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Rasheeda

10/31/2016

 
“I started noticing the difference when I was a little girl. I was passing March of Dimes cans, and I noticed when I went to knock on white people’s doors, they would come to the door screaming and telling me don’t touch their doorknob and get off their porch. I tried to show them the March of Dimes can had little white children with polio on it, but they --- I couldn’t understand why they didn’t even want me to touch their doorknobs. So I learned as a little girl that there was a difference.
 
“I remember getting on the bus when I was about 5, and all the seats up front were empty. At that time, black people had to sit in the back of the bus behind a certain line. Even if the front of the bus was empty and there were no white people on the bus, we were not allowed to sit up front. My grandmother pushed me all the way to the back where it was crowded, but I broke loose and ran up and took a seat and said, ‘Come on, Mama, there’s some seats up here. We can sit up here!’ She went to me and pinched me and pushed me all the way back in the back. I looked into the faces of some of the black people who were sitting there. They felt sorry for this little girl who didn’t know any better. I couldn’t understand why we had to stand. I said, ‘We don’t have to stand. There are seats up there.’ She never explained to me when we got home why we had to stand, and I never understood, so when I got an opportunity to be a freedom rider, I was right there ready.
 
“It was on a Saturday in 1959. I was only in the 10th grade, and my grandmother was so afraid something would happen to me. She was so afraid I would get killed. She kept saying, ‘Those white people gonna kill you because they don’t care nothing about a nigger.’ But I begged her, and she let me. There were 10 of us they put on the bus and instructed us all to sit in the front. We were told that no matter what anybody says to you, no matter what they do to you, keep looking out the window. Do not respond, even if they spit on you. There was this white lady who got on. She said she was tired. There were some seats further back, but she didn’t want to go back there. She asked me to get up and give her my seat, but we had been instructed not to get up, so I kept looking out the window. She finally said, ‘Gal, if you don’t get up outta that seat --- I’m so tired. I need you to sit in a seat back there!’ We were always taught to obey older people---white, black, it didn’t matter---but I didn’t move. She asked the bus driver: ‘Bus driver, can you make this girl go back there and sit back in the back?’ All the bus drivers at that time were white, but they knew we were integrating the buses, so he shook his head. She kept harassing me to get up, and I could hear my grandmother say, ‘Obey grown people.’ So I got nervous and turned around to look in the back, and when I did I looked straight into the face of an old black man. He didn’t say anything, but he looked me dead in the eyes and shook his head No. No, keep your seat. That gave me the courage that I needed. So I turned back around and continued to look out the window. There was nothing else said.
 
“My family was the first family to march into the courthouse and request our name changed. It was in 1977. People you see walking around today didn’t come to this country with these names. Our names were changed because we were property. Like my friend here: Her last name is Turner, so she knows her ancestors came from the Turner plantation. When I realized that, then I wanted to be my own person. So we went to court. It didn’t cost but $26 for the whole family. I chose my own name.”

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Anton

10/30/2016

 
"For many years I worked in a large corporate law firm, and it was a great career. I got to travel a lot nationally and internationally, but I was often really stressed at the end of the day. Ever since childhood, I had drawn in order to relax, and I noticed that I was still doing that even many years later. My passion for art wasn't going away, so after I retired I decided to channel that interest into making furniture. I paired with the machinist next door to design and build steel furniture for both outdoor and indoor use. I already knew the business side of things, but the craft part was new to me. It's been almost a year now and the business is growing. I don't have to be an expert at everything; my philosophy in hiring is to look for people who are a lot better at a lot of things than I am. It takes courage to let something go and completely change directions---it's scary---but I've been able to mesh my experiences with my passion, and I love every minute of every day now."
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A few samples of the steel furniture / pieces:  benches (above, below), gate, detail of gate
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Anton Mack, Taylor+Mack, 151 Vance Avenue  (corner of Vance & 2nd)
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Kayla

10/29/2016

 
"I’m the oldest of seven kids; I’m 24, and my youngest sibling is four. I love having a big family. There’s never a dull moment - ever. Someone’s always doing something: participating in a sporting event, telling a story, or spilling something and you have to clean it up. There’s always something to do. Always. The hardest thing about such a big family is that there IS so much to do, and there’s never any privacy. I think the things I’ve learned most through all this are patience and love. Love them no matter what. They’re your family. And patience, especially with being the oldest. The little ones don’t know any better sometimes, so you have to be patient with them. It’s awesome to watch them grow and learn; it’s fascinating. I think having these experiences has helped me become a better youth minister. I’m in charge of 6th to 12th graders at church, and I love it."
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Libby & Randy

10/28/2016

 
LIBBY:  "I'm 14 years old. I'm in eighth grade. I have three sisters and one brother. I like watching the Disney Channel and playing Barbies. Brooke is my friend. We have pajama parties and we dance."

