Category Archives: Uncategorized

Posted on

Return to Banneker High School…20 years later…

Hello World,

I’m not ashamed to admit that 20 years ago, 1992, I graduated from Benjamin Banneker High School in College Park…I am ashamed to admit that since then I had not been back to my high school alma mater until Monday…

As a part of Banneker’s Homecoming Week Celebration with the theme “The Rise of the Trojans,” BHS Alumni Association representative Michael Shepherd, class of 1993, invited Banneker alum to return to be a part of the homecoming festivities starting with Career Day!

First of all, I was impressed with the brand new buildings that are now Banneker High School! Gone are the dusty trailers that were a daily part of my schedule at BHS! The new school is beautiful and looks like a mini-college campus. I’ve always loved to go to school (at least most days), but going to such a beautiful school would have definitely enhanced my high school days all those years ago now. But I will stop telling you about what I saw. Instead of I will show you what I saw…

Isn’t this a beautiful and impressive new building?

Alum were invited to assemble in the media center before we got started with Career Day…

Class of 1993 member Alfred Bacon, who has a high-tech computer job, came back…

Class of 1992 member Shaun Ware came back to show her support…We still look good 🙂

William Arnold III, who I think is in the class of 1990, and another BHS alum showed up…

Mike Crooms aka Mr. Collipark aka DJ Smurf, class of 1991, represented…

Another BHS alum…

BHS Principal Mr. William Bradley took a picture with me…Mr. Bradley was a BHS teacher when I was there…

A new generation of BHS teachers…Looking younger than some of the the alum 🙂

Just another view of the fabulous new media center…

I spoke to a 10th grade language arts class taught by Ms. Marscida Kinlaw, my friend and BHS Class of 1990 alum…I love that she teaches at BHS!

Ms. Kinlaw let me pretend to be a teacher…Unfortunately I was not able to take pics with her class, but the funniest part of my discussion with the students was trying to explain the concept of pagers to them…Communication technology has certainly evolved since 20 years ago 🙂

Following our presentations, BHS ROTC members escorted alum to the auditorium for a Career Day assembly…

The auditorium…Only select members of the school were allowed to attend the assembly…

Members of the 2012 BHS Homecoming Court…

2012 BHS Homecoming King and Queen listen to Mike Shepherd encourage BHS students…

His words of wisdom really inspired the students…

Mike handed out candy as a part of his presentation…

The students were really excited about Mike throwing candy into the crowd…

BHS alum and BHS ROTC…It was so good to come back…

Final pics before leaving…

On the way to my car…

Driving off of the BHS property…It was my first time back, but it won’t be my last…I hope to see more BHS alum at the new and improved Banneker High School in the near future…

Any thoughts?

 

 

Posted on

The “C” in Church is for Controversy…(Shout out to Prince Rogers Nelson)

Hello World, 

Well, this week in church news has been a doozy…and it kind of reminds me of the lyrics in Prince’s song “Controversy.” Below is an excerpt of the lyrics…

I just can’t believe All the things people say, controversy Am I black or white? Am I straight or gay? Controversy…

And Prince even references “The Lord’s Prayer” in the rest of the song…And this verse also reminds me of a few verses in Matthew 10.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

In this verse and the verses that follow, Jesus basically says that your faith in God will cause you to be involved in some controversy and with this in mind, a run-down of the controversial church news of the week…

1. We’ve all heard about the Chick-fil-A controversy…Here is one take on it…“Eat Mor ChiKin’: Black Church Group Comes Out to Support Chick-Fil-A” (Politics365)

2. Some church controversy is happening over in Jackson, Mississippi too…“Black Couple Says White Church Banned Wedding: Crystal Springs Mayor ‘Heartbroken'” (ClarionLedger.com)

3. All is not awry in Mississippi…The state’s first black bishop in the United Methodist Church has been named..“Methodists Laud 1st Black Bishop” (ClarionLedger.com)

4. Contraception controversy…“81 Percent of Blacks and Hispanics Say They Can Hold Different Opinion on Contraception Than Church and Be Considered Good Christians” (Huffington Post)

5. More controversy on the black church and AIDS…“Maker of film on the black church and AIDS probes tension between faith and knowledge” (Washington Post)

6. In more “first black” news, some racial controversy at Duke University…Well, this is not a controversial story, but it would have been years ago as Duke University named its first black dean of its chapel…“Duke Names New Dean of Chapel” (Newsobserver.com)

7. Church Kidnapping Controversy…“Fake Church Kidnapping: Pennsylvania Pastor, Church Charged With False Imprisonment” (Huffington Post)

Yes, it was definitely a controversial church news week…Let the church say amen!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Summer Love…

Hello World,

High School Memories...If you look very carefully, you can see me in the back wearing my big Marcie (from "Peanuts") glasses...

Yippee! Hooray! Woohoo! Today is the first day of summer, my absolute favorite time of the year…I think it’s in my DNA to love summer more than any other season because my family hails from the sunny isle of Jamaica  🙂

So since this is the first day of summer, I would like to post something that reminds me of the summer days of my high school years…It’s funny… During high school, I vacillated between believing my life was over when a guy dumped me or never returned my affection in the first place and being excited about being thrust into the “real world” upon graduation…And now when I look back, I wonder two things: why did take my “relationships” so seriously and why was I in such a hurry…life was pretty good even with my parents’ strict rules(being a preacher’s kid was challenging)…Oh the folly of youth…

One of their rules was that I could not go to parties, and I especially couldn’t go clubbing…which was unfortunate because (as I was told) we had some slammin’ clubs that my fellow teenagers used to frequent such as Sharon’s Showcase, Charles Disco, MBK, 559 and Club XS, where “Atlanta Jams” was taped!!! “Atlanta Jams” was the show you wanted to be on if your were a teenager in the A in the ’90s! Basically, it just featured teenagers from high schools all over the A getting their party on and just cheesin’ hopin’ they would see themselves on a future broadcast of the show…

Well, to my utter despair, I never got to visit nearly all of those clubs I mentioned in high school because of my parents’ rules, but ONE TIME, I did visit Club XS and was on “Atlanta Jams!!!” During the summer of 1991 (the summer between my junior and senior year), I was a part of a summer program in which high school students lived on the Emory University campus for a month…Of course, I took advantage of the opportunity to break all of my parents’ rules…lol…We convinced our resident advisers, who were Emory University students, to take us to Club XS…I relished dancing with my friends and hoped the cameras wouldn’t catch me…Wouldn’t want any of the church folk somehow seeing me on the show and telling my parents…

Long story short. I did end up on TV, and as I watched the show the later, I hoped my mother (who was in the living room where our only television was located) didn’t happen to see me…She didn’t…And guess what? I did not die Mom & Dad…Lol…Real talk…I’m glad I didn’t get into clubbin’ as a teenager…I’ve seen some people who got into that very early back in the day…And they look like they have really lived…if you know what I mean…Anywho, here’s a video of “Atlanta Jams.” This show so reminds me of summer – the season that I love…it’s summer love…

Any thoughts? (I think that’s Ryan Cameron from V-103 on the stage wearing the black and white polka dots…)