A Reason to Keep On Keepin' On

I love mass transit. Folks here in Boston tend to think that is weird. What I love about mass transit is the fact that I can get the community news, while not being agitated during the ride (as I am when I drive), ask for directions so I do not get lost, and my nephew who is four loves it too. On a day that we had a series of errands to get done. We took six buses and two trains. He loved it! Andy is autistic and does not talk so his joy is demonstrated by his facial expressions and through the tensing and relaxation of his body.

He sat by the window and was enthralled with the changing scenes of the different neighborhoods we traveled through. Finally, on our way home we had a chance to board the Silver Line which is a bus/electric train depending on where it has to travel. It rides so smoothly that Andy slipped into a deep sleep within seconds. I gently awaken him when we got to our stop. He looked so surprised to be asleep.

Now that gas is so expensive I look forward to taking the T more because at this point we can ride in the car or we can eat.

Glory Be! I've got a Job!

“Hold on, so you can hold out,” a church saying that has come to mean a lot to me. During my extended search for a job I got close to being offered jobs but, thank God I did not get those positions. They were not meant for me. What is for me is the position that was offered by Patrick F. Gavin Middle School, to fill their librarian position. Mr. Matthews, the Principal has high hopes and big dreams for the library. I do too. It is a perfect place to win readers to frequent and entice reluctant readers to read. I accepted the position because it also means reaching out to the community including them into the library too.

Gavin Middle is located in South Boston, an old line Irish community that is rapidly gentrifying. There is a nearby public housing development where I hope to do collaboration with a strong community based grassroots organization. However, now I need to setup a cataloging/circulation system as well as establish an online newsletter featuring: homework assignments, current school events and a list of vocabulary builders. I will also offer readers' advisories and best new websites as a lure to recruit students to use the library for homework assistance, and pleasure reading. I cannot wait to start!

Be assured that those of you in library and education fields I will be calling for ideas and information to make Gavin Middle School Library the heartbeat of the school!

Black Talk Radio

When I lived in South Florida my job called for me to travel to as many as five different libraries sometimes in a day. For four years I used public transportation which means it was a very difficult thing to do since mass transit in South Florida is a half hearted experiment that is not intended to work. I spent my time on the buses reading and thinking about all of the things I needed to do. When I purchased a car I found the morning drive show hilarious and a good way not to be another road rage driver.

What I like most about radio are the commercials. I find that the advertising companies go a little far in creating radio commercials. Most commercials are very funny or at least fast to listen to while rolling along the road. Talk radio is to me like one long commercial. Some of the folks that call are crazy, some have ill defined anger issues, and some are articulate and cerebral. The fun part is that they are all on every single one of black talk radio shows.

I start my morning out with Tom Joyner in the Morning. I like laughter in the morning and I am guaranteed at least three good laughs before I arrive at my destination. Sometimes I need to pull the car over because they are so crazy. My favorites are Sheryl Underwood, Huggy Low Down, Tavis Smiley, Reverend Al Sharpton, and celebrity guests like D.L. Hughley and the crazy 2 Live Stews. As much as I like the jokes and smart remarks I appreciate the information that is being dissimulated by the show for the aid of black folks. Medical, voter, historical, and community information is broadcast to listeners keeping us informed as well as entertained. Because of the TJMS show I knew about the sister study for black sisters. I enrolled to participate because my sister Lorraine died from breast cancer. If the study can help provide better medicine for black women I am happy to be aboard. Listening to the show meant that when asked to enroll I said yes and did it!

TJMS is not the only show I listen to any more. I now am a semi regular listener of the Warren Ballentine Show as well as my favorite...Reverend Al Sharpton's show which is both informative and funny. If I was a victim of blatant injustice I would contact Rev. AL because he really is about righting injustice. In his practical way he follows the Kingian tradition of continued pressure and agitation. Also, only Rev. Al could make getting arrested an honored experience.

Black talk radio keeps you clued into news from the black perspective, provides that laugh (sometimes unintentionally) and is one of the few outlets for black people to voice their opinions about current events. It's like a black town hall meeting every day! Dial them up sometimes.

A Family Divided by Elections

I received a rather energetic (see fire-breathing) telephone call from my niece. She was upset about two of my sisters who are committed to supporting Hillary Clinton in this year's Presidential election. I told her that the sister who lives in Boston and I are Obama supporters. Unfortunately, though my sister's husband is a Hillary supporter so we really only provide Barack a single uncontested vote from the north to help him win the Presidency.

