Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day
Karen J Anderson
Book of the Quarter
Usually when I write there is a song in my head. Yes, there was a playlist for this book. I tried to think about the type of music they would have been exposed to in 1912. They would have seen performers traveling from town to town. There would be sheet music that musicians can play. She would have seen people like Ma Rainey singing the blues. Ragtime would be in full swing, but starting to wane.
An African American woman moved home to take care of her dying mother giving up the opportunity to experience a world beyond segregation. Zoraida Hughes Williams finds that some things have changed about her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas while some have stayed the same, like Hell’s Half Acre, an area where saloons, prostitution and gambling runs wild. Like most of the residents, she wants to keep her head down and stay away from trouble, but it comes in the unlikely form of an Anglo Baptist preacher. He messes up everything and almost gets them killed.
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Time for a Little Super Hero
There is action and adventure which is what both Sistas really like, but something was added to this limited series that intrigue the pair and it wasn’t just the good looking brother. Listen to this week’s episode to see what it is.
Listen Falcon and Winter Soldier
In 2022 Create Your Own Style
Find a piece that speaks to you.
Roar like a lion
Or at least carry the bag for him!
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When I Get Tired Of All The Crazy Stuff On TV
I choose an old show that I can always count on. The show is Mannix which starred Mike Connors as private investigator Joe Mannix. Joe was the kind of detective that never got rich, but was always there to help the common man. But the common man often looked like a woman who was 10 to 20 years younger than him.
My favorite part of this show was his secretary Peggy Fair played by Gail Fisher. It was great to see someone like me in this role. She was intelligent and witty who was able to speak her mind. I thought Peggy might as well had been his partner because she brought her own strengths into the relationship and helped solve as many cases. She constantly stepped outside of her role as a secretary and made partner like decisions. It was groundbreaking in the late 1960s to have an African American woman play a role like this on television.
And the crazy thing about Joe was he was always getting knocked out. He was a tough guy with a soft jaw and a melon head. The bad guys always caught Joe off guard. And no matter how many times I try to tell him to watch out. He never does. He is always knocked out or tied up somewhere. But He always gets the bad guy in the end.
The middle to end seasons are the best. but check out Mannix. He is one of those old timey detectives that make you route for him. He is currently being showed on FETV and METV.
It Was A Rough Year
In the 2021 Issue of Fill In the Gap Magazine, we reflect on 2020 and what happened to us. Was COVID-19 real? Did anyone get sick? Read our take on the pandemic.
Issue 2021Fill in the Gap Magazine
Isn’t This Cute?
Who doesn’t need Black Gyrl Art coasters or a Serving Hands Clock? You can get this or a few other things from my site at Society 6.
They take practical items like
And make them fun.
You know you want one
I Am Capable
Remind yourself that you have knowledge. You have experience. You are capable.
Effective. Impressive. Whatever is before you this month, you got it. I Am Capable. There are Tees, Crews, and Hoodies. You can order at BlackGyrlArt
Art of the Quarter
People of African descent have always been here. Racism tries to make us believe that Africans were not smart enough to leave the continent until a European or Asian showed them how. Not true.
Simon was from a city in Northern Africa in Libya. It was settled during the time of Greek reign. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. He used his two feet to get from one place to another.
It was 33AD in the city of Jerusalem where a Jew name Jesus was carrying the weapon of his destruction down a road. Beaten and exhausted, Jesus needed help, so they get a man who is fresh in from the country, a man from Cyrene.
Something about this man made him stand out from the crowd of people following Jesus. Something obviously physical because they thought he would be able to bear the burden. Here is the beautiful thing, God knew he would be able to carry it. Simon’s two feet and strong back carried the cross.
I don’t know if Simon was on a trade route or maybe he was visiting Jerusalem as a practicing Jew, but he was far from home. He was bigger and stronger than any in the crowd. His sandaled feet followed the path God had him on. It changed everything for his family.
God wrote us into this story. People from Africa were there. We weren’t standing on the sidelines. We had a role to play.
Where we came from didn’t limit where we were going. It never has.
In 2022, I am going to add some color to history.
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