Singing.... "I'm tired. So tired."
Those of you who have been following this blog will notice that my schedule of a post a day, has been disrupted. I have been pleasantly very very busy of late assisting our population of students competing for scholarships in two different programs. Needless to say, I have been running around helping make the experience for the students as well done and enjoyable as possible.
The end result were phenomenal, and that is all the really matters. Watching the students walk in their fate and upcoming careers, taking on their adulthood, is very important to them and us as well. I tend to look upon them as a parent should, knowing their childhood is nearly over and the adults that emerge in their place, can be a very different person altogether.
C-Cap awarded over $400k worth of scholarship assistance this year and NAACP ACT-SO is preparing for our trip to the National Convention in Cincinnati Ohio, were they will compete for National medals and scholarships. Spring is blossoming in new life and academic success.
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Showing posts with label NAACP Act-so. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NAACP Act-so. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Friday, February 5, 2016
NAACP ACT-SO
Today is the day of our NAACP ACT-SO Image Awards Viewing party. This is a new fundraiser for the branch. We decided to host this viewing party after the lack of African Americans nominated for the Oscar's this year. The racial divide doesn't appear to be closing.
As the board Secretary, for the Chicago South side branch, I have been lending a hand, preparing and grooming our competitors for regional and national competition. Our esteemed journalist, Vernon Jarrett presented his concept for an Olympics of the mind in 1976 and in 1977 the NAACP Board of Directors adopted his resolution and became the national sponsor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Jarrett
ACT-SO sustains approximately 200 programs nationally. Over the past thirty years, over 300,000 have participated in the program. Our mission is to reward and recognize African American young men and woman for their scholastic and artistic excellence. We strive to honor, prepare, recognize, and develop the talents in our under-served community. http://www.naacpconnect.org/pages/act-so-history
Every year we do a lot of fundraising because this is a golden opportunity for our young people that they may never get to experience otherwise and we do not charge the participants, or their families, the expense of travel and accommodations to compete nationally. All of our efforts throughout the year is focused upon getting our kids ready to win prizes and scholarships and usher them into a illustrious college career. Thirty two categories covering categories of STEM, Business, Visual Arts, Humanities, Performing arts, Dance, and my personal favorite, Culinary Arts.
I began my involvement two years ago when my oldest child, Jacqueline Alexander, competed in the photography category. She worked during her Junior and Senior years in high school and went to national competition both years. The work we did with her did prepare her very well, not only for ACT-SO but for the other work she did in school and for the other avenues she explored for scholarships. This year my other daughter, Victoria Alexander, is competing in a music performance category, a visual arts category and a short story category.
Eligible students are 9th - 12th grade, they can compete in up to 3 categories and can compete every year until they have graduated high school. Jacqueline is still involved with the program as an alumni, mentor, and youth ambassador in her Freshman year of college.
I am proud to sit on the board, and I am a proud parent as well. If you are interested in supporting our good cause, our young upcoming leaders, please come join us tonight and/or send a donation by way of purchasing a ticket to our event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/naacp-chicago-southside-act-so-presentsimage-awards-viewing-party-tickets-20877805077
We do lots of events, both online and in real life, to raise the funding needed to take our gold medalists on the South side of Chicago, to our national conference. We hope to send a larger contingency this year than last year, we hope to recruit more and more of our young people into competition, and we hope to be the lightening rod that electrifies their futures.
As the board Secretary, for the Chicago South side branch, I have been lending a hand, preparing and grooming our competitors for regional and national competition. Our esteemed journalist, Vernon Jarrett presented his concept for an Olympics of the mind in 1976 and in 1977 the NAACP Board of Directors adopted his resolution and became the national sponsor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Jarrett
ACT-SO sustains approximately 200 programs nationally. Over the past thirty years, over 300,000 have participated in the program. Our mission is to reward and recognize African American young men and woman for their scholastic and artistic excellence. We strive to honor, prepare, recognize, and develop the talents in our under-served community. http://www.naacpconnect.org/pages/act-so-history
Every year we do a lot of fundraising because this is a golden opportunity for our young people that they may never get to experience otherwise and we do not charge the participants, or their families, the expense of travel and accommodations to compete nationally. All of our efforts throughout the year is focused upon getting our kids ready to win prizes and scholarships and usher them into a illustrious college career. Thirty two categories covering categories of STEM, Business, Visual Arts, Humanities, Performing arts, Dance, and my personal favorite, Culinary Arts.
I began my involvement two years ago when my oldest child, Jacqueline Alexander, competed in the photography category. She worked during her Junior and Senior years in high school and went to national competition both years. The work we did with her did prepare her very well, not only for ACT-SO but for the other work she did in school and for the other avenues she explored for scholarships. This year my other daughter, Victoria Alexander, is competing in a music performance category, a visual arts category and a short story category.
