A good series of laughs for your weekend! Great humor because it’s mostly true!
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Five Life Lessons from Black Parakeets
Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December is a collection of humorous anecdotes about life, love and everything in-between as seen through the eyes of a young black boy growing up in the Midwest. And while that description may seem very narrowed, it has actually reached people of all walks of life, love, religion, orientation, practice, politics and more. From the collective reactions regarding the book, here are five life lessons that many have learned from Black Parakeets.
5. Life is the same – we’re all the same. Many readers of the book have surprisingly discovered that they had more in common with an African-American male raised in 1980s Northwest Indiana than they would have suspected. We’ve all laughed. We’ve all loved. We’ve all lost. Human connectedness runs much deeper than common race, religion and more.
4. Life is unpredictable – expect the unexpected. The unpredictability of life can mean rapid highs and sudden lows. We can be paupers in one moment and royalty the next. Appreciate the peaks the valleys one in the same. The better prepared one is for life’s surprises, the better one can adapt and those who adapt to life can enjoy it no matter what.
3. Life can be hard – be tough. To quote the great Rocky Balboa “Nobody hits as hard as life.” One second you’re up and the next second you’re not. Jobs are lost when they were expected to be forever. Hearts are broken by the ones who repeated our vows. It rains on the just and the unjust alike so take your hits and keep moving forward.
2. Life can be short – be loving and grateful. The saying “Here today, gone tomorrow” is actually optimistic. At times life can be “Here today, gone today.” We lose the ones we love but how we lose them is up to us. Leave nothing unspoken when it comes to loving and appreciating what others mean to you.
1. Life can be great – live it. That sums it up.
Black Parakeet January 2017 award – Valencia N. Price
The Black Parakeet represents the best and brightest qualities and characteristics that the city and people of East Chicago exhibit. The Black Parakeet is creativity, wonder, wisdom, dedication, love, hope, joy and adventure. It is human connectedness and – so importantly – compassion.
Each month a person(s) or group(s) will be showcased as the epitome of the qualities seen in the Black Parakeet himself. This recipient will be spotlighted on all platforms of… Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December and notified of their notice as having stood out and given back.
It is with great honor that I announce the next Black Parakeet award goes to Valencia Price. For years, Ms. Price was an East Chicago School teacher and an avid believer in education, the church and the betterment of children’s lives via learning. She touched the lives of every student she came in contact with and especially put emphasis into young women and their feelings of self-worth. She was also an impetus behind the introspective writings that eventually led to Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December. It is fitting that she be the first recipient of the award in 2017 as January marks the fourteenth-year anniversary of Ms. Price’s sudden passing while teaching. It is also terribly subjective that she be the recipient as Val was and will always be my beloved sister.
Congratulations to Valencia Price, an educator, a gentle soul and my big sis.
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Four things to Decide when you Write your Memoir
Great article from Bookbaby.com!
Black Parakeet Award – December 2016
December award –
The Black Parakeet represents the best and brightest qualities and characteristics that the city and people of East Chicago exhibit. The Black… Parakeet is creativity, wonder, wisdom, dedication, love, hope, joy and adventure. It is human connectedness and – so importantly – compassion.
Each month a person(s) or group(s) will be showcased as the epitome of the qualities seen in the Black Parakeet himself. This recipient will be spotlighted on all platforms of Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December and notified of their notice as having stood out and given back.
It is with great honor that I announce the next Black Parakeet award goes to the men and women of the East Chicago Police Department. In a time when concerns grow about negative policing, there are those who uphold the shield with distinguished performance. These brave souls have not only protected the city with their own lives but they have made us proud. One need only scratch the blue surface and they will find our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and even mothers and fathers who have taken oaths to keep the Twin City safe. In East Chicago – where crime has touched all of its population and overshadowed a great city’s achievements, it is a great honor to put focus on our family and friends who have become the shield protecting us day in and day out.
Congratulations to those who put themselves in harm’s way so that others remain safe.
Best Christmas commercials from the 80s
If you’ve read any Black Parakeets, you know that I am a child of the 80s. Being that as it is, this time of year brings to mind some of the best moments of my childhood – moments exemplified by some of these commercials. Enjoy and from me and mine to you and yours – Merry Christmas!
Black Parakeet’s Five Tips for you & your child ‘s holiday season!
THAT is a long blog post title!
But it’s an important one. The holidays are upon us and it is all too easy to lose what makes them so important. When we were little guys and girls, this time of the year filled us with so much hope and excitement that we were ready to burst. Then we grew up and now we dread the holidays, we drag ourselves into the season and we complain about everything from the top of our heads to our mistletoes.
But we do not want to see this happen to our children, do we? Do we want to see them lose the zeal and wonder that rests just underneath the surface? Will we allow them to become overly materialistic all while they grow into jaded versions of ourselves?
No. And not only can we save the holidays for our sons, daughters, nieces and nephews (and so on and so on) but we can reclaim the holidays for ourselves. Here are the Black Parakeet’s Five Tips for you and your child’s holiday season!
Start or re-start traditions – We either have lost the things that we did as kids or we never had them to begin with. Re-start the hot cocoa or the family visits or watching “It’s a Wonderful Life,” whatever it was. Start new traditions if you had none and keep what works. Pass these on to your little one’s by including them.
Do cheesy – Ugly sweaters, loud music and wacky holidays ideas (although cookies exchanges are awesome!) may be goofy things to practice. But do them and do them big. The cheesy stuff is what pulls us out of comfort zones of jadedness and disappointment. The holidays are meant to have some silliness to them – embrace it.
