Wedding Plans

Whoa! Still up in the air…I’ll have a ceremony if it kills me. Hang in there for details (maybe next week).

Paul Robeson, Renaissance Man ~ Part 1

I went to the main post office the other day to drop off a box for a friend of mine, JD. I needed some stamps, so I flipped through the catalog looking for faces similar to mine. I wound up buying a book of stamps with the face of Paul Robeson on them. Being kinda fuzzy on who the man was, I decided to look him up on the ‘net.

“Artist Hero”, “The Invincible”, and “Renaissance Man” are just a few of the
appellations given to the man, Paul Robeson.

I quickly realized that learning about Paul Robeson is very important because of his many contributions to entertainment, Black History, and the Civil Rights of Black Americans.

Today’s journal entry will explain how Paul Robeson influenced and directly contributed to entertainment, sports, and the Civil Rights of Black Americans during a time when segregation was alive and kickin’ and racism was rampant.

Entertainment

Using his deep baritone voice to promote black spirituals, Paul Robeson sang for peace and justice in 25 languages throughout the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa. Because of his travels and his proficiency with
languages, Paul became known as a citizen of the world, and in New York in 1939, he premiered in Earl Robinson’s “Ballad for Americans”, a cantata celebrating the multi-ethnic, multi-racial face of America. It was greeted with the largest audience response since Orson Welles’ famous War of the Worlds.

In 1944, amid international critical acclaim, Paul Robeson won the prestigious Donaldson Award for his lead role in the London stage production of Othello. The award was for Best Acting Performance. He also performed in Eugene O’Neill’s
Emperor Jones and All God’s Chillun Got Wings.

He also acted in the musical Showboat where he is known for changing the lines of the Showboat song “Old Man River” from “…I’m tired of livin’ and ‘feared of dyin’….,” to a stronger and more dignified, “… I must keep fightin’ until
I’m dying….”.

“I’m going to sing wherever the people want me to sing…and I won’t be frightened
by crosses burning in Peekskill or anywhere else.” ~ Paul Robeson

His film career spanned eleven films; Body and Soul (1924), Jericho (1937), and Proud Valley (1939) among them. He also sang at Carnegie Hall. In 1960 Robeson made his last concert tour to New Zealand and Australia.

Paul Robeson is the only Black charter member of the National Theater Hall of Fame.

Traveling the world over, Robeson spoke several languages including Chinese, Russian, Gaelic and Spanish. In 1945, he was awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his outstanding achievements in the theater and on the concert stage…

The Robeson article turned out to be a little long, so I’ll continue it next week. Stay tuned to learn the crucial turning point in Paul’s life that started him on his long journey as an activist.

Apologies, Wedding Plans, and Newsletters

I know I promised to have the Joe Robeson article ready this week, but thangs got busy, and it will be another week before it is ready.

Also, wedding plans (as they are) will be posted this weekend. We’ve got some really good ideas, and Mrs. Nadine is handling the reception (whew!).

M’Dear, Sis, George, thanks for signing up for the newsletter. Keep spreading the word!

I Found Deb’s!

I’ve been in Hawaii for over 12 years, and in all this time, I have only found one soul food joint. Back in the old days, when I was still active duty navy, my friends and I would pile into our cars, drive out to Kaneohe, and get our eat on at Deb’s.

Picture this: four, five, six weeks out at sea, eating canned food, powdered milk, and drinking bug juice. It won’t be long before a man begins dreamin’ of a home cooked meal, just like Momma used to make.

Deb had closed the doors to her restaurant, for about two years, while she looked for a new location. During that time, her bar-b-que sauce was being sold at Costco, and she did a couple of cooking shows at Hickam, AFB. Basically, we were left adrift, with no home cooked meal to guide us.

It was Valentine’s Day weekend, and I promised Mitsy that I would take her to get some real soul food.

I saw Deb’s number on an advertising banner and called it. No answer. Being ever resourceful, I looked her up on the internet. With printed instructions in hand, we set out on our journey. After several twists and turns (we got lost) we found her new location.

Deb’s menu includes real, southern style bar-b-que, smothered chicken, corn bread, hush puppies, catfish (fried in cornmeal batter), and greens. Just like Momma used to make. And just like Momma, Deb don’t take no smack from her employees, either. Oftentimes, you can hear her voice from the kitchen crack like a whip, keeping her workers on their toes.

After finally finding the place, and then waiting (im)patiently for her to open, it was Time To Eat! I had catfish, greens, baked beans. Mitsy had the pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and cornbread. It was every bit as good as I remember it to be.

The only low point of the meal was the peach cobbler. We got some pulled pork and cobbler to go. After resting our stomachs, we decided to try some cobbler. Well, it was terrible. Somebody had an off day when they made that dish. It was burnt, and pretty much tasteless. A big disappointment.

Other than that, Deb’s food is outstanding, and I will be going back.

Newsletter Problems

After some more testing, it has become apparent that certain e-mail providers may not allow the Sushi and Grits Newsletter to get to your inbox. The most notorious offender is Hotmail. Excite, another free e-mail provider, seems to have no problem at all. If you are having difficulties, drop me a line to let me know. We’ll work out a solution.

Who Is That Guy?

I got one of those chain e-mails the other day. Now, normally I read them and then delete them, but at the insistence of my fiancee, I actually paid attention this time.

Basically, you are asked a series of questions, and based on your answers, your “true self” is revealed. Just how “true” is “true”, I don’t know, but the answers are interesting.

