Family isn't what it used to be. It used to be a time when you could go to Grandma's house to eat, hang out with the family, and just have a good time. Now, everyone chooses who they want to be with. Aunts and uncles pick which kids to be proud of. Brothers and sisters treat friends more like family. Cousins talk bad about each other like they aren't flawed. Grandparents favor certain grandkids. And often, the only time you see everyone together is at a funeral.

Sidney Poitier was a 20 year old dishwasher in NYC. He came from the Bahamas and could only read 3rd grade level, having great trouble with 3 syllable words. He lost his dish washing job, so he looked in the want ads and was about to throw the newspaper into the trash box on the street when he read: Actors Wanted.
The 'wanted' seemed like an invitation, so he walked to the address, was given a two page scene to read by a large man. Poitier slowly read word by word in his Caribbean accent. The large man grabbed him by the belt and collar and pushed him to the door saying, "Stop wasting people's time. You can't speak and you can't read.
Go back to dish washing." Walking to the bus stop Poitier stopped on the street thinking, "How did he know I was a dishwasher?" Poitier said: "I realized that was his perception of me. No value but something I could do with my hands. Even though he was correct in his anger to characterize me that way, I was deeply offended. I said to myself, 'I have to rectify that.' "I decided right then on that street, that I was going to be an actor just to show him he was wrong about me. I had to take the responsibility to change how people perceived me.
I continued as a dishwasher, but I began to work on myself."
Poitier auditioned at the American Negro Theater in Harlem, hoping to get into classes there. He didn't know that one could buy books with plays in them, so he memorized an article in True Confessions magazine.
He wasn't accepted, but Sidney said, "I'll be your janitor for free if you let me study here." The school accepted that deal. Months later, he was told he had no gift for acting and had to leave. Unknown to Poitier, three fellow students that liked him went to the head-master and asked her to give him a walk on in the next play. She said, "No, but I'll make him the understudy for the lead. (She had no intention to use him).
However, the night of the play, the lead, Harry Belafonte, had to help his janitor father carry out the six heavy boxes of furnace ashes, and it had to be done that night. So Poitier went on, knew his lines and did he best he could. In the theater that night was a producer that offered him a bit part in his next play. His character was the first to speak as an excited man who has to tell some news in the first scene, and that was all.
Poitier said, "When I looked out through a peephole at the 1,200 people waiting for the play to begin, I became paralyzed with fear. "I ran out on stage and started with my 7th line first. The other actor's eyes bulged out, but he came up with the right answer. We skipped around lines, then my character left the stage and that was my only scene. The audience didn't know the play, so they liked my confused, excited character.
"However, walking back to the room I was renting, I decided to give up on acting. I bought four newspapers on the way home and was surprised that I was mentioned favorably in three of them, like: 'Who was that funny kid that came on at the beginning?' So I decided to continue acting." After a few small parts in small movies, it was 1954. Sidney Poitier was sent to an audition for a movie by an agent named Martin Baum, but was not Poitier's agent.
Poitier read a scene in front of the producers, they wanted him and gave him a full script to take home. Poitier's character was a janitor who saw a crime committed by gangsters. To keep him quiet, the gangsters kill his daughter. And he stays quiet. Poitier said, "I really hated it. At that time, I had no objections to playing a janitor, but I hated the idea of a father not taking action on the gangsters. The janitor permits what the gangster do to him. To the writers it's just a plot point, but I can't play that because I have a father. And I know my father would never be like that. And as a father myself, I would never be able to NOT attack those gangsters. I want to do movies that show who I am as a human being."
Poitier called Martin Baum who said they will pay $750 for the part. ($7,000 today). He told Baum, " I read it and I can't play it," and explained why. Baum said, “That’s why you don't want to do this? You need that money don't you?" Poitier desperately needed the money. He had to pay the hospital $75 for his 2nd daughter's birth. But didn't take the part. Poitier said, "That speaks to who I was then and still am. And who I am is my father's son. I saw how he treated my mother and family. I know how to be a decent human being.
So I pawned my furniture, such as it was, got $75 and paid the hospital. Then I went back to dish washing. "Months later, Martin Baum called me and invited me to his office and said, "I have never been able to understand why you turned down that job. I told him why again, but I don't know if he understood it.
But Martin said, 'I have decided that anyone as crazy as you are, I want to be their agent.' He's been my agent till now." Poitier won an Academy Award for Best Actor for 'Lilies of the Field' in 1963. Five years later, Sidney Poitier was offered the lead in 'In the Heat of the Night' to be produced by Walter Mirisch (West Side Story, The Magnificent 7) Poitier said, "When I read the script, I said, 'Walter I can’t play this. The scene requires me to be slapped by a wealthy man and I just look at him fiercely and walk away. That is not very bright in today's culture. It's dumb.
"This is 1968. You can't do that. The black community will look at that and be appalled, because the human response would be different. You certainly won't do the movie with me this way. 'If I do this movie, I insist to respond as a human being; he pops me and I pop him right back. If you want me to play it, you will put that in writing. Also in writing you will say 'If this picture plays in the south, that scene is never removed.' Walter said, 'Yeah, I promise you that and I'll put it in writing.' "But being the kind of guy Walter is, his handshake and his word are the same, so I didn't need to have it in writing, and he kept his word. That scene made the movie. Without it, the movie wouldn't have been as popular."
