Doing It Right!
- Grammy nominated rapper/singer/writer Phonte and partner-in-crime DJ Brainchild return to Gordon Gartrell Radio. It’s been awhile for these brothers… 5 months to be exact, but who’s counting? They kick the new year off as “Phonte discusses his first Grammy nod, Tiger Woods’ biggest mistake, the end of Little Brother, and Satan’s horrible taste in music.” So there is some bittersweet news, however, in the end good music lives on. If you’re in the know… get back on it! If you’ve never experienced Gordon Gartrell Radio, you’re welcome. 😉
- People across the nation stepped up and volunteered on MLK Day. Here in the Nation’s capitol, DC Greater Cares “engaged over 3,000 volunteers in service at 71 schools and nonprofits across the region.” Having participated in the event, I must say it was a success! People from all ages, races, creeds, incomes and any other census statistics came out to give a hand. Activities included: painting of classrooms and lockers, creating murals with inspirational quotes, setting up library and reading corners, organizing and shelving books, and other tasks. It was a great way to remember a great man.
- Young man is told his alma mater isn’t one of the schools that will be displayed on the walls of a local elementary, he finds a way. Typically, I don’t like to insert myself into a “Do Better Thursday” post but this story must be shared. Upon arrival of my volunteer destination I was informed that I would be helping in the Spanish class. Without much information of my options, I decided to go with the flow and proceeded to the Spanish classroom with my group. Our leader realized she had too many participants and mulled over other options for us. In an eureka moment she exclaimed, “Bathrooms!” At this point, I had no idea what bathrooms meant… but I for damn sure wasn’t going volunteer my time to scrub no toilets. Getting up at 7:30 on a holiday to play scrubbing bubbles wasn’t exactly my idea of service. I mean, if it was “volunteer at the local public restroom day,” then OK cool. However, I felt my “abilities” were being underutilized, I get enough of that at work so I wasn’t going for that jive. It was then that I recalled hearing something about painting college logos. That was it! I was on a mission to find out where the cool kids were. After some snooping, I located the leader-of-the-logos and asked, “Hey, I’m interested in painting Howard’s logo, where are the supplies?” After some hesitation, I was told where to secure a canvas, pencils, paint, brushes and transparences. “Transparences???” The leader explained, “Yes, transparences to place on the projector, so you can copy them onto your canvas. But, uhm, I’m sorry… we don’t have Howards, that’s at the other schools. You’ll have to choose from these.” She handed my a bunch of schools I didn’t attend nor could care to. There was only one school I was going to put on the wall and that was Howard. “No worry, I’ll just try it free hand.” “You sure???” she asked confused. “Of course, I’m a Bison.” I really don’t know where all this loyalty and determination came from but I ran with it. Sprinted back to cool kids area and set out to create my beloved schools logo. Thanks to the trusty iPhone I downloaded the image and got down with the get down…
The goal…
The 1st attempt…
2nd attempt… Doing Better…
I’m saying… it was free hand… and at this point they said we had 20 minutes left…
OK, so it looks like Howard UniversIIy… the kids will still know!
The competition… BUT THEY HAD TRANSPARENCES!!!
So, I was still feeling great about my work…
…until a good friend and organizer of the event sent me this picture from another school.
Not bad… not bad. Go HU! 😉
Oh, and “Bathrooms” meant painting the stalls, I guess I could have applied my “skills” to that effort.
thank you for doing better,
– dre’ of onustees.com
