The Capable Scholar

Alice Walker didn't just give us The Color Purple. Born in rural Georgia in 1944, she earned a scholarship to Spelman College before transferring to Sarah Lawrence, graduating in 1965. But instead of taking an easy path, she moved to Mississippi to work in the Civil Rights Movement while teaching and writing poetry and essays.

In 1973, nine years before The Color Purple made her famous, Walker did something extraordinary. She tracked down Zora Neale Hurston's unmarked grave in Florida and paid for a headstone herself. Hurston, the brilliant author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, had died forgotten and in poverty. Walker then wrote In Search of Zora Neale Hurston, which single-handedly revived interest in Hurston's work and secured her place in American literature.

Nine years later, Walker published The Color Purple and became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The 1985 Spielberg film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, and Oprah Winfrey brought her story to millions more. So Alice Walker didn't just write one of America's most important novels. She literally resurrected another literary giant from obscurity, ensuring that both their voices would echo through generations. One woman, two literary legacies saved.

“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.” — George Orwell
George Orwell’s insight highlights the crucial connection between writing and thinking. Writing is not just a tool for communication, but a way to clarify and structure one’s thoughts. The process of writing forces us to engage deeply with our ideas, refine them, and make them coherent. If we cannot express ourselves clearly, it suggests a lack of clarity in our thinking. Writing sharpens our mental faculties, helping us analyze, question, and evaluate. Without the ability to write well, we risk becoming passive recipients of others’ ideas. Others will dictate our thoughts, shaping our perceptions without our active participation. Orwell’s quote calls for a deeper engagement with language, as it is through writing that we cultivate critical thinking skills. When we think well, we are able to challenge assumptions, explore complexities, and develop independent viewpoints. Conversely, without these abilities, we may unknowingly accept the views of others, losing our intellectual autonomy. Thus, clear writing is not just a skill; it’s an essential component of intellectual freedom.

“A just society begins in a classroom where questions are welcomed.” — John Dewey
John Dewey highlights the importance of education in creating a fair and just society. A classroom should be a space where curiosity is encouraged, and critical thinking is valued. When students are allowed to ask questions, they develop the ability to analyze, challenge, and think independently. This fosters a generation of individuals who are not just passive recipients of information, but active participants in shaping their world. A just society cannot thrive without people who are well-educated and intellectually free. By empowering young minds to question and explore, we cultivate informed citizens who can critically assess authority and societal norms. Education is not about memorizing facts but about developing the skills to navigate complex issues. When individuals are taught to question, they are less likely to accept injustice and more likely to strive for equity. A society based on these values can lead to progress, fairness, and collective well-being.

An opportunity for a teen to receive volunteer credit

On Sunday Aug 3rd from 12:30- 5pm Union Baptist Church is seeking responsible and enthusiastic youth volunteers (14-18) to assist with setup, serve as runners and provide support to our senior citizen guests and those in our exclusive cabana section.

To maintain a polished and unified appearance, we ask that students wear black and whiteor white and khaki attire. Each volunteer will be given a corsage and name tag upon arrival. All participants will receive a community service letter and certificate of recognition for their contribution.

We would be grateful to have your youth partnership in making this event a joyful and memorable experience for all involved. Please feel free to contact Ms Casdandra Swanson via email or inbox her with any questions or confirmations- [email protected]

I was given this information for those of you looking for service hours for your teens or college-bound young people:

On Sunday Aug 3rd from 12:30- 5pm Union Baptist Church (Hempstead, Long Island) is seeking responsible and enthusiastic youth volunteers (14-18) to assist with setup, serve as runners and provide support to our senior citizen guests and those in our exclusive cabana section.

To maintain a polished and unified appearance, we ask that students- volunteers wear black and whiteor white and khaki attire.

Each volunteer will be given a corsage and name tag upon arrival. All participants will receive a community service letter and certificate of recognition for their contribution.

We would be grateful to have your youth partnership in making this event a joyful and memorable experience for all involved.

Please feel free to contact Ms Cassandra Swanson via email or inbox her with any questions or confirmations- [email protected]

You might think you already know your family’s stories pretty well, Elizabeth Keating wrote in 2022. But do you really know as much as you think? https://theatln.tc/wDvF4Mat

As an anthropology professor, Keating has always been fascinated by the stories that families tell, and a few years ago, she started researching the tales that are passed down from generation to generation. “Our elders may share some familiar anecdotes over and over again, but still, many of us have no broader sense of the world they lived in, and especially what it was like before we came along. The people I interviewed knew so little about their grandparents’ or parents’ early lives, such as how they were raised and what they experienced as young people,” Keating explained. “Few could remember any personal stories about when their grandparents or parents were children. Whole ways of life were passing away unknown. A kind of genealogical amnesia was eating holes in these family histories as permanently as moths eat holes in the sweaters lovingly knitted by our ancestors.”

As Keating interviewed more people, she developed a set of questions designed to get a person talking about the past in a way they never had before. Some of the questions are basic background information, such as where someone was born, but some are more abstract inquiries, such as how someone conceives of their identity, what they believe in, and what they’ve noticed about the passage of time. Specificity is key, so after asking a relative about the home they grew up in, follow up with requests for details: What did their windows look out onto? What did they hear when they woke up in the morning? When you ask for descriptions of an elder’s childhood home and the neighborhoods they roamed around, you’ll hear stories that place you in a rich sensory world you’ve known little about. So ask what family dinners were like and what your relatives were taught about expressing emotion. Ask about their worst first dates and where they bought their clothes. And remember that the most important questions can also be the plainest. One of Keating’s favorites is just “What do you wish people knew about you?”