Everett Jenkins Birthday Blog

  In another "coincidence" that appears to be part of life, in the aftermath of my "Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas in August", I read last week about the passing of Mary Ellin Barrett, the daughter of Irving Berlin. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/arts/music/mary-ellin-barrett-dead.html I have found that more often than naught, a person's talents can be used for purposes which that person never fully anticipated or understood.  I have also found that more often than naught, those purposes are for the good. Merry Christmas, Everyone! Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins Fairfield, California  August 30, 2022 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Sent: Sun, Aug 7, 2022 4:01 am Subject: Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas in August On Tuesday, August 2, 2022, during my pilgrimage to see the reliquary of Saint Bernadette at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, I made a n...

  On Tuesday, August 2, 2022, during my pilgrimage to see the reliquary of Saint Bernadette at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, I made a number of purchases at the Cathedral gift shop.  One of the purchases is the book entitled  The Song of Bernadette   by Franz Werfel.  This 1941 novel became the basis for the 1943 Academy Award winning film of the same name.  On the back cover of the book is a brief explanation of the book and an introduction to the author.  The cover states,  "This classic story, recounting the miraculous apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, is one of the greatest historical novels of simple and triumphant religious faith published in the twentieth century. "Franz Werfel, the Jewish author, was a highly respected literary figure in Vienna and an outspoken critic of Hitler when the Nazis occupied Austria in 1938.  He escaped to France and found solace and hel...

Per my previous post, on Tuesday, August 2, I went to Los Angeles and spent the day with Saint Bernadette.  Beginning at 10 am, I stood in line for almost an hour within the voluminous Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in order to spend a moment next to Saint Bernadette's reliquary.  I then spent a half hour in the gift shop and another half hour in the cathedral cafe before reentering the Cathedral for the noon time mass.  After the mass, most people left but having not slept the night before, I retired to my car which was parked in the cathedral's parking garage and took a nap.  After two hours "sheltered" in my car, I emerged to once again line up for the reliquary so that I could have some of the items I purchased in the gift shop be blessed by having the attendants press the items against the reliquary and to spend a little more quality time before the reliquary without the rushed press of a long line of people. Being able to pay my respects to Bernadette afte...

Many have already fondly recalled their memories of Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics legend who was the greatest basketball player of all time. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/sports/basketball/bill-russell-dead.html I call Russell the greatest of all time not just because he won almost twice as many championships (11 to 6)  as the currently acknowledged GOAT, Michael Jordan.  He also won twice as many NCAA championships and most impressively of all as a world class high jumper Bill Russell arguably exceeded Michael's iconic feat of jumping from the free throw line to dunk at a NBA All-Star Dunking Contest.  In Bill Russell's famous basket, he leads a fast break, takes off from the free throw line, leaps over a defender, and scores the basket.  Even the amazing Michael never did that.  https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1956-photo-shows-bill-russell-high-jumper/ The Bay Area clearly mourns one of its favorite sons and, as a fellow high jumper with far less...

  One of the key takeaways from reading Tanya Luhrman's  Our Most Troubling Madness: Case Studies in Schizophrenia Across Cultures is that schizophrenia is not a uniform disease.  Schizophrenia has variations depending upon culture, class and caste https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/schizophrenia-by-culture/ A diagnosis of schizophrenia appears to have a timeframe component.  From what I have observed, what is deemed to be schizophrenia today may not have existed in the past and, with advances in science and medicine, may not be the same tomorrow.  Once culture, class, and caste are analyzed within the context of the time, the current higher than proportional existence of schizophrenia within the male African American population that resides on the streets and in our prisons begins to make a great deal of sense given that there are very real omnipresent indicators that hostile forces exist that make being an African American male particularly hazardous. Alas, ...

