THE BERKMAR HIGH SCHOOL BAND was one of the groups participating in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day parade in Lawrenceville this week. For more photos of the parade, taken by Roving Photographer Frank Sharp, see Lagniappe below.
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Be Intentional About Showing Love and Kindness Toward Others
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Our Sincere Best Wishes To President Trump on His Inauguration Day
ANOTHER VIEW: Media Provides So Much Info, But Why Do We Know So Little?
SPOTLIGHT: U.S. Asset Management
FEEDBACK: Electoral College Is Outdated in Protecting the Smaller States
UPCOMING: New London Theatre Presents Godspell Beginning on January 20
NOTABLE: Gwinnett Tech and AARP Team Up To Provide Tax Preparation
RECOMMENDED: 1491 By Charles Mann
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Lamar Dodd Brings Successful Artists-in-Residence to UGA Campus
TODAY’S QUOTE: Why He May Have Paid Too Much for His Carpet
MYSTERY PHOTO: Many Readers May Have at One Time Seen This Mill
LAGNIAPPE: More Photos of the Dr. Martin Luther King Day Parade
CALENDAR: Latino Medical Students Coming to Suwanee Medical Campus
TODAY’S FOCUSBe intentional about showing love and kindness toward others
(Editor’s note: Today’s column is by an author and diversity and inclusion consultant with 16 years of experience specializing in adult education, adult learning and behavior, intercultural dialogue, and addressing and mitigating bias in the workplace. Learn more about her at PoultonConsultingGroup.com.—eeb)
By Dionne Wright Poulton, Ph.D., Snellville, Ga. | One of the ways we make sense of our world is by classifying or categorizing things and people. Simple examples include noticing the difference between a dog and a cat. Or if we see someone wearing a skirt, we classify that person as female. However, we should ask, “Are all cats alike? Are all dogs alike? Are all people who wear skirts female?” The answer to each question is no. For example, an Irish male friend wore a kilt to my wedding.
Poulton
Regardless of what we are judging or categorizing, we should not believe that all of what we see in a particular category is the same. For example, in my book, It’s Not Always Racist…but Sometimes It Is: Reshaping How We Think About Racism (2014, Archway Publishing), I talked about Rottweilers having a reputation for being dangerous dogs, but do we classify all dogs as dangerous? Do we even believe that all Rottweilers are dangerous?
We make distinctions between breeds of animals and even between animals within a breed. As human beings with values, feelings and respect for others, I argue that we need to also make distinctions among types of people as well—including those within racial groups, because no group is monolithic. Moreover, we have to remember that, when we meet a person for the first time, we need to be open and conscious of our assumptions, biases and body language.
We need to remember that we have at our disposal not just our preconceptions about his or her group membership but also information about the way he or she actually appears, dresses, and behaves toward us. I stress this practice even more when we encounter a person for the first time and that person reminds us of a negative event or situation involving someone who looks like that person.
It is important to understand that just because something negative happened with one particular person from a specific racial group, this does not necessarily mean that associations with all people from that particular racial group will inevitably yield negative experiences.
For example, as I analogized in my book, suppose you went to the grocery store and purchased a container of raspberries. In the store, on the surface, they all looked ripe and fresh, but when you opened the package after you got home, you discovered that many of the raspberries were actually rotten. Disappointed, you would not eat that particular batch of raspberries and would probably throw them out. But would that experience keep you from ever buying raspberries again? Of course not. You would try again and buy another batch at some point. This is what I propose we do with people.
We cannot let a few rotten raspberries keep us from trying raspberries again. There are too many people in the world for any of us to definitively say that all people from any particular race are the same. We need to keep looking for exceptions to our beliefs, especially when they involve negative perceptions or attitudes toward others.
In this New Year, lets be optimistic and hopeful about our race relations and be intentional about showing love and kindness toward others—especially toward those who don’t look like us. If we’re going to make assumptions, let’s try to make them as positive as possible. We need to assume that all people, like the raspberries, are good.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Our sincere wishes to President Donald Trump on his inauguration day
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Today Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States.