'In the Heat of the Night' won five Academy Awards: Best Picture - Best Screenplay.
Sidney Poitier was a 20 year old dishwasher in NYC. He came from the Bahamas and could only read 3rd grade level, having great trouble with 3 syllable words. He lost his dish washing job, so he looked in the want ads and was about to throw the newspaper into the trash box on the street when he read: Actors Wanted.
The 'wanted' seemed like an invitation, so he walked to the address, was given a two page scene to read by a large man. Poitier slowly read word by word in his Caribbean accent. The large man grabbed him by the belt and collar and pushed him to the door saying, "Stop wasting people's time. You can't speak and you can't read.
Go back to dish washing." Walking to the bus stop Poitier stopped on the street thinking, "How did he know I was a dishwasher?" Poitier said: "I realized that was his perception of me. No value but something I could do with my hands. Even though he was correct in his anger to characterize me that way, I was deeply offended. I said to myself, 'I have to rectify that.' "I decided right then on that street, that I was going to be an actor just to show him he was wrong about me. I had to take the responsibility to change how people perceived me.
I continued as a dishwasher, but I began to work on myself."
Poitier auditioned at the American Negro Theater in Harlem, hoping to get into classes there. He didn't know that one could buy books with plays in them, so he memorized an article in True Confessions magazine.
He wasn't accepted, but Sidney said, "I'll be your janitor for free if you let me study here." The school accepted that deal. Months later, he was told he had no gift for acting and had to leave. Unknown to Poitier, three fellow students that liked him went to the head-master and asked her to give him a walk on in the next play. She said, "No, but I'll make him the understudy for the lead. (She had no intention to use him).
However, the night of the play, the lead, Harry Belafonte, had to help his janitor father carry out the six heavy boxes of furnace ashes, and it had to be done that night. So Poitier went on, knew his lines and did he best he could. In the theater that night was a producer that offered him a bit part in his next play. His character was the first to speak as an excited man who has to tell some news in the first scene, and that was all.
Poitier said, "When I looked out through a peephole at the 1,200 people waiting for the play to begin, I became paralyzed with fear. "I ran out on stage and started with my 7th line first. The other actor's eyes bulged out, but he came up with the right answer. We skipped around lines, then my character left the stage and that was my only scene. The audience didn't know the play, so they liked my confused, excited character.
"However, walking back to the room I was renting, I decided to give up on acting. I bought four newspapers on the way home and was surprised that I was mentioned favorably in three of them, like: 'Who was that funny kid that came on at the beginning?' So I decided to continue acting." After a few small parts in small movies, it was 1954. Sidney Poitier was sent to an audition for a movie by an agent named Martin Baum, but was not Poitier's agent.
Poitier read a scene in front of the producers, they wanted him and gave him a full script to take home. Poitier's character was a janitor who saw a crime committed by gangsters. To keep him quiet, the gangsters kill his daughter. And he stays quiet. Poitier said, "I really hated it. At that time, I had no objections to playing a janitor, but I hated the idea of a father not taking action on the gangsters. The janitor permits what the gangster do to him. To the writers it's just a plot point, but I can't play that because I have a father. And I know my father would never be like that. And as a father myself, I would never be able to NOT attack those gangsters. I want to do movies that show who I am as a human being."
Poitier called Martin Baum who said they will pay $750 for the part. ($7,000 today). He told Baum, " I read it and I can't play it," and explained why. Baum said, “That’s why you don't want to do this? You need that money don't you?" Poitier desperately needed the money. He had to pay the hospital $75 for his 2nd daughter's birth. But didn't take the part. Poitier said, "That speaks to who I was then and still am. And who I am is my father's son. I saw how he treated my mother and family. I know how to be a decent human being.
So I pawned my furniture, such as it was, got $75 and paid the hospital. Then I went back to dish washing. "Months later, Martin Baum called me and invited me to his office and said, "I have never been able to understand why you turned down that job. I told him why again, but I don't know if he understood it.
But Martin said, 'I have decided that anyone as crazy as you are, I want to be their agent.' He's been my agent till now." Poitier won an Academy Award for Best Actor for 'Lilies of the Field' in 1963. Five years later, Sidney Poitier was offered the lead in 'In the Heat of the Night' to be produced by Walter Mirisch (West Side Story, The Magnificent 7) Poitier said, "When I read the script, I said, 'Walter I can’t play this. The scene requires me to be slapped by a wealthy man and I just look at him fiercely and walk away. That is not very bright in today's culture. It's dumb.
"This is 1968. You can't do that. The black community will look at that and be appalled, because the human response would be different. You certainly won't do the movie with me this way. 'If I do this movie, I insist to respond as a human being; he pops me and I pop him right back. If you want me to play it, you will put that in writing. Also in writing you will say 'If this picture plays in the south, that scene is never removed.' Walter said, 'Yeah, I promise you that and I'll put it in writing.' "But being the kind of guy Walter is, his handshake and his word are the same, so I didn't need to have it in writing, and he kept his word. That scene made the movie. Without it, the movie wouldn't have been as popular."
'In the Heat of the Night' won five Academy Awards: Best Picture - Best Screenplay.

