FOOD FOR THOUGHT

R.I.P. Edward "Blue" Powell

2016-03-25T11:55:00.001-07:00

February 9, 1955 - February 9, 2016

BLUE

My brother inspired a poem in me

Which I have been unable to release

Bubbling deep inside and stirring my soul!

My brother inspired a poem in me

Surfacing with a vengeance fighting to be heard

Settling my spirit softening my cry!

My brother inspired a poem in me

A song which will never die destined to live forever

Nestled in a comfort zone created between he and I!

National SAM Innovation Project Conference 2016

2016-03-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

"Mindfulness" was the theme weaving it's way through the conference this year. The idea of focusing whole heartedly on the task at hand. The philosophy promotes the concept presence, to be in sync with the moment in order to enhance performance. The meditative exercises, inter active workshops and valid discussions certainly created motivation and purpose for the work we do as educators striving to improve instruction and enhance student achievement.

Arizona was a perfect venue to "sharpen the saw." Surrounded by mountians and desert the conference provided nourishment for the mind and body.

GLAM GRANDS GIVING ME LIFE!

2016-02-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Thank you my friends!

Wow! Thank you LinkedIn!

2015-07-10T19:15:00.002-07:00

This acknowledgement was sent to me for my publication contribution, "Effective Classrooms" to LinkedIn, on October 9. 2014. Thank you Daniel Roth, Executive Editor at LinkedIn!

Thank you!

Because of your contributions, we've reached 1 million posters on LinkedIn.

To celebrate this milestone, we're tipping our hats to members like you and their successes.

2015 The Year of the Great Grands!

2015-07-03T17:12:00.002-07:00

I have four great-grand children who have embarked upon a new phase in their development and have really met the challenge with grace and charm. Two of them completed high school and two embarked upon a first year dancing experience. All four of which I'm extremely proud!

First let me introduce you to Tatiana. You probably remember her from her annual father and daughter dances, which I chronicle in my blog. This year she too tap, ballet and hip hop dance classes. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend her recital but I was told she held her own and did a wonderful job.

She has since revealed to us that she really would rather learn acrobatics, so Gymnastics here we come!

TJ's senior year culminated into his graduation and what a celebration! Beginning with the ceremony which was all "Pomp and Circumstances." His family and friends were all smiles and filled with pride and happiness for his accomplishments.

After the ceremony the meet and greet was surely a joyous event. People were everywhere gathered to exalt the children and we were no exception!

Pasta Bella's was TJ's choice for dining and so the after party was continued with savory pasta dishes, laughter and good conversations capturing the moment and remembering the journey.

Well, the day ended, but the plan had just begun. We had to get ready for the "All White Party" being held the very next day. Momma Mia!

Family and friends had traveled miles to help TJ celebrate his high school graduation and encourage his collage adventure soon to come. A barbecue and "All White Party" would be his send off. Mars Hill university is his destination http://www.mhu.edu/ and this couldn't have been a prouder occasion.

Let the party begin! Four generations gathered with family and friends to celebrate education. The gauntlet is now his with a word from the wise "Be vigilant my child!" What a great event and wonderful send off!

While TJ attended his college orientation, another great grand, named Mikia emerged with a couple of celebrations of her own. My girl is marching out of Kindergarten into First Grade with a few awards of her own. Woohoo!

To top it off, I was able to attend Mikia's dance recital. Boy did that bring back fond memories of the days when her grand mother, my daughter, danced, It was a bit like deja vu! Except now my daughter was the stage grand mother, supporting her grand daughter's endeavor to be great.

What a vacation! My friends keep asking, "What did you do?" "Did you have fun?" Fun can't capture the joy and fulfillment of my time with my most prized possessions, my children. They are and will always be the most prized gift of my existence.

Upon my return home there was still one celebration I needed to attend. Amari was waiting for his grand march, another high school graduate blazing his path. I was surprised to learn that Amari received the Sherman F. Feyler Award, in recognition of his language skills. Bravo!

His meet and greet was shared by his family, mentor and friend.

Afterwards, as Amari would say, "We hung out!" Went to lunch at the Red Lobster and took in a movie to celebrate his accomplishment.

Well as you know, I have many grands and great grands to brag about, so stay tuned. I just wake up every morning and say, "Thank you Jesus."

A Mother and Daughter's Love

2015-05-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

My Job Giving Me Life!

