Morphological Confetti

I've been thinking about Billie Holiday's music all week. I guess it's just that season. The weather is cooling off and perhaps I associate her music with autumn days. I don't think of her music as sad, but it does cause me to be contemplative and dreamy. I think of these times and her times. I think of the world, but not as it is but how it could be. Yes, I am a dreamer. I supposed that is what helps me to cope. God keeps me sane. Well, I just dropped in to share my thoughts. I'll be seeing you...soon. ~PEACE

Incident Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me. Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, "Nigger." I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember. Countee Cullen was a leading figure along with others who helped to define the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullen suffered high blood pressure and uremic poisoning and died suddenly on January 9, 1946. He was 42.  Read more... Sources:   wikipedia, blackfacts.com, and American National Biography Online

Hollywood Actor, producer, and director Charles "Roc" Dutton will be honored at the 3rd annual Top 100 MBE Award ceremony. Mr. Dutton, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, has an illustrious career as an actor that continues to grow strong. His recent role was as Willie 'Pops' Davis in, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story . The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, November 6, 2008 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at The University of Maryland (UMUC) Marriott Inn and Conference Center in Adelphi, Maryland. The annual award, which honors outstanding women and minority business owners in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia was started by Maryland native, businesswoman, and entrepreneur, Sharon R. Pinder of the Pinder Group, LLC . For more information please visit top100mbe.com Photo source: irconnect.com

"One and God make a majority"~ Frederick Douglass "I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs"~Frederick Douglass Who is Frederick Douglass? These photos were taken over the weekend at the Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore, Maryland. We gathered there to celebrate my great-aunt's 80th birthday. I'll have to go back to Baltimore to take a closer look at the exhibit real soon. Happy birthday aunt Pearline! Photos: Douglass memorial bust, Mrs. Bess and Douglass, Stephen Bess and Douglass (The photos feature quotes by Frederick Douglass on prayer and God) Book on Subject: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, by Himself

Vials for crack-cocaine found in an alley in Baltimore, Maryland Photo by: Stephen A. Bess . “ Over time, as the suppliers figured out how to make crack more easily, the price of crack fell dramatically,” says Levitt. “Therefore, an addict could consume much more crack with the same amount of income. The number of people using crack has fallen, but the total amount of crack consumed hasn’t fallen nearly as much because each addict is consuming much more.” Sources: http://www.chicagogsb.edu/ (The Economics of an Illicit Drug Market, April 2006)

September 7, 1954 - Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Md., public schools integrated. Today: We have a public school system in Washington, D.C. that is 84.6% Black and 4.5% White/non-Hispanic . In Baltimore the numbers are similar. Baltimore City: 87.5% Black 10.8% White/non-Hispanic Intergration? Am I missing something? source: National Center For Education Statistics photo: Suprememe Court Bldg in Washington, D.C. / by: S Bess Model: Thomas Bess

This weekend, I had the pleasure of going to a bridal celebration for a South African couple in Baltimore. This is a couple that I've met only recently. They are traveling to South Africa within the next couple of weeks to have a traditional SA celebration of their union. Actually, the Bride is South African and the Groom is an African American from Baltimore (I use the term African American only to differentiate between the two because we're all just Black folks to me). They are a beautiful couple and they love each other very much. Now, whenever I go to a celebration for anyone of just about any culture, I find a way to participate in whatever is going on culturally (without being pretentious). Culturally, my experiences have ranged from Caribbean to Latino. I've only recently come into contact with people from Africa over the last couple of years. I love the similarities and I especially love the differences that they have with African Americans. South Africans love to s...