Celebrating Our Differences
There are multiple metaphors for connectedness: Perhaps Native American Chief Seattle said it best when he spoke about The Web of Life: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All…
Loved Ones, I was visiting my hometown, Chicago. I had a visit from old friends, Sheila & Arnett Smiley and Sheila’s brother, Donald, (Donnie to me). However, this visit was unique; I was finally meeting Sheila’s son, GS Contributor, Marlon Hayes. While my oldest friends and close cousins…
Connection. It’s a word we hear a lot; It is used often in business and in everyday personal communication. It is a key buzz word in advertising these days. Marketers strive to “make an emotional connection” with consumers. Cellular phone companies and Internet providers spend millions of…
So an important part of my trip to Alabama was the workshop held, whose second half turned into a powerful healing ceremony. I remember teaching about the state of Wuji – Emptiness, also known as Sunyata. I pointed out that the medicine wheel, mandala, and all these sacred…
The quilts of Gee’s Bend, Alabama (also known as Boykin) have been classified as some of the most exceptional vernacular artworks in America while simultaneously compared to works by the great abstract expressionist painters. In fact, the very thing that made these series of quilted artworks…
I have seen fragments of eternity in the smile of an Afrikan face Contented by the chance to be visible in a world that sees us As monkeys that have just learnt to blend into the bigger picture. I have learnt to laugh with a dagger in my…
They say no man is an island unto himself, and with each adventure, I become more fully aware that there is no island called Marlon. Lol. Even in my most narcissistic moments, I chastise myself for having the thought that I don’t need anybody. The fact is that…
“That’s Nedra,” we declare, as Nedra Camille Shelton takes us into her world of compassion, fire, and unconventional thinking. “People are just different,” is her mantra. As one of her oldest friends, (since second grade), I have fumed at the very thought that I succumb to this notion…
Remaining members of the 47th Street Temptations, L-R Azell Madden, Robert Brown and Don Arnold “We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it, there is suffering.”— Brené Brown Talk About Connection! I recently attended a childhood friend…
We are connected to a violent American past that few people want to remember: the transatlantic slave trade. America chooses not to atone for slavery or grapple with the lingering question of reparations in the form of land, money, and international healing. When American political, social, and…
