The Source
A concept that I could never get through my thick skull was the difference between the mouth and the source of a river. In fact, I had to look up that information before writing this because it just doesn’t seem logical. The source part is quite easy to understand...
Good Morning, America, How Are You?
I am writing this blog on July 4, 2017. I saw on the news this past week that a majority of young Americans are not proud of their country. As a sixty-eight year old white man, I find this poll disturbing. While I was preparing a song list for our Black and White Like...
Stick to Your Own Kind
Jackapoos, Yorkipoos, Puggles, Labradoodles, Sheepadoodles, Goldendoodles, Cockadoodledoos ( I’m just messing with you on that last one to see if you were paying attention; no way would a rooster mate with a poodle, a St. Bernard maybe, but a poodle…?) Growing up, I...
The Integrated Sandbox
Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles is a chain of homemade Southern soul food restaurants. In our book Black and White Like You and Me, we have a section about stereotypes including types of food blacks enjoy. Clearly then, the stereotype is that Lo-Lo’s would only be...
Sarkesian Book Club Recap
Mrs. Suzanne Sarkesian invited Thomas Marsh and me to appear at her book club which we did last week. Suzanne had asked us to appear even before we had finished writing the book! Encouragement like that was certainly a boost to our enthusiasm and confidence. When we...
Believe This
The Monkees had a hit song written by Neil Diamond and covered by many artists over the years since its inception in 1967. “I’m a Believer” deals with a man becoming smitten by a girl and claiming that “he couldn’t leave her if I tried.” Apparently, the man had been...
Rhythm
If you ever played Hangman, you know that coming up with a clever word to stump your opponents is a major part of the game. Just as a review, the game is similar to Wheel of Fortune in that the participants are trying to discover what word was presented by the other...
RIGHT? . . . WRONG? . . . JUST DIFFERENT!
Sitting in the Fisher Theater as one of a handful of white people enjoying TJ Hemphill’s fantastic production of Perilous Times, I was filled with many thoughts. The first of which was why was I in such an overwhelming minority when the play was about a personal...
The Erroneous Legacy of an Unendowed Generation
Special Guest Post by TJ Hemphill Whenever I think of my first days at Wayne State University, I think of a young black boy sitting in the midst of a sea of white faces with straight hair and pink blemishes. The English class was now in full session and so was the...
The Power of Words
“A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet” William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Romeo, a Montague, is concerned that Juliet is from the house of Capulet. In fact, this entire tragedy has as its focal point the hatred between two families which makes the...