The first question asked me to put five animals in order. Each animal relates to five areas of your life:

• family
• pride
• career
• love
• money

That is the order in which I placed my animals/priorities.

Next up, I had to assign a one-word characteristic to an animal. Below are the animals, my characteristics, and what they mean:

• dog=”loyal”=my personality
• cat=”independent”=how I feel about my “significant other”, Mitsy
• rat=”vicious”=how I perceive my enemies
• coffee=strong”=how I feel about sex
• sea=”change”=how my life will turn out

Next question had me assign colors to people. That was something that gave me the most trouble, and as such, this was the most dubious section:

• yellow=Mom
• orange=Dad
• red=Mrs. Nadine
• white=Fred
• Green=Mitsy

And lastly, my favorite number is 7, and my favorite day is Sunday.

Well, there you have it, those of you who know me may very well agree with the assessment; I don’t know…If you have taken the test and have kept your results, I can post them here if ya like. Just for giggles.

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas & Websites

So, I asked her, “What do you want for Valentine’s Day?”

I got the standard, “I don’t know”.

So what’s a man to do? Fire up the old imagination, get in touch with our “feminine side”, and show our women how much we love them! Since my imagination is somewhat limited, I went online and found a couple of sites that will work quite nicely for Valentine’s Day.

Check out the links below if you haven’t yet found that special something for that special someone.

• Patagonia Gifts thinks outside the box when it comes to Valentine’s Day gifts…
• FindGift.com Some goodies here include: 2 Peas in a Pod, and Romantic Message in a Bottle. I think this is my favorite so far.

If any one of y’all have some unique ideas, drop me a line to let me know.

Super Bowl Weekend

We got to Mitsy’s mother’s house in Mililani about 11:30 am, after a quick trip to Costco’s for treats for the kids.

Mrs. Nadine was gone to the store (WalMart) for I don’t know what. Me and Mitsy got started on the chicken wings and homemade bread. It was the first time that Mrs. Nadine’s bread machine had been used since Christmas. After laying out the food and ingredients, we realized that we had forgotten beer (for the bread), and peaches (for the grilled peach dessert). We called her Mom to bring home the missing ingredients.

Since this was Super Bowl Sunday, the guys were excused from cooking and grilling. The women took over, and did an excellent job. Mitsy made homemade bread; Parmesan and beer focaccia bread. She also made some hotwings to snack on. Mrs. Nadine had a glazed ham in the oven. Alysia (Misty’s bestest friend) made ribs, steak, and stuffed potatoes.

I saw most of the game, including the half-time show ;> ! However, Me and Mitsy had to leave and pick up her sister and brother in-law from the airport. They spent the weekend on a neighbor island with relatives. By the time I got back, over half of the loaf of homemade bread was gone! Needless to say I was surprised and a little dismayed…

Despite that fact, and despite all of the little snot-nosed brats running around, the day was good, and the food was even better.

Notable absentees: Mr. Nomura, and Mitsy’s older brother, Hilo.

The Valentine’s Day History and Tradition

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. That thinking is still alive and well today, in the modern military. Used to run into that mentality while I was still active duty in the Navy!

So Emperor Claudius II banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him.

When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. Claudius then imprisoned Valentine.

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Just before he was beheaded, he signed a farewell message to her, “From your Valentine.” The phrase has been used on his day ever since.

In the Middle Ages, people began to send love letters on Valentine’s Day. Medieval Europeans believed that birds began to mate on February 14. I think this is where the term “the birds and the bees” originated. They also believed that bees mated around the same time.

The mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine’s name.

The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.

Cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, with Christmas being the largest card-sending holiday.

Early valentines were made by hand, using colored paper, watercolors and colored inks. These valentine styles, some still made today, included:

• Pinprick valentines – Made by pricking tiny holes in paper with a pin to resemble the look of lace
• Cutout valentines- Lace-look cards made by folding paper several times and cutting out a lace design with small, sharp scissors
• Acrostic valentines – Verses in which the first letters in the lines spelled out the beloved’s name
• Rebus valentines – Verses in which small pictures took the place of some of the words (for example, an eye instead of I)

Here are some of the other valentine symbols and their origins:

• Red roses were said to be the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Also, red is a color that signifies strong feelings.
• Lace has long been used to make women’s handkerchiefs. Hundreds of years ago, if a woman dropped her handkerchief, a man might pick it up for her. Sometimes, if she had her eye on the right man, a woman might intentionally drop her handkerchief to encourage him. So, people began to think of romance when they thought of lace.
• Love knots have series of winding and interlacing loops with no beginning and no end. A symbol of everlasting love, love knots were made from ribbon or drawn on paper.
• Lovebirds, colorful birds found in Africa, are so named because they sit closely together in pairs — like sweethearts do. Doves are symbols of loyalty and love, because they mate for life and share the care of their babies.
• How about the “X” sign representing a kiss? This tradition started with the Medieval practice of allowing those who could not write to sign documents with an “X”. This was done before witnesses, and the signer placed a kiss upon the “X” to show sincerity. This is how the kiss came to be synonymous with the letter “X”, and how the “X” came to be commonly used at the end of letters as kiss symbols. (Some believed “X” was chosen as a variation on the cross symbol, while others believe it might have been a pledge in the name of Christ, since the “X” — or Chi symbol — is the second letter of the Greek alphabet and has been used in church history to represent Christ.)

Resources:

• The History Channel
• Valentine’s Day – Not Like it Used to Be – History and Customs