Designated pray-er

eulogy and benediction

My wife, daughter, and I went to dinner sponsored by the Capital District Cameroonian Association of New York (CDCA-NY) on a Saturday night a few months ago. As we sat at a table before the meal, one of the organizers, who is also a member of our church, asked if I would give the invocation. I would be the designated pray-er.

I mumbled to myself briefly before he said, “Or I could try to get somebody else.” Geez, I didn’t want him to have to do that.  After all, I’m about 3% Cameroonian. For about ten minutes, I feverishly wrote something that seemed appropriate and gave the prayer.

It’s interesting that when it comes to giving public prayers, I’m not terribly comfortable doing so outside a church setting. When my in-laws would get together back in the 20-oughts and 20-teens, my MIL would often designate me to bless the food. That was no big deal.

But I was working at the NY Small Business Development Center as a librarian. We had our statewide staff training in Manhattan in the spring of 2002, so our first collective gathering after 9/11. The local center had arranged for clergy to deliver the opening invocation, but they didn’t show up. At the last minute, either someone from the center arranging the event or maybe our state director asked me to do it.  Er, ah… sure, and I did.

Some folks actually called me Pastor Green

For some weeks thereafter, there was a rumor within the NY SBDC that I WAS a pastor. Nah, though, if you had asked me when I was about 11 to 15 years old what I would be when I grew up, I might have said a minister.

A few years ago, I was searching for myself on Newspapers.com and found three pieces, all in the first third of 1970. There was the famous Green Family Singers article. I found a notice about a Negro History Week commemoration at which several people, including me, were reading Langston Hughes’ poems, and my sister Leslie played guitar and sang. 

Then there’s the event mentioned above, the second anniversary of MLK’s death. Please note who was giving the eulogy and benediction. BTW, I don’t recall doing this.

Anyway, I’m apparently blessed with a particular skill set.

Book review: Big Jim and the White Boy

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn reimagined

Even before illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson gave a talk at the Albany Public Library on June 9, I was inclined to purchase his book Big Jim and the White Boy, written by David F. Walker.  The 270+ page graphic novel is “an American classic reimagined.” Radically reimagined, to be sure. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the book in question.

After the introductory page about Samuel Clemens, there are four pages that would lead one to believe they were illustrations from the Twain book. That is, until an old black man from 1932 Kansas says that that wasn’t the way it happened.

The story mostly bounces between the 1850s/1860s and the 1930s. Jim is searching for his kidnapped wife and children, accompanied by Huck. Their travels send them to the South and Midwest. The protagonists become multidimensional characters. Occasionally, the narrative detours into the 1980s and a professor/descendent of Jim fills in some of the connective tissue.   

a marvel

Women Write About Comics notes: “Big Jim and the White Boy is a marvel of the graphic novel format. Not only does the creative team expertly wrangle four different timelines, but they’ve given the book several narrators who use the power of oral storytelling to share stories through the generations until it reaches us, the reader.”

Further: “In the original book, Jim was known only in relation to Huck. But in this book, through the eyes of Jim and his descendants, we see him as a strong man with a great deal of love for his mother, sister, wife, and children. We also see him as a man who opposes the subjugation to which he and his loved ones have been forced to live. This is a politically charged retelling that doesn’t hold back from the horrors of slavery—be it the physical violence, sexual abuse, lynchings, or family separations. The parts of slavery that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn glossed over drive much of the story here.

In 2024, Walker and Anderson were interviewed by NPR’s Scott Simon. They discuss the novel, including “how they turned Jim into a multidimensional character… and whether Huck and Jim were ever really friends.” 

The N-word appears, though it is struck through in every case except one, but it is still readable. The author’s note describes this more: “I do not like the word, but it is important to the authenticity of the historical period in question, not to avoid it, offensive though it may be.”

I know Marcus through his work at the Underground Railroad Education Center. 

What’s your favorite TV theme song?

Greg Burgas, AGAIN

Greg Burgas is at it again, this time asking, What’s your favorite TV theme song?

