You’ve Got A Friend?

One of my favorite quotations is from Harper Lee, who wrote: “To Kill A Mockingbird.” She said, “you can choose your friends, but you sho’ can’t choose your family, and they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge them or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t.” Political parties

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want (When You Want It)

Disclaimer: This article does not support the promotion of gun use.  It was mid-November 1965 and the perfect time to start lobbying for what I wanted for Christmas. It was more than one month after my birthday and before my mother and father made their bedroom “Fort Knox “secure. That’s where they kept all the

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Misnomers

Growing up, when someone called you something other than your given name, we usually complained, “stop calling me names.” Name-calling was usually an act of ridicule or disrespect. Feeling a bit contrarian, my focus in this piece will be about name-calling that glorifies people, groups, or concepts, in my opinion, unjustifiably. I’ll start with the

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Tales From The Hood – Revenge Of The Nerds

The year was 1966, and it was the beginning of the new school year at Public School 79 in Manhattan. I transferred to P.S. 79 the previous year to be part of a program called the Intelligent and Gifted Children program (IGC). P.S. 79 was the site for a program that gathered children who did

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Willful Ignorance

My 4th-grade teacher, Miss Bogner, a wonderful woman, and teacher, once told our class that ignorance occurs when you don’t have access to information and that it deserves empathy and understanding. Once you have access to knowledge and refuse to inform yourself, any expectation of empathy or compassion dissipates. She called them “willfully ignorant.” Those

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Tales From The Hood – The Boys Of Summer (1969)

The Summer of 1969 was magical. The moon landing took place July 20, 1969, Woodstock happened on August 15, 1969, the New York Jets became the first AFL team to defeat an NFL team in the Super Bowl, and the “Amazin Mets” beat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series. As incredible

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