(L to R) Quenton Bubb, Robert Clinton, Ophelia Johnson, and Joel Rhone (photo via jbhe.com)
In 1953, the Marshall Scholarships program was established by an act of the British Parliament. Funded by the British government, the program is a national gesture of thanks to the American people for aid received under the Marshall Plan, the U.S.-financed program that led to the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The scholarships provide funds for up to two years of study at a British university, and include money for travel, living expenses, and books. Applicants must earn a degree at an American college or university with a minimum of a 3.7 grade point average.
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is authorized to award up to 40 scholarships each year. This year 32 scholarships were awarded. It appears from JBHE research, that four of the 32 winners are African Americans. Quenton Bubb is a senior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who is majoring in biophysics. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Bubb hopes to go to medical school and to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics. In England, he will pursue graduate studies in chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Robert Clinton is a senior at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. His independent study degree is focusing on the sociology and politics of urban agriculture. In England, Clinton will pursue a master of science degree in sustainable urbanism and a master of research degree in interdisciplinary urban design. Ophelia Johnson is a graduate of the University of Alabama Birmingham with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the university in engineering. Johnson is a former UNCF Merck Undergraduate Research Fellow and won a Goldwater Scholarship. Johnson will spend a year studying medical device design and entrepreneurship at Imperial College London. Joel Rhone is a senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., majoring in English. A native of California, Rhone served as president of the Sterling Allen Brown English Society at Howard. Rhone will conduct research at the University of Manchester on African-American literature, particularly its impact on, and depiction of, the African-American church. article via jbhe.com
The New Stereotype: The Reclaim (photo via Shadow And Act)
A new web series on Vimeo has been launched this month called “The New Stereotype: The Reclaim” which aims to change the perception of black men in the media.
Conceived by Harlem-based Marquelle Turner-Gilchrist, who is an assistant buyer for a luxury fashion company, he says that he came up with the idea for the series to “show the diversity and strength of black males.”
He then reached out to friends and others willing participants through social media to be a part of the project, and created it to be all inclusive, taking into account skin tones, fashion styles, careers and backgrounds from all over the world, such as Ghana, the Virgin Islands, North Carolina, Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Georgia.
The result is basically a fashion show for young, successful, upwardly mobile brothers (or “dandies” as I call them) who are eager to show a different image from the sagging pants and gold teeth that the media offers too often..
But if the idea of the series is to break away from the usual stereotypes of black men, then why use the word “stereotypes” in the title of his series? Well Mr. Turner-Gilchrist has an answer for that: “In order to truly create a ‘stereotype’ there must be frequency and consistency… For now, the idea is to continue to spread the imagery and message and investigate ways to elevate the project.”
UCLA Graduate Deanna Jordan (photo via cbslocal.com)
A 28-year-old single mother of three boys graduated from UCLA with three degrees. A packed house at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion cheered for Deanna Jordan Friday night.
“I needed for my sons to see there was a legacy that preceded them with college. I am the first in my family to go to college,” Jordan said.
Jordan grew up in Compton. After high school, she got pregnant at 18. She had her third son at 22. “I had him and in the hospital I remember thinking, ‘I’m 22, there’s no future unless I can create one,’” Jordan said.
After two years at West Los Angeles Community College and three-and-a-half years at UCLA, the department scholar is graduating with two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s in African-American Studies. “She had limited time, plus she took the initiative,” said Dale Tatum, a UCLA lecturer.
Jordan also founded the Compton Pipeline Taskforce—she and UCLA volunteers work on academics at Compton schools, including Carver Elementary, where she attended.
“I saw the difference in how my boys were in school in Brentwood and then how schools were in Compton where I came from,” she said.
Jordan credits family support and UCLA for making her dreams a reality. “You can’t really succeed unless you fail, and I failed a lot of times, but it was my persistence and my willingness never to give up,” she said.