2015-04-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

2015 National Conference : National SAM Innovation Project

2015-04-07T19:53:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Day

"Eyebrows are sisters but they are not twins." by Derick J, TV Show Host, "Fashion Queens"

2015-04-03T12:51:00.001-07:00

Blogging!

The other day I heard the most perfect definition for "blog" while watching the movie Julie & Julia. The character playing Julie is trying to explain to her mother the fact that she is now a blogger. She says, "Blogging is a regiment like exercising, writing one day at a time."

I'm still trying to find a way to perfect both of these activities. Maybe I can roll of the chair from blogging to on the floor exercising. I may be on to something! Wish me luck.

2015-03-14T14:41:00.002-07:00

Chronology of Terrance and Tatyanna's Father and Daughter Dances

"Tata" as we fondly refer to her, is my great granddaughter and one of my little princesses. Enjoy!

2013

2014

2015

Masquerade Theme

2016

2015-03-09T20:26:00.002-07:00

Year of the Ram 2015

(Compliments of the Wynn Casino, Las Vegas)

http://www.gotohoroscope.com/chinese-zodiac-ram.html

Go T.J. Representing Your High School Swim Team

2014-11-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

Congratulations T.J. - First Place Finish in the Breaststroke Competition!

November 20, 2014

Team Relay - 3rd Place

December 5, 2014

My Little Road Scholar

2014-07-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Terrance (TJ) is my great grandson and road scholar. One of the many great things my granddaughter and her husband has done with him is expose him to traveling. He was never too young or too small to accompany us on trips. As a result he is probably one of the families most seasoned global explorer.

Recently he was accepted into the Student Ambassador Program.This experience allowed him to visit England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. This once in a lifetime opportunity has opened his eyes to global and historical perspectives, as well as inspirational stories shared and lessons learned.

In order for Terrance to have this life changing experience his parents had to raise money, and I am so proud and thankful of the family and friends who responded with donations. The overwhelming response was a true testament of his character and the impressions he has made in his very young life.

He is back home now and very excited about the contacts and friends he has made. Following is a little collage of his adventure:

Keep-on-keeping-on, TJ! We Love you!

2014 Glam Grands' Pictorial Diary

2014-02-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

Alice, Linda and I Usher in the New Year 2014

Yvonne (Dada's) Birthday Party

Alice Relaxing After Her Birthday Party

Conference at the Del Coronado with Colleagues and Good Entertainment

Linda's Birthday Celebration

My Granddaughter and I Bonding at a Girls Night Out and Sleep Over in Niagara Falls

Linda and I celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Dinner and Show

Celebrating Jamira's 11th Birthday (Great Grand) with Granddaughter Michelle and other Great Grands

Austin's Graduation (My Grandson and his mother)

Alice and I in Las Vegas

Day 1

We Hit the ground running and settle down for a nice Thai Diner. A perfect ending to a very busy day.

Day 2

Posing with the iconic Harrah's statue of "High Rollers!"

Day 3

A night at the Rio to attend the fabulous "MJ Live" (Michael Jackson Impersonator) Show.

Day 4

A Day of relaxation with family.

Day 5

Easter Sunday celebrating high mass with the Bishop and enjoying a little shopping spree.

Day 6

Our last night in Vegas was spent at the legendary Luxor.

Downtowners dining out at Butterwood's Sweet & Savory Restaurant. Yum Yum!

Mother's Day Celebration includes blissful day at church and bountiful brunch with son and friends.

A girls' night out was all about the Lucky Peterson Concert at the Tralf! Good times!

Memorial Day Weekend, Yikes!

Grove City Shop Until You Drop!

Family Celebrating Success - Graduation Time!

Friends, Fun and Sunshine!

Celebrating Family - Ashante's Graduation!

Celebrating Life at Linda's Retirement!

Fourth of July Rooftop Cookout and Sunday Morning Prayers! Fireworks!

Enjoying "The Voice Tour" and Dining with BBQ and Bike Give-away!

A Nice Afternoon on the Waterfront!

An Evening with Smokey Robinson!

Cheering On Samuel's Basketball Team!

Surprise Meet UP!

Movie,Dinner,Celebrating Faith's Birthday!

Tosca's Garden Party!

"One Hundred Foot Journey" Discussion!

Looking for the Shade!

White Party!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Macy Gray Concert - October 3, 2014!

October 24, 2014 - October 28, 2014

Bahama Mommas - Linda and I Take the Bahamas at Paradise Island!

