Living In The Moment
Its hard for people like me (and maybe you too) to let go and live in the moment; to “enjoy the ride.” I’ve done a pretty good job of training myself not to live in the past, to practice forgiveness for myself and others, but thoughts of the future can keep me preoccupied, worried, and impatient.
Since Friends of Dreamland Ballroom’s inception 10 years ago, the mission of creating a safe place to “bring back the Music, the History, and the Party” is finally starting to come together. On Tuesday, I met with both the contractor and architect to finalize the construction of the new elevator addition.
African Ancestry in America
Thursday night, we had a presentation by Arkansas Baptist College professor Mr. Edmond Davis, a long-time friend of Friends of Dreamland and a past guest on Up In Your Business. His 90 minute program was titled Unburied Truth: African Americans Before Slavery. As teachers huddled together, collaborating on the strategies of providing this knowledge to our youth, the Dreamland staff welcomed a bus load of teenagers from McClellan High School. Mr. Davis’ teaching skills are evident in this video as he continually engaged his students with group participation and small gifts.
Because I’d watched AETN’s documentary Africa’s Great Civilization narrated by Henry Lewis Gates, I knew about “Mitochondrial Eve”, our ancestral mother. About 200,000 years ago, she is credited with birthing the human race. Humans began walking out of Africa about 100,000 years ago, before the oceans separated the continents, creating Afro-Mexicans, Afro-Puerto Ricans, Afro-Europeans, Afro-Indians, Asians and Americans; Afro-Everyone.
To hear that we were once all dark-skinned brothers and sisters from Africa is encouraging and uplifting. The tribal mentality of our primitive ancestors is no longer a necessity for survival.
In a time when our statesmen try to divide and conquer us through lying and hate mongering – tactics as old as the hills – it is nice to see someone preaching unification. We are more alike than not. Our future lies in knowledge and knowledge is power. Dreamland is here to help bridge the gap.
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