Celebrating Life

Deborah Ladd, Guest Blogger I heard a someone say that, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." must come together. How many ways can we do this in a seemingly graceless time? Sometimes it’s in the work place.  On the very last day I walked towards  the final closing of the door behind me. I was moving more towards my future in front of me, rather than the memories behind me. But I was holding on in that moment. Then I realized that I would miss the more perfect “unions” of the people and their lives …bittersweet. Maya Angelou once said that, ”…you remember the way people make you feel.” Yes, you see I remembered how I felt  right at the intersection of those in between moments I guess you can call it a “union”. We unite in those in between spaces,  that fall in and out if time. It was in the stories told about the weekends and vacations. It was in the soft wave of a hello or in a ...

I grew up in Harlem during a time when my community was made up almost totally of African Americans. As a young child, the only people of other races I saw on a regular basis were a few teachers who taught at the elementary and junior high school, the police, firemen, insurance man, and the people who owned the stores and those who worked in the stores along 125 th St.; Nonetheless, there were times when we would go on school outings to the dental school in midtown, or to the museums.  As a teenager and a young adult I ventured into other communities, Little Italy, Chinatown, East Harlem.  As an adult I have traveled widely. I believe I have greatly benefited from learning about other cultures. The foods, music, dance have become part of me and, I believe, have made me a more well- rounded person. Living in a society or a community where all people are the same gives us a myopic point of view especially when we aren’t even interested in learning other cultures.  Someon...