We hope that his administration is a good one for our country. He comes to the office after an unprecedented candidacy, and with the backing of many citizens who sometimes feel disenfranchised from everyday America. He also comes to the office without having won the popular vote.
Our greatest wish is that Donald Trump can bring all of America together, and in particular, that he can work with others in government to make our country far better. If he can do that, and win the support of many of the people who did not vote for him, he will have earned an endorsement term, and our country will be clicking along soundly.
Having said that, we must admit that we have our doubts that President Trump can accomplish this. While we emphasize that bringing the country together could be his biggest accomplishment for any president in years, it may not happen.
It certainly did not happen during the Obama years. If anything, the country is more divided after President Obama’s eight years in office, and this led to the emergence of President Trump and his ultimate victory. He probably could not have won the presidency had the people been of one accord with the Omaha presidency.
Perhaps President Trump’s greatest liability that we have realized is that he has a most thin skin. No matter where you are in life as an elected official, from the mayor or councilman in the smallest towns, to countywide and statewide offices, to those in national posts, having a skin that is thin in politics works against you. Office holders waste valuable time and effort concentrating on what people say about them, and on subjects which are not important, at a time when there are far more substantial matters facing them.
Trump
So far it appears that President Trump is carrying that thin skin with him into the White House, or into his quarters in Trump Tower. How can he attack the major problems of our nation, or look at concerns in the greater world, if he is caught up in some personal vendetta against people of lesser rank than he?
In this sense, the President’s use of social media works against him. It would be far better for him to throw away his Twitter account and pay no attention to the back-and-forth small matters of social media.
At the same time, if President Trump is seething with disdain at people during his 3 a.m. pacings around, perhaps he should quit listening to television and give up newspapers, too. Rather than tapping out messages in frustration of the media, maybe the President needs to turn to heavy workouts on exercise equipment. Or maybe he could work off his frustrations by walking a dog around the New York blocks in the early morning hours. Or if he were staying at the White House, certainly those grounds would make an ideal place for him to vent his feelings only for the trees and bushes of the grounds to hear. And hope that the president doesn’t use cell phones, either. He doesn’t need to be calling or texting his irritations to those who taunt him.
Recognizing these limitations, mainly today, we pause to take this time to reiterate our sincere best wishes to President Trump and his administration on this day of his inauguration.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Media provides so much info, but why do we know so little?
“How is it we have so much information, but know so little?”—Noam Chomsky.
By George Wilson, contributing editor | The national television newscasts on the three major networks seem to have abandoned their responsibilities. A long internal tug of war at these networks between the reporters, combined with others dedicated to serious news, and the producers, who tended to see television as a visual, constantly changing presentation, a show. The producers have won, because it helps revenue.
I have a suggestion for news organizations and others who purport to report the news. These people are mouthpieces for shills, campaign directors, “spokespeople” and other lobbyists, who are paid to promote political candidates, parties and ideologies. I suggest that they go back to reporting facts. Discuss issues with experts and observers who are as objective as possible, and not beholden to any party or candidate for their income.
The media has allowed itself to be manipulated by these parties, candidates, and ideologies as agents of spin, while forgetting to do its duty to report the facts.
The six basic questions (who, what, where, when, how, and why) are far too often buried in an avalanche of junk in news stories, TV reports, and unedited social media. It’s no wonder that the public is fooled by fake news; it’s hard enough to find real news in so-called “legitimate” news sources.
It is not about tweets or Trump or hacking, nor is it about nostalgia for a simpler age. It is about adding value and balance and a forum for fact-based debate. The fourth estate has failed us, but that is not news.
Let’s be clear. It is tough to run a democracy even when people are operating off the same facts. When the facts do not matter, it is impossible.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
U.S. Asset Management
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Electoral College is outdated in protecting the smaller states
Editor, the Forum:
You espouse many good value election changes and options in your Perspective pieces, I especially support the one about ranking candidates when voting to avoid costly run-off elections. It makes so much sense, it seems a no-brainer for implementation.