Eligible students are 9th - 12th grade, they can compete in up to 3 categories and can compete every year until they have graduated high school. Jacqueline is still involved with the program as an alumni, mentor, and youth ambassador in her Freshman year of college.
I am proud to sit on the board, and I am a proud parent as well. If you are interested in supporting our good cause, our young upcoming leaders, please come join us tonight and/or send a donation by way of purchasing a ticket to our event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/naacp-chicago-southside-act-so-presentsimage-awards-viewing-party-tickets-20877805077
We do lots of events, both online and in real life, to raise the funding needed to take our gold medalists on the South side of Chicago, to our national conference. We hope to send a larger contingency this year than last year, we hope to recruit more and more of our young people into competition, and we hope to be the lightening rod that electrifies their futures.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Art is....
Art is many things, takes many forms, expressing itself throughout every realm. Perhaps it is easier to say what isn't art than to try and define it. For me, in many cases, art stops being art when it gets co-opted and turned into advertising for mass media consumption.
Agree or disagree, I am okay with how you see things. I'm not okay with not being respected because when someone's art isn't valued very often neither is the person respected. Ever since the Oscar nominations were announced this year the conversations have sprung up everywhere about why there's a lack of minority actors and other filmmakers on the list.
While you might not be invested emotionally in this conversation, or can understand the protesters views, it does effect much more in our culture than you may think. A person's art, painting, music, sculpting, dance, and food, will outlive the artist and may even become an immortal part of them. Cave paintings, unearthed pottery and artifacts, Escoffier's legendary cooking methods, Michelangelo's art, invention, and poetry have stood the test of time.
But what of the art, science, invention, and music of the non-Anglo-Saxon? Art is universal, it transcends language and cultural norms, it is the best of ourselves manifested, a monument to our existence. I find it so valuable of an expression that my life revolves around it and is filled with it. My husband is an illustrator, myself a pastry chef, my friends all create some type of art, architecture, and science. I am an active board member for the NAACP ACT-SO Southside of Chicago Scholarship competition, my two youngest children are musicians, I have three professional musicians in the family, and two professional comedians. To me, a life without art is like living in a all white room with too much light and no sight, color, or sound, unbearable.
As the board Secretary, I assist our all volunteer board and staff prepare are high school age kids for competition. We conduct a regional competition and our gold medalist are then taken to nationals, free of charge, to compete amongst more than 700 kids from across the nation for college scholarships. My job, well one of my jobs, with C-Cap (Careers through Culinary Arts Program) also has a high school scholarship competition specifically for upcoming chefs.
Culinary arts is the combination of applied chemistry and art. The higher the level of the artistry the more it is considered fine dinning. Many people watch culinary television but don't really understand what it is that we chef's actually do. There still seems to be some elitist thinking from other professions that makes them look down upon the work that we create, while at the same time they seek out our work to consume. Cutting the art from cooking kills the lifeblood of the work, stifles the chef, kills their expressionism and creativity. Not all food is elevated to artistic levels but almost all of cooking has a creative spirit, some chefs dance with their spices and food combinations like a jazz musician on ice skates while others play it safer.
Art is a simple and pure expression of humanity and ignoring one type while prizing another is damaging the souls of the artists that created the ignored art. Not everyone likes the same type of art or the same artists but what I am referring to is the systematic exclusions that happen in some art circles. No each his own but know that my art has a value just like your art does without question.
Agree or disagree, I am okay with how you see things. I'm not okay with not being respected because when someone's art isn't valued very often neither is the person respected. Ever since the Oscar nominations were announced this year the conversations have sprung up everywhere about why there's a lack of minority actors and other filmmakers on the list.
While you might not be invested emotionally in this conversation, or can understand the protesters views, it does effect much more in our culture than you may think. A person's art, painting, music, sculpting, dance, and food, will outlive the artist and may even become an immortal part of them. Cave paintings, unearthed pottery and artifacts, Escoffier's legendary cooking methods, Michelangelo's art, invention, and poetry have stood the test of time.
But what of the art, science, invention, and music of the non-Anglo-Saxon? Art is universal, it transcends language and cultural norms, it is the best of ourselves manifested, a monument to our existence. I find it so valuable of an expression that my life revolves around it and is filled with it. My husband is an illustrator, myself a pastry chef, my friends all create some type of art, architecture, and science. I am an active board member for the NAACP ACT-SO Southside of Chicago Scholarship competition, my two youngest children are musicians, I have three professional musicians in the family, and two professional comedians. To me, a life without art is like living in a all white room with too much light and no sight, color, or sound, unbearable.
As the board Secretary, I assist our all volunteer board and staff prepare are high school age kids for competition. We conduct a regional competition and our gold medalist are then taken to nationals, free of charge, to compete amongst more than 700 kids from across the nation for college scholarships. My job, well one of my jobs, with C-Cap (Careers through Culinary Arts Program) also has a high school scholarship competition specifically for upcoming chefs.