RANDY (Dad):  "The best thing about Libby is her personality. She's outgoing, funny, and we have the same sense of humor; we're silly together and just sort of click. She has a very loving spirit."

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The 2016 Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk was held on the campus of Christian Brothers University, 650 E. Parkway South, on Sunday, October 23, 2016.
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Brooke, John, & Kathy

10/27/2016

 
“When we first brought Brooke home, we didn’t know what to do. We hadn’t had any tests done beforehand, so when she was born and the doctor said, ‘Your child has Down Syndrome’, it was a shock. We actually refused to believe the diagnosis for a couple of months until all the tests came back. Once they did, it was about acceptance. You have to learn to accept things in life and then move on. We took classes to get ourselves up to speed and found a lot of support through the Down Syndrome Association and various other groups
 
"Brooke is 17 now. She loves to sing, dance, ride her bike, and go tubing on the lake. She's very outdoorsy and gregarious; there are no strangers in her life. She has a caring, nurturing spirit and is her brother's biggest fan. She has him on a pedestal.

“Parenting Brooke has taught us a lot about ourselves. We have more patience now. And we’ve learned that life isn’t always about the white picket fence and the perfect house and the perfect car. It’s about acceptance and understanding and making a good, fun, happy life for your kids and for yourself.

“We heard a story once that’s meant a lot to us over the years: Say you’re planning a vacation to a warm, sunny country. You pack your shorts, T-shirts, tennis shoes, and swimsuit. You’re on the plane and just about to land when the pilot comes on and says, ‘Welcome to Iceland.’ You didn’t pack for Iceland; you’re not ready for it. So you have a decision to make: You can be upset from that point on, or you can wrap your mind around it and say to yourself, ‘Okay, we’re in Iceland. It’s not where we thought we were going, but it’s where we are.’ That's our family: We landed in a different place than we expected, but we have warm jackets now and we’re enjoying our lives.”

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Precious

10/26/2016

 
PRECIOUS: “I work at Pizza Hut for 25 years.”
CM: “That’s a long time to work at a job. Do you like it?”
PRECIOUS: “Yes ma’am.”
CM: “What else do you like to do?”
PRECIOUS: “I like everything. I take line dancing. I like playing X-Box with my brother.”
CM: “Is he any good?”
PRECIOUS: “No.”
CM: “Do you beat him?”
PRECIOUS: “Yes ma’am.”
CM: “What’s the best thing about you?”
PRECIOUS: “Love. And my mom and my dad.”
CM: “Your mom and dad love you?”
PRECIOUS: “Yes ma’am. Since I was a little baby. They appreciate me. They love me. My daddy named me Precious. He’s in the Bar-Kays.”

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LARRY: “My wife and I have been married for 46 years, but we’ve known each other all our lives. When we were going through school, there was a girl we both knew who had what I thought was the most beautiful name: Precious. I always said that if I ever had a little girl, that’s what I wanted to call her. So when our daughter was born, there was never any question about what her name would be. She fits it too. She is precious. She went to Madonna Learning Center, graduated from Bishop Byrne High School, and has worked for Pizza Hut for 25 years now. She’s always been independent.”

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Larry Dodson is the lead singer with the Bar-Kays. He and his wife Marie are pictured here with daughter Precious and son Larry Jr. Find out more HERE, HERE, and HERE.
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Taylor

10/25/2016

 
“I was adopted from China when I was 9 months old. It’s a funny story, but during the process of adopting me, my mom got pregnant, so I grew up with a sister who was only seven months younger than me. My parents were excited, but my mom was a little freaked out by being a first-time mother with two babies!
 
