LISTEN TO THAT VOICE

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I guess I should be thinking about writing another book. Lord knows I have a lot going on in my head. But you know what? I’m not really a writer. I’m not!! I started to write because I had something to say. I needed to get our story written down somewhere for the sake of history. I kept waiting for somebody to do it, but that somebody was me. It took me a few years to figure out that I was the one.

I talk about this sometimes when I am doing speeches. You have to listen to that voice. I firmly believe that God is speaking when you cannot get a thought out of your head and you are compelled to finally act on it. Or, wherever you find yourself in this life, you are suppose to be there and all of it shapes everything that you do leading up to writing about it. I felt that our history needed to be told. I didn’t know at the time that I was privileged to have met some historic and famous people along life’s road. I only found this out as I started to do some serious research.

Three things happened that led me to finally go in kicking and screaming to write this book:

  1.  The priest  I met as a child was celebrating fifty years of priesthood. A big story appeared in the Michigan Catholic listing all the parishes that he was affiliated with. When I searched the list for Our Lady of Victory (OLV), Msgr. Ferdinand DeCneudt, was listed as an administrator not the pastor. I stared at that entry for a long time. We thought he was always a pastor. No one in our church had ever heard of an administrator. But it was to have a profound effect on our church over time.
  2. The Archdiocese of Detroit put out a 300 year anniversary book called “Make Straight the Path” 300 years of history. I scrambled to find something about OLV. There was just a short blurb under a picture.
  3. I had the rare occasion to work at a Catholic Church after going back to school and finally getting my BBA. I hired in as an office manager and then became business manager. Working there gave me the rare privilege of seeing the inner workings of the catholic church. There was a church directory so being curious I looked up our church. It was listed under the merged Presentation and Our Lady of Victory with an establishment date of 1975. Are you kidding me? Our church started in 1943 and I know Presentation was established in 1941. With the stroke of a pen they wiped out our history.

And so folks that was how I came to write about our story—my story. Initially I just wanted to honor the pioneers. I really didn’t know how I was going to format this book. Would it be a chronology of events? Would I pay homage to the folks who blazed this trail? I definitely didn’t see myself writing a biography which has come to be known as a narrative history. That genre was coined by Mark Bowden of the Burton’s Historical Collections at the Detroit Public Library. You see, he found me after discovering my book and asked me to come and speak before the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society. They never had a narrative history to present and so they wanted me to do a presentation which I did.

During the beginning stage, my editor suggested that I tell my story. I said “why? The book is not about me?” She said, “but you’re the author”. So I said, “ok”! And that night I started typing out my story basically from memory. It took me two nights to do a short version to go into Part I where I tell it. Lo and Behold, my story turned out to be the most fascinating to lots of people. I was shocked actually. I never thought it would be interesting. You never know until you tell it. I knew it. It had been in my head all of my life. Putting it on paper made it an interesting biography and as it turns out—local history is what a lot of folks really like here in my hometown.

So there, if I keep writing I will have another book. So I’m going to stop right here. You can get the rest yourself. I’m not gonna stop you!

Please click the “no comments” link above this blog so I know you stopped by.

Thanks so much.

INTRODUCING NONNIE JULES

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I want to introduce to you my dear friend and fellow author @NonnieJules. She is the only person who has made some sense out of using twitter that I could grasp. That is not a small feat. I am not a techie so twitter, linkedin and even facebook was not compatible with me and my thinking. I will always be grateful to Nonnie for making it so much easier for me to understand although I am still a work in progress.

She has written a fantastic book called THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS. I fell in love with her trailer (it got me so emotional) and bought a copy and love the topic. She is a guest blogger and I am so excited that she asked me to host her. So let’s give her a warm welcome. Nonnie take it away!!

 

Hi everyone and thanks so much Shirley for serving as host on stop #11 of our 15-day DAYDREAM’S DAUGHTER, NIGHTMARE’S FRIEND book blog tour!


Today I will offer my two cents on our favorite social media forum, Twitter, since Shirley mentioned it in her introduction.  And although there are now so many other forums that we could discuss, during this conversation I will stick strictly to Twitter since it’s where Shirley and I spend most of our social networking time.

Shirley and I met on Twitter and as she also mentioned, she was fairly new to the forum and was shocked to find out that I was a newbie as well.   She shared with me the challenges she was having learning the symbols and Twitter acronyms.  She, as I had been once upon a time, was completely lost and I must admit that although I “appear” to be skilled, in some areas of Twitter, I’m still lost.

