It's the last day of the Reunion and everyone's headed out for breakfast. The Friday Picnic and Saturday Banquet were fabulous---more than 200 people. We'll post more photos soon, but here are few from Friday.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
HAPPY REUNION!
It's the last day of the Reunion and everyone's headed out for breakfast. The Friday Picnic and Saturday Banquet were fabulous---more than 200 people. We'll post more photos soon, but here are few from Friday.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Meet the Poughkeepsie Reunion Committee.......
Ruby Pittman-Hurry, Vivian Bunn-Neal, Trudy Pittman, Asonia Riggins, Teiqua McRae. Michelle Ransom, Darlene Baker, Jennifer Christy, Frank Pittman, Jerome Booker, Roy Pittman, Jr., Edward Pittman
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
LIVE TO SEE NOTHIN' HAPPEN.......
This is a slightly adjusted piece I wrote a few weeks ago for another website.
If I live to see nothin' happen..... Ma and Grandma used to say this all the time before or after mentioning something they wanted or needed to do. "Live to see nothin' happen, I'm going uptown this weekend......I'm getting the plants out next week---live to see nothin' happen."
It was a testament to the power of the unknown and an appreciation for the blessings of life we are given everyday. As simple as it sounds, waking up in the morning is at God's will. Live to see nothing happen meant nothing was taken for granted. On the farm in Whitakers, North Carolina I guess they believed in this phrase more than anything. As sharecroppers, they had little assurance about what the next day, month or year could bring. In fact, we migrated to New York (I was five) after learning that the landowner deceitfully calculated that Grandma owed him hundreds of dollars for a dead mule. Earlier that year, I imagine that Grandma had uttered those words more than once----Live to see nothing happen. It was a snowy Sunday in January of 1965 when we left the farm for Poughkeepsie.
If I live to see nothin' happen..... I grew up hearing them say this in all its mystery. Only now do I understand how it acknowledges a power which we do not have. We can do everything in our control to plan our next steps but there's an infinite power that controls our destiny. Live to see nothin' happen speaks to more than literal life; it speaks also to the present and how we can treasure what we already have.
Ask that you live to see nothin' happenbut live life fully while you can.
If I live to see nothin' happen..... Ma and Grandma used to say this all the time before or after mentioning something they wanted or needed to do. "Live to see nothin' happen, I'm going uptown this weekend......I'm getting the plants out next week---live to see nothin' happen."
It was a testament to the power of the unknown and an appreciation for the blessings of life we are given everyday. As simple as it sounds, waking up in the morning is at God's will. Live to see nothing happen meant nothing was taken for granted. On the farm in Whitakers, North Carolina I guess they believed in this phrase more than anything. As sharecroppers, they had little assurance about what the next day, month or year could bring. In fact, we migrated to New York (I was five) after learning that the landowner deceitfully calculated that Grandma owed him hundreds of dollars for a dead mule. Earlier that year, I imagine that Grandma had uttered those words more than once----Live to see nothing happen. It was a snowy Sunday in January of 1965 when we left the farm for Poughkeepsie.
If I live to see nothin' happen..... I grew up hearing them say this in all its mystery. Only now do I understand how it acknowledges a power which we do not have. We can do everything in our control to plan our next steps but there's an infinite power that controls our destiny. Live to see nothin' happen speaks to more than literal life; it speaks also to the present and how we can treasure what we already have.
Ask that you live to see nothin' happenbut live life fully while you can.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS SITE?
Do you have an idea or suggestion for a posting on our Reunion website? Please send to me (Ed Pittman) at Umojalo7@aol.com or post a comment below. Also, if you have a special photo you'd like to share, please contact me.
The site will also remain up after the reunion.
The site will also remain up after the reunion.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Black Family Pledge
BLACK FAMILY PLEDGE
by Maya Angelou
Because we have forgotten our ancestors our children no longer give us honor.
Because we have lost the path our ancestors cleared, kneeling in perilous undergrowth, our children cannot find their way.
Because we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children can not pray.
Because the long wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying.
Because we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand.
Because we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, and holds us up to the mirror of the world, shouting, Regard the loveless.
Therefore, we pledge to bind ourselves again to one another;
To embrace our lowliest,
To keep company with our loneliest,
To educate our illiterate,
To feed our starving,
To clothe our ragged,
To do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are our brothers and sisters.
In honor of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation,
We make this pledge.
by Maya Angelou
Because we have forgotten our ancestors our children no longer give us honor.
Because we have lost the path our ancestors cleared, kneeling in perilous undergrowth, our children cannot find their way.
Because we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children can not pray.
Because the long wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying.
Because we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand.
Because we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, and holds us up to the mirror of the world, shouting, Regard the loveless.
Therefore, we pledge to bind ourselves again to one another;
To embrace our lowliest,
To keep company with our loneliest,
To educate our illiterate,
To feed our starving,
To clothe our ragged,
To do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are our brothers and sisters.
In honor of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation,
We make this pledge.
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