This is TOUGH for me. I have seven CDs called Television’s Greatest Hits. Each disc has 65 TV themes, starting with kids’ shows and then sitcoms, dramas, and the like. Plus I have show-specific albums for The Drew Carey Show (which had THREE different themes), Friends, The Simpsons, and others. I LOVE TV themes, at least the ones from the 20th century; I’m not really up on 1hemes from this century.

I was very fond of the Peter Gunn theme, written by Henry Mancini. But I only learned about it after the fact. It was so iconic that in 2023, CBS Sunday Morning captured his old mates such as Quincy Jones and John Williams rerecording it. Mancini, BTW, also wrote the theme for Newhart, the Vermont-themed show.   

My all-time favorite theme song composer is Mike Post, who created, among others, Law & Order, The Rockford Files, and my favorite, Hill Street Blues, which has a certain melancholy that suits the program.

There are a lot of themes that include lyrics. Greg picked Cheers as his favorite, and it’s a very worthy choice. But I must admit being a sucker for the ones from an earlier era, such as Gilligan’s Island and the Hooterville Trilogy. My favorite from this era was Mr. Ed; I still remember most of the words.

Then there were the cartoons, almost all of which had lyrics. My favorite was Top Cat.  I could make the case for George of the Jungle, though, because Weird Al Yankovic did a straight, non-parody version.

Fishin’ Hole

Earle Hagen wrote two of my favorite themes growing up, the shows of Andy Griffith and  Dick Van Dyke. But I appreciated the themes of two of my dad’s favorite shows as well, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.

I liked the themes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All In The Family, MASH, and Sanford and Son, which I heard on the radio recently.

But if I had to pick just two songs, one with lyrics and one without:

The Jeffersons – Movin’ On Up, sung by Ja’Net DuBois, “to that deee-luxe apartment in the sky”

Perry Mason – and the outro is really orchestral.  I swear the Nylons’ beginning of Town Without Pity borrowed from the Mason theme.

August 28 refuses to be ordinary

Ava DuVernay

An email I received on August 28 from the National Museum of African American History and Culture was titled: How today’s date changed America again and again. Yeah, I know – it refuses to be ordinary.

“Marked by eventfulness, it appears and reappears across nearly two centuries of history’s most complex turning points, carrying with it profound grief and extraordinary hope, sometimes simultaneously. 

“On that day in 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi, a crime that ignited the modern Civil Rights Movement.” I’ve been writing about Emmett Till every five years since I started this blog, most recently in 2025. 

“Eight years later, at the historic March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and invited the nation to imagine a more just future together.” I have written about many MLK speeches; most of them are quite powerful. Admittedly, the “I have a dream” portion of the 1963 speech has become a cliché and/or manipulated to change its meaning, while the earlier parts are largely forgotten.  

“And in 2008, Sen. Barack Obama became the first African American to accept a major party nomination for president of the United States on the same day when Dr. King told America about his dream 45 years earlier.

“All on August 28. History has had a way of returning to this day.”

I didn’t know this part

“As the National Museum of African American History and Culture prepared for its anticipated opening in 2016, Founding Director Dr. Lonnie G. Bunch III wanted the journey of everyone who entered to begin with a story. He commissioned Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay to create an introductory film that would welcome visitors into what he has often called ‘the people’s Museum.’

“The invitation, DuVernay later said, was unlike any she had ever received. Dr. Bunch gave her unrestricted trust to tell a story she believed everyone needed to experience as they crossed the Museum’s threshold. Given that freedom, she chose not to tell four centuries of history chronologically. Instead, DuVernay—a self-described history buff—centered her film on one extraordinary date that fascinated her.

“August 28: A Day in the Life of a People is a 22-minute meditation on the magnitude of African American history, told in moments knitted together with poetry, performance and memory. Featuring an ensemble cast of luminaries including Don Cheadle, Regina King, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo, the film traces pivotal moments across generations to reveal how history’s greatest triumphs and deepest tragedies share the same page on the calendar.

“Its indelible imagery reflects the mission of the Museum. Each object, photograph, oral history, and work of art preserved here is another thread in that shared story.” 

If I did this correctly, you should be able to see the film HERE. And while you’re at it, visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture as it celebrates its tenth anniversary if you can. Meanwhile, check out the NMAAHC YouTube page.

