Sunday, June 17, 2012

Letter to my Dad on Father's Day



Dear Dad,
On this Father's Day, I want to thank you for being the first man in my life.  For being there to love and guide me through all my ups and downs.  For telling me the stories of your boyhood -- how you grew up in the Deep South picking cotton and raising hogs.  You were such a young man, only twenty-one, when you married Momma and started a family.  How difficult it must have been for you at such a young age, finding your way North out of the Jim Crow South.

To this day, I remember the lessons you taught.  How even in lean times, you managed to put food on the table and save for a rainy day.  What was it you used to say? "Your outgo should never be more than your income."  To this day I still use that simple economics lesson when trying to stretch my paycheck to the end of the month.

I can still hear you say, "Get a good education; nobody can take that away from you ."  So, with your encouragement, I went to college and earned two degrees.  You always said you were a man of your word; and you lived up to that creed by never making a promise that you couldn't keep. 

Every day you got up at dawn and went to work come rain or shine.  At night, you got down on your knees and prayed before going to bed.  Now, every day I go to work and do my best even when I don't feel like it.  And I pray morning, noon, and night.

If I have made anything of myself, it is largely because of you, Dad.  So today, I honor, praise, and thank you for being such a wise and loving father.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Save Gas Money; Save Our Planet

I have to admit I am so blessed.  Just as I was about to blow a gasket about the astronomical rise in gas prices over the past weeks, I get an e-mail at work.  I am lucky enough to work for a healthcare company that cares about its employees and the communities in which they work.  The subject line on the e-mail was "Let's Build Healthy Communities."  In the e-mail was a link to a website that gave information on how to reduce fuel consumption.  Just what I needed when gasoline prices have gone up to over $4.50 a gallon in my neighborhood. It's a great site.  Some of the tips it gave are for reducing fuel consumption are:
  • Avoid vehicle trips when possible, especially for shorter distances; walk or ride a bicycle instead.
  • Carpool, vanpool, or use public transportation once or twice a week.
  • Improve fuel economy by:
    1) Accelerating and decelerating more slowly
    2) Driving within the speed limit
    3) Removing unnecessary weight in your car to lighten resistance
    4) Turning off the ignition when your car is standing still
    5) Maintaining proper tire pressure.
    6) Following proper maintenance of your vehicle
  • Linking trips together
Sure, some of the tips are plain common sense.  But how often do we drive around the corner to the store or post office?  I don't know about you, but I am so tired of paying exorbitant prices at the pump.  I'll try just about anything to save a buck or two.  Maybe I'll even lose a few pounds by walking or bicycling a few times a week.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Farewell to Brother Jamal Ali


His death came as no surprise.  For years, cancer had coursed its awful way from his lungs to the rest of his organs.  All through surgery, chemo, radiation, Jamal fought gallantly like a wounded soldier never complaining about the toll the treatments took on his mind and body.  When he finally passed on November 4, 2011, his last breath was a sigh.  Having spent his last days sitting at his bedside, holding his hands, massaging his shoulders, whispering love songs in his ears, we all sighed, relieved that his Spirit had ascended. 

Since the disease had ravaged not only his body, but his checking account, a proper burial was never an option.  His remains would be cremated.  But where would his ashes be scattered?  We puzzled for days.  Jamal had been an avid hiker who loved to scale the heights of the Sierra Madre mountains that shoulder the San Gabrial Valley.  So in the end it was a no brainer.

Jamal was a follower of Ifa (a Yoruban religion). So, it would have been sacrilegious to even consider holding his memorial at a Christian church.  Thanks to three beautiful angels who hovered over him during his ordeal (Elaine, S. Pearl, and Hasani) arrangements were made for his Going Home Celebration to be held at KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science in L.A. 

On Saturday, Feb. 4, as I sat in the back pew of the Unity Center, my eyes taking in a golden ankh, Egyptian sculptures -- Afrikan symbols of life and death, I couldn't help but think how pleased Jamal would have been to have his celebration held in such a sacred circle.  Jamal was a great scholar, poet, engineer, culinary artist, jazz aficionado. And his Going Home Celebration was truly a reflection of his higher consciousness.  Gathered in the room that day were doctors, spiritual advisors, authors, engineers, astrologers, teachers, musicians who came to pay their last respects.  Hearing their music, eulogies and wise spoken words was like having a great light of consciousness radiate from a sphere.  After the ceremony in the dining hall, plates of Thai food (his favorite) were dished up and the deep thunder of a recording of his voice reading from his trilogy, "HeartFire Rendezvous", filled the room.

The next morning, Sunday, Feb. 5, (the day before what would have been his 59th birthday) the sun rose a fiery orange ball in a clear blue sky.  It couldn't have been a better day for releasing his ashes.  At about eleven a.m. seven of us (Elaine, Jean, Tchise', Hasani, Angela, John and me) caravaned through Altadena up to Chaney Trail.  We parked at the top of the hill and hiked through the forest searching for a good resting place for his ashes.

Since all the women except Angela and Tchise' are over fifty, I thought we would hike for only a short distance, but leading the pack, Elaine and Tchise' kept moving deeper and deeper into the forest.

Finally, after hiking for over a mile over steep mountain cliffs, we heard Elaine's voice, clear and strong.

"Here it is!" 

