I learned about the Million Father March a couple of years ago and now it’s finally my turn to participate. The Black Star Project is encouraging fathers, stepfathers, foster fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, godfathers, cousins, babies’ daddies and other significant male caregivers to take their children to school on the first-day-of-school of the 2010-2011 school year. When men are involved in the educational lives of their children, children perform better in school.

Next Monday, my oldest son starts his first day of kindergarten and I’m planning to be there for him on his first day of school. The role of the traditional dad has expanded and fathers are a lot more active in the lives of their children. Sure you have your deadbeat dads out there, but I’ve seen a difference since my son was born. I’ve seen dads at the doctor, the daycare and have even seen dads changing diapers in the restroom.

Kids these days have a lot to deal with in school and I’m sure it helps to know they have the support of their father (or male role model). So whatever grade they’re in, take a little time out of your day to take them to school. And when they come home, talk about their day and get involved. It makes a difference and shows them how much you care.

For more information visit blackstarproject.org.

Now this is impressive! Bina48 is a human-like robot that lives at the Terasem Movement Foundation in Bristol, Vermont. A replica of the real Bina Rothblatt, who is also the Vice President and co-founder of the Terasem Movement Foundation, Bina48 is the future of what can be done in the world of artificial intelligence.

While it may be a little creepy to have a conversation with a robot, I’m excited to cool advances like this in technology. In a way, Bina48 reminds me of a mix  of the Terminator and 2001: A Space Odyssey. While watching the video, I also found myself rooting for Bina and I’m sure the time will come when Bina will be able to have a full conversation with no glitches in speech.

Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Earlier this week on TV One I watched “Wattstax”, a 1973 documentary by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the black community of Watts in Los Angeles, California. The 1972 concert was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Tickets were only $1, yet it featured some of the top black entertainers of our time.

It was an interesting documentary, but there was one part that really stuck with me. At the start of the concert the National Anthem was being sung. But no one stood and no one cheered. People just sort of sat around until it was done. It wasn’t until the “Black National Anthem” was being sung that people proudly stood with fists in air. This was a time when black people felt like the country they helped build didn’t show them the respect they deserved.

Now go back fifty plus years to to the “New Negro Movement”. A time where Harlem Renaissance hot spots like the Cotton Club showcased some of the best black performers that New York City had to offer. Musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday graced the stage for an audience that didn’t see them as equals. It was a time when black authors like James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes wrote poems and songs that told of the struggles Black Americans faced in a society separated by race.

Due to the literary and musical genius of those who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, we are able to see what it was like to be black in the 1920s.  The books, poetry and music written are just as much of the black culture today as it was back then. We owe them our gratitude and need to make sure their legacy is never forgotten. There’s a lot of history in Harlem and there’s no time like the present to learn more about the impact it’s had on our culture. All you have to do is open a book and read.

On Tuesday, June 22, 2010, from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm (EDT), AIDS.gov will host a National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) webinar for Federal staff and grantees working with domestic HIV/AIDS programs. National HIV Testing Day is an opportunity for us to work together to promote HIV testing in the community.

The webinar, “The Current and Future State of HIV Testing in the United States,” will feature some of the U.S. Government’s leading voices on HIV/AIDS. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions.

To participate, register here by June 18.

Speakers include:

• Dr. Howard Koh, HHS
• Mr. Christopher Bates, PACHA
• Dr. Kevin Fenton & Dr. Bernard Branson, CDC
• Dr. Deborah Parham Hopson, HRSA
• Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, NIH/NIAID
• Ms. Beverly Watts Davis, SAMHSA
• Ms. Barbara Edwards, CMS
• Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, VA
• And other invited guests

Space is limited. Registrants will be joined on a first-come, first-served basis.

A friend of mine alerted me to the Texas State Board of Education’s recommendations for the social studies curriculum and I have to admit they were pretty interesting. According to the Dallas Morning News, some of the proposals that have come and gone as the State Board of Education revised the social studies curriculum dealt with:

Civil rights leaders: Experts appointed by social conservative board members recommended that labor leader César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the Supreme Court, be stricken from the standards, but the board opted to keep them in.

Christmas: A curriculum-writing team dropped Christmas from a list of important religious holidays in a world cultures course, but the board ordered Christmas back on the list.

Conservative groups: The board voted to require that U.S. history students learn about leading conservative individuals and groups from the 1980s and 1990s. There is no similar requirement for liberal individuals and groups, although some are included in the standards.

McCarthyism: Social conservatives pushed through an amendment that requires a more positive portrayal of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his claims that the U.S. government was infiltrated by Communists in the 1950s. McCarthy’s tactics have been discredited by most historians.

The Alamo: In studying the famous battle, students must learn “about the 189 heroes who gave their lives” in the fight, but Republicans rejected a move by Democrats to include in the standards the names of the eight Tejanos – Hispanics who lived in early Texas – who were killed alongside Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William B. Travis.

Rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop: Students will have to study a list of influential musical and cultural movements in America that includes rock ‘n’ roll, Tin Pan Alley, country music and the Beat Generation. But social conservatives beat back an effort to include hip-hop after some members complained that its often crude lyrics are inappropriate for students.

It’s sad that politics plays such a large role in our children’s education. I can’t remember the last time I was asked who fought at the Alamo, but I do know it was something I needed to learn to past the test. The lessons you learn in the classroom are just the beginning and as a father who has a child that’s about to enter the Texas school system, I hope I can teach him to have a love for learning. That in my opinion, is the greatest gift a child can have. Because when you have that, a socially conservative written textbook won’t make as much of an impact as the Board hopes.

