#paulquinncollege

[christopherjdowdy]

Forty Years Forward

One morning this week I waited in the library for one woman to meet another. One had traveled a long way, the other had not. A husband, a sister, waited too with the one who had traveled--a woman with a cosmopolitan voice, clear, patient. 

There is a little happy commotion when her old friend makes it. They stand and talk, after they embrace, next to a dress she or the other had danced in. Maybe both, in the company they had started together: part of a display telling a history of this, the Black Dance Theater. Their Black Dance Theater. Yellowed clippings in a book and a case with playbills and photographs, brightly colored costumes, glistening faces in performance.

The old friend had stayed behind in this city to build the theater they started together and they have seen each other not infrequently but still they are glad, hugging one another. Both know our librarian, who seems to know everyone.

The dress is orange and blue underneath a sheath of white cotton. 

“You know the company started here?” the librarian mentions to me, while they are murmuring by the display case, a photographer clicking away, a theater staffer streaming things on facebook. 

“On the campus?” I say, surprised. 

Yes, and in a building since razed to the ground (green grass there now: a question mark, a possibility; a great emerald arm reaching to the next thing) on the south part of the grounds. They started dancing, and kept on, building around both of their arms and waists and chins held at precise angles. So many stories I have yet to learn.

They held themselves, together. Forty years gone by. 

-- 

Getting in the car this morning with S. I notice I have left a rake out by the porch this past week, exposed to the sun and, for the past day or so, the rain. It has gone from tan to grey; washed out. Around it a bush, which I think may privet, is unruly. Bright green weeds mix in with the purple diamond leaves of oxalas and the the freckled orange petals of transplanted day lily from L.’s sister’s yard. Though I don’t work as hard as I should to support it, in contrast to the faded wood of the tool the crepe myrtle is brown-green; shoots pushing out all around, waxy leaves and pink flowers around the four or five crooked stalks of trunk, heedless. It has endured the same week of punishing sun and sudden rain as the neglected tool. Though both are themselves independent of me, the contrast is sharp, given that --

the tree remains flowering

holds its color 

is alive

[4evahaka]

#1963 #CharterMembers #GammaIota #PaulQuinn #SigmaGammaRho #SGRho #SGRhos #PoodlesOnTheYard #PrettyPoodles #SGRho1922 #SGRho97 #SigmaLean #ThinkHBCU #HBCUS #HBCU #PaulQuinnCollege #D9CharterMembers #SGRhoCharterMembers #GammaIotaCharterMembers (💕💚#4evahaka2 #FAMUGrad1908 #FAMU_RYS19 #CreditToOwner https://www.instagram.com/p/BwC6sXLgHnV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1u7u06i9htpk3

[gardenculturemagazine-blog]

Schools adopting sustainable agriculture programs over conventional courses take precedence due to shrinking enrollment. - - - read more (link in bio)👉 https://gcmag.co/Sustainable-Ag - - - #sustainableagriculture #students #PaulQuinnCollege #agriculturalstudies #organicgrowing #gardenculturemagazine

[grahampriscilla]

College undergraduate students you have the chance o receive $1,000 college tax refund no job required. Take a chance and you can also Win Prizes or Double your Tax Refund with Nu Republic from anywhere in the country...Always a winner! #hbcu #texas #universityofrock #univerisityofhawaii #universityofhouston #universityoftexas #universityofmiami #universityofmichigan #universityofkentucky #universityofwashington #texassouthernuniversity #texassouthern #houstoncommunitycollege #houstonbaptistuniversity #universityofsaintthomas #longstarcollege #longstar #remingtoncollege #theartinstituteofhouston #pv #pvamu #praireview #riceuniversity #springfieldcollege #uhd #uh #paulquinncollege #paulquinn #southwesterncollege #southwesternchristianuniversity #texascollege #lamarcollege #lamar #jarvischristiancollege #wileycollege #hustontillotsonuniversity #hustontillotson #stphilipscollege #stphilips https://nuworld.nurepublic.com/estimator?refId=ADA411

[thehbcunation]

#Repost @paulquinncollege • • • • • Join @DallasStartupWeek today April 1 at the @CapitalFactory as they celebrate the 5th anniversary of #DallasStartupWeek at the Official #DSW19 Launch Party! Check out the full list of @DallasStartupWeek's headline speakers via link in our bio. #Dallas @DallasMavs, @MCuban, @Mayor_Mike_Rawlings, @MichaelSorrell, @JenniferHiltonSampson, @UnitedWayDallas, @KaraSwisher https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvwjh9cHFFz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=uo9b556kbph3

