Educational Excellence

And a T.G.I.F. for each of youse!!  I often like to give humble blessings to my Creator for still allowing me to be around … spread my joy and hope and peace … shucks, I even like to sprinkle the whole “dish” with a bit of love when possible!  I am still in mourning for Orlando … with the multiple deaths in the area within one or two weeks … honestly, I lost count … peace be still.  A child partially eaten by an alligator … a musical artist/singer killed by a stalker … the massacre at Club Pulse … hmmmm.  Now, even Congress and the Democrats are being strongly encouraged to do something … anything … regarding “gun control laws”.  As one political leader stated: “Do nothing … is NOT an option!”

Well, it is Father’s Day Weekend … and I hope that all the “fathers” that I know … and those that I don’t know so well, have a great Father’s Day!  I will be honoring “Big Ike” Cook in my heart as he has been gone for well over 20 years now.  We were never that “close” close … if you know what I mean … but he was always there … I knew he was there … even though he was often very quiet … unless he got  mad at something or someone!!  He and I are both Moon Children/Cancers according to the zodiac and astrological signs and both of us can be moody.  Yet, he didn’t like liars and phonies and always encouraged me to work hard … a great work ethic was instilled in me by “Big Ike”.  Some of you may know that part of the family’s history … that he grew up on a farm in Northern Florida after being born in 1907 … decided he wanted to leave the “country” life style for the “Big City” … scooped up my mother, Marietta Dolores Watkins, from a farm in Lake City, and traveled with his brother and his brother’s new wife to New York City!!!  How cool is that for a country kid!?!

Isaac Henry Cook had said that the racism was so extreme and intense, and he had had to knock one or two “white men” out and off the porch of his mother’s home for “being disrespectful” and … since they wouldn’t leave, he encouraged them with a right jab or two …  Yes, he was considered an “uppity niggra” by the local farm folk, and he figured he’d better get out of the “Deep and Dirty South” of World War II Florida and try to raise a family where racism was not so prevalent!  They hit Harlem during the “Harlem Renaissance”, stayed in rooming houses … all four of them … and finally moved further North to Westchester County!!  “Big Ike” had a dream, too … that none of his kids would be growing up in the hostile racist South of his day!!!  I am his last son … and proud to say so!

So … to all you cool and functioning “Dads” out there, I wish you a Happy Father’s Day Weekend!  I am planning to visit my daughter and grandson who are staying with my sister in Port St. Lucie and spend a little time with them.  Thanks to my Creator, I have lived to see another Father’s Day!

Peace,

John I. Cook, Director