However, I still believe the Electoral College system is outdated in protecting small states.
My food for thought supposition is that if one believes the Electoral College is good at protecting small states in a presidential election, then why didn’t states buy into the same model for its gubernatorial elections? Would it protect small counties from being disenfranchised by the big counties?
Would it be a good thing for small rural state counties to wield relatively more political power than the far more populous ones by giving each county a flat two electoral votes and then assigning the remainder by population as in the real Electoral College format?
Then under similar rules, whichever candidate for governor wins a majority of the popular vote within a given county receives all of that county’s electoral votes. Would local state voters think this is a good format, or say it wouldn’t work for various reasons that are too close to home? What do you think?
— George Graf, Palmyra, Va.
Dear George: You make me laugh, recalling Georgia history. We had something akin to an Electoral College format for Georgia elections up until 1962. We called it the county unit system, established in 1917, and those running for governor concentrated on the 121 smallest counties, who would give them 242 “unit” votes in determining the state winner. The eight largest counties got six unit votes, and the next 30 largest got four unit votes. So the 48 unit votes from the biggest counties, and the 120 unit votes from the mid-sized counties (168) were lost if the candidate took the small counties. And for years, that’s why the pols played to what we in Georgia called the “Wool Hat Boys” in the smaller counties. All that was struck down by the one-man-one-vote of today. The county unit system was declared unconstitutional, but the Electoral College lives on. –eeb
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net
UPCOMINGNew London Theatre presents Godspell beginning on Jan. 20
Start 2017 with an uplifting musical as New London Theatre presents Godspell, opening January 20 and continuing through February 5.
About the musical: a small group of people help Jesus Christ tell different parables by using a wide variety of games, storytelling techniques and hefty doses of comic timing. An eclectic blend of songs, ranging in style from pop to vaudeville, is employed as the story of Jesus’ life dances across the stage. Dissolving hauntingly into the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, Jesus’ messages of kindness, tolerance and love come vibrantly to life.
Godspell is based on the gospel according to St. Matthew, book by John Michael Tebelak, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and directed by Scott Piehler.
Shows are performed on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the show. Children/students (3-19) and seniors (55+) are always $10. Tickets can be purchased either online through our website or at the theatre box office.
Shows are performed at New London Theatre: 2338 Henry Clower Boulevard in Snellville at New London Plaza inside Hello Again Variety Mall. Season tickets are also available either online or at the box office. For additional information about this and future performances, auditions, ticket purchases, volunteering, or donations, visit the website (www.newlondontheatre.org) or call at 770-559-1484.
New Kudzu Art Zone show to benefit Down Syndrome Association
Kudzu Art Zone is starting the new year with a big show and a big heart. The upcoming exhibit at the gallery, Make Your Own Path, benefits the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta.
The show opens Friday, January 20 and continues through Sunday, February 19. There will be a silent auction beginning February 13 and proceeds will help the Down Syndrome Association. Viewers are encouraged to come and purchase original art and bid on the many desirable items.
The final week of the exhibit features an ongoing silent auction and the last day, Sunday, February 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. is a Special Day of Fun Activities for the entire family.
In this new exhibit, member artists depict how they have made their own path, exploring hopes, goals and successes along the way.
An outstanding work in the collection is the lovely, delicate Kingfisher watercolor painting by Barbara Boyer. She is proficient in pastels as well as the thoughtful Chinese genre depicted here. Another delightful work is Cathy Crock’s painting of a young boy with Down Syndrome headed for his first day of school. The boy Nate is definitely on his own path.
NOTABLEGwinnett Tech, AARP team up to provide tax preparation
Since 2006, Gwinnett Technical College has partnered with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation to offer free tax assistance and preparation for community members. The volunteers with AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, which is in its 50th year, will once again provide this service between February 1 until April 18 at the Busbee Center on Gwinnett Technical College’s Lawrenceville Campus.
