I Should Be Ashamed of WHAT?!?

22 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by excelwitheducationalexcellence in Uncategorized

“Hey ya’, hey ya’, hey yaa ya yaahh!”  T.G.I.F. even!  Just this morning, yep, I saw the “fullish moon” going down as the Sun rose!  “What a wonderful world!”
At this moment, I am so content with “things” around me, it feels like “paradise”.  Now, I know that perhaps around the corner or across the bridge, someone is struggling with life … I wish them peace, as I can only do so much to manage “ME”!  Recently, I thought back to my days in “boarding school” …. St. Paul’s to be exact!  What a “work in progress” I was, with so many experiences shaping me and influencing my own “self concept”.  I am grateful to have had teachers and classmates who were NOT cruel and disrespectful of those of us who came to “integrate” a previously all boys, white Anglo-Saxon private Episcopalian boarding school in Concord, NH!
This is something that meant and continues to mean a lot to me since I was so “impressionable” and young emotionally.  I wanted to be sure that people like Coach Blake, Sr. Rafael Fuster, Sr. Hurtgen and Mr. Lederer who were our instructors as we “minority students” attended a school quite unlike our hometown environs know this.  There were students like Gary Hodder, David Holt, Clinton Van Dusen … shucks, there were even a few of the female “white anglo saxon” students and “house mistresses” who enhanced “our” experiences.  Thank you for being cool with “us”!  “We” were trying to make “good” on the administration and student body’s efforts to literally “desegregate” and utilize “us” in the process.  I felt little or NO hostilities, little or NO name calling nor racial slurs were hurled at “us”, and the utmost cooperation by all involved at SPS to make the time when I was there “bearable”.  It helped me become the person I am today.  No apologies here!  I was well prepared for “Princeton” and beyond.  I had classmates and teammates like Larry T. Woody, Mike Shivers, Kevin Gover and Gary George from the “minority” students with whom I am glad to have “rubbed shoulders”!!  Again, no apologies here either!  Much appreciated, Guys!
One of the things about us “old school” guys, sometimes called an “Ole G”, is that we learned to “mix it up” with the best.  We sat in classes, lectures, cruised around an Ivy League campus and had access to some of “the finer things in life”.  To this day, I recall two class reunions I attended from The Class of 1976 at Princeton and I was still making friends there some 40 years later!  I mean, it wasn’t a picnic … yet, I and many of us “got through it” in style!!  So, in case you haven’t heard that “familiarity sometimes breeds contempt”, keep that in mind these last few days of Black History Month 2019 with so much going on in the US from a staged attack by a “movie star” to an attempted massacre by a white supremacist in the Coast Guard, I believe, living just miles from the Capitol …  Each time I try to watch “CNN”, I get annoyed at how many of “the president’s men” have committed crimes, some already incarcerated while others are preparing to stand trial or face Congressional hearings, and maybe even “cut a deal”!  Now THAT’S something to be ashamed of, not making it through a system tainted with institutional racism from its inception … by someone of a “minority race”!  And if you think that I am NOT PROUD … whether you agree with me or not, you’d better think again!
In closing, I am hoping that the folks I mentioned here know how much our experiences together meant to me and how much they helped me grow.  I am proud of “us”!  Have a great weekend and be proud of the good things you do!
Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

The Dangers of Jealous, “Toxic” People

15 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by excelwitheducationalexcellence in Uncategorized

