Thursday Mornings (eBook)

Breathe, Stretch, Listen, Love

Ruth Mannino (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020 | 1. Auflage
174 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-2171-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Thursday Mornings is an in-depth look at eight members of America's fastest-growing age group, senior citizens, as told in their own words from childhood through adulthood. What brought this diverse group together to a chair yoga class in a small New Jersey town is only part of the story. The truly interesting and more provocative narrative is in the details of where and how each overcame adversity, showing courage, adaptability, tenacity, and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to see the humor in what life throws our way.

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Through a dichotomy of life experiences, the author presents an account that is part history lesson and part love story with loss and redemption headlining the interviews. Readers will discover what it was like to have front row seats to World War II; how it felt when communism took over land once called home; the feeling of wonder experienced by a young child upon seeing the Statue of Liberty after enduring a long Atlantic voyage; what it was like to be an integral part of civil rights activism of the 1960s; how it felt to be gay before the LGBTQ movement; what it was like to lose loved ones and continue to live when all life's enjoyment left with them. And lastly, how they confront the myriad of physical complications that inevitably come with aging. The reader will meet people who are vulnerable, yet proud; fragile in body but indomitable in spirit. People who were willing to let down their guard and agree to candid story telling. In turns funny, wistful, tragic, and hopeful, this book is a testament to the power of faith, optimism, purpose, and love.

Textauszug

Chapter Two

~Jack Johnson
and Nova~

Jack is an African-American man with an interesting background. After living most of his life with 20/20 vision, blindness came upon him gradually as a result of glaucoma. The symptoms, occurring in his senior years, were acute during his retirement years. He recently earned the privilege of owning a guide dog by the name of Nova who now accompanies him to my yoga classes. Nova sleeps quietly near the stage, waiting for his next command. This is Jack’s story.

The oldest of four siblings, Jack Johnson was born on May 30th, 1938 in Philadelphia, PA. Jack’s earliest memories go back to his days in Wister Elementary school where teachers were strict. The toughest of these disciplinarians was ironically named Miss Fortune, a stocky ‘German-looking, no-nonsense’ type. If you misbehaved, Miss Fortune would be summoned and the crying would begin. She’d grab you by the ear and drag you up the stairs to her office. The kids who had the misfortune to visit Miss Fortune’s office called it the ‘death chamber’. Although Jack did get hit once on the palm of his hand with a ruler, he never got his ear pulled by the notorious Miss Fortune. The one time he did get hit was enough to set him on the path of righteousness throughout his school years, including high school at Germantown High.

Jack tried a myriad of sports in high school. He was proud to say he was always willing to attempt various challenges but if it didn’t work out, so be it. He tried gymnastics and all was fine, until he did a flip on the rings ending with hitting the floor. He tried track but had to quit after exhaustion took over before the quarter mile. Jack relayed all this with a self-deprecating contagious laugh.

It was in high school he saw a coach training kids at a strange sport. In the ‘50s, soccer was not popular nor well known in the United States. Jack thought he’d give it a try and convinced the coach to allow him to practice and become part of his team. During one game, Jack ran into a brawny, burly, brick-wall defender so hard he saw ‘birds’ tweeting and circling his head. After that game, he quit the team. Little did he know, at the time, what a huge part of his life soccer would become.

Jack’s father, who worked for Reading Railroad in Pennsylvania, instilled in his children and insisted on, a strong work ethic. You could not be sitting around doing nothing. While other kids were having fun and relaxing on a Saturday, Jack was working. His earnings were his to spend. Although he’d rather be out with his friends on a Saturday afternoon, he realizes today how lucky he was to have the family he had. His mom was a stay-at-home mom and his dad worked to support his four kids. They owned their own home and wore the nicest clothes. Of course, as is the case with most kids, Jack didn’t appreciate his mom and dad until later in life. “I took a lot for granted,” he confessed.

Jack’s work ethic manifested in many ways his whole life. He attended Spring Garden College, a private technical college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His first serious paying job was at Reading Railroad, where his dad worked. Their lockers were next to each other. Jack attended morning classes and worked afternoons at the Reading Railroad roundhouse. The roundhouse is a circular shaped garage, taking up several city blocks, where train engines came to be refueled and repaired. Jack’s job was to refuel each engine, a task that took between thirty to sixty minutes for each train engine. He estimated he used thousands of gallons of diesel fuel per shift. Once filled, he gave his okay to co-worker D’Angelo, who drove the locomotive to where it would be serviced. In between engines, Jack would study. He knew he was lucky to have this union job. The 3-11 shift was the perfect complement to his schooling, but Jack admitted that the job was borderline boring.