Day 1 - Arrival

Day 2 - Tour Island With Visit to Nassau Straw Market

Day 3 - A day of Prayer and Fun!

Day 4 - Taking the Island by Storm and Celebrating a New Found Friend!

Day 5 - A Special Thank You to Our Host! So Nice We had to Thank Him Twice!

Pat's Birthday Celebration!

Christin's Sweet Sixteen Birthday!

Erie County Chapter of the Links, Incorporated - Night on the Town: Sparkling in Black

Michael & Ebony's Baby Shower!

Alice and I Attend the Drifters' Concert!

Christmas at E. B. Greens

Sending Out the Old and Ringing in the New with the Spinners!

Happy New Year!

Salute My Hero

2013-11-11T11:38:00.001-08:00

Thinking of you on Veterans' Day, November 11, 2013. My brother Carl Edward Ruffin is the 4th soldier from the left. Thank you for your service in the Vietnam War.

R.I.P. 1942 - 2012

Writer's Block

2013-11-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Looking for inspiration!

Click on link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDfPgd3Kyc

How has the Shutdown Affected Your State?

2013-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting piece of information relating to the effects of the "Government Shutdown" and it's impact on New York's economy. Yikes! How has it affected your state?

Oprah Madness

2013-07-03T20:45:00.001-07:00

OMG! What is this madness going around concerning Oprah and her network? How can this be happening? Where are her disciples?

I must confess I'm an "Oprah Disciple" and I can't believe that with all the people Oprah has helped that they would allow her network to fail. Tyler Perry seems to be the only person openly coming to her aid. People should be beating down her door to help her in what ever way they can.

What ever became of "loyalty?" I even heard some people were using as an excuse - they can't find the station. How simple can you be? Check your cable guide, call your cable company and if you don't have it and can afford it get it!

I don't know much about how the ratings are determined, but I do know that it has something to do with the amount of viewing time. It would be interesting to stage a national "Stay on OWN" day. It would be something like a "Boycott or Sit- in." I wonder would that affect the ratings?

Most people have more than one TV. On a selected day, we could leave one TV on OWN for 24 hours. I don't know if this will help, but I feel better knowing I've tried to do something.

Now if someone else grabs the ball and come up with a national "Stay on OWN" date Oprah will be in business. Sometimes It's all about raising consciousness!

Patience

2013-05-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Patience seems to come with maturity. It is a virtue most definitely worth practicing, but somehow time makes it easier. Once a colleague said to me, "You have the patience of Job!" I don't know that I would have been so patient if I did not deal with children. My career seemed to have been dependent on tolerance and patients. Two virtues I most definitely nurtured and benefited from acquiring.

Nominated for - Best E-Mail of the Year

2013-03-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:

'Let me see if I've got this right.

'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this, and then you tell me......

I CAN'T PRAY?'

Note: When I shared this with one of my professor friends, she responded,

"I would love to send this to my Introduction to Teaching students, but I fear it might scare them:)"

I replied, "Better they be scared now then go into a career they are miserable in and can't do! It isn't easy!"

Django Unchained

2013-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

What is all the raucous about? Black folks seems to have two camps regarding the film "Django Unchained." You either like it or you don't. That's common enough, but for African-Americans it goes a little deeper. I will attempt to explore both sides and I will definitely declare the side I prefer.

The haters believe that the "N" word was used too many times and made the film intolerable. There is also an opinion that "slavery" is a topic which must be taken seriously at all times, without humor. In both instances I ask, "Why?" Clearly the "N" word is a part of African-American history. Why would we ever want to forget? Why wouldn't we want our children and children's children to know ? In the past our ancestors withstood much laughter. There is a strength found in a people who now can have the last laugh. We are able to laugh because we recognize the irony of the situation. Bobby Sands, an Irish writer proclaimed, "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."

Let me just say, "I loved this film!" I found it clearly humorous, artistically genius, and extremely brave and daring. Applause, applause!

The humor had nothing to do with the storyline but rather in the character portrayal. Jammie Fox took a potentially serious situation and infused humor. It was the humor which helped the viewer remember that the situation was make believe in a period all too real. Quite the balancing act. Bravo!

Christopher Waltz's heroic stance against slavery was quite the salute to all the "Caucasians" who willingly fought and died to end the brutality of slavery. What a memorial to truth. Thank you!

Talk about a dynamic duo, wow, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson were the ultimate play on "master and house slave." More than the language used, that interaction between characters should have been the the most painful for Black folk to watch. What an ugly portrayal of truth. You just knew that those two actors were having and outer body experience. Fantastic work!

