National Parks Anchor US

In These Challenging, Changing Times

Every day I’m getting closer to when the sun will rise directly in front of my eyes.

Happiest day, beloved Joy Train Rider! I love you! Bless you. I affirm you’re doing well.

Thank you for these lovely notes from our last ride that make me feel so appreciated:

“I am so impressed with the details of history shared. Loving history as I do, I must say a heartfelt Thank you. Wish I knew all this when I was more sprightly.  Then I would be off in a flash to see. However reading about them is great. Thank you.” Lilieth, Chicago.

“I like to say the national parks show us who we were, who we are and who we can be. The next addition to the NPS should be a park dedicated to Julius Rosenwald and the almost 5,000 schools he worked to construct in the South. He didn't do it alone, though. He enlisted local Black communities who were dedicated to furthering education for all. And were it not for collaboration with Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald schools may not have happened.” Philip, MD.

“You have been so committed to sharing so much of this knowledge! We were inspired by your words and wisdom, and took the girls to see three parks this summer! And they’re eager to see them all now!” Neela, Atlanta

Simultaneously, it was eerie to come upon this interview, Climate, Communities of Color, and Connections with the Union of Concerned Scientists USA from 2014. I wonder what our environment might things be like today if we had heeded the lessons then.

The Lotus and Water Lily Festival is this weekend at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in D.C

So much has happened since we last rode together on Monday. There are evidently efforts afoot to shunt our President unceremoniously to the side. I feel we owe President Biden so much for rescuing us from the hellscape of the prior administration and establishing a competent, compassionate government with Vice President Harris. If the President steps back, I will not be intransigent. I will get on board immediately with Vice President Harris and the team most likely to successfully represent our democratic values to the American public.

As in every situation, I turn to the National Parks for precedence, and I’m eager to take us to visit some the legendary Black women whose leadership accomplishments are forever enshrined in the National Park System. Chief among them is Mary McLeod Bethune, President Advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and besties with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The ethos of this groundbreaking “First Lady of the Struggle’ can be experienced at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site which is a unit of the National Park System.

Also this week we cannot ignore the spectacle of the Republican National Convention, where arguably the most hardened criminal in our country, judging by the number of felonies for which he has been convicted or is up on charges, accepted his party’s nomination. His 92 minute speech is described as excruciating.

Do we ever need a break!

So today I’m ecstatically happy to take us to see the beauty, glory and mystique of the Lotus and Water Lily Festival now going on at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington D.C. through Sunday, July 21. I was there on a Festival Weekend some years ago, speaking at nearby Frederick Douglass Home as part of the festivities. It was one of the most blissful experiences I’ve ever had.

Failed to render LaTeX expression — no expression found