I spend a lot of time on Twitter promoting others and trying to help them reach their goals while also working towards mine.  My real world,  as is the same for my Twitter-world both have a very common theme which I live by:  A CANDLE LOSES NOTHING BY LIGHTING ANOTHER CANDLE.  That said, when Shirley reached out to me to get answers to her questions, I didn’t hesitate to assist her, even with the limited knowledge that I had and still have.  I remember my first day on Twitter, sitting and watching before I decided to even comment just because it all looked so confusing.  AND then, I did it!  I made one keystroke, then another, and I must say eventually I got so brave that I hit the TWEET button! Did I do it?  Did I actually send my first TWEET?  Well, I looked over to that funny, confusing, fast-moving box to the right of my screen and there sat my TWEET!  I was one proud Mama!

As I explained to Shirley, sometimes you just have to jump in and know that it will all come together.  And although I am not at all “techie” as Shirley said of herself in the intro, I get by with the limited tools that I use to get done what I need to have done.  I don’t think that we have to know it all to help someone else, we just need to have the courage to say “I don’t know much, but I will share the little I do know.” Who knows, the little you know, just might be exactly what the other person needs to know.

With Shirley reaching out to me and my being receptive to assist her in her quest for knowledge of the “Twitter” way, we have formed a friendship that will forever keep me as part of Team @motorcityauthor and her a forever cheerleader for Team @nonniejules.  Twitter will probably continue to at times look like “jibberish” to some of us, with all the #Hashtags and Twitter language we don’t understand, but if we stay determined to continue using the tools that we know how to use there, we will be extremely successful and we just might learn something new while we’re at it.

I am going to leave you now but first, let me tell you  a little about my books.  “THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS”,  100 Tips On Raising Daughters Everyone Can’t Help But Love! was published May 7, 2013.  It took me only 17 days to write because I lived every tip in the book.  The trailer that Shirley mentioned left her quite emotional can be found herehttp://youtu.be/zg15rptFN2g.

You may purchase e-book or paperback copies here:  www.amazon.com/dp/B00CP62O56, www.createspace.com/4355124 or even autographed copies fromwww.nonniesbookstore.com. I’m told that this guide makes a great baby shower gift as well as the perfect gift for a new mommy. Also, if you’re looking for a new kind of fundraiser with an extremely high profit margin, this guide is being used for just that purpose.  Visit www.nonniesbookstore.com for more details. (Individuals or Organizations).

DAYDREAM’S DAUGHTER, NIGHTMARE’S FRIEND is my first novel and it has a re-scheduled release date of some time in mid-September.  This story is a Lifetime movie in a book!  Here’s the trailerhttp://youtu.be/qbUK3XQ5-dA and although the book has not released yet, you may order an advanced paperback copy at Nonnie’s Book Store for an extra low price.  Click the link above and reserve your copy now.

I hope to see you all again and here are the ways that you can keep up with what I’m doing.  My blogWATCH NONNIE WRITE!  is always filled with interesting, thought-provoking reads.  You can FOLLOW my blog here www.nonniewrites.wordpress.com as well as following me on Twitter @nonniejulesand on Facebook.  Please continue to join us on the other legs of the tour or you can even visit the wonderful blogs we’ve already stopped at here wp.me/p3sUCq-jr.

Once again, thank you all for joining me here today and I wish you peace, love, happiness and many great reads!

Thanks again, Shirley!  This was so much fun!

 

Nonnie Jules, Author
“…and her words breathe life onto paper”

AN INTERVIEW WITH MS. SHANELL OF BLOGTALKRADIO

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As most of you know I love history and that is how I came to write about my experience growing up as a catholic. And I discovered a lot of history in the process. Ms. Shanell found me on my twitter account and was curious about my catholic upbringing and my politics.  So I have an interview on Blogtalkradio with Ms. Shanell. Call 323-693-3027 @ 9:30pm on Tuesday August 27th to get in on the conversation and we will have fun with the topic.

 

 

The West Eight Mile Community Continued…

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In spite of these obstacles, the Oblate Sisters of Providence arrival in 1948 started the real progress of building the school. The new church was complete, and the members had already settled in. While waiting for the day when a school would be operational, the nuns were busy principally with the instruction of adult women. They also taught catechism to the children attending public schools. They were responsible for organizing the Junior and Senior Sodality, the Girl Scouts, and various teenage social activities. Whenever a communion breakfast was held, the nuns were usually in charge. Directing adult study clubs; teaching the congregational singing and recitation of the Mass; instructing the altar boys; caring for the sanctuary and the altar linens; collecting merchandise and conducting rummage sales—these are just some of the activities listed when someone asks what the sisters did before there was a school. The school, however, was the goal so earnestly desired. Its realization would mark the era of abundant conversions. His Eminence Cardinal Mooney was ready to build as soon as Uncle Sam gave up his lease on the land. May of 1953 was the target date.