August rambling: Guinnevere

A David Crosby song from the first CSN album

Maps and Images Show the Devastation in Nepal’s Flooding
What the Measles Betting Market Does Not Measure. Polymarket is currently running a $7.8 million betting option on the number of measles cases in the U.S. in 2026. It runs a detailed analysis of the bets. It does not measure the real impact of those numbers.
Texas became a powerful magnet for American Muslims seeking affordable homes, good schools, and thriving congregations before Islamophobia’s rise there.
Police Chief in Mississippi Regularly Used Racist Slurs, Private Texts  Reveal. Exchanges obtained by reporters show troubling messages sent by the chief of a Mississippi police department facing an uproar over the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in June.
Flock Cameras. Canoodling Lawyers. How Much Surveillance Are We Comfortable With?
States Claim to Invest in “Humane” New Prisons — But Prisons Were Never Humane
A Manhattan-Sized Ice Island Just Broke Off Greenland
Fetal Personhood and Subscriptions: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The biggest home shutout in 141 years
NFL eliminating Pro Bowl Games, but will still name Pro Bowlers
Sartorial observations from the Erie County Fair
Don’t Use This “Random” Password
The regime

The millstone of $40 trillion in national debt is a major contributor to the national affordability crisis. Economists Blame It on GOP Ineptitude and Tax Cuts for the Rich

The Average ACA Marketplace Deductible Grew by About $1,000 Per Person in 2026, With More Enrollees Shifting to Higher-Deductible Plans as Enhanced Tax Credits Expired. Marketplace Enrollment Could Fall to About 17.5 Million in 2026

The Pentagon Fired the Editor and Publisher of Stars and Stripes, which also claimed a Middle East correspondent. They are the Pentagon’s latest effort to diminish the news outlet’s editorial independence.
The regime is planning to remove the name of an aircraft carrier meant to honor a pioneering Black military hero, a report from CNN revealed.  The USS Doris Miller is currently under construction, but Navy leadership is reportedly discussing removing the name and possibly using FOTUS’s name on the ship instead.
Purge of Top Generals Leaves the Army Rudderless. The leadership vacuum comes as the Army is trying to adapt to a new kind of war dominated by deadly drones.
Tacky Superstore closes because the economy sucks for MAGA too
New album by Peter Sprague features Rebecca Jade

Peter Sprague Plays Guinnvere. The title track of the new album features Rebecca Jade, the first niece. Sprague: “In learning to play Guinnevere, I got a closer look into how they came up with such a unique sonic vibe. The main guitar part is played in a special ‘tuning’ that delivers gorgeous chords that aren’t available in standard tuning. I call them ‘magic chords,’ and it happens when most of the strings are not fretted and instead are ringing free. Mix that in with a few fretted notes that rub against the other notes in a good way — cluster chords as they’re known, and the whole sum sparkles in the air.  The Guinnevere recording is available at all of the streaming services, including: Spotify, Apple Music,  PS Online Store, and YouTube Music 

MORE MUSIC

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Johnny Angel – Shelley Fabares. Shelley Fabares, ‘Donna Reed Show’ Actress, Dies at 82. She also starred in Elvis Presley movies and the sitcom “Coach.”

Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top.  Frank Beard, Beardless Drummer for ZZ Top, Dies at 77
That’s All I Want From You – Jaye P. Morgan (1954). Mutual Admiration Society – Eddy Arnold & Jaye P. Morgan (a song from 1956 that I actually remember). Jaye P. Morgan, a Jack-Of-All-Trades Entertainer Who Was a Pop and TV Star, Dies at 94.
Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists (Series Four) #10: Camper Van Beethoven
Concerto for Marimba ”The Crossed Sonar of Dolphins” by Takatomi Nobunaga (b. 1971) 
Coverville 1590: The Ben Gibbard Cover Story II and 1591: The Tanya Donelly Cover Story
Japanese Festival Dances by Yasuji Kiyose
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – DEVO
K-Chuck Radio: Rare Pop Music from Western Australia
Until the Last Moment – Yanni, Live At The Acropolis, 25th Anniversary
Stairway To Heaven – Dolly Parton
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