Immerse yourself with seasonal muses – There are things that put holiday in your heart and the heart of little ones. Every time I hear “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” I am right there in the season. So, I fire up the MP3 and let it loop when I need to get in the zone. A certain holiday album or a particular annual cartoon – whatever your seasonal muses are, know them and tap into them as soon as Halloween clears!
Make it about you a little – One of the things that fries us out and our kids is that we burn ourselves out. The holiday parties, the hours of frustrated shopping and the countless lists of pricey items can grind us into grinches and grumps. So set some time aside to get a hot coffee at your favorite place or buy yourself a little something while shopping. Take your little one to get their favorite treat and maybe get them an early gift on the spot. This helps remind you that you’re important to yourself.
Enjoy the small things – The holidays are about more than just gifts and food and people. They are about enjoying and appreciating what we have. They are about gratitude for another day. Sometimes it is that peppermint cocoa your favorite eatery carries in December. Sometimes it’s the look of fresh snow or your child’s artwork of Santas and Nativity scenes. Whatever the small thing is, enjoy it and explain to your child why they should enjoy it too.
And last but not least (I know this would technically be the sixth tip) volunteer and bring your little one into the idea of giving back to others. Instill in the them the need to do good and they’ll help others all year round.
Writing YOUR memoir
Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December is many things. It is a comedy, a tragedy and at times much of both. But at its core, it is defined as a memoir – a collection of the re-telling of real life events. It hits the mark (hopefully!) more times than it misses – you cry when you should cry, you laugh when you are supposed to laugh, etc. So with that having been said, are there any tips / suggestions for putting your life to paper thru pen? Here are some tips for writing YOUR memoir.
Find the Commonality, ignore the differences – A memoir has to connect to people. Regardless of the group, the age, the race or the gender, whatever the differences are, you have to make sure that they find something in common with your tale first. That makes your story not only marketable but also widely-received and a greater messenger.
Find the Differences, skip the commonality – A memoir connects, true, but it also has to educate and tell stories that an audience may be unaware of. The story or stories must come from a place unknown that leaves readers changed. Maybe its your town, your struggles, your joys and your loves that most people have no clue of because their lives are so different. Share, that’s what a memoir does.
Be honest but not hurtful – Life has never been easy. It is full of downs, valleys and those who have put us through both. Maybe it was direct villainy or maybe it was human frailty that let us down and broke our hearts. When you re-tell a tale, be honest but not hurtful. Vengeance through words belittles your endeavor.
And make sure it feels – Writing a memoir is to sit around a campfire with your reader and tell them something they did not know moments ago. They are giving you their time in order to experience something. If the story is to make one sad, make sure it invokes the emotion. If the story is to make one laugh, make sure it invokes the emotion. When you write it, you should feel the story in you. And they will feel it as they read it.
Now get writing.
Chad
FREE eBooks!!!!!
Come on by in between the hustle and bustle and get yourself a free download or two of free eBooks and excerpts from Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December, The Monster Man – King of Fools & Windsong & Requiem – Of a Great Deep!
Click here for your FREE eBook downloads! (PDFs and ePub formats!)
LAUGH with Black Parakeets
CLASSIC HORROR returns in The Monster Man
Pirates and monsters! Of a Great Deep!
Skull islands in Welcomes Us Home!
Five Threats to your Child’s childhood
By now, many of us who reminisce about our childhoods now have children ourselves. And, like our parents, we look at the impending futures of our little ones and wonder at how they will grow and what their views of their yesteryears will be. Like our parents, we want the best for the generations we have created. We do not want them to carry our issues but we do want them to embrace our values. In order to ensure this balance, let’s identify Five Threats to our Child’s childhood.
- Technology – Very well one of the biggest benefits to our children, technology can be a major threat to their growth and they will review their childhood. Technology brings disconnection not only to other human beings but also to nature and the world around them. We spend more time chatting, texting and streaming than we do feeling, empathizing and learning. Tech is amazing but it is up to us to limit it especially during dinner and family time.
- Loss of exploration – For us, the world was a giant place. For our children, it may seem even smaller. Given the Internet, modern communication and other aspects of the shrinking globe, our children face the threat of losing the urge to explore. While we don’t want them climbing Everest at five years old, we do want them to look up at the sky or out at the water and see possibility and the dichotomy of their smallness and giant role in the world. Take time to drag them out into the great beyond (or maybe even just the park or by a lake) and look.
- Our cynicism – Every generation feels as if it has life figured it out. And with knowledge comes the loss of innocence and the crippling of hope. We’ve been there and done that. While this attitude is nearly unavoidable, passing it on to our children is. We must watch what we say about our politics, our fears about the environment and race relations, we must not shield our children in an impossible bubble but we must instill in them the chance to learn life on their terms and not ours.
- Instant gratification – Our parents walked eight miles in snow everyday to get to school (or at least they would have us believe!) and we got the bus. Our parents had to wait for months to hear from their family just in the next state and we could get mail in days. Now our children can communicate in mere seconds the globe over. Unfortunately, this quickness of purchase, communication and even the speed at which we can access information has led our children to waiting for little next to nothing. Make them wait. Even if its a matter of minutes more than they need to wait, instant gratification is the enemy of patience and they will need that in life.
- Lack of work – Our lives are easier than our parents and their lives easier than our grandparents and so on and so forth. That is one of the duties of a parent, to work so that their children have chances, opportunities and less hardship than they did. But lack of hardship is not the void of work. Good work pays off in patience, understanding, self-esteem and more. Give the rug rats some chores. Hold them accountable to expectations around the house, at school, in the neighborhood, etc.
While these may be five threats to your child’s childhood, there are so many more. However, it is they who are outnumbered, for you are there in your child’s life and one of the greatest gifts your son or daughter has been given.
Black Parakeets Only Hatch in December 