 

Next week: The Wall of Shame

THE WEST EIGHT MILE COMMUNITY

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Back in the early days (mid 40s and 50s) Royal Oak Township was a bustling black community with thriving black and white entrepreneurs. There was Jim Dolan’s, a white-owned store; McCauley’s Groceries and Meats (later becoming Steve’s). The Cockfield Funeral Home was servicing the area at the time. During the mid-1920s, the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) opened a store in the township. On the north side at 8200 West Eight Mile was Uncle Tom’s Bar-B-Q, operated by Thomas “Doc” Washington. The owners of other black businesses lived in the community, such as Charles J. Wartman Jr., editor of the Michigan Chronicle newspaper. The black executives eventually organized The Merchant and Professional Association.

Fr. Roberge wrote in the archives of being dismayed at how undeveloped, dismal, and full of despair the area seemed when he arrived in 1946. He compared life in the West Eight Mile Community to the missionary fields in Africa.

A year went by before a rectory was secured for the new missionary church. The acquisition of land continued until enough property was acquired by the diocese to permit the future establishment of a complete parish plant. The holdup was a lease on the land held by the United States government while maintaining temporary war housing units on it; units that blacks and whites and the archdiocese wanted out of there. The lease was on a yearly basis with the right of renewal. The hope was that when the contract came up, Uncle Sam would decline to renew it, and that would free up the land for expansion.

During the period from 1943 to 1946, it was apparently difficult for the archdiocese to build a church and school and rectory in the West Eight Mile Community due to regressive government policies that sprang up as it tried to acquire the land needed to accomplish the complete revitalization and evangelization
of the area. But according to Fr. Alvin Deem, it could have been accomplished in spite of these obstacles. The money was there, but the will was not.

 

To be continued…
(Excerpts from Our Lady of Victory, the Saga…Development of the West Eight Mile Community)

 

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A TASTE OF PHILLY

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That was the theme for this year’s 98th Annual National Convention held in downtown Philadelphia that I attended. This is what the Knights of Peter Claver & Ladies Auxliary is all about. Coming together in fellowship, and promoting Catholicism through our works, deeds and example.  This is where we work to affect positive change in the organization; improvements on the administrative side; making and changing bylaws and resolutions; and changing with the times so we stay relevant amidst church closings across the country which affects the organization directly. That’s the one thing we don’t discuss often enough and why it is happening. It’s like this big “elephant in the room.” More on this later.

There is a junior division that promotes leadership in young people so they can take their place in the world. They also have a conference and a convention. It takes a lot of work but can be very rewarding in grooming future generations and keeping the organization growing.

The next post will discuss more about my personal perspective on growing up in a black historic neighborhood and becoming a catholic.

 

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MORE GEMS

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Growing up in Royal Oak Township was an experience in itself. I got old enough to realize that I wanted to get out as soon as I could. That’s because for years I kept hearing tales that the township was going to be completely abolished. That they were going to re-zone it industrial and that would get rid of all the residential housing. But the community fought to keep that from happening, including my parents. They were very much involved while trying to deal with their own personal issues. They voted every time there was an election and they tried to be good citizens. So we were devastated when a newspaper article was written that was negative and had a lot of inaccuracies in it and a lot of embellishment of the facts. The reporter came around and interviewed folks so we couldn’t wait to read the Daily Tribune. Boy, were we devastated that they could print such untruths. It was awful. But that’s the kind of stuff that didn’t make you feel proud until you grow up one day and understood that you lived in a historic community. I had to save a train station to understand what a legacy we were left with. I got a scholarship to attend a conference on preserving buildings and communities and came to realize from that experience what a wonderful place I grew up in.

Royal Oak Township had a lot of history.  It was founded in 1945 by runaway slaves on the underground railroad. It was carved to such a small tract that it was reduced to 1 square mile. It used to stretch as far back as Troy city limits stretching east to the Macomb county line to west at Greenfield Rd and south to West Eight Mile Rd. Now look at it today!  It went from erecting housing projects (which I grew up in) to building single family homes in the sixties. Now all the black owned businesses are practically gone. I describe what the township looked like in the fifties and sixties. It was fascinating.

