Morgan States Celebrates A Special Anniversary

Some Morgan State students celebrate their 1st place win at a hackathon competition with other universities.

How to describe MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, hmm! Here goes, for one thing, Morgan State is one of our nation's traditional black colleges and universities, but it's more than that. It is also one of the top urban research universities with its sights on the future and a desire to be a world leader. It's also the means to a recognized top university education for the many urban youth in Baltimore and students from other parts of the US and world.

Besides that, this well-known university is celebrating it 150th anniversary since its founding in 1867, so Morgan State has been around for quite a while. Since this is such a significant anniversary, the university has begun an extensive and comprehensive fund-raising campaign. At a gathering in Gilliam Concert Hall inside the Murphy Fine Arts Center, this past November, University President Dr. David Wilson announced, "We are calling this The Anniversary Campaign for Morgan State University, and for obvious reasons. Next year, 2017, marks a historic milestone in Morgan's history: the 150th anniversary of the university's founding. It is a time for reflection on our past and to look forward to our future, a future we believe will be made brighter with the success of this fundraising effort."



Then Dr. Wilson was joined by Kevin Liles, a well-known entertainment industry executive, who is president and CEO of KWL Enterprises. He also is a graduate of Morgan State. Mr. Liles has become chair of The Anniversary Campaign. Mr. Liles also addressed the audience, "The impact of this comprehensive campaign will be transformative for the students at Morgan, the research being advanced here and the impact this university makes on Baltimore and beyond. Morgan State has already made history with a legacy of 150 extraordinary years as a leader in higher education in this country. We are now on track to make history again with this comprehensive campaign, and I am so proud to be a part of it."

Morgan State's own defensive line football coach, Antonio James, was one of 30 young coaches named to the American Football Coaches Association 30 Under 30 Leadership Institute.

The Anniversary Campaign has set a goal of raising $250 million, the largest amount ever raised in a campaign by a public historic black college or university. President Wilson went on to discuss the benefits of the funds raised, "This is an ambitious goal, we know, but we have ambitious plans for Morgan. And they begin with our number one priority: our students. First and foremost, we want to ensure the continued success of our students while keeping Morgan affordable and accessible. We also intend to advance our teaching and research mission, continue enhancements to our physical campus to promote learning and innovation, and further engage with the communities we serve. That's just another way of saying that we want  to make certain that Morgan's best days are ahead of us."

437 students graduated from Morgan's December graduation ceremony in 2016, the highest number since December graduation was started in 2013.

All of us in the community wish the best of success with their anniversary fundraising campaign and are thankful that Morgan State University is such an important part of the Baltimore area.

Thanks for information from this article on Morgan State University: http://news.morgan.edu/morgan-state-launches-250-million-anniversary-campaign/; this page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/morganstateu/about/?ref=page_internal; and the above link.

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Singing In Harmony

DeKalb Choral Guild at their spring concert.

A group of singers in DeKalb, GA, more than forty in number, singing together, enjoying each other's company, rehearsing together and performing together. That describes the DEKALB CHORAL GUILD. They come from a gamut of backgrounds, young and old and in-between, from all over the Atlanta metro area. A professional director and musicians lead and accompany them, respectively.

This group performs several concerts each year and appears at a number of community events. In addition, each rehearsal provides an opportunity for members to learn a bit more about choral music and receive vocal instruction. It's all in the service of providing excellent choral music and performance.



Mary Gowing, president of DeKalb Choral Guild, pondered the role of harmony in choral singing and in world affairs. She started out by considering Gandhi's idea of being the change you want to see in the world, only with harmony substituted for the word change, since she likes to think in musical terms. She said, "Harmony, musically in a chorus, is when different people sing different notes/pitches and yet when sung together they sound pleasing and like they are meant to be together. In life and culture we often use the word harmony as a metaphor for getting along well in social relationships."

When singers in a chorus sing together and realize what that means, they can go further and help to catalyze harmony in the world. Ms. Gowing explained, "[P]eople who sing in choruses have the expectation and experience that both musical harmony and social harmony are possible....[E]ven musical harmony doesn't happen without a lot of coordinated effort and a shared vision for a desired result. We come together as a chorus at the beginning of the season, many of us strangers, as new people join the group. We have to learn to know and trust one another as we learn the music in order to sing together as a single voice instead of many individual voices."

