ten years after graduating from the University of Memphis, I started my Ph.D. journey. My friend’s simple request to fill in for him had sparked an interest that I completed in 2017.

Saturday, I had a breakfast meeting with a fraternity brother and we spoke about potential courses for the university where I currently work part-time. Problem solving is important to leaders so the timing of his desire to work in education and my desire to provide unique experiences to my students alligned. We met for an hour and developed a framework for a possible course and unique offering. Later that morning, my family worked to provide meals for the homeless through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We served over 40 people and provided Abraham with an experience to remember.

Saturday night, my wife of nearly 29 years this November and I attended a live concert with The Elements in the elements of the outdoor ampitheater. This was the first time visiting the venue and hearing Earth Wind and Fire. I loved the horn section and enjoyed the work of Bobby Burns, Jr. I also enjoyed to outing with my lovely wife and a few of our friends. We held hands and cuddled under the open cool air while enjoying to great sound of Earth Wind and Fire. It was so great to get out and safely enjoy live music.

Sunday, I have the opportunity to catch up on yard work and will play tennis with a good friend and collegue to see who pays for beer. He suggested that the winner buys. He came back on me the first time we played so he ended up buying. In a strange way it has motivated me to improve so I will not loose again. I purchased a new racket hoping it will help me with my game. I know my conditioning will get better and I am budgeting to buy him beer everytime we play.

The slow cooker is a great way to get dinner on the table quickly or serve a crowd. These barbecue sliders are an economical and easy main dish.

Fall is here! Get out the slow cooker!

Local temperatures still feel like summer. But that’s all the more reason to avoid adding more heat in the kitchen!

Read more…

What happens to The Love That Grew from the COVID? 

Does it continue to thrive as people walk around it and nurture it with continued acts of kindness? 

Does it get trampled on when people go back to their normal routines?

Bear with me for a moment as I attempt to compare COVID-19 to Concrete before I dissect 2Pac’s words and Nikki’s beautiful interpretation of them.

During this required social distancing phase of the fight against COVID-19, we have had unprecedented opportunities to grow deeper in love with our spouses, children, parents, and extended family. We have witnessed heroic efforts from health care professionals and first responders. We have also witnessed the ugly face of racism here in the states and around the world against people of African descent. African immigrants are being mistreated in China where officials have warned citizens to be fearful of foreigners. Sons of African descendants have been hunted by “Black fearing” citizens or over-aggressive law enforcement officers. We have also witnessed the disparity of a blind disease that attacks the venerable elderly or people with pre-existing health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. COVID-19 represents the challenge that we all must face, but like concrete, it can either provide a pathway to a new destination or a barrier that is designed to prevent overgrowth.

The Rose that grew out of the COVID represents “Love”. Love, like the Rose, is a thing of beauty and can be both delicate and dangerous. The thorns are there to protect roses from animals that are attracted to their fragrant smells. The Rose has always served as a symbol of one’s love for another person. 

The Love that grew out of the COVID. 

You try to plan something during COVID.

Know what I mean?

If it goes through, and the plans get changed and the original plans had to change and did not achieve the same effect, you’re not going to say. “Damn look at how our plans got f..cked up.” 

You going to be like. “Damn, we still had fun despite the COVID.”.

Know what I mean?

I have grown from the experience of being isolated with my family and forced to reframe from embracing friends or shaking my neighbor’s hand. 

Instead of saying, “Damn, COVID killed these many blacks and these many whites.” We will look back and say, “Damn, we came through all of that longing for human touch.”

Know what I mean?

All the trouble to survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty COVID pandemic, we are just trying to make it through.

What will happen to The Love that Grows Out of COVID?

A new study shows that tai chi mirrors the beneficial effects of conventional exercise by reducing waist circumference in middle-aged and older adults with central obesity.

Read more…

“Choices, Priorities, and Resources for the sole” is a catch phrase that I coined recently to encapsulate my philosophy as move forward in my spiritual journey. I think that one of my greatest talents is my ability to see patterns and assess how things can be connected. God sometimes bestows me with the wisdom to articulate my vision effectively. I think that this is a skill that my grandparents and great grandparents nurtured and eventually led me to obtain my doctorate.

“Nevertheless, we must keep swinging and moving at God’s Speed with patient persistence exemplifying perseverance and passion by choosing to use HIS resources as a priority” – Dr. C. Fitzgerald Wicks

My great grandmother on my father’s side, Ellen Everson aka Mammy, always reminded me to be aware of my surroundings and to pay attention to what other kids were doing. She advised me to remove myself from situations that did not feel right. She planted the seeds that led me to study martial arts including Wing Chun, Jiu-Jitsu, and boxing. The arts teach the student to always be prepared and to sense changes and to always be aware of other’s actions. Although I never persisted to the level of black belt in any of the arts, Mammy taught me the importance of persistence.

I was blessed to have a great grandmother, two living grandmothers, and a grandfather that spent endless hours showing and teaching me how to be responsible, resourceful, and persist in my daily behavior.
My grandmother on my father’s side, Grandmamma Louise Wicks, taught me the art of patience as she would work in the garden, feed the chickens and Guinea hens, and prepare her famous chicken and dumplings. I vaguely remember her overseeing the curing of meat in the old smokehouse. Learning to be self-sufficient and having the patience to allow nature to take its course results in a healthy garden.
My grandfather on my father’s side, Granddaddy Eluster Wicks, taught me to be passionate about learning. Every interaction with him presented a learning opportunity whether it was cutting hair, building a chicken coop, or weed eating the lawn. One of my last memories of him is him showing me how to use a weed eater and seeing how amazed he was at his mulching lawn mower. He taught me to be passionate about details. He would make puzzles and challenged us with brain teasers that forced us to think analytical.
My grandmother on my mother’s side, Lucinda Amos aka Mommul, taught me the art of perseverance and having faith that getting results is what matters most. It did not matter necessarily how you obtained the results. I called her Ms. Botch because of her unique ability to find a purpose for everything. She would turn old tires into planters or chicken feeders. She could turn hot dogs or sausage into the best sandwich a young boy to eat to fuel up for intensive play. She would challenge us to watermelon spitting contests. She would always share the stories of her experiences teaching and influence young folk to do the right thing. She shared stories of the Grandfather Adam and Uncle G, whom I never met, but grew to admire and love through her stories.
Choices represent the small decisions you make every day that moves you towards or away from you God given mission. Priorities represent the things you do first with your best energy. They represent the way you communicate to others in terms of volume and tenor. Resources represent the God given talents in the form of physical and fiscal assets at your disposal. Sole represents your journey and the steps you take daily. You can choose what you allow to affect you and how you react to it. You are created in God’s image but no one else can execute your mission better than you.
Pursue your goals with passion, persistence, patience, and perseverance.
Passion represents the energy that you expend in pursuing your goals.
Persistence is the single-mindedness of the individual towards the achievement of a particular goal.
Patience is the ability to wait for your success while putting in the work.
Perseverance is the ability to continue a course of action in spite of the lack of success.
Stephen Covey states in his Seven Habits of Successful People to “Begin with the end in mind.”
Thank you so much for being a part of my journey, my developing story, and part of my circle of influence. Assalamualaikum