[fitandfaithfulliving]

Preparing high school students for college! Today, @paulquinncollege is on deck with our virtual college tours! We host over 13 College and University (list is growing) virtual group tours, email us using link in profile to schedule your group tour! #college #university #virtual #tours ##FFL #DiscoverU21 #DU21 #WeAreFFL #DallasNonprofit #DFW #Kids #fFtness #Afterschool #igdallas #Enrichment #Vision #Wholistic #wholistickids #Family #Covid19 #pandemic #SEL #Mindfulness #motivation #education #highschool #TexansCan #FortWorthCan (at Virtual Classroom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpLs0qJ6eW/?igshid=1mz6mwkfqzr1g

[smgmusicmedia]

Its happening tonight at historic @paulquinncollege Please, commence part of this historic event! https://www.instagram.com/p/B82L1iHhMIA/?igshid=n3lr8afrtw9s

[youngxanointed]

@DeVonFranklin Praying for the students at paulquinncollege #prayer #DeVonFranklin #PaulQuinnCollege https://t.co/WCJUuGYmyW | http://twitter.com/DeVonFranklin/status/918310937400049669

http://twitter.com/DeVonFranklin

[ruthdfw]

So like a breath of fresh air .... #Obama is back! It was refreshing to listen to a conversation about making a difference in moving the country forward - with students who represent both sides of the aisle. I am only half way through and there has been no reference to specific policies. On a fun note or 2: clearly his post-president life means no 👔; the unexpected shout out for @paulquinncollege in the articulate young lady headed here this fall; Obama did throw a little shade: at the panel for not answering his first question 😂and I am thinking if he ever wants a job on @60minutes he is ready. Did a great job moderating the conversation without a single TelePrompTer in sight 😆 visit @abcnews for the full video. This reminder that someday we might again get back to civility in our political dialogue was easily my #choosejoy 28/365 moment of the day.

[protectyourmane]

Had an awesome time today at @paulquinncollege listening to @cthagod talk about his experiences and creating #opportunities. Use what you have to get what you want! #theodorevernell #customfitshowercap #charlemagnethagod #shoptoday #shopsmall #shopblack #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurlife

[campuslately]

#SXSW HBCU Battle Of The Brains, Blogged by @dosesofjay At this year’s annual South by Southwest conference and festival held in Austin, Texas, scholars representing a group of Historically Black Colleges & Universities met to compete in Inaugural HBCU Battle of the brains’. First place goes to @paulquinncollege second place @pvamu and third place was @morganstategsa #congrats #brains #SXSW

[christopherjdowdy]

Chicago--Devon--once painted his face and mimed a routine to some song I should have known, in chapel, long arms swinging wide to the piped-in music.

Mr. Teal, not a student like these others, has walked me through any question that touches a federal program; he helped write half the guidance, when he worked at the Department, you see.

Sha’Amion worked with me in the Registrar’s office and wants to run a funeral home. I don’t know what that says about me.

Juanita is staying on to work with us in our fin aid department. When she was in high school she and her friends put together an informal group to help folks get launched into college. No pay, no framework, no grown-ups to help. Just an understanding of a need, and each other.

Graduation Day.

[drinhiding]

😡 "Chief #ReneeHall said federal and state laws prevent her from firing Guyger right away for the shooting death of #BothamJean. But it was unclear what those laws are. The public still has a lot of questions about the shooting death of Botham Jean, including: Why has #Dallas police officer #AmberGuyger not been fired? That issue was brought up Tuesday night at a town hall meeting at #PaulQuinnCollege, where Chief Renee Hall took questions from the audience and asked for patience and trust. Community members asked why the Jean case – in which Guyger fatally shot the 26-year-old in his apartment, saying she mistook the unit for her own – was transferred to the Texas Rangers and why Guyger was not arrested the day Jean was killed. Hall asked the community to be patient and to allow investigators to do a complete investigation, including talking to more potential witnesses. She said the community talks about not trusting DPD and then criticizing the move to bring in an outside agency. But it was clear there was a lot of frustration, and attendees still wanted to know why Guyger has not been fired. "I can’t do that because there are both local, state and federal laws that prohibit me from taking action," Hall said. "There are civil service laws we have to adhere to.” Justin Moore, a civil rights attorney was a panelist at the meeting and was surprised by the Chief's comments. "I was completely mystified, and I really didn't understand where it came from last night. It seemed like Chief Hall might not have been well informed on the law,” said Moore. The #DallasPoliceDepartment general orders do allow the chief to take action, saying, "The Chief of Police may circumvent all formal disciplinary procedures to render an immediate decision when it deems it necessary to preserve the integrity of the department.” The general orders are the policies that officers have to follow and are governed by within the department. It was unclear what laws chief Hall was referring to, but she promised she would release copies of the laws. #bothamshemjean #stayfocused (via @harrieteve9) #BlackInAmerica #ThisIsAmerica #Amerikkka #DopeBlack https://www.instagram.com/p/BptYbz0B-NN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=d4f175z1fv9i

