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My daughter had to finally ended up purchasing eclipse glasses after thousands showed up at Adler Planetarium in Chicago to get them for free and they ran out. These little cardboard glasses cost $5.00, and for me were a total waste of money. I couldn't distinguish anything through them, so i finally just put on my prescription sun glasses and they did just fine. No glare, no problem. i was discouraged that the day started out overcast but was pleasantly surprised later while standing barefoot in the grass so as to connect with the earth during this phenomenon. Although the rest of the sky was grey, the sun blazed amidst the clouds for all to see. I didn't stare at it, i would just take a glance every few seconds to keep up with its progress which, when i squinted, was crystal clear to me. So i saw all that was visible in the Chicago land area where "ol sol" was about 98 percent eclipsed, leaving just a toe nail sliver of sunshine available. It didn't get very dark here, just dim. I think this event was so hyped, that some people were disappointed because it wasn't as spectacular as they expected it to be but, for me, i saw what i saw, and it was, indeed, a solar eclipse, and my spirit was renewed thanks to this belated 84th birthday present from Mother Earth, enabled by Father Time. I'm a child of the universe! As an aside, The village crew who came to prune our tree a couple of weeks ago, got carried away and decided to cut the whole tree down much to my anger when i stuck my head out the door to check on them and was shocked when i saw the tree was gone! i chewed them out for cutting down the whole tree which only needed to have the dead branches lopped off but they sheepishly mumbled some excuses and skulked away after feeding the logs and limbs to the wood chipper. I was furious! Trees are special and you just don't cut one down on a whim. I tried to count the rings in the stump they left but there were so many i gave up. This tree had been around a looong time and i felt a kinship with it. So during the eclipse, I also went and stood barefoot on the stump and promised the tree i would try and live out its life for it. I guess I'm' a Pantheist, among other things. Starting yesterday, things began to turn around for me as predicted by eclipse soothsayers. I almost slit my wrists when it appeared my computer crashed after i clicked onto a sight that i was immediately informed picked up viruses that micro soft wouldn't allow me to spread. Everything was frozen including my mouse, and a phone number appeared on screen for me to call to remedy this disaster. i figured it was hacked so i shut down the computer, and had a long conversation with it telling it how much i appreciated it, promising to be a good user and if it would just resurrect itself, i would down load all of my files, documents, manuscripts, photos and saved mail into a flash drive so i would not suffer a nervous breakdown. After i shut my computer down and turned it back on 3 more times, the black screen finally started to pulse with life and it gradually re-booted itself and came back to life, none the worse for wear. Then my printer wouldn't work but i finally discovered one cable was missing and after combing my work-space with a fine toothed comb, i found it hiding under the desk. Today i lost the empty bottle necessary to get my blood pressure prescription re-filled. i searched high and low, disgusted and frustrated, undoubtedly raising my blood pressure. Finally i checked my purse one more time and there the little empty bottle was hidden, in full view. SMH I had a tarot card reading on my birthday. It was interesting and fairly accurate in regard to certain things. When it came to the phase where i was supposed to ask questions and draw cards from which the "answer" could be discerned by the reader, i couldn't think of any questions to ask because there' was nothing i didn't think i already knew or was interested in finding out about. Needless to say, the reader found me a little peculiar but she said she saw that in the cards. i finally just asked questions about my kids. Sorry, i got carried away.

No , i don't consider Sally Hemings, who bore many children by Thomas Jefferson and traveled with him to Paris, to be the victim of rape. She was a "kept" woman and in keeping with the culture of the times probably felt special about being her master's chosen bed mate. Washington and Jefferson were traitors to England. We're talking about America which eventually entered into a civil war which the south lost and slavery was abolished. What northern generals and statesmen would've been considered traitors had the south won is irrelevant to me, considering that slavery would've still been in tact had the south won. Sorry, but i can't muster up any sympathy for gun totin, mean-spirited , hate-filled poor whites, who are resentful of their skin being devalued, or sullen, steely-eyed coal miners who think black folks want to take their jobs, or other forgotten Trump voters who can't deal with an inclusive society, not to mention fanatical Evangelicals who think Trump's election is god's will. Their misguided ignorance is not my problem. Pardon me if, as a black person, I have more sympathy for poverty-stricken people of my own race who are still struggling with the aftermath of slavery. Yes, this situation is about class as much as race, but i still think a poor white person has a head start on a poor black person when it comes to pulling oneself up by one's boot straps.

This cracked me up.

He is feeling it , and folks seem cool with him.

Dick Gregory was my contemporary and although i never met him, I feel like i knew him. I remember when he got his first start at the PlayBoy Club in Chicago. I followed his career and watched him grow into a star and a civil rights activist. He was an astute social critic who loved his people. R.I.P. When i was in high school, I was a big fan of Jerry Lewis. His humor was so wacky! I went to see him on stage once when he appeared at the Chicago Theater. We fans all crowded around the stage door, trying to get his autograph after one show. I can't remember how it came about but somehow he got my address and sent me a little note from Las Vegas with his autograph. i kept that memento for years but have no idea where it is now. R.I.P.

He has a new book coming out (Sept 2017) The Most Defining Moments in Black History According to Dick Gregory May he rest RIP