This Mother’s Day
I found myself reflecting
affectionately
on my mother
and a mother
who I was proud
to call my wife,
two women
who gave me all the love
I would ever need to sustain me
in this realm called life… [Read more…]
The Planet Earth Is In Your Care (A Letter to the University of Arizona’s Class of 2015)
Dear University of Arizona Class of 2015:
The Alumni Association of our beloved U of A asked past graduates to share words of wisdom with you.
My first thought is to give forth with some lofty advice like “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Now that’s definitely something for you to consider but, due to the troubles in the world facing your generation, you’ve got some serious work to do. [Read more…]
Being Grateful and Happy and All
By Ernie McCray
Maria recently asked her family and me (a relatively new member of the clan) to look over some questions and maybe talk about them later over a meal.
I took a peek and, regarding the first question, I’m grateful for having reached 77 years of age which, to me, signifies, that I am of the old and the wise, fit, still with it, busting moves everyday. These are “The Good Old Days!”
I’m so grateful to have friends and family to love and to know that they love me back. I’m grateful for my mother and grandfather who, long time ago, got me on the right track. [Read more…]
Still Groovin’ After all These Years
By Ernie McCray
A few days before my 77th birthday – “Hip-Hip! Hooray!” – I stepped into the Big Kitchen Cafe and the Rascal’s were “Groovin'” on the stereo and I couldn’t help but go back into time to when that song played in the background of my life.
I was, in this moment in time, slowly getting out of an unhealthy situation and found myself truly “Groovin'” on many a “Sunday afternoon,” kicking it with a beautiful high spirited funny-as-hell woman who, it seemed to me, was looking for what I was looking for at that stage of my life: fun, with no strings attached. Turned out later, I was the only one looking for that. She was more in tune with “Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly…” We parted amiably.
And the music just keeps on playing, a constant in our lives, something to grab and hold on to. And I’ve basked in a whole lot of it in my 77 years. [Read more…]
“100 Things” on My Mind
By Ernie McCray
I just finished a very pleasant read, “100 Things Arizona Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die,” a book written by two of the best sports writers around, Steve Rivera and Anthony Gimino.
They write a lot about Arizona Basketball History and having played a role in that history, and having been around it all my life, the book couldn’t help but resonate with me in special ways.
In a chapter about University of Arizona traditions I found the words to a fight song that’s flowed through my veins and bones ever since I first heard it as a 14 year old, back in 1952:
Bear Down, Arizona
Bear Down, Red and Blue
Bear Down, Arizona
Hit ’em hard, let ’em know who’s who
Bear Down, Arizona
Bear Down, Red and Blue
Go, go Wildcats, go
Arizona Bear Down
Conversations at the Catfish Club: The Answer is Love
By Ernie McCray
I sat at a Catfish Club luncheon the other day listening to Leon Williams and Reverend George Walker Smith converse about days of yore and their thoughts about today’s world.
Leon was the first black to hold a seat with the San Diego City Council and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
He spoke of the moments in time when he was into making our city and county governments more inclusive and more service oriented and more respectful of citizens. He touched on the area’s redevelopment movement when neglected communities started getting the attention they deserved and needed and had gone without forever. [Read more…]
Ending Racial Profiling (Or Not) at a RISE Urban Breakfast Club Forum
By Ernie McCray
A couple of weeks or so ago I dined with a number of friendly folks at a RISE Urban Breakfast Club forum that asked, concerning Community-Police Relations, “Can we build a safer San Diego together?”
The answer seemed to be “Yeah, we can,” as panelists, in a room where smiles drifted in the air like tissues in a breeze, talked of everyone chipping in to find good cops and of how we all need to shed our various biases, as “Trust is fragile.” And it was good to know that the wearing of “body worn cameras” is going kind of nice.
I drove home convinced that there are some people truly dedicated to making relations better between the police and people they’ve harassed for centuries.
But the Tyrannosaurus Rex sitting smack dab in the middle of the discussion, “racial profiling,” was glossed over as though it was just a slight hiccup in the way of sound relationships between “Mr. Do Right” and angry black folks, rather than it being “The Problem!!!!!!!!!!” [Read more…]
What the World Needs Now is Empathy
By Ernie McCray
(This poem was written to kickoff the 1st Annual Social Justice and Education Conference at San Diego City College, March 26-27, 2015)
I look around me,
breathing in deeply
as I reflect on the totality
of what I see.
Before me, a man lays sleeping
on a downtown street
that jumps with a crisp
four/four time Hip-Hop beat,
bouncing from an upbeat retreat,
where folks hang out,
chillaxed to the max
as it’s the “Thank God it’s Friday,”
day of the week. [Read more…]
Watching Dreams of ‘Home’ Come True
By Ernie McCray
I’ve attended many a wedding in my life, even conducting a few in rhythm and rhyme that got people to say “Hey, that was pretty nice.”
But I have never witnessed a marriage that was as special as the one I showed up for on the last day of this past February.
It was beyond nice. It was magical. Sweet. Soulful. Teary. Poignant. Smiley. Earthy. Inspiring. Cosmic. Fun. Invigorating. Both lighthearted and sincere. A journey “home,” proceeded over by the groom’s brother-in-law. [Read more…]
Helping Young People Discover the ‘Truths’ In Life
By Ernie McCray
I love my life, especially my moments with kids. Recently I had the pleasure, along with a teenage Latina friend of mine, of talking to an assembly of young people, most of them Latino, in Chula Vista, about something they’re confronted with regularly: whether to join or not join the military.
We were doing so because we hate to see our children being sucked into the war machine by Uncle Sam who loves to play with their innocence. [Read more…]
Joining Spirit with the Billions of Us Human Beings
By Ernie McCray
I was driving and turned my radio to 89.5, KPBS, and there was a conversation going on about “7 Billion Others,” an exhibit that’s opening in the U.S. for the first time – at San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA): February 21 to September 13.
I liked what I was hearing and googled around and found, on the MOPA website, 45 questions written for visitors to the exhibit to answer so that they can find in themselves that spark that resides in us all and connects us to the journey of human beings featured in the video project.
My answer to the first question was: Ernest Charles McCray; age 76; retired school principal; widower; American as in United States of America.
Here are my replies to the other questions, based on what first came to my mind: [Read more…]
A Path Chosen in Black History
By Ernie McCray
When I look back at my own little chapter of Black History, I feel grateful that I found a path that enabled me to survive a society that sought to deny me a life of dignity. I unknowingly set out on this path on my first day of school, when my knuckles were seemingly knocked to kingdom come because I had dozed off, as if I had a choice in a room sizzling at 100 and some degrees with a fan (itself struggling to stay awake) blowing across a pail of water as though that could lower the temperature in that room to any degree. I swear I heard that fan wheeze. Talking Tucson, Arizona, August or September of 1943.
I remember thinking, back then, as I looked at my hands, surprised to see my knuckles still there, “What the hell kind of welcome was that?” And I knew, as much as a five-year old can know such things, that someday I would be a teacher. [Read more…]
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