Thursday Thoughts
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No Thursday Thoughts Blog this Week
There will be no Thursday Thoughts blog post this week. My apologies. Moving forward, I will publish a new blog every other Thursday. I’m working on other projects and I to devote adequate time to each one. Please come back next Thursday 9/8/22 for another peek into what’s going on in my head. Thanks!
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Watching the World Burn and Getting Angry
Climate change is preventable. It’s not make-believe. Wildfires popping up around the globe, polar bears starving in the Artic as the ice caps melt and crazy droughts followed by flooding provides concrete evidence. Our health is being affected. Not only the immediate deaths that occur due to fires and floods. Rising temperatures have been linked to a rise in heart disease. Besides the fact that fracking releases methane into the atmosphere, a study has found that children born near fracking wells have a higher rate of leukemia. We as individuals can do our part to help combat this, mostly by pressuring governments. Kudos to the Biden administration and the U.S.…
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Aretha Franklin Is the Queen of Music, Period!
I’ve loved Aretha Franklin ever since 4 year-old me pretended to belt out duets with her. While her songs played on the radio, I would kneel on a bench in front of my parents’ bedroom dresser mirror to see my performance. To this day, her voice still touches my heart and soul like no other. When she passed away, I was shocked to learn that there are generations of people who believe her repertoire consists only of “Natural Woman” and “Respect.” A woman in her 20s that I knew at the time commented that those songs proved Aretha had a “limited range.” I was stunned! I’m compelled to write about…
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Take Care of Yourself: 7 Tips for a Joyous Life!
Most of us assume that aging equals a steep decline in health, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Your behavior has more of an impact on your well-being than the actual aging process. The following tips will enhance your ability to enjoy the pleasures of a long life! Tip #1: Get enough sleep! In a society that promotes the rat race, sleep is de-valued. Many people still brag about how little sleep they need. But their lack of concentration, increased stress, moodiness, weight gain and increased risk of injuries, diabetes and heart disease prove how wrong they are. To function properly, we all need 7 – 9 hours…
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Historical Fiction: Honors Our Past & Contextualizes the Present
History has always fueled my imagination. Black History, in particular, ignites a proud wonder inside of me. As members of a diaspora spawned from the evil of chattel slavery, most black people realize the past is never really past. It often walks hand-in-hand with the present and shapes the future, negatively and positively. I first learned about the “Tulsa Riot” while searching for more information on Rosewood, Florida back in the late 2000s. Greenwood’s existence and it’s even lesser-known resilience after the massacre inspired me to tell Black Wall Street’s story over a decade later from the perspective of a young woman who survives and thrives along with the community.…
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Snippet from an Earlier Blog: Time Equals Change
(This is from a post on my original website.) The Nubian Barnstormer’s story spans the years of 1917 through 1946. I’m a history nerd, so I was eager to delve into how major events like World Wars I and II and the Great Depression would affect Ava Odell and the people in her life. I enjoyed the hours of research necessary to capture the evolution of fashion, technology and entertainment during that time period. The rise and fall of hemlines. Communication by telegram and the expansion of telephone service. The discovery of dances that would have been popular with Ava and her friends and learning the steps myself so I…
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It’s Easy to Feel Overwhelmed
When you feel piled on by layer upon layer of evil attempting to suffocate good. When people who you’ve imagined were decent individuals merrily participate in the destruction of what’s right—not only those you already know are unethical and immoral. It’s easy to feel powerless. Some people don’t believe in the concept of evil, but I do. Racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry and destroying the environment top my list of sins. Included in the list are all the ways they’re manifested. For example, allowing 21 year-olds to legally buy AR-15s and make toddlers orphans. While not allowing anyone to provide water to citizens forced to stand in long voting lines…