Culinary arts is the combination of applied chemistry and art. The higher the level of the artistry the more it is considered fine dinning. Many people watch culinary television but don't really understand what it is that we chef's actually do. There still seems to be some elitist thinking from other professions that makes them look down upon the work that we create, while at the same time they seek out our work to consume. Cutting the art from cooking kills the lifeblood of the work, stifles the chef, kills their expressionism and creativity. Not all food is elevated to artistic levels but almost all of cooking has a creative spirit, some chefs dance with their spices and food combinations like a jazz musician on ice skates while others play it safer.
Art is a simple and pure expression of humanity and ignoring one type while prizing another is damaging the souls of the artists that created the ignored art. Not everyone likes the same type of art or the same artists but what I am referring to is the systematic exclusions that happen in some art circles. No each his own but know that my art has a value just like your art does without question.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Roots and Wings - Mentoring the new generation
For about a year or so now, I have began teaching kids culinary skills at a high school and at a youth center. The age groups are 5-8th graders and 9-12th at a CPS high school. Along with that work, I have been working with the NAACP ACT-SO South side of Chicago Scholarship program for the last two years and I now sit on that volunteer board as the Secretary after helping out when my eldest child was a competitor.
While I had anticipated doing some mentoring, and hoped to build into my business plans to find a way to develop an internship, I did not think that I would be, at this point of my life, doing as much as I am for and with kids. I have not yet finished raising my own children and now I am mentoring many more.
After a loss of position and a downward turn in my health, I was grateful for the needed time to investigate my medical problems. A return to working near 20 hour days for a business that was simply providing a hourly wage, making others much richer, and me only slightly better off, didn't seem possible or practical. I am not the same hardworking chick I once was and when the opportunity came to try my hand at teaching culinary, instead of only producing large quantities for service while my health worsened from the stress of the job, I accepted.
Both populations of kids have their associated issues of behavior, which is different for each group, but they have never done anything outside of the typical actions of their age groups. Pre-teens and teens have the prerequisites of talking too much, listening too little, short attention spans, easily distracted, thinking only about a response to questions instead of listening to the information given, and let us not forget the attention-seeking actions that express need for attention and acceptance from peers, adults, and members of the opposite sex. All that aside, let's talk to their needs for stability and the need for dreaming big.
The kids in my classes, and others to whom I speak to often, either have big dreams of their futures or none at all, it seems. Leaving them to either desire to do the impossible or misunderstanding that nothing is possible. I haven't seen much of a middle ground with these kids. While some wish to fly on wax wings too close to the sun, others are too scared to make attempts.
Every dreamer needs a good dose sense and solid foundation and every bird scared to leave the nest needs a firm push outward to test their wings. My high school kids are learning much more that culinary skill, if they attempt to pay attention to lecture and conversations, as I spend time teaching life skills, nutrition, household management, diets, social commentary, current affairs, and what else seems important at the time. Food involves aspects of culture, socialization, economy, mathematics, applied chemistry, art, tempting of all our senses, and transmitting care, love, and survival.
No matter what a young ones' desires to do with their years, grounding them in understandings, wisdom, and careful practices is doing them the service of your knowledge about life in our society. But be careful not to plunge their path into utter darkness and fear, so that they never attempt flight for in doing so, you steal the life blood from the innocent. It is not easy to strike a balance, give wise council, and fair warnings to individuals that think they know everything, hard headed, and stubborn. But to fail, or refuse to try, lending your experience to them so they may avoid the potholes and pitfalls is a sin. Failing to do your duty to inform the next generation leaves them to reinvent the wheel again without diagram or Allen wrench to assemble that which they bought at Ikea. Sad.
Too many wish only to complain and too few are willing to help; which camp is your tent pitched in?
While I had anticipated doing some mentoring, and hoped to build into my business plans to find a way to develop an internship, I did not think that I would be, at this point of my life, doing as much as I am for and with kids. I have not yet finished raising my own children and now I am mentoring many more.
After a loss of position and a downward turn in my health, I was grateful for the needed time to investigate my medical problems. A return to working near 20 hour days for a business that was simply providing a hourly wage, making others much richer, and me only slightly better off, didn't seem possible or practical. I am not the same hardworking chick I once was and when the opportunity came to try my hand at teaching culinary, instead of only producing large quantities for service while my health worsened from the stress of the job, I accepted.
Both populations of kids have their associated issues of behavior, which is different for each group, but they have never done anything outside of the typical actions of their age groups. Pre-teens and teens have the prerequisites of talking too much, listening too little, short attention spans, easily distracted, thinking only about a response to questions instead of listening to the information given, and let us not forget the attention-seeking actions that express need for attention and acceptance from peers, adults, and members of the opposite sex. All that aside, let's talk to their needs for stability and the need for dreaming big.
