Rodney's Rambling's

  Each semester, as I end the semester, I wonder just what impact I have had.  I read the student evaluations and am reminded that the Professor's mission and the Student's might not always be the same.  Consistently I am rebuked by students for demanding a lot of work, writing.  Consistently they complain about the content and the context.  How can it be any different when the subject of the class is Critical Race Theory and Ethnicity.   The student is often caught between the political context as even their Parents might be concerned or even object to the subject of this course.  Yet we teach it because we are determined to fight on three if not four fronts.  We, those of us who are dedicated to the truth.  Oh, yes, we get the lowest evaluations..but sometimes, just sometimes..we get an email such as this.. Greetings Dr. Coates, I wanted to reach out and thank you for your brilliant lectures this past semester. I have learned much...

1) Take a look at any of the research papers you have accumulated you will note the following: a) the first 5-7 pages are a literature review b) the next 3-5 pages lays out the questions of interest (those that will be addressed in this paper) c) the methodology (how you will answer these questions  d) what answers you arrived at  e) conclusion. What you learned.  2) Commit to completing a minimum of 5 pages per day 3) complete a chapter a week - 30-40 pages 4) Rodney will hold you accountable. Send him work every 2 or 3 days.. Outline  You should have 1 intro chapter 3 to 5 data chapters {dealing with about 3 questions each) 1 conclusion chapter. 

  You have the power to overcome all obstacles, yet you stumble over pebbles.  Within you, there are  unfathomable depths, yet you flail over trivialities. Creative leaps of genius are at your command, yet you squander your time on games.  It is time to wake the sleeping giant within your spirit and walk into your destiny.

  Today is My Mom's Birthday...today she would have been 92 years old...Moma G...taught me how to exist in a crazy world without going insane, she taught me how to survive the hard times and the hard situations, she taught me how to ignore the fools and to learn from the wise. My Mom taught me how to draw strength from God, the beauty of Jesus in her and my life, and that I had to find and know both God and Jesus for my self. This daughter of a preacher man knew how to withstand without loosing your self, how to be still in the middle of the storm, how to pray your way through, and how to make it come hell or high water. My mother was not a saint, but she damn near an angel. You see, there were those that advised my mom to abort me -having two children back to back was way too much for her and a struggling family. She said hell no to the negativity, and at times fed me with food that should have been hers. On this the anniversary of her birth...I acknowledge that whatever I ...

Caught in the middle Stranded on the cusp of  Life and death, ethics and  Blind loyalty to insanity. Battered for telling the truth .. shattered for loving home.  Honestly trying to be free  as pillars of lies distort reality. Standing for the defeated,  shouting to the angry crowd  trapped in the insanity  of this moment that has  morphed to become months.   Lies and deceit masquerading  as piety and patriotism.   Honor and reason replaced  by cowardness and caprice.   Stand up or fall down... truth shouts decide.  

  Yesterday, I walked in circles Wondering where and when I would find my way. I talked to strangers looking for new games to play Staying just long enough to hear them say it's not happening, maybe another day. Caught up in the insanity of nothingness seeking joy within corners of forgetfulness stolen moments in the wake of happenstances strangers lost on the isle of impossible chances and then clouds of confusion declare another day. The rain filled the moments, thunder roars above wind rips asunder veils of complacency silence is nowhere to be found solace abandoned for the sake of convenience it ain't happening, maybe another day. A voice sounds in the middle of the madness a clarion call within my soul  two moments now within one two conversations, two realities sunshine's into this moment, this day - don't have to wait for another day.

  For far too long all we tried to do was survive. Well damn that, it's time to thrive. Surprise your enemies, become the best, the brightest, and the most successful. Then smile as they wonder how....God can do even more then you can dream.    Hey, inspite of all obstacles and insanity that came my way, disregarding all the passive and active aggression...I made it, I am still here. And guess what...having a ball y'all... God loves me not because of who I am or what I've done; but because of who He is and what He's done...

  Friends are those that celebrate your victories, enemies ignore them.  Friends hold you accountable, enemies encourage you to screw up.  Friends are there when things go wrong, enemies plan parties to celebrate.  Friends welcome you, enemies forsake you.  Friends cry when you mourn, enemies could care less......Friends know ...Every Praise.....belongs to God...

  Student 1 My journey to becoming woke is a story filled with internal conflict, a racial tug-of- war on who I am as a person. Born to my white mother and black father I never really had a sense of who I was racially. I spent the majority of my childhood bouncing from house to house as a result of poor money and even worse money management. My parents split when I was very young, setting the racial tug-of-war into motion. From the moment my parents split I began to spend the week with my mom in various homes in suburban neighborhoods and the weekends with my father in his childhood home, smack dab in the middle of the ghetto. Things only became more complicated when I enrolled in a private school education. I would spend the weekend with my father, playing with my black friends in the neighborhood and learning about their lifestyles in the process. Then I would go back to my mom’s and be surrounded by my white friends and teachers, sticking out like a sore thumb. I wa...