“Growing up, it was very obvious to other people that I was adopted, and that had a huge impact on how I viewed myself. Until they got to know our family, other people who saw us all together would think I was just my sister’s friend. We moved around quite a bit during my childhood, so I went through that experience a lot. It used to hurt me; I didn’t want to stick out and be different from my family. I know Asian-Americans are sometimes called the ‘model minority’ but that’s a stereotype, and I didn’t want any part of it. I just wanted to be my parents’ child. That’s who I identified with, but people always reminded me that I was different. I got a lot of: ‘No. Who are your REAL parents?’ I’d say, ‘They ARE my real parents.’ It’s hard to know where to draw the line. You’re trying to help other people understand your point of view, but people can be pretty intrusive and ask questions that aren’t really appropriate.
 
“For the longest time I didn’t want to explore my Chinese heritage and I didn’t want to find my biological parents. I had a lot of bitterness in my heart and a lot of hatred that my biological parents could give up their daughter, but I don’t feel that way anymore. I’d like to find them because I’d like to see just one person who looks like me. Also, I want them to know that I love them and forgive them, and I want to tell them about God. That’s all. I don’t want to have a relationship with them. I was born to them, but they aren’t my parents. I have parents. I would never want my parents to feel that I’m trying to replace them. It’s extremely hard, though, to locate your biological parents in China. Because of the one-child policy, my birth was probably not documented, and the government has made it so that no records remain. And if parents bring anything with them when they leave a child at an orphanage, even those possessions are burned, so I have nothing that belonged to them. I may never know why my biological parents didn’t or couldn’t keep me---there may have been reasons beyond their control---but my DNA is in a database in China now just in case anyone is looking. I’d like to meet them, but I also know how much my adoptive parents love me. Family is much more than just a biological connection.
 
“It hurts to know that so many Chinese girls have been abandoned or killed in China, and that that society values girls so much less than boys. The government’s one-child policy changed in 2015, but it’s not just, ‘Oh, now everyone can have two children.’ There are still a lot of stipulations and regulations. The effects of the one-child policy are going to be around for many years to come. Almost an entire population has been eliminated.”

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Taylor writes about her experiences as an adoptee at https://taylorshennett.wordpress.com.
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Adaline

10/24/2016

 
“I was in the foster care system from the time I was five years old until I was 17. During those years I moved from home to home and was raped and molested over and over again, but I never told anybody what was happening. I was too afraid. When I finally got out of foster care, I made so many bad choices: I became very promiscuous and struggled with drugs and alcohol for the next 25 years. For eight of those years, I smoked crack, and it pretty much destroyed my life. My sister always helped me when things got too rough, but when she passed I was on my own. It took her death for me to realize that no one was going to rescue me anymore and that I needed to make a change. That’s when I surrendered to God. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. He took a broken, drug-addicted prostitute and turned me into a woman of God. It was a big surprise to me that he could do that, and I had a hard time receiving it at first, but that’s what happened, and I’ll be forever in his debt. I’ve been clean and sober for 20 years now. I’m working on my GED, writing about my experiences, and getting ready to start an internship at a drug and alcohol treatment facility. I want to help other people who struggle with the same things I struggled with. I want to help them figure out the reasons behind their addictions and get better.”
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Adaline is a student at HopeWorks, a career-preparedness program.
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Tom

10/23/2016

 
"My goal is not just to take excellent images although I really work hard to do that. My real goal is to encourage or inspire people by adding a message to the photograph. For example, the title of this piece, ‘The Unseen Way’ comes from a verse in the Bible that says, ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ In life, we can’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We go by faith down that road. Like everyone else I get anxious at times, but when I come back to the spiritual side of life, I access real peace. Ultimate peace. Other people may express their faith through writing or music; mine is expressed through photography. It’s a creative outlet for me. Psychologists say that, in order to be happy, we all need something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. That ‘something to do’ is our purpose. I’ve found that in photography."
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Image below courtesy of Tom Fox:
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From Tom Fox: "You are cordially invited to an inspirational photographic presentation, Exploring Arches and Canyonlands, Thursday, February 16, 2017, at 7 p.m. We will meet at Saint Francis Hospital, 5959 Park Avenue, in the Longinotti Auditorium [at the rear of the hospital]. The presentation, sponsored by the Memphis Camera Club, will include many fine art images made through years of exploration."
Tom Fox, Fine Art Photographer
Email:  tomfoxphoto@bellsouth.net