It’s Friday Again!
Yes, Sir!  I am feeling a grateful “T.G.I.F.” today, y’all!  Any takers on “feeling gratitude”?  You’ll worry less and care less about what jealous, toxic and potentially “harmful” people who want to negate “your” positive, caring and “classy” style of life think or say!  I always try to carry myself with “grace and style” no matter WHAT I am going through and experiencing.  “Toxic people” see that as a “fault” rather than a positive human characteristic.  “They” will try to make you “stumble” or even fall out of your positive approach to life.
For me, I try to first “educate” an individual(s) who clearly suffers from “my positiveness” and upbeat approach to life.  I mean, after all of the people who tried to help me and educate me, I feel that I “owe it to humanity” to share some kindness and positive energy with a person until I am “short circuited” by someone’s arrogant stupidity … much like the current president in “The States”!  I mean, I am NOT going to “suffer” and be denied my peace by anyone … ESPECIALLY if I have NOT provoked “you” or done anything to harm “you”.  This is where I “proudly” differ from the average person – I seek peace and will do what I can to spread it.  However, if I see that a person is “hell bent” on robbing me of MY JOY and freedom,  I simply IGNORE that person.  If “you” are that person and “you” are NOT seeking peace, “you” are NOT worth my efforts to maintain peace.  So, please, “just make like a ghost and disappear!”  A “person” like this, a racist, has no place in my life!  The current president is opening the doors for more racists to come out as he calls a woman running for office in New England “Pocahantas”!!!  “It” feels threatened and “it” does what every little “boy” having a temper tantrum does … start calling names … “racial slurs”, to be exact!  Dehumanizing activities have no place in my life today …  I seek to “educate”.  If you are toxic, please stay away while I do some positive things with my life!  Imagine … anyone can!!
The interesting thing about the “state of affairs” in the world today is that there are a lot of “shifts in power”, as we have been taught to call it.  Just last night as I watched a bit of the news, one participant mentioned that this is “how they play politics” … with OUR lives, pitting us against each other, making resources scarce and filling the cities in the States with firearms!  Yesterday was the first anniversary of the shooting and killing of 17 students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus in Parkland, FL.  I had visited Ft. Lauderdale at that time to  secure some paperwork for my “residency” here and had the “privilege” of seeing the young people on the streets near the Social Security Office which was very near the High School.  They carried signs, they were of ALL races and sizes, they began a national movement to affect “gun control” in “the States”.  Now, “the suburbs” there are experiencing a similar fate as the “inner cities”.
In closing, don’t let the “toxic”, hate-filled people ruin your perspective on “life” … YOUR life.  Don’t let anybody “rob you of your joy and peace” … and humanity!  Distance yourself from them, surround yourself with “like-minded” people and continue to BE THE CHANGE!
Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

“Still . . . I Rise!” Maya Angelou

08 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by excelwitheducationalexcellence in Uncategorized

Happy Friday, All!
So … uhhh … “Can I get a T.G.I.F.” out here today, y’all?!!
Yes, it’s still “Black History Month”, “Scrump” is still lying and the “racists” are still “falling out of the wood work” … like roaches!!  Shucks, even here in “Puerto”, as I enjoyed some banana bread French toast and bacon at a public restaurant, a familiar “stateside” racist came up, AFTER I ignored him and spoke to a lady he sat with, and said, “Hey boy!”  I turned slowly away from my French toast and said, “What did you call me?”  He attempted to rebound with an idiotic quasi-funny, mostly stupid “Okay … Man.”  I continued munching on my breakfast while this “roach” stood another moment until I pulled the extra chair out and said, “Sit down.”  He declined, claimed “he” was busy and scurried off … like a roach!
You see, it’s also not my first rodeo being “the new kid on the block”.  This also attracts “bullies”.  People think you don’t know “what you are doing” so they are full of suggestions, threats and warnings.  Well, I have visited places that the average person, not bragging – stating FACTS, will never see.  People always try to make  a town “their place” … that’s what they actually think, that the “place” is theirs … and I need their guidance to get me by.  Imagine, needing the guidance of a town liar or the town bully – NOT ME!  I pride myself on being a “people person”.  In other words, I am able to “get along” with all people.  I try not to waste my energy being friends with a “racist” or a person who says racist things or attempts to treat me as if I “am less than thou”!  Wtf!!!  “Who died and made “you” GOD!”, I often mutter to myself when I hear some of the “know it alls” talking.
Maya Angelou said it best in her poem expressing passionately how “African American” people … women included … shall I add ALL people … STILL RISE in the face of horrifying odds … like being a slave!  Since I have been living here, I have quietly made my way around to meet people.  I say hello to everyone who is interested in speaking.  In fact, on my way from my previous residence as I walked to the ocean each day, I would see these African American women talking together as they sat outside of a lovely one story home.  Soon after I realized that the previous land lord was “overcharging” me for the one room studio at the roof of one of her properties, I started to “ask around”.  That’s something that “we” learned to do in “The Projects” – “ask around”.  To do this, one has to be confident, polite, RESPECTFUL,  and as genuine as possible.  I now occupy a lovely well maintained, two-bedroom “casita” owned by one of the African American (Jamaican descent) women whom I unknowingly spoke to each time I passed by the group chatting.  In fact, last night, “Miss Ana” showed me how to use a one unit “washer/spin dryer” at the bottom of the steps leading up to the sprawling two level home I now occupy!  I thought I had it “made” at the “small studio”!!  Now, for a few hundred dollars more, I have a guest room, a storage space in the attic, as well as a FULL KITCHEN complete with a micro wave, full stove powered by a propane tank, and ALL the dishes a family could use!  You see, when we are genuinely a “good person”, other “good people” can see it.  Keep in mind, the “haters” – you ALL know who you are – will come out of the woodwork … like roaches.  I simply distance myself from “haters” and hope they learn to love themselves, perhaps even KNOW themselves, as much as I know and love myself!
As  we continue our celebration of “Black History Month” stateside, may we remember those little “boys and girls” innocently BLOWN UP in church by racist cowards who felt that “the children’s lives” were less important than theirs …  May those of us “spiritually intelligent” enough to “spread unity, love, respect and coexistence” continue our “work”, which is my passion, to live in harmony!
STILL … WE RISE!!
Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

“Don’t Let The Bullies Win!”

