Author: Prof Patty

Today I was in the mood for some southern-style cooking. I was born in the Midwest, grew up in the Midwest and Southwest, and lived among southerners and the descendants of Southerners. My thinking about food is influenced by the deliciousness of southern cooking, that is, the cooking done by black women in their hot…

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CT trooper barred from public interaction after profanity-filled traffic stop By Ben Lambert Updated 6:23 pm EDT, Tuesday, May 19, 2020 NEW HAVEN (ctpost.com) — Connecticut State Police are investigating after a trooper was filmed berating a motorist during a profanity-laced traffic stop on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, with the trooper barred from interacting with the public, according…

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Winter Favorite: Apple Slices (Actually all year round favorite) When I was a kid in Chicago there used to be a bakery on 63rd and South Park at the foot of the EL (I know this shows how old I am…) South Park is now MLK and the bakery no longer exists. They always had…

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The Atlantic: The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying. The pandemic has exposed the bitter terms of our racial contract, which deems certain lives of greater value than others. Adam Serwer Staff writer at The Atlantic MAY 8, 2020 […]The underlying assumptions of white innocence and black guilt are all part…

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 I enjoy concerts and Broadway plays and musicals. In these days of Covid 19, we aren’t able to go to see live events. Here are 2 recommendations: One World Together at Home  Join Global Citizen, the World Health Organization, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, and many more artists and healthcare experts as we raise…

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When I spoke at Faith Church earlier this year about the new normal, I had no idea that what the new normal looked like then would morph into what it looks like now. None. Nada.  I saw the new normal as a political problem – foolish me. My flights of fancy, impacted by 8 years…

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 Grace Helen Whitener Becomes 1st Black Gay Disabled Immigrant Justice to Serve on Washington State Supreme Court Washington Governor Jay Inslee appointed Judge Grace Helen Whitener to the Washington State Supreme Court this April. Whitener, who is originally from Trinidad, gay, and has a disability, also became Washington’s first black immigrant state justice. To quote her:…

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Aysha Khan April 17, 2020 (RNS) — As the coronavirus outbreak takes a disproportionately deadly toll on seniors and African Americans, a new oral history initiative aims to train black Muslim youth to document their elderly community members’ stories. The Wisdom of the Elders Project is a “long-overdue” effort to capture black Muslim seniors’ “past, present and…

Read More Oral history project preserves stories of black Muslim seniors amid pandemic