Everett Jenkins Birthday Blog

For the Month of October 2023, the Must See TV program is  The American Buffalo , a film by Ken Burns.  The two-part, four-hour program is airing on PBS this week.  Please catch it, if you can ... and please contemplate how the exploitative impulses that are chronicled in the program are still present today.  Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins Fairfield, California October 17, 2023

Last week, I finished reading   Surviving Death  by Leslie Kean, and on September 30, I finished reading   The Song of Bernadette  by Franz Werfel.    Surviving Death  was interesting but a bit disappointing in not exploring the rather abundant documented afterlife beliefs and practices of other cultures and the prolific afterlife beliefs of many established religions.  In conjunction with these worldwide beliefs and practices, it seems clear to me that there is life after death. And   The Song of Bernadette  simply confirmed that an afterlife consciousness can continue to exist thousands of years after the body is gone. It is now October 17, and there is not much time left in the month.  So, for October 2023, I have decided to read a small book by a very important man.  The book for the Month of October 2023 is  Meditations  by Marcus Aurelius Meditations - Wikipedia Those who venture into its pages will understand w...

A little over a month ago, Amherst College held a remembrance service for Gerald Penny, the member of the Class of 1977 who died while taking a swimming test during his first year ... his first month ... at Amherst College on September 12, 1973. College Remembers Gerald Penny ’77 (amherststudent.com) This memorial service was a formal affair and was held in, I believe, Chapin Chapel, in Chapel Hall, the location where the black students typically gather twice a semester for a Christian church service.  Notable about the service held in September was that it appears that only two people who actually knew Gerald were in attendance.  One was Bob Bellinger, a fellow member of the Class of 1977, and the other was the poet Sonia Sanchez who was a professor at Amherst at the time of Gerald's death in 1973. I noted with appreciation the location, the formality and structure of the remembrance service on September 12, 2023 and found myself, self-consciously, comparing it to the one I c...

  88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Alphabetical Index 2022 9/11 Remembrance Day  A00067 A Day with Bernadette, A Few Moments with Moses the Ethiopian A00063 A Day with Bernadette ... and the Lady  A00144 A Full Card Table of Black Economists  A00163 A Happy Fourth of July Dancing Under the Stars  A00167 A Meditation on John Coltrane  A00197 A Most Profound Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial  A00113 A Musical Meditation on Rumi A00180 A Poker Game in Heaven  A00155 A Return to Allensworth: From a Field of Weeds to a Field of Dreams  A00149 A Return to Monserrat and a "Miraculous" Introduction to the Black Madonna  A00145 A Side Trip to Dublin and an Exploration of Black Irish Roots  A00146 A Surprising Connection to Our American Soul  A00148 A Tale of Two Black Economists  A00161 A Tale of Two Memorial Services  A00201 A Victory for the Descendants of Boley  A00199 Abdul Qa...