                                                                                To God  Be the Glory Today, Sunday, November 28, 2021, is my birthday.  I am 68 years old today. However, I believe that this day is actually the day I will remember for being the first day of my new life. For those who have ventured on to this site, I invite you to come along on my journey.  It should be an interesting ride. Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins Fairfield, California November 28, 2021

  Over the past 68 years, I have achieved some notable accomplishments.  Below are the links to some of the biographical listings that set forth those accomplishments: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/490677/marquis-whos-who-honors-everett-w-jenkins-jr-with-inclusion-in-whos-who-in-the-world https://prabook.com/web/everett.jenkins/1666664 https://marquistoplawyers.com/2018/05/25/everett-jenkins-jr/ https://wwlifetimeachievement.com/2018/01/23/everett-jenkins/ https://www.amherst.edu/alumni/connect/networks/black_alumni/black-alumni-week-2021/speaker-biographies https://www.amherst.edu/alumni/connect/networks/black_alumni/archive/BAW_2019/speaker-biographies/node/738351 I feel very blessed to have been able to do as much as I have, but I feel that I have been "called" to do even more.  The creation of this blog is my response to that "calling".  I look forward to seeing what your response to that "calling" will be. Peace, Everett "Skip...

  The main notoriety I have achieved in this life is based upon my writing.  I have written six books ( Pan-African Chronology  [three volumes],  The Muslim Diaspora  [two volumes], and  The Creation  [one volume]) which achieved some notoriety and I have begun two blogs  Who's Who in Islam  and  The Muslim Compendium  which have garnered additional notoriety.  However, whatever notoriety I have achieved for my writing has always seemed a bit undeserved.  Truth be told, I write not for notoriety, but for God.  In the coming days, I hope to be able to elaborate on why I do this.  However, suffice it to say that every book I write and every blog I begin, begins with a tribute to God.  I can only pray that God will continue to find what I write to be an expression of God's will. Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins Fairfield, California November 28, 2021 

 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Alphabetical Index 2022 9/11 Remembrance Day  A00067 A Day with Bernadette, A Few Moments with Moses the Ethiopian A00063 Abdul Qadeer Khan, Father of Pakistan's Nuclear Program  A00003 April 2022 Must Watch TV: Benjamin Franklin: A Film by Ken Burns  A00036 Bill Russell, High Jumper  A00062 Black Savants: The Remarkable Stories of Willard Wigan and Stephen Wiltshire  A00009 Book of the Month for February 2022: Your Blues Ain't Like Mine: A Conversation with Bebe Moore Campbell  A00022 Bruce's Beach Revisited  A00018 Busy Inside and Drive My Car  A00033 Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas in August  A00064 Driving While Black  A00028 El Dia de Los Muertos por Los Pajaros  A00005 False Prophets  A00007 February 2022 Must See TV: The American Diplomat (American Experience)  A00017 February 2022 Must See TV: The Murder of Emmett Till  A0...

As we agonize over the impending demise of the Amherst College listservs, I find myself intrigued by a previously unimaginable occurrence.  For the first time, the relics (certain sanctified parts of the body) of Saint Bernadette are on a tour of United States cities. https://stbernadetteusa.org/ip.php For those not familiar with her story, Saint Bernadette is famed for the miraculous events that occurred in Lourdes, France, in 1858 and for the miraculous cures associated with drinking the water from Lourdes which have continued to occur ever since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous The 1943 movie starring Jennifer Jones as Bernadette Soubirous was one of the formative movie experiences of my youth.  The notion that Bernadette saw a divine lady that no one else could see and heard a voice that no one else could hear sounds so much like an all too common affliction that can be seen on the streets of this fair land. Indeed, per my recent studies, I have learned ...

  I am sure that most folks are not aware that the World Track and Field Championship is being held, for the first time on American soil, this week in Eugene, Oregon.  For me, the Hayward Field venue is amazing and the performances have been scintillating.  Some of the performances (the Ukrainian athletes, and the kid from Ashland University who placed third in the men's 400 meter hurdles) have been the most heartfelt.  However, the saddest for me was watching the women's 5000 meter semifinals where the two time women's Olympic 800 meter champion Caster Semenya was relegated after being banned from performing in the 400, 800, or 1500 meter competitions because her testosterone levels were deemed too high for those events.  By relegating Semenya to the longer distances, it was almost guaranteeing that she would fail... and she did.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/caster-semenya-unnoticed-at-world-championships/ar-AAZOV87 In the year when a tran...

Yesterday, a new era was ushered in on the California coast http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=5c5e43d8-f521-4d20-b3b7-f560779835f8 I am happy to have lived long enough to see the beginning.  I hope to live long enough to see it become a more common practice ... a practice aimed at Justice for All. Peace, Everett Jenkins Fairfield, California July 21, 2022