How could I, I mean it is that moment in time when I recall where I was just a few months ago lost, trapped in that place, in that yesterday seems like it was forever but it was just then that you appeared, you walked or floated or just bam the light shined, the sky cleared, and you were there. I call you sunshine because you brought light into my dim world  I had my joy, but I walked alone, I had no one to share that joy with I wondered and wandered and questioned if this was it, if this was all yet I walked, I talked, I sought, and I asked -where shall I find what I seek I stopped looking, I stopped wandering, I stopped wondering and I looked up the sky was clear, the words were dear, the conversation floated into my very soul we talked with each other, we talked to each other, we listened as we walked a new path there in the desert an oasis appeared, water for quenched souls, laughter and banter solace and understanding, being and something, light and blessings spiritual connect...

 1. Rearrange your day.. a. Start off with 30 minutes prayer and spiritual uplift b. 2 hours on dissertation  c. Start your day. Questions. 1. What is the subject of your research 2. Who does your research center on  3. Why is this group and research important 4. How are you going to accomplish this Intro. The population of the United Ststes is aging at an incredible rate.  Today, those xx and older constitute .....% of our population.  Women make up xx%.  The Racial breakdown is whites xx, Black xx, Hispanic xx and Asian xx.  Over the next 20 years, these numbers are expected to continually rise with the aging population growing xx%.  The fastest growing aging population will be xxx%, followed by xxxxx.  While we know a lot about the overall white aging population, less is known about the situation faced by xxxx(your target group).  For this reason, i set out to explore this group specifically as it relates to xxxx.

We spend a lot of time talking about, being frustrated with, and frantically in pursuit of it...yet..it too is all around us. I wonder if we would just be still, non-judgmentally accepting would we allow it to find us. Perhaps it's our very pursuit of love that makes it so unattainable, perhaps it's our very domineeringly dogmatic ways that makes it so elusive, perhaps it's our persistently myopic notions regarding it that makes it unknowable, perhaps it's our unwillingness to for once not be so self-absorbed....perhaps if we just relax and let go, exist and coexist, and seek to exist free within the cosmic scheme of everything...then perhaps love will find us...Oh, yes..and sometimes just look up..This was there to greet me this brand-new day...Everything's Gonna Be Alright    Some folks just can't stand for you to stand. So in spite of the insanity, in spite of the rejection, and in spite of what your frenemies would have you believe...damn skippy..."Ever...

When everything is said and done, when all has come and gone, remember that family is forever..No matter how many mistakes or accomplishments, good days or bad -family is forever.  When times are tough, when you cannot see your way out -remember that family is forever.

  A Review of Dr. Alvin H. Crawford's The Bone Doctor’s Concerto: Music, Surgery, and the Pieces in Between By Rodney D. Coates     What lies between music and surgery -well, if it is Dr. Alvin H. Crawford, it is nothing but sheer, unadulterated, and extraordinary genius.  Alvin H. Crawford takes us on his journey to fame and glory.  It is a journey that starts in a segregated community built by slaves after the Civil War. Growing up in Orange Mound (in Memphis, Tennessee), Dr. Crawford would traverse the globe, reach the epitome of what a surgeon could be, and achieve a kind of stardom rarely reached by any.  He credits the meteoric rise to “a nurturing environment, education, God-given talents, a supportive family and community, multiracial connections, and just plain luck.”  I would add rugged determination, avid faith, a dream that would not die, and the fortitude of the ancients.  Dr. Alvin H. Crawford is a national treasure, a beacon of...

    For some having a great mother comes with family, for me having so many great women who served as mothers was quite remarkable. So not only did I have a great mother, I had several mothers who were great. And while my own mother, and so many of these other outstanding women have gone on to Glory, I yet have several memories of these amazing women who demonstrated courage, stamina, a desire for a better world, and pure goodness. These women, strong in their own identity, not only demonstrated the value of lives well lived, but also the importance of being spiritually centered, dynamically focused, and unequivocally feminine. These women taught me not only how to love but when to love. They demonstrated, through simple lives, that one need not compromise principles to exist, that one did not have to sacrifice self to be humble, and that one did not have to walk over others to gain respect. No – they walked out their faith though paths laden with both frustr...

  On this Mother's Day, I celebrate my Mom. But more than that, I celebrate the gift of life she gave me. You see, I am not supposed to be here. Doctors and even some family encouraged my Mom to abort me as I probably would not live past the age of 2. But my Mom was a praying woman who trusted in God. Even after birth, doctors continued to declare my death. Epilepsy would kill me, they said, and I probably should pull the plug. But my Mom said no. And 2 years later, I was finally released from the hospital. Looking back in wonder, I thank God for a praying Mom.

  Been down and out, lost without anyone to call upon. And when you did call on those folks that were supposed to be my friends, your number was blocked, they weren't at home, and you were left hanging. And there have been times when with a couple of extra fins in my bank account, you suddenly get discovered by long lost friends, folks that ain't never recognized you as kin -call needing a couple of bucks that they will gladly repay in a few...but ..it's all good cause you remember those times when you didn't have anyone to lean on, so you are blessed to be a blessing...but you do recognize that this is just "Another time " We can do this, but sometimes we need to pause, just wait.  Don't think, don't doubt, don't plead, cry out, or scream. Don't ask your friends, don't seek to know, don't be discouraged. Just wait for  "Another Time" There have been days when you were disappointed then elated, tired then rejuvenated, lost t...