No appointment is necessary, as clients will be seen on a first come, first served basis between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday. There is no charge for this assistance and those assisted do not have to be an AARP member.
Taxpayers wanting to take advantage of this service should bring: All tax forms – W-2s, Form 1095, All forms 1099, such as INT, DIV, B, G, MISC, R, S, A or C; last year’s return; photo ID issued by state or government; Social Security cards for everyone on the return; and checkbook (necessary if you want automatic deposit or withdrawal).
- Sign-in and assistance will take place on-site each day on the second floor of the Busbee Center, Building 700. For more information about the program and documents needed, visit http://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/info-01-2011/important-tax-documents.html.
Tribble Mill Park to get major upgrade to its playground
Major SPLOST-funded upgrades are coming to the playgrounds at Gwinnett County’s 718-acre Tribble Mill Park near Lawrenceville. Commissioners awarded a $997,899 construction contract Tuesday to low bidder Professionally Engineered Structures and Associates, LLC.
The playground at Ozora Meadow will get new equipment, surfaces, drainage, fencing, retaining walls, a concrete plaza, a pre-fabricated pavilion, picnic tables, a bike rack, landscaping and a pet drinking fountain.
The contract also includes similar improvements to the playground near the Oak and Maple Pavilions, including new climbing equipment, a bench swing and a handicapped-accessible paved trail with two wooden footbridges connecting the playground to the pavilions and the restrooms. This playground will have a nature theme.
Tribble Mill Park, at 2125 Tribble Mill Parkway, features two lakes and is often used for 5K races and large community events. In 2016, it hosted 112 private pavilion rentals, 31 race rentals, 31 group camping rentals and 18 meadow rentals.
RECOMMENDED1491
History by Charles Mann
Reviewed by John Titus, Peachtree Corners | If your education was similar to mine, you learned that the Aztecs in Mexico and Inca in Peru each had great civilizations until conquered by the Spanish. You may also, as I did, learn something about Indians in the United States. That was about it. Mann’s book is subtitled “New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus” and that certainly describes my reaction to it. While not an easy read, it is a fascinating one combining history, anthropology, archaeology, and science in describing the native cultures throughout the Americas. He presents competing theories concerning the development of various cultures and how those theories have held up over the years. Finally, he argues that the notion of equality proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence was influenced, in part, by interactions with the Indians as the colonists observed the basic equality of status within the native culture. Now, on to Mann’s sequel, 1493.
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITDodd brings successful artist-in-residence to UGA campus
(Continued from previous edition)
At the University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd, who was there from 1937 to 1973, instituted a program of artists-in-residence that included muralist Jean Charlot, the printmaker and muralist Howard Cook, and the New Yorker illustrator and cartoonist John Held Jr.
During his stays, Charlot completed two series of murals for the university. He executed the first one, a three-panel mural symbolizing music, drama, and the visual arts, during 1941-42 for the Fine Arts Building. Charlot also executed a three-panel mural for the Henry Grady School of Journalism in 1943-44, this one set around the themes of U.S. paratroopers landing in Italy, the symbolic figure of Time, and Cortez landing in Mexico.
Among Dodd’s students at this time was Reuben Gambrell, who received the first master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Georgia. Gambrell’s early art fit into the American Scene aesthetic of local subject matter painted in a readily understandable style; by the early 1950s, his work evinced a more modernist emphasis on shape and line. He taught at various institutions, including the University of Georgia extension campus at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, the University of Georgia, and Telfair Academy.
The Ohio artist Howard Thomas joined the faculty of the art department at the University of Georgia in 1945 and was, like Woodruff and Dodd, a painter fascinated by the shapes and contours of the southern landscape. Trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he recorded observations from his many travels in vivid sketchbooks, which are housed in the permanent collection of the Georgia Museum of Art. Thomas retired in 1965.
