Overdue

     

(Photo: National Museum of African American History and Culture - the banner, from 1924, featured the motto of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs)

CULTURAL CELEBRATION: Earlier today, a former co-worker texted me to let me know about a broadcast tonight on TV, "Taking the Stage."

I didn't know what it was about at all, but I know my friend, and if she told me to watch it, it would be worth it!

I searched the Internet and found out that show was on ABC at 9 p.m. our time, so we tuned in. It turns out the show was in honor of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture.              

When I told the kids what the celebration was about, Annabelle was aghast, asking why in the world it took until NOW to have a national museum showcasing African Americans' contributions and stories.

Good question. LONG overdue, IMHO.

The two-hour special we watched tonight was   taped last September at Washington DC's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, paid homage to African Americans' cultural impact through dance, spoken word and musical performances. The show was fantastic, and prompted us to want to learn about the new museum.                     

From what we've read, the museum has 40,000 objects in its collection, 4,000 of which will live in the museum. 

The artifacts are varied. They include everything from Michael Jackson's iconic fedora (think "Billie Jean") ...

to an 80-plus-ton segregation-era Southern Railway car, which was so big, that the museum had to be built around it.                      

 One of the more touching moments of the "Taking the Stage" broadcast was when the seven surviving Tuskegee Airmen came on stage. The group of African-American military pilots fought in World War II, officially forming the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces.  One of their planes is on display at the new museum.

I'd love to visit this museum in person some day.

Take these Broken Wings and Learn to Fly

BLACKBIRD: The kids keep plugging away on guitar, and what they're plucking out these days is The Beatles' "Blackbird."

It's a big challenge. 

The kids have been lucky enough to see Paul McCartney play that song live (twice!), and each time he has asked the audience how many of them tried to learn to play guitar so they could play that song.

Thousands of hands went up in response. 

But no doubt many of those same hands failed to master the song. It's tough!

Here's Paul singing the song at Safeco Field in 2013 in one of the most amazing concerts I've ever seen. By the way, until that night, I'd never known Blackbird was a song about the Civil Right struggle in Americahttps://youtu.be/nbqyUWrHOzQ


Given all this, we've turned to YouTube for some help. 

We've had luck with "Marty Music" lessons before. Interesting that he notes in his intro that he, too has seen Paul live recently, and that Paul has mentioned that most of the YouTube video tutorials get it wrong. 
https://youtu.be/5TnySn2KqD4


Hopefully within a couple of weeks, they have a version ready for posting here. (Not only is it hard to play, the timing of singing it is also tricky.)

HIDDEN NO MORE: Last night, Annabelle and I were super fortunate to get to see a (free!) sneak preview of the movie "Hidden Figures" at The Museum of Flight. Annabelle's membership in their awesome Amelia's Aero Club was our ticket in. :)

Following is a short review of the movie by Annabelle:

Hidden Figures is a movie about three African-American women who worked for NASA on the Apollo missions. Back in the day, blacks were still discriminated against, and the black women worked as computers, meaning they did all the calculations. Hidden Figures focuses on Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, and their quiet rise to the top of NASA. Katherine and her friends started as computers in the segregated West Computing Room. They only had the “colored” restrooms but they were happy to be working at NASA nonetheless. In the computing rooms they had large, typewriter-like calculators and they did math all day to calculate trajectories and such. Katherine was a genius, so much so that she got into high school at 10 years old. She quickly rose to being accepted into flight operations. She was making the calculations for launch and landing at record speed, and she and her friends helped bring down the segregation in NASA. Their accomplishments allowed John Glenn to complete his orbit and gave hope to the USA. They were truly remarkable women, even if their story was hidden until now.

I'd highly encourage any and all to see the movie. These women were remarkable, and their stories remained "hidden" until now.  Imagine being the only woman in a man's world. And imagine being the only person of color in a white world. Then imagine being a black woman rising to the top in a white man's world, and that's what these heroes did. So inspirational!
https://youtu.be/aVda_e4qs2o

After the movie, a Museum of Flight rep let students in the crowd know they, too, had pathways to aerospace careers.  

MEANWHILE, IN SPACE: It's only fitting that a woman made history in space on the day we saw "Hidden Figures." Specifically Peggy Whitson.

This is Whitson's third mission on the space station; she'll soon become its commander for the second time. Age 56, she's spent more than a year of her life in space.

In the screen shot from NASA TV below, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson are shown during their six-hour and 32-minute spacewalk. During their Extra Vehicular Activity, the two NASA astronauts successfully installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of the six new lithium-ion batteries on the International Space Station. They also accomplished several get-ahead tasks, including a photo survey of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

KING CAKE: Saturday evening, a friend came over and she came bearing home baked cake. And not just any cake, a King Cake!

She has lived in New Orleans for years and knows all about the Mardi Gras traditions. The colorful cake (doughtnut shaped, and topped with colorful granulated sugar), is associated with pre-Lenten celebrations during carnival time.

None of the four of us had ever had King Cake before, so it was a treat. One of the traditions is that a baby (signifying the Christ child) is hidden in the cake. Of course, both of the kids were eager to be the one to find it. 

CJ found the baby this go round. There are different stories regarding what that means. Some say it means a year of good luck, others say it means you have to host the party next year. 

Our friend tells us that a dry/raw bean used to be used before plastic baby Jesus dolls were mass produced.