Category: Education

San Diego has company coming to town this weekend, about 10,000 librarians. My kind of people. I mean I just…

I hadn’t written anything for a while and decided, in a spirit of fun, to check into “www.creativewritingprompts.com” and craft…

      OB Elementary – along with two other elementary schools and one K-8 school in the County –…

Some time ago, the University of Arizona asked its Alumni: “What does being a Wildcat for life mean to you?”…

November 30th of 2010 was a good day. In many a way. First of all, from the beginning, the day…

With all the negative vibes flowing through Arizona regarding Latinos I’m reminded that it wasn’t so long ago, around 1994,…

When I was coming up in Tucson, the Old Pueblo, I would go this way and that way, to and fro, trying to keep a step ahead of Old Jim Crow. Somehow I survived that dude’s hateful antics and grew up with a lot of love in my heart and soul. But he doesn’t give up easily and seems to have a toe hold in Arizona and just won’t let go.

A few years ago the idea of a holiday for Martin Luther King came up and Arizonans freaked out …

I hate the idea of getting old. I hate “remembering” the way things “used to be” and comparing them with the way things are now.

For example: I remember when education used to be free. The public schools provided books, pencils, papers, crayons, glue, scissors, etc. so that we could learn without the stress of the teacher saying “we can do this if you bring in some paper and pens.”

I remember when school used to be safe for the students, the staff and anyone entering the premises.

12:09 am PDT – Let’s end with something positive: Sharon Angle’s concession speech where she admits 80% of the money…

It is getting dark and the cars are beginning to drive up the street, stop, unload their passengers and move away. I presume the drivers are going up the street to wait for their children.

The doorbell rings: I go to open the door. A cute boy, about 11 or so says, “triqui triqui.” (Obviously, he has said, “trick or treat.”)

– Estoy aquí para buscar ricos dulces. Nosotros no tenemos estos dulces donde vivo. (I am here to get some of your candy because it is so good. We don’t have the same candy where I live.)

I wrote recently about how addressing the Class of ’60 at the University of Arizona, as we celebrated our 50 Year Reunion, was an honor of a lifetime. Well, on that same trip home I received another honor of a lifetime: the UA Black Alumni’s Outstanding Alumni Achiever Award.

To be honored by my people, people who have come down the same road as I, a road upon which we had to struggle to hold our heads up high with Jim Crow …

I recently enjoyed the honor of a lifetime: addressing the University of Arizona’s Class of ’60 with my take on our times at our alma mater. My classmates and I showed up brimming with youth and Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll, more than ready to “Go! Go! Wildcats! Go!” and the school welcomed us with open arms.

In the background, besides the up tempo music, the likes of I Love Lucy had us laughing crazily and we relied on Ed Sullivan giving us a “Really good show” every Sunday but the world, at large, was in no way like a picnic on a carefree sunny day.