There will be just one poem for today's Thoughtful Thursday. "A Small Needful Fact", by Ross Gay, pays tribute to Eric Garner, whose life was ended in 2014 by a police officer's illegal and deadly chokehold during an attempt to arrest him. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. A Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict the [...]
The NYT article "When a Black Student Plays Along With the K.K.K. Joke, What's a College to Do?", written by Ronald Crutcher, the (African American) president of the University of Richmond, details the aftermath of his discovery of an 1980 photo of U. Richmond white students dressed as Ku Klux Klansmen surrounding a grinning African American student posing with [...]
As we near mid July, today's Thoughtful Thursday celebrates Summer. We do so with a variety of poems about summer from a variety of poets. We start with a classic from Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), who "In Summer" waxes eloquently about a song for a summer's day. Then we have a delightful ode to a "Firefly", a familiar summer [...]
National Summer Learning Week, July 8 - 13, is a celebration of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Established over 25 years ago by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), the celebration this year will have a daily focus on a different theme: [...]
Summer's here and it's time to make sure your kids are set with their summer reading booklists, goals and plans. Here are some tips and resources to help you get going: Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge: Once again, children's book publisher Scholastic is offering a great summer reading program for children of all ages. After signing up on the [...]
Politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose, former New York governor Mario Cuomo once said. But we are didn't hear much poetry during this week's Democratic Presidential Candidate's debates. So for today's Thoughtful Thursday we offer a few political poems. We start with "America" from Claude McKay (1889-1948), a bittersweet ode to our nation. From Adrienne Rich (1929-2012) [...]
School's out or almost out for most of our children. Reports cards have been issued or are on their way. Your children are undoubtably relieved and happy that another school year is done, and everyone's thoughts are turning to summer vacation. But before you close the chapter on the last school year, why not spend some time [...]
Last night I watched the first few minutes of the NBA draft, and saw the top three draft picks learn what teams they'd be playing for. For those of you paying no attention whatsoever, the Pelicans had the #1 pick and chose Zion Williamson from Duke, the Grizzlies had the #2 pick and chose Ja Morant from Murray State, [...]
In celebration of Pride Month, today's Thoughtful Thursday features works by LBGTQ poets. Some of these poets have been featured in many Thoughtful Thursdays, like June Jordan (1936-2002) and Audrey Lorde (1934-1992), and others, like E. Ethelbert Miller (b. 1950) and Blas Falconer, are new to these pages. The voice of the other, the ones less heard, is strong [...]
I always encouraged (required, actually) my children’s friends to call me Mrs. Lewis, and I insisted that my children call most adults Mr. or Mrs./Ms. as well. If the parents were really good friends, they became “Aunt” and “Uncle” to our kids, and we were the same to theirs. But that was the only exception. Once my children started [...]