Family isn't what it used to be. It used to be a time when you could go to Grandma's house to eat, hang out with the family, and just have a good time. Now, everyone chooses who they want to be with. Aunts and uncles pick which kids to be proud of. Brothers and sisters treat friends more like family. Cousins talk bad about each other like they aren't flawed. Grandparents favor certain grandkids. And often, the only time you see everyone together is at a funeral.

Cain killed Abel not because Abel wronged him or fought with him but, it was because Cain couldn't stand the FAVOR OF GOD on Abel's life.
Sometimes you may wonder why people #talk behind your back, why they #hate you, why they do the things they do to you. It's not that you have a problem, it's because they can't stand the #favor of God on your life.
That's why you don't need to stress yourself over people who are #determined to frustrate or #misunderstand you. You have to understand that not everyone will #like you but everyone shall witness that you are favored by the Lord.
Stand firm in God and what you believe in and no one will shake you...

"Kenan & Kel" is an American sitcom created by Kim Bass, airing on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2001. Set in Chicago, it stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell as high schoolers who get into misadventures, often due to Kenan's schemes and Kel's clumsiness. The show features Kenan's family and boss, and had guest stars like Britney Spears. It won the "Favorite TV Show" award at the 1998 Kids' Choice Awards. The first two seasons were filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Florida, while the last two were filmed in Los Angeles. Known for its running gags, episodes open and close with Kenan and Kel interacting with the audience, often leading to Kel’s catchphrase, "Aww, here it goes!"
#sitcom #tvshow

In 1875, Oliver Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, America's longest continuous sporting event. Lewis was born in 1856 in Fayette Country, Kentucky, to his parents Goodson and Eleanor Lewis. Lewis was born free, but there is little known about his parents or family. Lewis was only 19 years old when he entered the first Kentucky Derby. The race was held at what was then the Louisville Jockey Club on May 17, 1875, but is now known as Churchill Downs.

Ten thousand spectators watched this first race. Lewis rode a horse named Aristide, which was one of two colts entered by their owner, H. Price McGrath of Jessamine, Kentucky. The other horse, Chesapeake, was ridden by William Henry. Although the same owner entered both horses, Chesapeake was favored to win the $2,850 purse, and Lewis was told that his job was to lead most of the race to tire out the other horses. Out of the fifteen jockeys in the field, at this first Kentucky Derby, thirteen of them were African American. Aristide's trainer, Ansel Williamson, was also an African American.

Oliver Lewis followed his instructions and was pushing most of the field while trailing a horse named Volcano for most of the race. However, in the last stretch, Chesapeake was unexpectedly far back in the pack, while Aristide and Volcano were running neck and neck for first place. Lewis and Aristide pulled away near the finish line and won the race by two lengths. With that victory, Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Later that season, Lewis came in second in the Belmont Stakes in New York and won three more races at the Louisville Jockey Club, riding Aristide in all of them. He would never ride in the Kentucky Derby again, however, and would retire after that racing season for unknown reasons.

After retiring, Lewis worked for a short time as a day laborer, but then began providing handicapping tables and racing forms to bookies. He later became a bookie himself, which was legal in Kentucky at that time. Lewis married, although his wife's name is unknown. The couple had six children, including James, who inherited his lucrative bookmaking business. Oliver Lewis died in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1924 at the age of 68.

1955 Sports Illustrated Marble Guide
Genuine Carnelians (agates)
also called flints, aggies and realies were original handmade shooters. Now collector's items, they are still the most treasured of all marbles.

Peppermint Stripes
were among first glass marbles imported from Germany but high prices limited popularity. This candy stripe variety was semi-mechanically made.

First American
glass marbles were poor imitations of imported candy stripes. Far more popular in the 1850s were cheap, fired-clay marbles (right) called miggles and commeys.