HISTORICAL GEMS

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I talk about my first encounter with historic individuals in Part 1 (A Personal Perspective) in which I reminisce about Gwendolyn Keith-Edwards. Gwen and I naturally gravitated to one another in my freshmen year of high school. I was extremely shy and so it was a relief to find a friend on that very first day on top of trying to fit in.

Her father, Luther C. Keith, was a prominent Catholic and real estate agent, who use to find property for the archdiocese of Detroit to purchase in order to build their churches and schools for new catholic communities in the city of Detroit. He helped  Fr. Norman Dukette procure a location for his first church, St. Benedict the Moor, a former Lutheran church. His brother (Gwen’s uncle) is the Honorable Judge Damon Keith. I discovered that Gwen’s mother was equally as active as her husband. She (Savella) was involved in civic affairs and they entertained foreign figures in their home. Gwen’s brother Luther A. Keith, former Detroit News’ senior editor & media consultant, did a tribute to his father in a Detroit News special section. He said he did not appreciate what his father’s legacy was until he got old enough to understand it. He and I talked about this extensively because I didn’t understand how talented my mother was until someone else pointed it out. We don’t realize the history we are surrounded with until it is written about and explored.

Mother Anna Bates who was the founder of our little church used to teach piano lessons to all the kids in the neighborhood including me. I went to school all those years and never knew who she really was.  And so I found many surprises as I delved into the history of OLV.

 

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FILLING THE GAPS IN HISTORY!

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The main reason I was inspired to write the book was to fill a glaring omission of history. Working at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in a second career opened my eyes to the fact that there is just not a lot of black people represented at all levels of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s catholic community. I found that to be quite unsettling when I looked at how I was raised…in a black community and black catholic church. It didn’t allow me any room to understand that my race was not the only race represented in the scheme of things. It was like a culture shock as I discuss in the book under “A personal Perspective”. You’ll have to read it for yourself to get the full picture.

I also learned that there is a lot of hurt out there by folks who were raised in the catholic schools (didn’t necessarily become Catholics) and some (Catholics) came away with bad experiences. Fortunately for me, my experiences were minimal compared to others who grew up with me. But I discuss my pains and hurts while trying not to knock the Catholic Church, which was pretty darn hard to do.

Anyway, I was on a mission to get our rightful place in history, including being able to find something about our community on the internet, because when I started out, there was nothing and I do mean literally nothing. Now you can search under my name and “Our Lady of Victory, Detroit” will come up and you won’t just get OLV in Novi which is what was coming up when I got started on this project. There is still room for improvement on what comes up but its a start.

So I can say, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! And know that if I don’t sell any more books, it won’t change the fact that our name is out there now.

 

70 YEARS OF CLAVER SERVICE

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I had planned on writing something else this week but something came up and the topic has changed:

Yesterday Saturday, June 8, 2013 I attended  the 70-Year Commemoration Celebration of the Knights of St. Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary at Christ the King Church in Flint, Michigan. The reason I bring this up is because I wrote about  their founder, Fr. Norman Dukette, in my book (P. 165, 3rd Paragraph down and P.176 1st sentence & 2nd paragraph). You see, Fr. Dukette was practically the only archdiocesan black priest in the Detroit diocese in the early years of the 20th century.  He was banned from serving here and was sent to Flint in 1929 to start up a new church from scratch.  Archdiocesan priest are not missionaries, they do not start up new churches but that’s what they did to Fr. Dukette. He founded St. Benedict the Moor in Detroit in 1927 and Christ the King in Flint in 1929. He left Detroit under mysterious circumstances and, well, you’ll just have to read the book to get the full story. It begins on page 180 under St. Benedict the Moor.

I tell you, when I started digging up history I was surprised at the stories I began to uncover. It always seem to go back to racism. I’m sorry, but I do not apologize for being the messenger. I put a disclaimer in my introduction of sorts because I almost didn’t complete the book because I got so shaken after presenting the manuscript to a priest who told me the book was fascinating but that he could not support it and practically pushed me out of his office while a local magazine reporter was sitting in the waiting room.. The reporter was so shocked that he asked me for my phone number so he could get the scoop behind what was happening to me. That disclaimer is in the Introduction on page 3. The deacon at the church I worked for at the time as the business manager, told me to “keep on writing and don’t let nobody stop you”. And with words of encouragement from my husband, I continued on. But this book almost didn’t get written because I was uncovering so many secrets that weren’t exactly meant to be found and folks were getting edgy.

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