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Doug

10/22/2016

 
"Ten years ago, when I realized I was losing my sight (due to a combination of diabetes and glaucoma), I spent the first 6 months going through the classic depression and anger. The whole nine yards. I got to a point where I said, ‘God, I absolutely cannot deal with this. I’m not going to TRY to deal with this.’ I was contemplating suicide, so one night I went out and bought a total of 5 bottles of over-the-counter meds. I came home, sat down at the table and poured them all out. I was just angry with the world. I didn’t do anything that night, but the next day on the bus ride to the Center for Independent Living, I was still very despondent. A few blocks from my house, the driver stopped to pick up a young girl, and she said, ‘Hey!’ I said ‘Hey’ back, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Then she said to me: ‘You don’t look like you’re having a very good day. Today is my birthday; I’m 13 years old. I’m having a wonderful day!’ And that’s when I actually looked at her. She had very broken and difficult-to-understand speech, the lenses in her glasses were as thick as slices of bread, both her arms were cut off right below the elbow, and both her legs were cut off right below the knees. No arms, no legs, speech problems, in a wheelchair. And I said to myself, ‘My god, you’re sitting here complaining about your sight! How dare you. How freaking dare you complain.’ A few minutes later, we reached the Center, and as soon as I got off the bus, I went straight to the bathroom. I must have been in there 10 minutes, crying like a baby. You know, sometimes we get so focused on what’s NOT right in our lives, we tend to forget about what’s going well. That day I said to myself, ‘I’ll never complain again.’ That was a turning point for me.
 
“Prior to losing my sight, my professional life had always centered around computers and information technology, but I had to leave that job because I simply could not see to perform it anymore. What was I going to do? I still had a valuable skill set, so I began volunteering every week at the library teaching computer classes to the visually impaired. And I started my own business, the Memphis Technology Lunchbox, also for people with visual impairment. Through the use of assistive technology, adults in my classes learn computer applications that will help them get into the work force and keep up with this digital world. They don't need to be pushed off in a corner and told to just go home, just go sit down. Doesn’t it make more sense for us as a community---in terms of tax base or any other angle---doesn’t it make more sense to say, ‘You know what? Just because you lost your sight doesn’t mean you’ve lost all the talent and the skill you had before.’ Losing your sight doesn’t mean you have to lose your vision. It may take a little longer, the train might move a little bit slower, but what keeps me going every day, what keeps me motivated at 60 years old, is just thinking about the possibilities. Thinking about making a difference.
 
“Being blind is no picnic---I'm not going to lie to you---but I’m thankful every day. I can honestly tell you I wouldn’t be where I am right now if not for other people helping and encouraging me. It may sound strange, but I’ve actually already written my obituary. The only facts in it are my date of birth and a place to insert date of death. Everything else is a narrative, a thank you to the many people who have made a difference in my life. It doesn’t say anything about my education; it doesn’t mention the Lunch Box, it doesn’t mention my previous business when I had sight, called Byte Size. It doesn’t mention any professional organizations, any awards, or any of the other particulars. It’s just a big ole thank you. That’s all it is. That’s good enough. The other stuff really doesn’t matter.”

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"Most libraries have relied on a software called JAWS, which is very expensive. The developer pretty much dominates the market. For someone on a fixed income, that’s a non-starter. We’re using something called NVDA (No-Visual Digital Access). It’s free, and it's on all the computers in this lab. The only major limitation is that it’s currently only Windows-based. Any computer or home laptop can be turned into an assistive technology computer. Big manufacturers won’t tell you about that. NVDA can take you through anything you want to do; it could take you through your doctoral dissertation. You can load it on a flash drive and put it on any Windows computer. It will read the screen to you and allow you to do anything a sighted person can do. NVDA substitutes keyboard commands for the mouse functions. You learn the keyboard shortcuts to do what you want to do. Create, edit, delete, anything. The only difference is that you’re using the mouse and I’m using keyboard commands."
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Doug Hall of the Memphis Technology Lunchbox teaches computer classes at the Memphis Public Library, 3030 Poplar Avenue.
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