Cat’s Eyes
made from used crystal (old bottles, etc.) were first cheap glass marbles made. Colored whirl design injected mechanically into center was not favored by mibsters.

Immies
were popular replacement of hard-to-get agate shooters. Mass produced by machine, their bright opaque colors immediately caught the fancy of finicky marble players.

Rainbows
also called immies, were introduced in 1928 by Peltier Glass Co. and became hot marble currency and are still favorites. Kids like their separated-stripe design.

Marines
made of colored crystal, were a passing fad, being replaced in popularity by moonstones (below). New and booming market for them today is as decorations for aquariums.

Moonstones
(moonies and pureys), developed by rival firm to offset popularity of Rainbows, were most beautiful and costly marbles and included the famous bloody.

Scrap Glass
marbles made from old colored jars flooded market during World War I and marked the end of beautiful marbles. Marbles of today (right) are of poorer quality.

Japanese Cat’s Eyes
now being imported in millions, are threat to U.S. marble industry. Different and more colorful than today's U.S. marbles, they are a big hit with kids.

Common basically has had the chance to rap on every classic Kanye beat known to man before your favorite rapper had it, even before Kanye himself

Subject: A little Louisiana history lesson . . .

If Hurricane Katrina causing the levees to break in New Orleans is the only thing you know about Louisiana , here are a few more interesting facts about the Bayou State:

* Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the nation at 450 feet.

* The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans was the largest enclosed stadium in the world when it was built and for two decades thereafter.

* The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest over-water bridge in the world at 23.87 miles.

* Louisiana 's 6.5 million acres of wetlands are the greatest wetland area in America.

* The oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase Territory is Natchitoches, Louisiana founded in 1714.

* The first bottler of Coca-Cola, Joseph Biedenharn, lived in Monroe, Louisiana (he first bottled Coke across the river in Vicksburg, MS), and was eventually one of the founders of Delta Air Lines, initially called Delta Air Service.

* Delta Airlines got its start in Monroe, Louisiana when County Agent, C.E. Woolman, decided to try dusting the Boll weevil that was destroying the cotton crops in the Mississippi River Delta from an airplane. The airline began as the crop dusting operation called Huff Daland Dusters, Incorporated. That company was founded on May 30, 1924, in Macon, Georgia, and moved to Monroe, Louisiana, in 1925. They flew a Huff-Daland Duster, the first true crop duster, designed to combat the boll weevil infestation of those cotton crops in the delta.

* Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was the largest historically black university in America between 1970 and 1990.

* Baton Rouge was the site of an American Revolutionary related battle outside of the original 13 colonies, in which Spanish forces defeated British forces.

* The formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase was made at the Cabildo building in New Orleans on December 20, 1803.

* The staircase at Chrétien Point, in Sunset, Louisiana was copied for Tara in "Gone with the Wind."

* Louisiana is the No. 1 producer of crawfish, alligators and shallots in America.

* Louisiana produces 24 percent of the nation's salt, the most in America.

* Much of the world's food, coffee, and oil pass through the Port of New Orleans.

* Tabasco, a Louisiana product, holds the second oldest food trademark in the U.S. Patent Office.

* Steen's Syrup Mill in Abbeville, Louisiana is the world's largest syrup plant producing sugar cane syrup.

* America's oldest rice mill is in New Iberia, Louisiana at KONRIKO Co.

* The International Joke Telling Contest is held annually in Opelousas, Louisiana.

* LSU (The Ole War Skule) in Baton Rouge has the distinction of contributing the most officers to WW II after the U.S. military academies.

* The Louisiana Hayride radio show helped Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash achieve stardom. It was broadcast from KWKH Radio in Shreveport Louisiana from 1948 to 1960.

* The term Uncle Sam was coined on the wharfs of New Orleans before Louisiana was a U.S. territory as goods labeled U.S. were from "Uncle Sam."

* The American version of the game of craps was brought first to New Orleans in 1813 as betting was a common activity on the wharves. It was a derivative of the European version and was begun there by Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, a wealthy gambler and politician descended from colonial Louisiana landowners.

* When states had their own currency, the Louisiana Dix (French for ten) was a favored currency for trade. English speakers called them Dixies and coined the term Dixieland.

* New Orleans is the home of the very first pharmacy in America at 514 Chartres Street in the French Quarter. These early medical mixtures became known as cocktails (guess they were good for what ails ya?), coining yet another term. This bit of history is due to Louis Joseph Dufilho, Jr. of New Orleans, who became America’s first licensed pharmacist and opened the shop in 1823 that is now home to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

* New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz, the only true American art form.

Jazz gave birth to the Blues and Rock and Roll music.

#Louisiana