01 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by excelwitheducationalexcellence in Uncategorized

 

Happy Friday, “Mi Gente”!
And a tremendous “T.G.I.F.” from the spiritual battle field, y’all …  “Just DO It”!
This week has been like a full “360 degrees” for me … AND some!  Can we really go more than 360 degrees though, or haven’t you heard?!?  Yo, y’all, you can go as many degrees as are required and that YOU are able to muster … you dig?!?
We all go through a lot in our “life times” as we know them.  It’s ALL part of the journey, so … as Woody Allen once said, I think it was him, “Ride loosely in the saddle of life!” … or something like that!  It’s a bumpy ride, and if one is not ready, one can get knocked off course or off the horse, speaking figuratively here.  I have been there, done that … even come out ALIVE!  Have you ever had one of those experiences when you KNOW something “greater than yourself” got you to breathe again?!?  THAT’S when you get to know “gratitude”.
Have any of you had experiences with a “bully” before?!?  Usually, they appear first in elementary school or around the playground.  My first experience that I recall was with a kid from the Projects … “The Winbrook Projects” … to be exact.  I use to always raise my hand in class to give the answer to a question that the teacher had asked.  Sometimes, I was first to get called upon.  Other times, I was second or third.  But one thing about my answers, they were usually RIGHT!  There was a reason.  “Big Ike” was a task master.  You had to do your homework before going outside to play with the other kids at The Projects.  Not only that, but he would MAKE my sister Edna help me!  Most of the time, she wanted to help me.  But I was like 8 years younger than her, which is a lot when you are a kid!  So, that’s why most of my answers were right.  Of course, there were kids in my class who didn’t like me getting the right answer so much, with my thick glasses and close hair cut that “Big Ike” had given me and my brother “Hank”.  I didn’t see the inside of a barber shop until I could afford to pay for it from the money I had earned from my paper route.  Do you get the picture yet?!?
I was in “my element” with those right answers.  It motivated me.  But … there were a few bullies … and one who was from the same building as me was in most of my classes, since we were the same age.  He lived with his family on the 4th floor and I lived on the 5th floor with my family so we saw each other often.  One day on the way home from school, he told me to throw my book bag in the bushes and stop giving so many answers in class.  He was handsome and had all the elementary school girls in love with him …  I had NONE.  At that time, I wasn’t so interested in “girls” though I knew what made them cute!!  But it was here when my love for “education” began to blossom.  It was also when I began to be able to identify and dislike “bullies”.  Some of the girls actually liked kids who could answer the  questions correctly in class.  But if they got to pay attention to me, they had to deal with my glasses next!!!  That was usually the “deal breaker” – the glasses!!!  So, Dad drove me to get my books from the bushes near the school and gave me a “talking to” that made me be ready to defend myself against any bully anywhere!
When I taught at White Plains High School, the teachers were often “prepped” to help those kids who were bullied, and particular guidance counselors were assigned to take those students to talk with them.  Many of the students that I had in my classes, on the court or on the stage with “The Performing Arts Club” which I advised for a few years, knew that they could talk to me about anything … especially those “bullies”.  We even had a “human relations specialist” come in from time to time to talk to the youth at the “High School”.  Yet, keep in mind, “bullies” come in all shapes, sizes, colors … and professions!  It is a technique – bullying – that kids with low self esteem use to try to build their own images as say … “a tough guy”.  I didn’t like that because there weren’t many jobs that I wanted to take where you had to be “a tough guy” like a body guard or linebacker for the Green Bay Packers American Football Team!!  Sometimes, people with more money try to “bully” those with less to cover up for the fact that without that “money”, they wouldn’t have much personality.  Their “bullying” often comes in the form of bribes or “pay offs”.  Always speak up or out to someone if you are getting “bullied” by anyone.  If you are a parent, talk to your child(ren) to make sure you are their number ONE “confidante”!
In closing, I want to thank each of you readers again for staying with me.  I am working on getting moved to a different, bigger place with a balcony and a guest room so I can stretch out and finish this third manuscript!  I am almost there … that “place” where I like to write incessantly.  I always have to remind folks that the third book is about how I was able to overcome some challenges and arrive at “early retirement age” to acquire residency in another country!  Right now, it’s Costa Rica … Puerto Viejo to be exact!
Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!  “Be you, because you are YOU!”  by John I. Cook circa 1972!
Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

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