With the wind kicking up here in New York City today, it finally is beginning to feel like fall. It is only fitting then that today's Thoughtful Thursday offers up some poems to celebrate the season. In "Merry Autumn" the great African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar notes how the festive fall colors brighten up the year. Pulitzer prize [...]
Feeling overwhelmed by the high school application process for your son or daughter? You are certainly not alone. Here are a few tips to keep you and your child sane during the process: 1. Understand and Respect That the Process Takes a LOT of Work and a LOT of Time. And you will be responsible for the vast majority [...]
In the wake of the tragic Las Vegas Shooting, for today's Thoughtful Thursday we offer inspirational poems of survival. We begin with "little prayer" by Danez Smith, a call for healing. We move on to classic celebrations of survival, "Life is Fine" by Langston Hughes and "And Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. We end with "Shoulders", in which [...]
Another mass shooting, this time at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. How do we talk to our children about this tragic event? GCP has discussed this issue before, after Newton and Charleston . And now we must talk about Las Vegas. But what should we say? Experts say it depends on how old our children are: Preschool:Discuss only [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday brings poetry of the resistance. Generations of African American poets have given us clarity, purpose and direction in times of political crisis. Here are poems from three of our great poets: Claude McKay (1889-1948), Langston Hughes (1902-1967), and Nikki Giovanni (1943-). We need this poetry now more than ever. Share with your children and enjoy. I [...]
We are raising the next generation of thinkers and problem solvers in this increasingly polarized world. How do they become independent thinkers? Are we making sure that they have the tools to think their way through problems of the future? What are those tools and how do we help our children develop them? Let's hope that their schools are [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday presents a cool poetry combo: "We Real Cool", a classic from Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), our first national Black Poet Laureate, and a poem inspired by this classic, "Because it looked hotter that way" by Camille T.Dungy (1972-), an award winning poet who teaches at San Francisco State University. Dungy's poem is an acrostic which uses each [...]
Worried about how your kids are getting (or not getting) along? Sibling squabbling and rivalry are to be expected in the normal course of things, but you do want them to establish a bond that stays strong when they are no longer obligated to live together under one roof. I thought a lot about this when my three children [...]
Sixteen years ago we watched in horror as terrorists took the Twin Towers down, damaged the Pentagon and killed innocent people on American soil. We honor the memories of the fallen every 9/11 with prayers for their families and for our country, with monuments, with moments of silence. We remember. Noted poet Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) wrote "September's Song, A [...]
Did you know that this week --September 10-16--is National Suicide Prevention Week? While many of us are quick to say "Black people don't commit suicide", the data tells a disturbingly different story. Studies released in 2015 showed that there were more suicides among African American children ages 5 to 11 than among white children. And the Center for Disease [...]