A close-up of a section of DeKalb Choral Guild in performance.

There are also other key elements in creating that musical harmony and also harmony in the social realm. Ms. Gowing added, "It takes work, it takes understanding the voices around you, it takes having good leadership, it takes understanding the leadership and speaking out when needed, it takes being willing to become part of the whole at the same time as being an individual voice, it takes trust and caring and even compassion." And with that, Ms Gowing invited everyone to participate in a chorus wherever they are located, as a means of adding harmony into their lives.

Thanks for information from this article on Charter For Compassion: https://www.charterforcompassion.org/dekalb-choral-guild-inc; this article by Mary Gowing on DeKalb Choral Guild's blog: http://www.dekalbchoralguild.org/blog/viewpost/312.html; and the above link.

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Creating Vegetable-Based Egg Substitute Products

The Vegg vegan egg yolk.

Sometimes all it takes is a bit of invention to make a food product that will appeal to a specialized group of eaters. Pennsylvanian Rocky Sheapherd used to love eggs, especially the flavor. But a little bit of information made its way into his life, like finding out how chickens are treated on factory farms and then the health effects of consuming all that cholesterol. That ended Rocky's love of both eggs and meat products. He converted over to a vegan lifestyle.

But he still liked the flavor of eggs. Now, what was he to do about that? The challenge was create something that had the flavor and texture of egg yolks, but only use complete.100% vegetable products. Oh, and the other thing would be that the egg replacement should only cost as much as an egg. Rocky tried many different formulas until he found just the right one. That led to the introduction of the product and the company, THE VEGG, starting out with only one product, the vegg, the vegetable-based egg yolk substitute.


Mr. Sheapherd discusses the company's philosophy, "The Vegg's vision is a world without factory farming. I focus on chickens by creating egg replacements that simulate the taste, flavor and functionality of real eggs, all at about the same cost as real eggs."

Now, a few years since it first started, The Vegg makes more products. including The Vegg Scramble; the updated version of the original The Vegg Scramble, The Vegg Not Your Parents' Tofu Scramble; The Vegg Baking Mix; The Vegg Vegan Egg Yolk; The Vegg Egg Replacer; The Vegg Original French Toast Mix; The Vegg New/Improved French Toast Mix; and The Vegg Instant Tofu. The online store allows customers interested in these types of products to buy them, and also offers a cookbook for the yolk substitute.

Some of the crew on the MV Jules Verne hold The Vegg products. The Vegg has supplied Sea Shepherd ships for the past few years.

Currently, Rocky and The Vegg are taking a risk to re-brand some of his product in new, more attractive, packaging. He's looking to make a run of The Vegg Vegan Scrambled Egg, with the help of the design and advertising capabilities of a NYC agency. The hope is that, with the new packaging, he'll be able to start getting product on the shelves of major grocery chains.

The Vegg Vegan Scrambled Egg with two chunks of apple and toast.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/rocky-shepheard-the-vegg-outreach-project/;
this page on The Vegg: http://thevegg.com/what-is-the-vegg/; the update on this Fundly page: https://fundly.com/help-rebrand-the-vegg-vegan-scrambled-egg; and the above link.

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Advocating For Ex-Offenders

Scenes from Our For Justice's December meeting.

In many parts of the country, when an inmate is released from prison, that person finds the deck stacked against him/her. Businesses don't necessarily like to employ someone who has been in prison, no matter the offense, leaving the ex-inmate with no source of income. A whole host of basics which most of us take for granted may not even pop up on the radar screen for an ex-inmate.



Enter OUT FOR JUSTICE (OFJ), an ex-offender-run organization, based in Baltimore, that advocates and promotes reform of issues that affect ex-inmates as they return to the world they left. Essentially, this group strives to effect legislation that helps ex-inmates re-enter the community successfully. They provide education and awareness of the issues and promote the three E's of Education, Empowerment, and Engagement. By accessing the legislative process to change policies and laws, this group shows ex-inmates how to pursue change in a more engaged and effective way.

OJF is also involved in an anti-stigma campaign. Since most ex-inmates already carry the baggage of a label, they frequently find themselves excluded from certain aspects of society, such as voting and choice of certain professions.  Because a majority of ex-offenders cannot participate in voting, they are left disenfranchised and under-represented. But it's also important to remember that this population of returning ex-inmates is a large percentage of the population, to the tune of one in every 31 adults. So, it makes sense for the rest of us to ease and assist re-entry, since an ex-offender has a good chance of being your neighbor, friend, or even co-worker.

