Adventures of Nefertiti

For any family member or friend that comes to visit, keep in mind that in addition to sightseeing and hanging out on the beach in Hilton Head, we will also take a day trip to one of my favorite places in the whole wide world, Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston has the look and feel of New Orleans; alive with old city charm, rich in history and tradition. The other day my Dad and his wife and her sister came to visit me for a few days. Actually first they stopped in Atlanta to stay with my cousin Shandra and then they traveled further south to Orlando to visit with my Uncle Harrison and my brother Tommy and his kids. Since I don’t have children to play with (like my brother) or a nice relaxing indoor swimming pool at the house (Uncle Harrison), their visit with me meant plenty of time enjoying the sights outside in the heat. I first took my family down to the May River in Old Town Bluffton to enjoy a cool breeze on a boat dock. Next we headed over the bridge to Hilton Head and slowl...

Great thing about being human is that we are diverse and unique in our oneness. And when we open ourselves to new adventures, we learn to appreciate ourselves even more. But you don’t always have to travel half way around the world to experience something new. Sometimes a good festival can give you an introduction to sights and sounds from abroad. Saturday I had a chance to experience music, dance and cuisine from Asian cultures of Polynesia, China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand at the 16th Annual Savannah Asian Festival. It was a beautiful daylong event attended by diverse people from everywhere. A packed house… White, Black, Brown, Asian, mixed… everyone came out to celebrate the unique cultures from the East. And what a celebration! In addition to live performances and great food, we were also treated to shopping at the Asian Cultural Marketplace and a workshop on Asian and Middle Eastern Tea. This is an annual event and I hope to have the pleasure to attend again next year. In the m...

For anyone with kids, I recommend you sign them up for swim lessons at your local YMCA . If you’re worried about the expense, stop by the front desk to see if you and your kids qualify for financial assistance. My siblings qualified for assistance when they were kids. I think it’s very important that every child learns to swim. According to the American Red Cross, nearly 3,500 Americans drown each year, and of that more than one in five victims are children age fourteen and younger. Learning to swim is not only a life saving skill, but knowing the front crawl and the back stroke adds to hours more of fun when you and yours make your way to the swimming pool or beach. And when they get a little older, they can turn their skills into a part-time summer gig as a lifeguard, just as I did. For those of you hitting the road, on your way down to Florida, see if you can add a stop to your itinerary and swing on over to the east coast to visit and tour the Kennedy Space Center . One of my siste...

Melungeon: A member of a people mixed with White, Black,and American Indian ancestry living in the southern Appalachians. -Dictionary.com I recently returned from a short stay in the Outer Banks, which is a perfect family vacation destination on a group of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. There you can find kite flying on huge sand dunes, and hours of fun windsurfing in the Atlantic Ocean. Those interested in aviation will find the birthplace of flight exciting at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in honor of Wilbur and Orville Wright. And if you really love history, you have... Roanoke Island. I stayed in Kill Devil Hills, NC in the Outer Banks, but of course the highlight for me, was my day trip down to Roanoke. I toured Roanoke Island Festive Park , an interactive family attraction that takes you back in time with a recreation of one of North America’s first settlements and a replica of a 16th century ship that made its way to the Outer Banks. It was in...

She’s your daughter… A young child, only eleven-years-old, is repeatedly ganged raped in a small town in Texas by a group of nineteen men between the ages of 14 and 27. Details here … She’s your sister… A Libyan woman runs into a hotel lobby seeking to tell her story after being held captive, raped and beaten by Gadhafi security forces. Journalists are today afraid for her safety… She’s your friend… A CBS news reporter is caught in the hysteria of a mob scene, triggered by victory in an Egyptian square, and is raped and violated. She’s back home in the states and recovering . She is you… I once knew a girl, a 14-year-old girl, caught in the embraces of a 19-year-old man. She attempted to escape, but instead was raped. She was on her way to a job interview, at a fast food restaurant, when she received a call to stop by for awhile. She was on her period. He forced her to take her tampon out. When it was over, instead of a job interview, she slowly walked home with tears in her eyes. ...

Of course you reject me. I’m your roots and you have one foot on the ground. Barely standing, but you shout you don’t want me around. I cry out for you, but you pretend I’m not here. I say I love you, But you show you don’t care. You fly away. The sky is blue. You don’t know me, but I remember you.

The first time I had to run for my life, I was 13 and new to the city. Young and naïve in Lexington, KY, I was hanging with new found friends watching boys play basketball at Castlewood Park when I heard… pop, pop, and a scream: “Someone is shooting!” I took off running toward the other side of the park, and terrified and scared, I reunited with my friends. At the age of fifteen and sixteen I started going to house parties and eventually nightclubs and more shootings followed me there. I would be on the dance floor, swaying my hips from side to side and then out of nowhere… crack, pop, pop… pow! And people would be ducking and dodging and running for the door. In college I truly expected to escape the violent episodes, but within my first semester of my freshman year at the University of Louisville (I later transferred to UK), I once again found myself dropping and then running for my life after a good time on the dance floor. This past weekend I followed Breaking News on Twitter of an...