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Black History Month: In Honor of James Alan McPherson
I thought it would be nice to mention James Alan McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author and longtime Iowa Writers’ Workshop faculty member, in keeping with the theme of this month’s Black History Month: African Americans and the Arts. A neighborhood park was named in his honor (James Alan McPherson Park) in 2021. There has been…
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“Our Hidden Conversations” is a Very Tough Book to Read
As I approach the end of the book “Our Hidden Conversations” by Michele Norris, I find myself doing what I often do when I feel uncomfortable emotionally. I start to deploy my sense of humor. As a psychiatrist (now retired since 2020), I learned early in my residency training that humor can be thought of…
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More Thoughts On “Our Hidden Conversations” Book by Michele Norris
I need to correct something I got wrong in my first post about Michele Norris’s Distinguished Lecture on January 23rd. While reading her book, “Our Hidden Conversations” I ran across this race card in the chapter “Black Babies Cost Less to Adopt:” “Vote (for) Obama! He looks like me!” That was the 8-year-old daughter said…
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Preliminary Thoughts on “Our Hidden Conversations” Book
This is a short post about my initial impressions about the book, “Our Hidden Conversation” by Michele Norris. I’m not finished with the book yet, but I thought I would let you know that the first chapter, “Bread Crumbs” was tough to read. I had to put it down and come back to it a…
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“Our Hidden Conversations” Book by Michele Norris Arrived
I just started reading Michele Norris’s book, “Our Hidden Conversations.” It’s based on her Race Card Project, which has been going on for 14 years and counting. It’s about more than racism between black and white people. I’ll let you know what I think about the book from time to time.
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Thoughts on the Dr. MLK, Jr Distinguished Lecture by Michele Norris
Sena and I viewed a recording of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Distinguished Lecture given by Michele Norris on January 23, 2023. It was not available to the general public, about which I have inquired. It was a very interesting, informative, and entertaining presentation. It was about her 14-year Race Card Project which led…
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Black History Month 2024 Theme is African Americans and the Arts
February is Black History Month and in 2024 the theme is African Americans and the Arts. This reminds me of a blues artist I heard on KCCK on the Big Mo Blues Show last Friday. His name is Toronzo Cannon and his career as a blues guitarist and songwriter is skyrocketing. I heard his song…
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Making My Own Race Card
Tomorrow’s schedule for the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Human Rights Week has Michele Norris presenting the MLK Distinguished Lecture, “Our Hidden Conversations.” It’s based on her Race Card Project which produced her new book “Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity.” Sena and I probably are not going to…
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Thoughts on “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Sena and I got to talking about a Twilight Zone show we saw over the holidays. It was a 1964 episode, not the regular program but short film that won a Cannes Film Festival award in the early 1960s, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” The quick summary is that a Southern plantation owner is…
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Rearranging My Books
The other day, I finally rearranged my bookshelf. I’ve put it off for a long time. While I was doing it, I remembered where I spend the most time in my thoughts. I don’t have a very broad library, which probably illustrates where my mind wanders. It has changed very little over the years. Retirement…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 