For the fifth year in a row, all 240 of Chicago's Urban Prep Academies seniors have been accepted into over 200 four year colleges and universities. The seniors, all African American young men, celebrated their success at a ceremony where they exchanged the red ties of their daily uniform for the red and gold striped ties signaling their impressive [...]
A good male friend recently described the relationship between his two teen sons as "non-existent". Different social circles, different schools, unconnected lives living in the same house. If one is away for a while, the other will eventually ask about him, but only casually, and he certainly doesn't want his brother to know that he cares. My friend assures [...]
April is National Poetry month, and in honor of this, today's Thoughtful Thursday will feature two poems about writing poetry. John Brehm's "The Poems I Have Not Written", and Billy Collins' "Workshop," use humor to offer insight into the poetry writing process. Enjoy. The Poems I Have Not Written I’m so wildly unprolific, the poems I have not written [...]
Does your son's school offer arts education? If it is a New York City public school, there is a good chance it doesn't, according to a report recently released by the NYC Comptroller's office, and covered here by the New York Times. The report shows that 20 percent of NYC public schools lack any arts teachers, including roughly one [...]
Just a quick posting of two thought-provoking articles: In "Teaching My Son to Love Himself", found here, author Faye McCray wonders about the extent to which her son struggles with issues of identity when he finds a white girl is prettier than a Black one. A white father of an African-American son shares "What I Learned About Stop-and-Frisk From [...]
Yes, we know it is not Thursday. But we so love Thoughtful Thursday that even though we were not able to post yesterday, we are posting it today. When we were unable to post, the old expression "a day late and a dollar short" rang in our ears. So, we've decided to devote today's Thoughtful Thursday to favorite expressions [...]
Time for some good and inspirational news: Three young African American men are making the news for their college acceptances. Chad Thomas, a senior at Booker T. Washington Senior High in Miami, has received 150 scholarship offers for his football skills and his abilities as a nine-instrument musician. He has decided to attend the University of Miami, and will [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday poems are to be read aloud and discussed with your sons. "To PJ" by Sonia Sanchez is a sweet little ode to a two year old that is fun to read aloud, and a good example of how poets play with spelling and grammar in their work. "Michael" by Gwendolyn Brooks is a good poem to [...]
Have you thought about how much time your babysitter spends with your child vs. her device? We all know how tempting it is to have your connection to the world at your fingertips, calling to you with its rings, dings and whooshes every few minutes. How can you be sure your babysitter isn't heeding the calls of her device [...]
March and April are Spring Break months, and since we at GCP are Spring Breaking as we write, today's Thoughtful Thursday offerings are about vacations. In "Vacation", Rita Dove, who in 1987 became the second African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1993–1995, [...]