my cousins at the hospital in Elizabeth to VIsit my Uncle Othello...............cousin Benda, Darrolyn and Jessie
What a day Saturday was, it was bittersweet but still a great day.
I got to hang with three of my favorite folks, my cousins, Dr Darrolyn MCarroll
who is not only my first cousin but a best friend,
Darrolyn is an extraordinary woman who
is oh so smart in both the books and in life.
She was raised along with me and my siblings, Darrolyn is my other sister.
Anyway funny unpretentious woman who after having some health issues is changing her life to do something creative.
Hopefully along with me………………anyway
Where was I
My cousin Dr. Jessie McCarroll
a music genius now in his seventies but still going stronger than me……by the way
Jessie is the brother of Jessica my wonderful cousin who I got to spend some great time with in Alabama.
Jessie moved to New York from the south long ago he is a New Yorker living downtown for many years
His life is music, and Colombia U, art and people or so I figure, because the fruit never falls far from the tree.
Anyway we had to go to my cousin Virginia apartment in the senior citizens home in Rahway New Jersey.
Cousin Virginia McCarroll by the way was my earlier mentor; she is now 93 years old and had to be placed in managed care. Virginia was the strongest woman I have ever known. She was a lab tech and lived on riverside drive for many many years in New York. This woman actually went to France in the 1930’s to become an artist. She is from born in the south but was a New Yorker for sure. She speaks several languages to this day like my Deceased Uncle Raleigh McCarroll, who by the way was a interpreter at the Nuremberg trials in Germany he spoke at least 5 languages.
Anyway Virginia………I feel so bad because for so many years she had been an every week part of my life.
When I got married she came by my house at least three times a week. Made me plant a garden over saw it, made me fix things around the house. Ok she fixed them.
The over the course of the past ten years I have sorely neglected her. These are these things that make for guilt and baggage. Life got in the way and ……………you know the rest
So here I was in her apartment with my cousins, Jessie is like his sister brilliant. Funny and more.
He has traveled all over the world with his group the Pan African Society for musical arts Education.
What a guy what a family
What happened to me………………duh
Virginia sold at the Englishtown flee market for a half a century.
As a child I would often accompany here, jersey boy here
She was strong as any man, and Virginia wore her hair in an afro in the 1940’s until.
She wore African garb from time to time and had visited Africa on more than one occasion.
I often speak about my father being the first afro centric in America; I don’t know I think Virginian might have been first.
She could out work any man, was smarter than most men and didn’t take shit from any one.
Loved this woman
Virginia was into healthy living before any one
She laughed in a high pitched cackle
That made us children calls her the witch
She didn’t mind at all
She practiced stone magic and more
And guess what I found her magic bag and voodoo dolls for a lack of better name
I found animal paws in glass
This apartment was crammed packed with more than I can describe
A virtual museum of African collectables, memoribia, slide movies cd.
What a place
What a woman
Ok I haven’t been around the help here as much as I should have been
But I got to spend some quality time with Jessie, Darrolyn and Darrolyn wonderful daughter Kim,
Who lives with the other light of my life
Aunt Vernell Oliver (McCarroll on fifth ave in New York
Kim is a lot like me in her love of new York and the night
Ok so we stopped at a Brazilians restaurant
Hey right underneath my apartment
The food was great and Jessie spoke to the staff who is my friends
About his numerous visits to Brazil.
In any case what a day
What a family
I just realized when I wrote this that woman the woman in my family were the ones that made me a artist
The men might have gave me subject matter
But it was the woman perhaps understanding how hard it is to become what you want
Were the ones the encouraged me and protected me from the men who thought
That art was a …………………….unmanly thing
Man
Woman
My cousin Virginia has all of my early work
Which I just recovered
She spent time in Haiti and when I was perhaps 15 and did my first real painting
She commented that I painted like a Haitian
That was way over my head
But now when I gaze at this work I can see it
When I became a cop
My mother one day out of the blue
Said take a ride with me to the post office, in Elizabeth
I did
She went over to the FBI wanted board of criminals
And pointed out a Police composite sketch
She said that if you have to become a cop
Become a police composite artist
It was over my head until years later
My chief of Police called me in to congratulate me on my arrest record and Job performance
Their was a slot open in the detective bureau and all of the senior officers
Recommended me for the slot
But that was not to be until about five years later
Anyway the Chief asked me to name the kind of specialized training
That I wanted
My mother popped in my head
I want to be a police composite artist
And you know what he sent me to that school
And the rest is history
Where was I
Thanks mom
Woman
Later when I graduated from composite art school
I remember having to pull over on the New Jersey turnpike
To cry and thank my mother for her vision
My Aunt Vernell encouraged me
Brought me paints
And introduced me to Jacob Lawrence and Romaine Bearden
Long long ago
She owns two or three beardons by the way
She hung with the guy
My Sister Donna
Best friend
Another amazing woman
Smith Graduate and genius…project manager……………….woman
My daughter
Son Jason and Daughter Lauren
Annual funds manager at the Cooper Union in New York
My all time best student
this daughter of mine
Anyway
Woman
Cant forget my Step Mother, Mother, Friend and the ones that hold me together
Gran Ruby
who is also from Alabama
God my family is from Alabama
what a fine group of people
God no wonder I used to have complexes
Anyway
McCarroll Family
Bravo
Bravo Family
And please check out my cousins stuff below
Genius, Genius…………
It humbled me just looking at Jessie's life and education
Dr. Darrolyn McCarroll-Lindsey MD
Internal Medicine Physician - Franklin, Massachusetts
Dr. Jesse C. McCarroll
African American Studies
Professor Emeritus of Music
Dr. McCarroll currently teaches as a part-time faculty member in the African American Studies Department. He teaches African American/Caribbean Music. Previously, he taught Jazz in the Humanities Department.
Publications:
- Jesse McCarroll and Marvin S. Adler, Elementary Music Teachers Almanack, Parker Publishing Company.
- Jesse McCarroll and Marvin S. Adler, Timely Lesson Plans for Every Day of the School Year and Making Music Fun, Parker Publishing Company.
- Jesse McCarroll (Contributing Author) Teaching Jazz: A Course of Study, published by the International Association of Jazz Educators and Music Educators National Conference.
Scholarly Accomplishments:
- June 1999
Educator of the Year Award by the Association of Black Educators of New York. - May 1999
Performance Excellence Award, New York City College of Technology of The City University of New York, (CUNY) - 1987
CUNY Scholar - 1984
Scholar on Campus, New York City College of Technology. - May 1, 1982
Piano recital, formal opening of the Saenger Performing Arts Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and was given the "Key to the City."
Dr. McCarroll studied piano with Friedrich Wuhrer at the Mannheim School of Music, Mannheim, Germany; Marianne Matousek Mastics at the Cleveland Institute of Music; and Thomas Richner and Martin Canin, in New York City.
Under the auspices of Operation Crossroads Africa, Dr. McCarroll performed in a quartet on a tour of eight countries in West Africa. Special performances were given for the presidents of Mauritania, Liberia and Ghana. In addition, Dr. McCarroll has given numerous performances in the United States. He has been honored by the Black Music Caucus of New York and by the National Black Music Caucus of Music Educators national conference. Dr. McCarroll is on the Curriculum Committee of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
Degrees:
- PhD, Education
Teachers College, Columbia University - MA, Education
Teachers College, Columbia University - BA, Piano
Cleveland Institute of Music
No comments:
Post a Comment