Author: Ernie McCray

I pause with a picture to just look at my face, the wrinkles, the gray in my beard, the few…

A little while ago I read a book by longtime Tucson Citizen sportswriter, Steve Rivera: The University of Arizona Basketball Vault, the History of the Wildcats.

What a nice trip down memory lane the book was for me as I’ve followed Wildcat basketball since the 40’s. And, never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think the program would evolve to what it is today although the school had a couple of pretty good teams in my childhood.

Sitting with thoughts dancing in my mind about all the hope that I had recently seen rise in Cairo, I looked online for an image to match how I felt inside and a picture of a rich yellow sun rising or setting in a reddish orange sky caught the attention of my eyes and I literally found myself mesmerized by its beauty.

Forever etched in my mind and soul is an image of Rosa Parks sitting softly, as she had in that…

Hola, Chavistas de Roosevelt
Middle School.
I just want to tell you
I think you’re beautiful and fly and cool
and take time to say
I loved the letters
that you recently sent my way.
All your comments and questions
warmed my soul and made my day
as I sipped coffee
and read them at Jitters,
a coffee cafe,

Read the rest of this poem by clicking the link below…

I don’t know if we’ve ever been able, in our society, to truly talk and listen to each other but,…

With all that I’ve had to say lately and in the somewhat distant past about the need for a more loving world where diversity is appreciated, I’ve tried to point out, perhaps indirectly, that schools should be places that model how our world could be. I’m a proponent of Ethnic Studies for that very reason: they promote the building of a better world.

I’ve broached such notions of love because it is my duty as an educator to open minds to ideal possibilities. If nothing else is required of a teacher he or she should be a loving human being who is willing to reach out to a diverse collection of humanity.

Regarding the rigmarole concerning the banning of “Ethnic Studies” in Arizona it seems that it’s pretty much “Chicano” in nature,…

Over the last few months , I wrote a couple of articles  about a whirlwind trip I took to Tucson, my hometown,…

I’ll remember the scene for as long as I live, as it was so gratifying to look upon all those…

I see before me photographs of a sprinkling of my wife’s ashes soaking in the sand along the shore in…

I was a nine year old about 63 and a half years ago, growing up around Speedway and Stone in…