Conservatives on Texas board leaving legacy in schools but losing clout

Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns

I received an email asking me to post about this website. While this post may not be of interest to all of my readers, I thought this was worth posting. While most of the articles were beyond my comprehension, some of the abstracts for the journals were pretty informative. See, I like reading stuff other than tech articles.

BioMedSearch is a biomedical search engine that contains NIH/PubMed documents, plus a large collection of theses, dissertations, and other publications not found anywhere else for free, making it the most comprehensive free search on the web.

BioMedSearch also provides advanced account features that allow saved searches, alerts, saving documents to portfolios, commenting on documents and portfolios, and sharing documents with other registered users. Registering for BioMedSearch is free.

The deadline is coming up soon. Get on it!

source

FedEx/UNCF Scholarship Program provides scholarship opportunities for high school seniors entering Historically Black College or University commencing Fall 2010. The scholarship Program is funded by the FedEx Corporation and provides need-based scholarship awards to eligible applicants who meet the following criteria:

Applicants must be graduating high school seniors at the time of application. Applicants must have cumulative high school grade point average of 3.00 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

Applicants must enroll at a four year Historically Black Colleges or Universities. Applicants must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Applicants must be Pell Grant eligible and have demonstrated financial needs.

Deadline:
May 9, 2010

Award Amount:
$4,000

Website/Contact Info:
www.uncf.org/forstudents/scholarDetailSGA.asp?id=481

I was listening to one of the many tech podcast I subscribe to and they were talking about the new Safety Center that Facebook added for its users. While geared to the best ways to stay safe on Facebook, some of the tips given can help you stay safe anywhere on the Internet. As a parent, I was pleased to see advice for parents on ways they can help their teenagers deal with predators and unwanted solicitations from other Facebook users.

There’s also a section for educators on how best to use Facebook in the classroom. I think the best question was “How can I maintain a professional presence on the site separate from my personal profile?”. The best method in my opinion is to not let them be your friend, but check out Facebook’s answer because they show you how to have the best of both worlds. I’d also recommend reading the general safety section on ways you can adjust your privacy settings.

Now all of this information is great, but it takes a lot to keep your information safe online. A Facebook friend of mine, posted comment about spokeo.com. They aggregate publicly available information from phone books, social networks, marketing surveys, real estate listings, business websites, and other public sources. They index third-party data in ways similar to Google or Bing. While not all of the data is accurate, they are able to pull a lot of information from people all over the country. You can remove your listing from the site, but this is just one of many sites that collect information about you online.

One final article that I’d recommend reading is from PC World titled, Facebook’s New Features and Your Privacy: What You Need To Know. The amount of information stored on social networking sites is ridiculous and there’s money to be made from your personal information. Don’t think Facebook isn’t looking for ways to do that. They’ve had issues with how they allowed you to set up your privacy settings, so it’s important to know what you need to do to only share the information you want with the public.

Are you interested in learning how to write a grant? For $1000 I can teach you the secrets to grant writing!!!

Well actually I can’t. But I can point you to a website that will help you get started. Workforce3 One, is a U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (ETA) sponsored entity that offers tools (FOR FREE) to get you started in writing your own grant proposal.

They have a really cheesy podcast called “Grant Applications 101: What You Need to Know”. While cheesy, it does dispel some of the myths of grant writing and points you to their Toolkit Homepage to get started.

From what I’ve heard, grant writing is not an easy process and it takes time and patience to actually get one. But it is a way to get funding for your project and may be worth it in the long run. For more information about the grant writing process, visit the links above.

Podcast Transcript

As always, I try to keep this blog open to those wanting to pub quality events regardless of location. This one isn’t in the Dallas area, but if you’re in the NY area, let me know how it is. For more information, visit the Urban Stages website.

Urban Stages “Celebrating over 25 Years of New Works”

will present the World Premiere of the musical

Langston In Harlem

By Langston Hughes, Walter Marks and Kent Gash

Music by Walter Marks, Lyrics by Langston Hughes

Musical Direction by Barry Levitt, Choreography by Byron Easley

Directed by Kent Gash

Starring Josh Tower as Langston Hughes

Performances begin April 9; Opening April 15

At Urban Stages

New York: Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Artistic Director, Lauren Schmiedel, Managing Director) will present the World Premiere of the musical Langston in Harlem book by Langston Hughes, Walter Marks and Kent Gash, with music by Walter Marks, lyrics by Langston Hughes and directed by Kent Gash, with musical direction by Barry Levitt and choreography by Byron Easley. Langston in Harlem will begin previews on Friday, April 9; opening on Thursday, April 15, 2010 and will initially run through May 2, 2010. Urban Stages is located at 259 West 30 Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues). Tickets will be $40 ($25 during previews) and are available at www.Smarttix.com / 212.868.4444. Langston in Harlem is produced by arrangement with Langston, Ltd., Jon Kimbell/SenovvA, Inc. – Executive Producer.

Langston in Harlem is an exciting new musical about one of America’s most honored poets, Langston Hughes. Set in the African-American cultural capital of Harlem from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights movement, Langston in Harlem tells the story of Langston Hughes’ journey into manhood and his emergence as one of the most beloved and forward thinking artists of our time. This groundbreaking new musical is filled with Jazz, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, Swing, dance and spoken-word that sings, jumps, stomps and shouts. Langston Hughes’ glorious words and poetry of love, loss, joy and the blues and the people of Harlem who inspired him, come gloriously to life, in Langston in Harlem and are once again universal and unforgettable!