After we hung up I began to realize that black family households all across the nation are experiencing similar drama regarding which Democratic candidate should win the nomination and then hopefully the Presidency. I mean if Jesse Jackson cannot convince his wife Jackie to support Obama, Charles Rangel's wife Alma is an Obama supporter even though her long time husband and big shot in the House of Representatives is a strong Clinton supporter, what chance do I have again talking Dorothy and Cynthia into joining Venessa and me in supporting Barack Obama?

What a mess! Still my Hillary Clinton supporting sisters are not ignorant or illiterate they are well read women who like the Clintons very much. Venessa and I are supporting Barack Obama mostly because he is offering some plain thinking yet radical ideas like; getting out of Iraq fast, stopping the hemorrhage of tax dollars for a useless war, talking to our enemies, engaging the citizenry to participate in government by holding it accountable, restoring our faith in the Constitution by actually following it, and a host of other really important things too. Whereas Senator Clinton has not ever suitably explained her vote for a war in Iraq for either of us to believe that she would make haste to get us out of there, we are still very much feminists who are delighted to see a woman seek the top post in this country.

Ma simply does not care. She says that she will believe it when she can see it. Knowing her (she's a race woman) if Senator Obama wins she will be over the moon about it. At age 94 this granddaughter of slaves will have lived long enough to see the election of a black man as President of the United States. How cool is that? Only daddy would be prouder.

My family is divided but we are staunch Democratic Party members and we will vote Democratic in November regardless as to whomever the party nominates.

It seems that there is a time in life that you need to stop doing things that worked before but have long since stopped working for you now. Working for organizations on grants is one thing I am vowing to never do again. I need to work for some company, group or organization that will allow me to be paid a living wage consistently.

I am a hard worker and can move things to fruition when given a chance. It is so very hard to work at a place that is so transitory when you know you are next to be let go because the grant ends and will not be renewed. Or you will soon be the one booted out of the organization because...you did not bring in enough money or publicity that brings in money. This is a scary way to live when you have obligations to others who depend on you to be the bread winner.

Working for government is the only place I can see where you can slowly nurture innovative programs without the pressure of funding (provided you do this as a small "mole" unit). Since you are civil servants you have job security while having the ability to look at the development of a service or product over a longer time than is allowed in the for profit and especially with not for profit agencies who have such unstable funding systems.

What the country needs is innovation. The rest of the world is leaving us in the dust concerning education; especially in science and math. It would behoove government to focus on education kindergarten through college. However, it is especially urgent to focus on young adults and adults who have been badly served by the system and are without a diploma or GED. It is there I believe that the most movement can occur fastest. When you make a difference in one adult's life you affect their entire family. When mom or dad possess experience with academic success they begin to use their recently acquired knowledge to encourage if not help their children and grandchildren in school. Educators gain at least participatory parents in the schools who support education and the staff there doing it. That makes for a paradigm shift in how learning is viewed at home and the transition of that kind of thinking to learning at school. Learning becomes VALUED!

What I am hoping for at this point in my work-life is to work with a governmental organization that is trying reorganize mass education for adults and young adults who have failed in the system as it is presently structured. In this country we cannot afford to have people discarded and marginalized. We must bring everyone along forward because every citizen has a valuable contribution to provide our society they need the opportunity to do it. As we are beginning to look at how to use available finite fossil fuels in a conserving way while using and searching for renewable energy to operate our lives, the same focus should apply to harnessing the brain power of every citizen!

Although I need a stable income to live a little stress free I realize that with my experience I need to expand into consulting both with grassroots and start-up literacy programs as well as how to design and operate outreach public community libraries. Ultimately, I believe that libraries are uniquely positioned to be the force to catapult the literacy movement far beyond where it is languishing. Once libraries are ready to replace their elitist mantle and become places that seek to serve the masses they can function as both engine and fuel for America's source of informal education. It takes library directors to be courageous to insist on serving the under served as well as to view literacy programs as the way to grow their own patrons who are both grateful and loyal to libraries.

Being in Massachusetts puts me at a distinct disadvantage to locating a place for employment willing to engage in mass education by fully staffing and funding a literacy group that provides cradle to grave literacy services for their communities. There is a high literacy rate here and an institution that is married to what libraries were rather than what they could be.

Finally, a true community based literacy program requires that librarians and literacy staff reach out personally and consistently to organizations, groups and especially individuals that need their services.

If you are interested in doing this kind of work ...hire me!