Today's Thoughtful Thursday post, as it falls on Halloween, is dedicated to a series of delightfully sinister "Little Willie" poems. Little Willie poetry is first attributed to the poet Harry Graham, who published a series of these four line poems in his book, "Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes", which was published circa 1899. Many Little Willie poems have followed, [...]
As you probably know if you've been paying attention to the news recently, Trayon Christian is a 19 year old Black college student who is suing the NYPD and Barney's--one of NYC's luxury department stores--for wrongful arrest after he purchased a $350 Ferragamo belt in the store using a debit card. Christian was stopped by police as he tried [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday thoughts were found in a small blue book called "Famous Black Quotations and some not so famous" which has graced my shelf for as long as I can remember. Here are a few quotes to think about and share with your sons. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently revealed news which should gladden the hearts of parents of teenagers everywhere: "cognitive empathy", the wiring in children's brains that enables them to understand and care about how others think, only begins to develop at age 13. So when your sweet middle schooler disappears and is replaced by an eye-rolling, door slamming "who is [...]
When is it good to help our boys, and when is it better to let them fail? In yesterday's New York Times Motherlode Blog, found here, a mother writes passionately of her need to help her middle school son with his schoolwork despite hearing from his teachers that she shouldn't because "we want to see what your child can [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday offerings are a series of four poems about young men by Black poets of several generations. Enjoy! Young Soul first feel, then feel, then read. or read, then feel, then fall, or stand, where you already are, think of your self, and the other selves...think of your parents, your mothers and sisters, then feel, or fall, [...]
Yesterday's post focused on talking to babies; today we are talking about what happens when these babies grow up into young adults: college opportunities. African American economist Carolyn Hoxby, a Stanford economist in residency at Stanford's Hoover Institute, is focused on helping students expand their opportunities to attend college. She recently presented her research at a "master class" at [...]
Did you know that the number of words a child is exposed to between ages 0-3 is significantly related to that child’s ultimate intellectual and academic success? Studies have shown that the more parents talk to their children, the faster children’s vocabularies grow and the higher the children’s IQ test scores are at age three and later. These studies have [...]
GCP spent the last two days at NBC's Education Nation Summit 2013, which was held at the New York Public Library's main branch. This summit, produced by NBC News, gathered more than 300 of the country’s top thought leaders and influencers in education, government, business, philanthropy, and media to discuss ways to improve our nation's educational system. The [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday offerings are two classics from Langston Hughes, courtesy of two special guest GCP contributors. To my delight, when I asked my two sons (independently) to tell me their favorite poems, they chose the following two Hughes poems about dreams. These poems are among my favorites as well. Enjoy! Harlem What happens to a dream deferred? Does [...]