We rounded the bend and lo and behold, there it was -- a sturdy metal foot bridge crossing a  steep ravine of emerald green sloping downward to a waterfall on the other side of the hill.  Exhausted, we rested a moment in silence before Tchise' and Elaine began breaking the strings that held his precious Ifa beads.  After scattering his beads over the bridge, they climbed down the slope and sat near the dried creek bed.  We sang, prayed, laughed, cried as they scattered his ashes, which drifted like ghosts through rays of sun. 

"Farewell, Jamal," I said.

"We love you," someone else said.

Now he was truly free.  And in some ways, so were we.

Funny, how Nature has her way of communicating. As Elaine, Jean and I stood in the driveway of my house saying goodbye, Jean pointed at a tree overhanging the driveway and said, "Look at that." 

Searching in the direction in which her finger pointed, our eyes fell on a black monarch butterfly (a symbol of metamorphosis and transformation) sitting on the Y of the tree trunk.  I've seen many monarchs in my yard, but never a black one.

Jamal's trilogy, "Heartfire Rendezvous", is available through:

heartfirerendezvous.wordpress.com
amazon.com

Monday, January 16, 2012

Open Letter to Dr. M. L. King

Dear Dr. King,
I am writing this letter to wish you a Happy Birthday.  I am honored and privileged to be able to be here to celebrate what would have been your 83rd birthday, and to thank God that you were born.  For surely, He sent you here to teach and lead us to our higher selves.

Sometimes I wonder what kind of leader you would have become if you had not been gunned down forty-four years ago at the young age of 39 on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis.  What words of love, hope and encouragement would you offer to the millions of poor and disenfranchised among us -- to the middle class who have become disillusioned with the American Dream?  What counsel and advice would you give to President Barack H. Obama, our first African American President?  What advice would you offer to help our Commander in Chief to steer this giant ship of America back on a course of equal opportunity and justice for all?  To a time when everyone can sit at America's bountiful table.  Would you have reminded us that the fight for human rights is not over -- but in many ways has just begun?

Since you are not here physically to be our moral compass, perhaps the best gift we can offer you on your birthday is a commitment to keep your Dream alive, to continue to be drum majors for a more peaceful world.

Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude for all that you gave.  Despite your critics, the world is a better place because you lived, and we still have hope for a better future.

RespectfullyYours,

Miss Hazel

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Fela -- The Show of a Life Time


If you want to see a performance that will transport you to another dimension, make you get up out of your seat and move to a pulsating beat, go see Fela!.  Produced by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and directed by Bill T. Jones, Fela tells the story of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of the hottest musicians borne from African soil. 

During the Sixties and Seventies while Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, and Stokely Carmichael and other activists were railing against American racial and social injustices, Fela was creating his own brand of music called Afrobeat, a mix of rhythms from around the globe.  He used his music as a weapon to raise consciousness and attack a corrupt Nigerian dictatorship and the giant oil companies that placed them in power.

Tony Award nominee Sahr Ngaujah and NEA and Bessie Award recipient, Adeosola Osakalumi do an amazing job of invoking Fela's indomitable spirit on stage.  Conducted by Aaron Johnson, the band rocks the house.  Not to mention the cast of singers and dancers whose acrobatic, gyrating movements take the story to another level.

A must see show, Fela not only tells the story of an incredible human being, but will also thoroughly entertain you and make you hunger for more. 

Fela! is playing at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles through Feb. 22.  For more information, visit felaonbroadway.com

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Is the World Coming to an End This Year?

Several weeks ago I found my twelve year old grandson lying in bed sobbing his poor heart out.  "What's wrong?" I asked.  "The world is coming to an end next year and I'm worried about it," he said.

I did my best to reassure him that there was no truth to that vicious rumor, but quite honestly I didn't have any facts to back up my viewpoint.  I'd heard the 2012 Doomsday predictions, but had been too busy to pay much attention to them.

As New Years approached, rumors flew across the Internet faster than a nest of mad hornets, so I figured I'd better educate myself on the subject.  I got hundreds of hits when I googled 2012 Predictions, but I figured that information on NASA's website would be the most reliable. From NASA, I learned that the dire predictions are based on a number of widespread beliefs.
  1. Nibiru (Planet X) is supposedly headed on a collision course with Earth on December of 2012. 
  2. In December there is supposed to be an alignment of the Sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
  3. A cycle of the Mayan calendar ends on the winter solstice, December 21, 2012.
My blood pressure lowered as I continued to read and discovered that when the Mayan calendar ends in December 2012, it will be no different than when our Gregorian calendar ends on December 31 and resumes on January 1. I was also relieved to learn that Nibiru and other wayward planets are an Internet hoax.  In a related link, E.C. Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory, stated that he expects no planetary alignment to occur on the winter solstice. 

An article in the Jan. 1, 2012 edition of the L.A. Times reported that according to NASA, solar storms do occur every 11 years, and the next cycle is expected to occur around 2012-2013.  However, effects of solar storms have been exaggerated.

I have to admit that I was one of those who ran around like Chicken Little crying "The sky is falling" during the Y2K scare of 1999.  After the hurricane force winds that tore through my neighborhood in early December of 2011, I plan to be better prepared for natural disasters, but I am determined not to panic.

After all with our economy still in a disaster and a Presidential Election on the horizon, I have enough to worry about.