After graduating from Spring Garden with an associates degree in mechanical technology, Jack was promoted to draftsman at Reading Railroad. Laughingly, he told me the new job was boring as well. His life soon changed in the ‘60s when he became eligible for the draft. Jack chose to enlist with the United States Air Force where, after six months of specialized training, he worked on the Atlas D Missile as a hydraulic and pneumatic system specialist. This was the guiding part of the missile, the same type of missile John Glenn rode in as he circled the earth. The difference with the ones Jack worked on was that these missiles carried atomic warheads, such as the one used on Hiroshima. He needed secret security clearance, and was investigated by the FBI.

Jack was stationed in upstate New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He learned how close the United States came to a nuclear war with Russia only afterward. He said on base the soldiers were told nothing. He came to learn President John F. Kennedy’s military leaders were urging him to “push the red button” as were Nikita Khrushchev’s military men urging him. The country was on “red alert.” Because of a call from Kennedy to Khrushchev, cooler heads prevailed and a nuclear holocaust was avoided.

Upon leaving the air force, Jack returned to Reading Railroad as a draftsman but not for long. He soon procured a job at IBM in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. During the next ten years, he designed test equipment for components of the ‘monster’ IBM 360. This computer had a massive impact on technology. It dominated the computer industry for twenty years. One of the modules Jack designed was later patented by IBM.

In Poughkeepsie, Jack became involved in the community. He was acquainted with many people from different walks of life-he was well networked. He knew doctors, and engineers along with the disadvantaged. The ‘liberal elite’ tried to convince him to run for mayor. He refused. They wanted him to be president of the local NAACP. He agreed, but soon left when it turned unduly political. He only wanted to help the disadvantaged, not get involved in political activism. Jack took a leave of absence from IBM at the time he was getting involved with community affairs.

President Richard Nixon’s years of governing soon freed up monies for various government agencies, one of which was the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC). OIC was founded by Reverend Leon Sullivan in Philadelphia as a job training center to help the disadvantaged from different racial and ethnic backgrounds become employable. It grew into a national movement that trained millions of people. Jack became the executive director of the OIC in Poughkeepsie, responsible for job training for the less fortunate.

Returning to work at IBM, he was asked to be the director of community programs at Vassar College. While acting as director, he was instrumental in starting a ‘Sickle Cell Anemia program,’ where he co-ordinated with doctors to test patients for this blood disorder disease. It was here, at Vassar, he met his future wife, Denise Love. Denise went to one of the top high schools in New York City, and was recruited from a list of the brightest women of color in the United States, allowing her to attend Vassar on a scholarship. While at Vassar, she was voted president of the African-American student group. An activist in her own right, she was a part of a sit-in to shut down the college by taking over the administrative building until certain demands were met. This sit-in made international news in the 1960s. One of the demands was dedicated housing for the African-American students, enabling them to meet easily and be socially active within their community. Another request included adding African-American studies to the Vassar curriculum. Vassar, not liking all the controversy (policemen blocking entrances, men students from Cornell coming down to help the women leading to a stand-off with the police), listened to their requests and peace soon returned to the campus. Here’s where Jack came in.

Denise and Jack were made for each other. They soon married and had two of their four children in Poughkeepsie. Not busy enough, Jack became a scout master of the first African-American Boy Scout troop. He could have stayed here with this safe, secure job at IBM, but being adventurous, when his brother Donald asked him to come to Trenton, New Jersey to manage a packaging plant, he said, “Why not?” Donald was in the business of helping minorities start small businesses such as laundromats and grocery stores, by finding funding in the form of loans. Shell Chemical company, which manufactured ‘No Pest Strips’, transferred ownership of its packaging plant in Trenton to the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC). Jack’s brother, who was the director of business development for OIC in Trenton, asked him to manage the 30,000 square foot plant. Jack agreed and moved to Trenton, leaving Denise to finish off the school year teaching American History at Poughkeepsie High. The Johnson’s had a valuable asset in Mrs. Dugger who took care of their two children when necessary.

Managing the plant proved to be challenging. First of all, managing a workforce was a new experience for Jack. Responsibility for line supervisors, office staff, and forty to fifty employees was a challenge in itself, though he admits they gave him little trouble. His biggest concern was equipment failure on the production assembly line. Yet, he was attracted to the challenge and thought “Why not be adventurous?” He was well trained by Shell and was able to succeed in his management duties.

When he lived in Poughkeepsie, Jack earned his brown belt in karate. While in Trenton, he would travel back and forth on weekends to see his family....

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.8.2020
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Esoterik / Spiritualität
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-2171-5 / 1098321715
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-2171-0 / 9781098321710