OFJ members outside Probation & Parole to register voters.

One of the issues that is currently being addressed in Maryland is the issue of bail. Our Attorney General Brian Frosh has noted that bail is set unreasonably high, especially for those who already come from a background of poverty. In essence, that means that low income individuals can spend considerable periods of time parked in jail before they can present and argue their case. And then, if acquitted, what do you do about that lost piece of your life, no job, no income, no home, just released out onto the street and left to fend on your own? And, according to Mr. Frosh, besides these individuals having low incomes, they also were members of minority groups, like African-American, Latino/a.

OFJ was on the case when MD Dept of Corrections wanted to eliminate letter writing between inmates and loved ones, claiming it would prevent contraband in prisons.

In addition, some of the alleged crimes for which people have been kept in jail, awaiting trial, end up being nonviolent misdemeanors. So, Mr. Frosh has been urging the judicial system to release the accused without bail or minimal bail for nonviolent crimes. That way, there is less disruption, more potential to remain employed, and the ability to resume caring for minors in their families, for those accused of nonviolent violations. It makes sense to have fewer of our citizens exposed to the prison system, especially before any adjudication takes place, since charges can even become dropped when there is very little evidence.

Thanks for information from the above link and this facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/OFJ2014/posts/10154914447094801.

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Expert IT And AV Services

IT training room.

A small company located in Hunt Valley, it's been in business since 1981, when it developed as a Computerland franchise. But it has grown and now carries the name of SYSTEM SOURCE. This company is best known for improving the IT operations of other companies, thus its involvement in training and giving public classes, some of them free of cost.

But since they are also involved in audiovisual presentations, system source provides the resources and equipment for all types of presentations, including those held in classrooms and at conferences. While they have expertise in AV and IT equipment, which gives them the ability to help companies acquire and set up AV and IT systems, they also help to maintain these systems, including the provision of helpdesk services.



For instance, when Nimble Storage came out with its all-flash storage capabilities, System Source was one of the partners, who had expertise to realize the benefits. Scott Rippey, solutions architect, knew that this innovation was key in being able to serve enterprise customers. He noted that there were two reasons.

According to Mr. Rippey, "The first is purely politics given all the hype around all-flash storage. Companies like Pure Storage and others come to customers with all-flash offerings, and Nimble Storage needs a response."

Then there are the real benefits of this storage solution. Mr. Rippey commented, "Nimble's approach, and I agree with it, is that data centers don't need flash for every application. Nimble's ability to pin an application on flash is great because it still allows disk to be used for other applications." Another great addition to the Nimble system is the fact that it can also encrypt data, while at rest. And, said Mr. Rippey, "it meets the needs of our customers from small businesses to enterprise."

Maury Weinstein, System Source owner.

Of course, one measure of any company's effectiveness is the report of a customer. Matthew March, Vice President of Douron, Inc., stated, regarding System Source's services and consulting, "System Source provided a solution with quick turn IT support that has never let us down. We have had only positive responses from our employees which is not easy in the IT world. Our productivity and ability to fix issues quickly has dramatically improved! We could not have asked for a better service and business partner."

AV equipment installed at Tessco Technologies by System Source.

Thank for information from this page on System Source: https://www.syssrc.com/html/company_info/CompanyInfo.shtml; this article from CRN: http://www.crn.com/news/storage/300077653/nimble-storage-targets-enterprise-with-ability-to-pin-apps-in-all-flash-storage.htm; this page from System Source: https://www.syssrc.com/html/services_consulting/index.shtml; and the above link.

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Repairing Lives One Sewing Machine At A Time

Two of the styles available at Elegantees.

Based in New York, is a fashion company that makes a difference. Katie Martinez, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology founded ELAGANTEES and then became partners with a nonprofit, based in NY, that works with victims of sex trafficking.

Once these women are rescued and no longer engaged in the sex industry, they need some sort of skill in order to be able to make a living. Elagantees provides the women with sewing machines, teaches them how to make the company's elegant tee shirts, so they now have a skilled trade. Then the women are employed as independent contractors by the company and are paid at twice the rate of other similar sewing jobs. The women can then work near their homes, where they feel more comfortable, and earn a living wage, able to afford more than just the basics.