Jordan, who also works in the Compton mayor’s office, plans to take a year off before she heads to law school. She plans on becoming a district attorney. article via risingafrica.org
Michael Jackson holding the several Grammy awards he won at the 1984 Grammy ceremonies Feb. 28, 1984, in Los Angeles. His top award was Album of the Year for Thriller. (SUSAN RAGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Michael Jackson is still setting records years after his death. The King of Pop’s Thriller album has become the first album to go platinum 30 times in the U.S., with sales of more than 30 million albums here and 100 million albums worldwide.
“RIAA has awarded gold and platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30-times, multiplatinum plateau,” said Recording Industry Association of America chief Cary Sherman in a statement. “We are honored to celebrate the unique status of Thriller in gold and platinum history.”
Thriller was released Nov. 30, 1982, and spent nearly two-and-a-half years on the Billboard album charts, with 37 weeks at No. 1. The album was produced by Quincy Jones and won eight Grammys. Included on the album were such hits as “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and its title song, “Thriller.”
“It is crystal clear that Michael Jackson is simply the greatest and biggest artist of all time,” Epic Records Chairman and CEO L.A. Reid said in a statement. “Not only are his charts hits, and sales stats staggering, but his pure musicality was otherworldly. Thriller was groundbreaking and electrifying … it was perfection. I am extremely proud that Michael is the heart and soul of Epic Records, and he will forever remain the one-and-only King of Pop.” article by Yesha Callahan via theroot.com
Korey Wise (photo via cnews.canoe.com)
The University of Colorado’s Innocence Project got a boost and a new name with a $190,000 donation from Korey Wise, a man exonerated in New York City’s high-profile Central Park jogger case.
The program, operated out of CU’s law school, is now named the Korey Wise Innocence Project at Colorado Law. Wise’s donation allowed the student-led volunteer program to hire a full-time director this fall and provides financial support for its investigative work.
The Innocence Project is a national nonprofit with chapters across the country that investigate claims of wrongful convictions. Colorado’s chapter was founded in 2001 under the Colorado Lawyers Committee and moved to the CU law school in 2010.
Wise was 16 when he was tried and convicted as an adult in connection with the 1989 attack and rape of a female jogger in Central Park.
He spent more than a decade in prison and was exonerated in 2002 after another man admitted to the attack and DNA testing confirmed his involvement. The convictions of the four other men accused in the attack were also overturned.
The men, who became known as the Central Park Five, settled with the city of New York for $41 million in 2014.
This is believed to be Wise’s first major philanthropic gift.
Lesa Lakin
Today we’ve got gifts we think any teen would appreciate. Yes, that age group can be a little tricky to buy for, but we think we’ve picked some good GOODS. Yes, I will certainly be doing the “gift card” thing… but I like to throw the teenagers off a bit and actually wrap a gift that scores and surprises them.
We’ve compiled a short list of goods they just might like. I’ve certainly got a little perma-teen in me, and I’d love just about any of these…
SKULLCANDY – CRUSHER – $99.99 (some colors on sale 79.99)
We LOVE the way these headphones look and sound. They come in nine stylish color combos. Crusher brings the sound and feeling that you get from sitting front row at a concert. The headphones’ design features a slider to control the bass and customize your music. Dual ear cup articulation and premium materials deliver long-lasting comfort. http://www.skullcandy.com/headphones/CRUSHER.html?cgid=1000&color=Bunny %20Teal#6lZUfLFXFpvBWuzJ.97
NAUGHTY or NICE DECORATIVE PILLOW, 10″ x 14″ – 100% Bloomingdale’s Exclusive – $70.00 (each)
Lt. General Naja West is the Army’s first black Surgeon General (Photo: John G. Martinez, Photojournalist to the Secretary of the Army) Falls Church, VA – The Senate confirmed Thursday Lt. Gen. Nadja Y. West to serve as the new Army Surgeon General and Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). This makes West the Army’s first black Surgeon General.
Additionally, with the appointment as the 44th Army Surgeon General, West picks up a third star to become the Army’s first black female to hold the rank of lieutenant general. West was sworn in as the Army Surgeon general on Friday by Acting Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning. She most recently served as the Joint Staff Surgeon at the Pentagon.
