Still We Rise El Paso's Black Experience

A highlight from the year was the opportunity to experience this display at the El Paso Museum of History. Took several pics to revisit what I learned that day reading the displays. Til' the next time, would be wonderful for Still We Rise to become a permanent fixture in our community with an opportunity to grow and continue documenting so many stories. Would love to see a section for the history of our community's Black martial artists.

The entrance...

Douglass Grammar & High School (El Paso)

Someone I'd love to learn more about. Poet, Bernice Love Wiggins.

Shout out to the Douglass Dragons!

Made me think of my grandmother.

UTEP Miners! Shout out to Willie Cager.

40 minutes of hell. Hey Coach Rus.

For all the middle school students that go to Bobby Joe Hill.

Spirit of 66'.

Our military community.

A bigger picture of Still We Rise exhibit. 

Texas.

A lovely day.

The writing below is included on the Still We Rise exhibit print available at the museum's entrance.

"Still We Rise El Paso's Black Experience reflects on past and present African Americans in El Paso. Like many African American communities in the United States, much of their history has remained underrepresented. The arrival of El Paso's black community begun with the arrival of the railroad and soon blossomed after that. In a few decades, their presence was known within the South side neighborhoods and grew to encompass its very own Black Wall Street at the intersections of Alameda and Piedras. A thriving community flourished with churches, restaurants, barbershops, beauty salons, and multiple other businesses that catered to a still segregated Texas. With this empowerment and validity, many key figures gained momentum in the Civil Rights Movement which later made El Paso a leader in integration and equal rights in Texas. It was until the Federal Aid Highway Act that built the current Interstate to where a majority of businesses and residences were demolished. Despite the loss of space, the community continued to thrive through their churches, community centers, outreach groups, and led to many citizens holding big roles within civic and social realms.

The exhibition gathers personal memories, objects and sense of place from local African American leaders and gives an inside look of resistance and resiliency through the 20th century here in El Paso."

#e1puzzle

Introducing #e1puzzle with our Queen Luz

Last year, with a 7th grade reading class I teach we looked at an article about a 9-year old Hailey Richman who started a nonprofit group to give out puzzles designed to help people who have memory loss or other problems. The article talked about a program called Puzzles to Remember and her mission to give jigsaw puzzles to nursing homes and other places that care for people struggling with Alzheimer’s. Shortly after we also watched a powerful documentary titled Alive Inside, a Story of Music & Memory.

The lesson made me think about my mom who survived an emergency surgery over 25 years ago to remove a benign brain tumor when she was pregnant with my youngest brother. The ordeal going from an emergency surgery that left her with paralysis after she suffered a stroke, staying alive to give birth a few months later, and having surgery again after that to replace part of her skull, required time to adapt as a mother and wife to a new way of living. In that time, I grew into my early adulthood watching her stay mind strong with a love as a mother that never waivered from even before when I was a child. In recent years, we started coloring to give my mom a chance to work on her hand-eye coordination and to provide some contact with books that allow us to bring color to things we’re interested in. After learning about Richman’s work from the middle school reading class I teach, we also stepped into the world of puzzles. It’s a real cool way to pass the time together while listening to music, news and connecting pieces of a puzzle that you have to read over and over again. I grew up during a time when puzzles were far more popular, but even back then I never actually took the time to piece one together.

To date, we’ve completed two puzzles. Our first was a 500 piece puzzle of Succulent Spectrum flowers that we had matted for the wall, and a 300 piece puzzle that I call “Animal Planet”. We’re currently working on another puzzle of plants that my baby brother bought for my mother on Christmas, and I got a surprise 500 piece puzzle coming up for the off season, Fly Eagles Fly. During the summer, I’m planning to create one that I’d like to customize as I’ve learned there are ways to create your own puzzles too.

I’ve come to love this past time for the benefits that I’ve read it has for the mind, memory and overall brain health. I also love the time it allows for me to spend with my mother as it requires our full attention away from that distractions of technology, TV, and other things that don’t allow us to accomplish something cool together and talk. I share it also, to pass on ideas for how we can stay connected with siblings and introduce young people to games that allow them time off screens and around people they care about.

Til’ the next puzzle piece, here are a few cool shots of our puzzles, more of whic which you can also find clicking on the hashtag #e1puzzle.

Eagles 2022-23!

#FlyEaglesFly 2022-23 Schedule

Alright, it's officially time to make room on the calendar for football season!

RISE

Screening RISE #e1pTheatre

This is our next watch, but it's gotta be me and my brothers. All of us! 

#AntetokounmpBros

 

SHOWTIME #every1reads

SHOWTIME #every1reads

The latest read. Once upon a time, the household I grew up in was a Laker's household. Out the gate, as a Child of the 80's my first favorite team was the Magic Johnson Lakers. I started getting into trading cards towards the later part of the decade and my collection centered around Magic. Video games started to usher in an imaginative control of personas like Magic, Bird and Jordan, lighting up a Hoop Dream in any kid that fell in love with the game. When Magic retired, so did my connection to L.A. It would later surface once my baby brother Isaiah came of age to accompany his big brothers to city league, high school and collegiate basketball games. Kobe's Lakers became the battery in his back that I'd removed from mine in 91'. Since then, I've always followed a team with an exception to the preliminary years of going to college during the first years of new millennium. Teams like the Seattle Supersonics with Payton & Kemp, the Sprewell Knicks, the Big 3 Celtics, and the Dynasty that was born from Curry, Klay, and Dray at Golden State. My fandom just developed into a love for the stories of the game. I started watching Legacy the True Story of the LA Lakers and to fill in the gaps decided to focus my next Sports read around Jeff Pearlman's Showtime, Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. It's been a great read so far, although it's slowed down how I follow the documentary since the book got so many details I want to picture before seeing them referenced throughout the film.

This book is the beginnings of a Hoop Dream for me. #SHOWTIMEla

Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

Here’s hoping for continued success in the NFC East! #FlyEaglesFly!

Our link of the week right here dedicated to Jalen Hurts click here

Sending a shout out to Gianluca aka The Serpent aka King Luca of our Cobra Chess Club for bringing this gift home after visiting Philly to check out his favorite quarterback Tom Brady. The featured photograph is from where he was at the Lincoln Financial Field. Had to laminate this work of art promoting the game. Check!

Hoop Dreams 2021

Hoop Dreams 2021

A shot of a few members of the Hoop Dreams squad at the House of Hoopz this Fall.

Shout out to Coach Joshy and the squad!

We see you Lil’ Liz.