Stefun Darts ate microwave pizza for months on end just to be able to give his grandparents the surprise of their lives. The full time college student and founder of the non-profit Caring Heart Youth presented his grandmother and grandfather with a check on March 20th for $15,000 to pay off their mortgage.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Marilyn Roberts, Stefun’s grandmother said. “To have a grandson like that is truly a blessing.”
For more than 20 years, the Roberts have being paying their mortgage on time every month and were well on their way to paying off their house. However, it would’ve taken another four years to do so, which is when Darts stepped in.
On this day when family and friends traditionally come together to share a special meal and offer gratitude for blessings as well as the ability to survive life’s most humbling challenges, GBN wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We’d also like to express our gratitude to you, our followers, and say “thank you” for the continued love, positivity and support. Enjoy!
J. California Cooper, an award-winning writer whose black female characters confront a world of indifference and betrayal, but find kinship there in unexpected places, died on September 20th in Seattle. She was 82. A spokesman for Random House, her publisher, confirmed her death. She had had several heart attacks in recent years.
Ms. Cooper won an American Book Award in 1989 for the second of her six story collections, “Homemade Love.” Her short story “Funny Valentines,” about a woman in a troubled marriage who repairs an old rift with a cousin when she moves back home, was turned into a 1999 television movie starring Alfre Woodard and Loretta Devine.
Writing in a vernacular first-person style, Ms. Cooper set her stories in an indeterminate rural past permeated with violence and the ghost of slavery. The African-American women she depicts endure abandonment, betrayal, rape and social invisibility, but they survive.
“Some Soul to Keep” (1987), her third collection, includes over-the-back-fence tales. One story tells of two women who become close friends after one woman’s husband dies and the other’s leaves. They learn that long-lived rumors of their dislike for each other had been fabricated by their husbands. Another story is about a blind girl who is raped by her minister, gives birth to his son and raises him alone because, she explains, he makes her forget she is blind.
Ms. Cooper’s 1991 novel, “Family,” one of five she wrote, is narrated by the ghost of a slave woman who committed suicide before the Civil War and who follows the lives of her descendants as they mingle and procreate in a new interracial world, marveling at how “from one woman all these different colors and nationalities could come into being.”
Ms. Cooper was clear about the religious values that informed her stories. “I’m a Christian,” she told The Washington Post in 2000. “That’s all I am. If it came down to Christianity and writing, I’d let the writing go. God is bigger than a book.”
In an interview on NPR in 2006, she said, “What I’m basically trying to do is help somebody make some right choices.”
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/68049176 w=500&h=281] THE SOCIAL SERIES PROJECT is a series of online campaigns that promotes positive images in society through imagery. In a world filled with negative images, KUU photography wants to take responsibility and create balance through amazing visual arts. They present the first edition titled: “Fatherhood Is…” The project includes a video and a Facebook page. Sabrina Thompson, who created “Fatherhood Is…”, has the simple goal to photograph and share photos of black fathers interacting with their children. She herself compiled images of more than fifty fathers into the above video and encourages viewers to share and upload photographs of themselves with their African-American fathers via social media during the week leading up to Father’s Day. To learn more about this project, click here. article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4Rnba85o8&w=560&h=315] Kid President, the cute 10-year-old boy who inspires us to “make the world awesome,” has released a new video tribute for all moms this Mother’s Day. Kid President, whose real name is Robby Novak, said his message was “on behalf of all the kids on the world.” Enjoy! article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
“Sometimes you struggle so hard to feed your family one way, you forget to feed them the other way, with spiritual nourishment. Everybody needs that.”
— James Brown, singer, musician & the “Godfather Of Soul”
Torrey Smith #82 of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates after he scored a 25-yard touchdown recpetion in the second quarter against the New England Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium on September 23, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE (AP) — Torrey Smith showed up at the stadium tired and drained, unsure if he would suit up for the Baltimore Ravens. No one would have blamed him if he didn’t. After all, his younger brother had died in a motorcycle accident less than 24 hours earlier. Smith opted to play, and the second-year wide receiver caught touchdown passes of 25 and 5 yards to help the Ravens beat the New England Patriots 31-30 Sunday night in a rematch of the AFC title game.
“I’m inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.”
—President Barack Obama