63 Years: The Loyalty of a Teacher

Now anybody knows me on my blog post I rarely post about my hometown because unless it is Vicksburg, Jack-town, Natchez, or any other town that I travel to everyday, there is nothing to post. Well actually Sunday I had something to hit up about my hometown, but the only reason I post it today because of my busy schedule. The thing is it is not about no Negro-Nonsense because we have that almost everyday. I am going to talk about a woman that I know.

….Well I knew she was old, but wow the accomplishment she achieved is beyond “the average educator.”

When Emma Brandon began teaching she earned $36 a month, walked three miles one way to school - seven miles if overnight rain made the creek too swollen to cross - and toted her own lunch of biscuits and syrup.

A lot has changed in the 63 years since. There are computers and standardized tests. Schools have been consolidated and integrated. Principals have come and gone.

Last week, Brandon decided to step out of the classroom for good, becoming one of the hundreds of Mississippi school teachers to retire this summer.

Roughly 800 to 1,000 teachers have retired each year for the last decade, the state Public Employees Retirement System reports.

The average tenure for those teachers is 24 years, said Pete Smith, spokesman for the state Department of Education.

Brandon went into teaching fresh out of high school in 1946. It was her escape from the farming life destined for so many others in her rural community.

Now I have been knowing Mrs. Brandon since I was born, and I am not going to tell you how old I am but let say this, she has more years than how old I am. Mrs. Brandon was always so nice to our class. She was a class act from generation to generation. Come to think about it, let’s recap the things that was going on in 1947

I mean seriously, black people had No chance in h-e-double hockey sticks that an full-fledge African American would be in the White House.

There was no tennis stars in the WTA.

Brown vs The Board of Education was not even mentioned.

Civil Rights was a scary word.

World War II was 2 years done.

Truman was the Prez.

IBM was a younging.

And the Klan was running (see Dixiecrat).

The average teacher tenure is close to 30 years, but Mrs. Brandon has taught men and women, their sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, sons, grandsons, daughters, grand-daughters, great grandsons, great granddaughters, and even a great-great grandson for 63 years.

So to Mrs. Brandon, I tip my hat to you.

Do you think the old-school teachers are the most under-appreciated? How many people have know anyone who have taught for over half a century?

Mrs. Brandon retires after 63 years.

Kenny's Second Shot

~ We're given second chances every day of our life. We don't usually take them, but they're there for the taking. ~

Andrew Greeley

Today, I was catching up on some reading today before I get the see the Queen graduate from college. I got an article that was a pretty decent timing of an NBA guard who really turned his life around. I am talking about Kenny Anderson. Now I can tell you my story about him.

Kenny Anderson was very known in NYC as a top tier point guard, but I remember when he was playing at Georgia Tech as part of “Lethal Weapon 3,” with Dennis Scott (3-D) and Big Brian Oliver. They were a force on the court, making it all the way to the final four. I still remember when got drafted by the Nets. He was pretty good making it to one All Star game and playing in playoff games. After that he met Tami Anderson from the Real World Los Angeles and married her. After I remember that, it was like his world just turned upside down; moving from team to team, partying, infidelity, and having a big ego throughout his career. All this backfired from him leaving him broke, divorced and serious no education.

Now let’s fast forward to now. Kenny Anderson is now a NYC basketball hall of famer, he runs a basketball Academy at 24 Hour Fitness, which is a private company, and now he has done something that he should have done a long time ago, get his degree.

After the child support and the squandered millions, Kenny Andersonwas the one who registered for college, who mastered the digital classroom, who studied in his spare time.

“My son sees me with books in my knapsack and he says, ‘You’re 39 years old, you’re still going to school?’ ” Anderson said of his son Ken Jr., 9.

The payoff will come Saturday at St. Thomas University in Miami, when Anderson will don his cap and gown and graduate, 19 years after leaving Georgia Tech.

The degree is a statement that his life did not end after 14 years in the N.B.A., after the tangled relationships with hisseven children with five women — much better now, he said — and the vanished salary, somewhere above $60 million. He did that himself, too.

So Kenny, I say congrats to you on your life turn-around. You bounce back in a way others cannot. I really tip my hat to you.

How do you really feel about this turn–around story of Kenny Anderson?

The Education of a Point Guard

A New "Rolle" Model for African American Children.

Sometimes in the daytime, I have to read everything from programs to popular things that are happening on the news. After all, I like reading articles, keeps you in post of what going on in the world. So after hearing about every football player, rapper, and politician acting a fool, it just makes me think.

“Are there any African American Role Models?”

“Answer: Yeah!”

“Question: How come children are still narrowed –minded about things? Is it single-parent housing, bad environment, or just not being raised right?”

“Answer: Neither! Kids do not pick good role models until they feel comfortable with the choices that they have made.”

I am a sole product of bad role models and I lived in a double parent household. I didn’t want to be like my mother and father. Instead I wanted to be like Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Jose Canseco (I actually had an authentic Jose Canseco Jersey. Wish I could find that bad boy?). You know how that ended up (In respective order: drunk, crack, and steroids). So when I read a piece today. I will bet a nickel on how many kids know him. His name is Myron Rolle.

Let me understate Cornell West when he told Myron that “He is the future of Black America.” He is not. He is the future of “All-Americans.” I mean an All-American football star at the prestigious Florida State under legendary coach Bobby Bowden is one plus, earning a 3.75 GPA in exercise science is another, plus he can act, sing, and play an instrument is enough to say “That guy is pretty smart.” What validates him from other (including African Americans like Robert Smith, who in my mind was the perfect student athlete in the game) is that he is a Rhodes Scholar. That is enough to change not only Black America, but Americans in general. He is a feel good story in and outside the life of sports and reality. Mr. Rolle does it well, but you would not believe that no African-American child can tell you about him. They can tell you the Ne-Yo’s, the Souljah Boi’s, the Lebrons, and the Kobes, but they can never tell you about the Robert Smiths, Tony Dungys, Alan Pages, and Myron Rolles of this world. The reason is that the parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles never tell them about those people. So today, to the young African American men, get to know Myron Rolle, because you will see him for many years to come in Black History.

Black Men I Respect - Dalton Sherman

I know I talked about Chris Martin as a teacher telling that young man off, but let reverse the role because Dalton Sherman really told the teachers what they need to do. Show this to teachers who do not think they can make a difference.



DALTON SHERMAN 2012 - BECAUSE I DO BELIEVE

Black Men I respect - Charlie Martin

If the school system would have more teachers like this. They will understand what we understood.



A major shout out to the Blog "We Are Respectable Negroes"

Beats Shout-Out

I have been listening on Youtube and this cat PrimalXL is sick with those beats. Give a major shout-out to them if you hear it, and anybody that is in music business need to catch this cat.

Check him out.

Black Men I admire with also my Father - Chris Gardner

Man, this guy is the man with hard work and money. I like him for many reasons. His technique is fool-proof even for the me. What I also like about him, logically he is the truth. He speaks on experience, he don't even speak on some "What people say." There are people who have not heard about this man unless you have seen "The Pursuit of Happyness."You have to agree with this, this guy went from rock bottom to the top and not because of a goal to live the American Dream. He did because he wanted his son to have a better life than him. Kudos to this man, but you have to hear from yourself his views and beliefs.

Unfortunately, he did do an interview with Glen Beck. Still, I am amaze about Chris.




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