In 1942 the German expatriate painter Emil Holzhauer, who studied with the New York realist painter Robert Henri, settled in Macon and taught art at Wesleyan College. In 1950 he began teaching summer art sessions in Savannah at the Telfair school, and he eventually settled in Niceville, Fla. Holzhauer’s watercolors, pastels, and oils present the American local landscapes and cityscapes, portraits, and interiors through an emphasis on color and line learned from postimpressionism, as exemplified in Church Spires (1944), housed at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon.
(To be continued)
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Many readers may have seen this mill at one time
Tell us where you think this grist mill is located. We suspect that many GwinnettForum readers have seen this mill. Send in your thoughts to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.
The Mystery Photo from last edition was so difficult that not a reader responded. One reason may be that it came from George Graf of Palmyra, Va., therefore making him disqualified. The photo was one from a destination in the news recently, Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum took place this week.
- For more photographs of Davos, go to https://www.google.com/#q=Photos+of+Davos%2C+Switzerland.
More from the parade
HERE ARE MORE SCENES from the Dr. Martin Luther King day parade in Gwinnett on Monday, which was hosted by the United Ebony Society of Lawrenceville. One of the groups participating in the event was the band from the Discovery High School in Lawrenceville.
State of Duluth Address: The Honorable Mayor Nancy Harris will deliver the Annual Duluth’s “State of the City” address on Monday, January 23 at 7 p.m. at the Red Clay Music Foundry. Reserve a free seat at http://tinyurl.com/DuluthSOC. The doors will open at 6 p.m. This address will take the place of the regularly scheduled Council work session
Rotary Career Exploration Night at Norcross High School will be on January 26 at 6 p.m. Nine panels of people will provide students with information on their work. The event will be at the Norcross High Cafeteria. For more details, contact Jay Lowe at 404 272 2633.
Author Lisa Gardner will be in Gwinnett for an appearance on February 1 at the Norcross cultural and Community Center at 7:30 p.m. Gardener is a crime thriller novelist with over 22 million books in print. Her latest novel, Right Behind You, is part of her F.B.I. Profiler Series. Four of her novels have become movies for the small screen, and she has made appearances on TruTV and CNN. Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Eagle Eye Book Shop. For more information, visit www.gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.
(NEW) A conference in Suwanee February 3-5 at the Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine will host students from the Latino Medical Student Association Southeast Region. Those interested in attending may register online at http://lmsa.me/2017SEC.
(NEW) Second annual Gwinnett Historical Society Scavenger Hunt will be Saturday, February 4. Enter as an individual for $10 or a group of two or more for $20. For more details and to register, go to GHScemhunt@yahoo.com.
(NEW) Third annual Chocolate Walk in Braselton will be Saturday, February 4, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., rain or shine. Present your bag and get a treat from each participating business. Tickets are limited at $5 each, so advanced purchase is recommended. Walkers should be at least 16 years old. Contact Downtown Director Amy Pinnell at 770-684-0369 or apinnell@braselton.net.
(NEW) Author Eloisa James will visit Barnes and Noble in Peachtree Corners on February 7 at 4 p.m. as part of the Gwinnett Library’s author series. James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. James is a RITA award winner—the top award in the genre of romance fiction.
(NEW) Author Amber Brock will visit Barnes and Noble in Peachtree Corners on Wednesday, February 11, at 3 p.m. as part of the Gwinnett County Public Library’s author series. She writes historical fiction novels set in the glamorous 1920s. She teaches English at a girls’ school in Atlanta,. Brock will speak to fans and aspiring authors about the writing and publishing process and book promotion strategies as well as her book, A Fine Imitation. This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Plant sale: The Gwinnett County Cooperative Extension office is offering varieties of Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Figs, Apples, Pomegranate, Goji Berries, Native Azaleas and other landscape plants as part of their annual sale. This year Pecan Trees and the big Titan blueberry, which produces blueberries the size of quarters, have been added to the list of pre-ordered options. Supplies are limited so please order early. Orders will be taken through March 7, 2017. Order forms may be obtained from: http://www.ugaextension.org/gwinnett, or by calling 678-377-4010 to request a form be mailed to you.
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