We must stop hurling mean, hateful/hurtful labels
Author: Cynthia Bond Hopson, Ph.D.
By Cynthia Bond Hopson, Ph.D. Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-Father’s Day 2023 will be tough and there’s no way to keep it from being. My father, John, and my great-uncle/dad, Carey, have been gone long enough to make me smile when they come to mind but not send me into a blubberingmess. My children and grandchildren, however, will have their first withoutRoger Anthony Hopson, their Dad and Poppy. His death in October feels like yesterday and on a given day I do pretty welluntil the wrong song comes on the radio, or these darned holidays roll around.My beloved Uncle Carey died…
By Cynthia Bond Hopson, Ph.D. May is one of my favorite months and here’s why. It’s almost midyear, we getApril-inspired flowers, we celebrate our heroes who’ve given the ultimatemeasure, most school sessions end, and soon summer will be in full swing. With all this excitement it’s easy to forget the serious stuff this month—national stroke, skin cancer, and mental health awareness, military appreciation, a focus on better sleep, hearing, and speech, and as the 70s soul group Sly and the Family Stone sang “and so on and so on, and scooby dooby dooby.” There’s enough to make you tired just…
By Cynthia a. Bond Hopson, Ph.D. My beautiful mother, Mrs. Alvis Marie Jones Bond, is my shero and I’m sograteful that God blessed me with her. My great aunt, Emma Jones Bowles,now rests with the angels but was absolutely a force to be reckoned with.Between the two of them, my grandmothers, great-grandmother, aunts,cousins, neighbors, other mothers—the women—all of them—they sharedtheir best selves with me, and the world and we are all the better for it. As I reflect on this upcoming Mother’s Day, I feel a lot like Mrs. Potato Head,the children’s toy with moveable and removable parts that you…
I remember my first Barbie doll like it was yesterday. The iconic doll made herdebut in 1959 but mine must have come about 1963, and I spent countlesshours dressing her, fixing her hair, hanging out with her friends, Ken andMidge, and dreaming of the possibilities. It never occurred to me that she looked nothing like me—no doll ever had—orthat I couldn’t wear those cute little shoes and have a waistline like hers. I hadno expectations of seeing myself in her reflection. I just loved her, and truth betold, I still do, so today when I saw this headline, “Mattel introduces…
Earth Day 2023 is an excellent opportunity to celebrate all the groundwe’re standing on. Officially designated for April 22 annually since 1970, Isuggest we pick a day—any day, every day, and respect/marvel at ourwonderful earth’s glory and power. As a child growing up on a farm, one of my favorite things to do this time ofyear was to walk freshly plowed fields barefooted. There is something life-giving about the warm earth between your toes, and of course, that meant itwas time for one of my favorite pastimes–making mud pies and cakes. Before long it would be time for planting and…
“Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!” Robert BurnsThis 239-year-old quote from poet Robert Burns came to mind as I searchedfor something to say about the death of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-oldMemphis man who was savagely beaten by police on January 7. Seeing himattached to tubes with his eyes swollen shut and his face bloodied broke myheart but seeing how it happened was more than I could bear. The traffic stop that resulted in his beating and subsequent death at the handsof five Memphis police officers left me speechless, however, that his death wasby African American officers sworn to…
I’ve won every election I entered—two 400 years ago, beforecomputers—and I understood going in that there was a chance I’d lose. Iplanned to win but had no plan for losing. Obviously neither does HouseSpeaker wannabe Kevin McCarthy. For the first time in modern history a new speaker wasn’t elected in atimely fashion so the world of politics could move along at its usual snail’space. Today I have three simple questions surrounding this “no speaker hasbeen elected” stalemate: after three or four days of rejection, how muchplainer can it be that Mr. McCarthy may not be the man with/ for the…