The kids in my classes, and others to whom I speak to often, either have big dreams of their futures or none at all, it seems. Leaving them to either desire to do the impossible or misunderstanding that nothing is possible. I haven't seen much of a middle ground with these kids. While some wish to fly on wax wings too close to the sun, others are too scared to make attempts.
Every dreamer needs a good dose sense and solid foundation and every bird scared to leave the nest needs a firm push outward to test their wings. My high school kids are learning much more that culinary skill, if they attempt to pay attention to lecture and conversations, as I spend time teaching life skills, nutrition, household management, diets, social commentary, current affairs, and what else seems important at the time. Food involves aspects of culture, socialization, economy, mathematics, applied chemistry, art, tempting of all our senses, and transmitting care, love, and survival.
No matter what a young ones' desires to do with their years, grounding them in understandings, wisdom, and careful practices is doing them the service of your knowledge about life in our society. But be careful not to plunge their path into utter darkness and fear, so that they never attempt flight for in doing so, you steal the life blood from the innocent. It is not easy to strike a balance, give wise council, and fair warnings to individuals that think they know everything, hard headed, and stubborn. But to fail, or refuse to try, lending your experience to them so they may avoid the potholes and pitfalls is a sin. Failing to do your duty to inform the next generation leaves them to reinvent the wheel again without diagram or Allen wrench to assemble that which they bought at Ikea. Sad.
Too many wish only to complain and too few are willing to help; which camp is your tent pitched in?
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Competition is how you see it.....
I am the secretarial chairperson for the NAACP Act-so scholarship program South-side branch and I have been working with our young people in this program and others. My eldest child, Jacqueline, competed two years and went to nationals. In this role, we do a lot to prepare them for competition and I keep finding myself talk to them about their nerves and who they are competing against.
It's natural to feel some trepidation about presenting a project or performance that you have pour time, energy, and bit of your soul into foe others to review, however, often times their focus is pointing in the wrong direction. I find that most kids fixate upon the other competitors instead of competing against who they were yesterday.
No matter what the activity or project, the only true way to measure your progress is compete against yourself. Steel hones steel and while you are counting the number of steps your colleagues, you miss count your own. This should be the foundation of your education, getting better and better piece by piece. Framing your picture in another's framework will not work. My favorite saying about this is "If I am busy being like my sister, then who will be busy being me?"
Young people have so much to consider, take on, overcome, decide, and to become. It is not a small thing for a teenager to decide to go to law school and make steps in that direction. With those words, you are trying to determine what the next 40 years or more of your life will become, having only lived just a few. Missteps and uneasiness are always apart of the learning process but can often deter a young person.
I have no magic wand to make everything okay, however, when I changed my focus from other's progress onto my own it helped me tremendously. It allowed me to be honest with myself about where I was on my journey and how much further I wanted to go. As a chef, the next chef on my team is not going to be happy if I can't hold up my end, or will be unwilling to pick up my slack, whereas when I am on top of my skills and work outputs, other's can then rely on my work and seek me out for advice or leadership beyond my work requirements which can make my participation a blessing instead of a curse. Hold up a mirror to yourself, not to groom your appearance, but instead to groom your ability. Life is not just about the destinations, it's about the journey. I don't expect perfection from others or myself, I expect progress.
It's natural to feel some trepidation about presenting a project or performance that you have pour time, energy, and bit of your soul into foe others to review, however, often times their focus is pointing in the wrong direction. I find that most kids fixate upon the other competitors instead of competing against who they were yesterday.
No matter what the activity or project, the only true way to measure your progress is compete against yourself. Steel hones steel and while you are counting the number of steps your colleagues, you miss count your own. This should be the foundation of your education, getting better and better piece by piece. Framing your picture in another's framework will not work. My favorite saying about this is "If I am busy being like my sister, then who will be busy being me?"
Young people have so much to consider, take on, overcome, decide, and to become. It is not a small thing for a teenager to decide to go to law school and make steps in that direction. With those words, you are trying to determine what the next 40 years or more of your life will become, having only lived just a few. Missteps and uneasiness are always apart of the learning process but can often deter a young person.
I have no magic wand to make everything okay, however, when I changed my focus from other's progress onto my own it helped me tremendously. It allowed me to be honest with myself about where I was on my journey and how much further I wanted to go. As a chef, the next chef on my team is not going to be happy if I can't hold up my end, or will be unwilling to pick up my slack, whereas when I am on top of my skills and work outputs, other's can then rely on my work and seek me out for advice or leadership beyond my work requirements which can make my participation a blessing instead of a curse. Hold up a mirror to yourself, not to groom your appearance, but instead to groom your ability. Life is not just about the destinations, it's about the journey. I don't expect perfection from others or myself, I expect progress.
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