For those who couldn't get past the historical truths, offensive language, and painful circumstantial realities, I say, I'm sorry you missed a brilliant film.

In conclusion, let me just say, "Quentin, Quentin, Quentin!" This film was truly poetry in motion. Talk about metaphorically speaking, the genius was clearly found in the exaggerations. The onomatopoeia (Zip! Pow! Zap! Bang! Swish! Kaboom! Splash! Whoosh!) exhibited in the gore of killings, exaggerated expressions, extreme behaviors and visual images of mixed messages were all stimulants for the observer and overwhelmingly powerful to the senses. Quentin Tarintino out did himself and if you didn't know his work before you will certainly recognize his allegorical style in the future.

Laissezfaire

2013-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

It is amazing to me how radically my life has changed since my retirement. I have always had a very carefree, laid back approach to life, but now even I think I'm ridiculously "laissezfaire." Time means absolutely nothing to me! I never know what day it is without looking at the calendar and forget about the time. My mornings have become my nights and my nights my mornings. I have always been a night owl so that's not surprising. In fact I was amazed that I was able to work a day job for any length of time.

When I think about all the hours I spent cleaning, studying and working during the night I'm surprised there was much time to raise a family, attend college and work during the daylight hours. When did I sleep? What was driving me? Where did that motivation come from? Motivation is the key word.

My mother was my first great motivator. Her encouragement and support transferred into my being self-motivated. Self-motivation is a wonderful tool and a necessary tool for success. Success is a feeling of accomplishment so fulfilling for the human spirit.

One thing I know is when you are happy and fulfilled doing what you love, you can be happy and fulfilled doing nothing. Doing nothing seems like a reward. It's called "laissezfaire" and I'm grateful!

Is It Writer's Block?

2012-12-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

When I look back into my archives, I noticed it was November 25, 2011 that I first started out to become a blogger. What could I have been thinking?

"Blogging" is just the one part of the larger picture of my involvement with technology. Since my retirement in 2010, I have created three web sites
https://sites.google.com/site/mscynmat/topics-3/contact-me/home;
https://sites.google.com/site/stewarti1963/home;
https://sites.google.com/site/stmartindeporresrcchurch/
not including this one and I'm a contributing author with two blogs on another site
http://www.catholicchurchesofcentralbuffalo.com/grief---how-can-we-help.html; http://www.catholicchurchesofcentralbuffalo.com/aging-with-faith.html
not to mention, my consulting job which is largely done over the internet.

I have to smile when people ask, "What are you doing now that you are retired?" Staying on point with such a diverse population keeps me quite busy. So, I apologize to those of you who keep inquiring about "Food for Thought," but when you miss me here perhaps you would like to visit one of my other blogs.

The best part of it all is that I can do all of it from the comfort of my home and yes, often times in my pajamas. How sweet is that?

Is it writer's block? I don't think so! It's mostly like "Writer's craze." I may or may not come to my senses, but in the meantime I'm satisfying my need and loving every minute.

12 Facts About President Obama's Record

2012-11-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

What is Meant by "Separation of Church and State?"

2012-10-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

What is the meaning of "Separation of Church and State?" According to Wikipedia it is a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson. It is often times used quite freely to try and distinguish the differences found between candidates running for election. That was the big threat always hanging over the head of President Kennedy. His opposition always tried to imply that because he was a Catholic his presidency would give to much power to the Catholic church.

As Americans we will always be faced with leaders who don't always belong to the same religious affiliation. For me that is a part of what "Separation of Church and State" means. I don't look to my President for religious guidance and I don't look to my Church for political advice. I want my President to govern all the people without bias and I want my church to Shepard me with spiritual faith to help shape me into a law abiding citizen able to participate in the political process,

The topic of "Separation of Church and State" must be interpreted by each individual based on their own wisdom and knowledgeable preparation of facts. Do we ever really know what is deeply coveted in a person's beliefs? We can only surmise by their actions. The old adage teaches us that "Actions speak louder then words."

In politics I want someone fair, knowledgeable, precise, respected, honest, intelligent, strong and dedicated. That person needs to have the ability to put all those qualities to use when making decisions about Education, Homeland Security, Domestic Policies, Foreign Affairs, War and Peace, Fair Employment, Economics, Taxes, and Health Care among the vast day-to-day operation of the government affairs.

What does "Separation of Church and State" mean to you?