Katie stated, "Women rescued from sex trafficking sometimes end up relying on the help of kind people so they can survive. We want to give them an opportunity and consistency so they can let go of their survival mode, and just enjoy and heal completely from their past." Getting past survival mode also has the benefit of reducing the stress and pressure that the women were under while being unwilling participants in the sex trade.

Elangantees' work with women and children in Nepal led to the creation of Kingdom Hope Garments. Demand for Elangantees clothing is now more than the minimum required for the sewing center's operations. With the addition of new styles, it can take longer for the center to finish a garment, as well. Various social ambassadors are spreading the word about the garments and the styles available, and Elegantees has now become available in Mexico.

The inside of Kingdom Hope Garments.

Four team members run operations in NY, all with a passion to free the women enslaved in the sex trade. The company itself has journeyed through six years of operation, the first five of which saw no profits. Only ten months ago, there was a fuel crisis in Nepal, which affected operations at the sewing center. Then, all of a sudden, India lifted the fuel blockade, which had limited the available fuel supplies. At the same time, demand for Elegantees' garment also rose. Suddenly, the existing garment center was too small. With assistance, the sewing center grew by triple its original size. More women could be hired, and a total of 25 women now have work. Is it too much to ask that the center expands to double what it is now, to employ 50 women? Only the crystal ball knows, but hope abounds for the future this year.

Gita is employed fulltime at the center; her signature is on the garments she makes. 

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/katie-martinez-elegantees; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elegantees/photos/a.132038773491026.19846.128506430510927/1520452341316322/?type=3&theater; and the above link.

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Walk Through Earth's Timeline

The app through earth's timeline.

Take a walk back to the beginning, into deep time, when the earth first formed. Follow along as earth developed, and into bacteria, earth's first living organism. Walk along and more complex organisms develop, plants, trees, animals, mammals, then human. Think about the patterns and processes that had to occur in order to give earth its form and its creatures.

As human beings populated earth, follow along in your walk as your perspective changes. View through your mind and walk having to deal with the crisis of climate change, nature degrading, and social disruption. Shift your own perspective and see earth as more than food pantry for its humans and animals, more as a self-regulating entity of its own, striving to keep its processes in balance, a place where life first emerged. It's a place that with some thinking together could work through its crises, and where humans can have tomorrows where the human spirit has grown.



And that walk, that process is real, could become real. It's a DEEP TIME WALK, an auditory treat, a walk from the beginning, through many eras, up to the present. It's an app timed to a walk of 4.6 kilometers (4.6 km), or almost three miles. As you walk, you contemplate Mother Earth from the beginning to the present. You're on a mindset of pattern discovery and appreciation of the splendidness of earthly home. As Richard Cambridge of the University of Cambridge noted, "Deep time is not purely an abstraction to be calculated, but a phenomenal experience to be encountered in the field."

Download this app onto your smartphone; it's accompanied by visuals, music, and the spoken word. The audio is based on the most recent science, so that the words are not just inspirational, but accurate. Dr. Stephan Harding, a well-known ecologist from Schumaker college does the narration and has based the timing, poetic quality, and length on walks that he has been leading since 2007. The app was created so that more individuals could participate in this walk and develop an appreciation for the rhythms of the earth. John McPhee has stated, "Numbers do not seem to work well with regard to deep time, any number above a couple of thousand years - fifty thousand, fifty million - will with nearly equal effect awe the imagination to the point of paralysis." The act of walking, instead, makes the contemplation more concrete, with numbers taken in steps as earth formed in steps.

Some of the participants in the Schumaker College walk.

So, download the app, take the deep time walk, share your impressions through Facebook with others who have done the same. Realize and appreciate the awesomeness of earth, and, maybe, think of solutions to the quandaries we face, and perhaps, together, solutions will be presented. For, each little step forward in the present can keep this planet functional well into the future.

Just as in film-making, the creation of the app involved utilizing a storyboard, with words and timing blocked out.

Thanks for information from this article on Charter For Compassion: https://www.charterforcompassion.org/deep-time-walk-cic; this discussion on Deep Time Walk: http://www.deeptimewalk.org/; and the above link.

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