The Army Surgeon General provides advice and assistance to the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff on all health care matters pertaining to the U.S. Army and its military health care system. West will be responsible for development, policy direction, organization and overall management of an integrated Army-wide health service system and is the medical material developer for the Army. These duties include formulating policy regulations on health service support, health hazard assessment and the establishment of health standards.
Dual-hatted as the MEDCOM commanding general, West oversees more than 48 medical treatment facilities providing care to nearly 4 million active duty members of all services, retirees and their Family members. MEDCOM is composed of three regional health commands, the Medical Research and Materiel Command, and Army Medical Department Center & School.
West holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Doctorate of Medicine from George Washington University School of Medicine. She has held previous assignments as Commanding General, Europe Regional Medical Command; Commander of Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Division Surgeon, 1st Armored Division, Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany.
West hails from the District of Columbia, and she finished high school at the Academy of the Holy Names in Silver Spring, Md.
While West’s promotion to lieutenant general is already effective, she will “pin” on the rank in a formal ceremony in early 2015. article via eurweb.com
The Robert E. Lee Monument is seen in Lee Circle in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
New Orleans‘ leaders on Thursday made a sweeping move to break with the city’s Confederate past when the City Council voted to remove prominent Confederate monuments along some of its busiest streets.
The council’s 6-1 vote allows the city to remove four monuments, including a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has stood at the center of a traffic circle for 131 years.
It was an emotional meeting — often interrupted by heckling — infused with references to slavery, lynchings and racism, as well as the pleas of those who opposed removing the monuments to not “rewrite history.”
City Council President Jason Williams called the vote a symbolic severing of an “umbilical cord” tying the city to the offensive legacy of the Confederacy and the era of Jim Crow laws. “If anybody wins here, it will be the South, because it is finally rising,” Williams, who is African-American, said.
Stacy Head, a council member at large, was the lone vote against the removal. She is one of two white council members. She lamented what she called a rush to take the monuments down without adequate consideration of their historic value and meaning to many in New Orleans.
Fixing historic injustice is “a lot harder work than removing monuments,” she said, even as many in the packed council chambers jeered her. She said the issue was dividing the city, not uniting it. “I think all we will be left with is pain and division.”
The decision came after months of impassioned debate. On Thursday, four preservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to stop the city from taking down the monuments by challenging the city’s removal process. Mayor Mitch Landrieu first proposed taking down these monuments after police said a white supremacist killed nine parishioners inside the African-American Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June.
Charlie (Photo by Phoebe)
Every year without fail it takes me a minute to get into the holiday giving spirit. I Scrooge it up until it really hits me that the holidays are coming fast and furious and I’ve got to step on it to make things happen. This year is no exception. I am more likely to sit at a computer and “add to cart” than I am to brave the crowds in search of the perfect gift. Well, that was until it came to choosing an important gift for someone I love… my dog, Charlie (pictured above). No, I am not a crazy dog person (and yes, he’s a rescue)… and no, he doesn’t go everywhere with me. But we do have a mutual respect for one another and bring joy into each other’s lives on a daily basis.
I run with Charlie every morning regardless of the weather. But as the years pass, every winter I’m noticing he and I are not loving the pre-dawn adventures as much. Quite frankly – we are cold! But at least I am bundled… he is not. We used to sort of snub our noses at the little dogs that were geared up in their little outfits. Charlie is big and sturdy… does he really need a dog-semble? Well… he does now… and I’ve found the perfect one.
I searched the brick and mortars, but found one that fits our needs best in the old-school LL Bean catalog. They’ve got some great stuff in there. More choices from their catalog – for humans – coming in a later post. (Get ready – I’m bringing back the flannel nightgown!)
FIELD COAT FOR DOGS $29.95 (sizes small to extra large)
I really love the look of this parka… too bad my dog is too big. They only seem to have it in small – it’s a great color and a GREAT BUY. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/83822?feat=sr&term=dog+parka Holiday Treats:
I’ll probably pop down to Petco and get Charlie some of his favorite cookies, or maybe a couple of doggy cupcakes from Sprinkles… he deserves a little extra snack this season, too! Lesa Lakin and Charlie