[thehbcunation]

#Repost @paulquinncollege • • • • • The #QuinniteNation visited #Austin, Texas for a day at the #Texas State Capitol. Every year we commit a full day to engage directly elected officials. In addition to the capitol tour, students get the unique opportunity to visit all three @PaulQuinnCollege campuses. #NationBuilding 2.0 #HBCU #Dallas #Waco #TexasCapitol @PQCAlumni 🐯 @hbcuiradio https://www.instagram.com/p/BvhQ1OGHyCz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1iek0dhlkmbs4

[youngxanointed]

@DeVonFranklin paulquinncollege today was 🔥🔥🔥 #thehollywoodcommandments tour continues!!! They were… https://t.co/FeX5hCx6sg | http://twitter.com/DeVonFranklin/status/917974872017588224

http://twitter.com/DeVonFranklin

[christopherjdowdy]

Starting three years ago I have spent a part of a morning in the first week of March walking east on Main Street in Dallas, retracing the route that a lynch mob of well-dressed Dallasites took over a hundred years ago. The terror lynching of Allen Brooks—its elisions, its souvenirs, its irreducible quantum of anguish—is a key to the neuralgic mythmaking and self-justifications that this city calls History. Unmarked, it casts no shadow; a nail’s head driven flat, an invisible medallion in the earth. A pattern of blows fixes it to the ground, the traces of hammer strikes like fingerprints in steel. But there are other patterns. I did not walk the route this year. This year in the first week of March, a couple nights ago, I did scramble a few blocks from our place over to Deep Ellum to meet our college president and a smattering of staff, all gathered to celebrate the Top 20, the students with the highest GPA’s from the fall. We took up the room, crammed alongside each other in a long mish-mash of tables pushed together in a crowded restaurant, some students talking and laughing, others shy or a little out of place, some done up and others rolling right up to the edge of the dress code. Accents: Haiti, northern Mexico, northern Mexico once removed, Southeast Oak Cliff, Boston. All over. A student, an unassuming kid—no. He’s a man, of course. But it’s hard for me to see the youth in those eyes and not think of them as kids. Anyway, he used to work in my office and he’s at the foot of the table, hair firmly slicked back, bright bands of color on his polo shirt contrasting with the blue green of his forearm tattoo in the warm, low light. We roast each other and joke, learn names—a woman in her fifties finishing her religious studies degree; the young man in head to toe black, insisting he didn’t know his grades were good until he got the email inviting him to dinner; what seems to me to be a nascent couple smiling at the corner of the table, trying out a new way of being around each other.

I gulp black coffee while they stuff themselves with terrific pizza and the night winds down. I leave with the last of them, counting heads reflexively, unnecessarily, knowing everyone is grown; I wheel around toward the alley where I’ve parked and walk east down Commerce, parallel to Main. I move now and think my way through this old neighborhood. I consider the strata and the names, the figures—Central Track, Deep Ellum; Blind Lemon Jefferson. I consider the way they’re sandblasting the Knights of Pythias Building, stacking twenty stories of luxury apartments next to the first building by a Black architect in the city; a little jewel in a setting of multi-use development, floating on a sea of capital. I consider the bricks and iron of the old warehouses, machinists, butcher supply stores; what was all these and more once wound around the K&T rail in a glittering string of juke joints and brothels and streetcars and good houses stretching from here to where the CityPlace tower now stands stabbing streaks of unblinking LED lights into the sky across from the Freedman’s Cemetery and what once was State-Thomas, and now, like here became studios, then bars, and now restaurants with valets. The people who laid these bricks and cut railroad ties for miles north, south, in a tangle around the center of the city? They built the wealth into the land as surely as time pressed the blood of dinosaurs into oil but this city never let them share in its riches, still won’t; its instinct for sharing as dry as the Trinity in July. But those hands looked just like these hands I’ve been drinking coffee next to and those hands built this school too and when I walk I think of them. All these streets are their birthright, this city is. But it does not belong to them. Or let me say this way: it does not belong to them. Yet.