Last week, we hosted Dr. Julia Hare for Bless the Mic. Over the past few years, she has really blown up through her participation in several of the Tavis Smiley "State of the Black Union" events. But she and her husband have been writing about the Black family for over 2 decades. I wanted her to come because of her work in this area. She recently (November 08) wrote a piece in for Ebony magazine, which is from her new book- "The Political and Sexual Anorexia of the Black Woman."

So in her frank and fast style, she covered a number of issues facing the Black community. While generating lots of laughs, she made some key points as well. We really didn't have enough time for her to cover everything in one session, but she didn't leave town until that Friday. So I invited her to our special chapel that my wife and I were hosting to have frank conversations about relationships. Dr. Hare graciously agreed to spend another hour with our students, and we had a lively conversation. One of the main things we learned is that our students really want to have these kinds of discussions as they are interested in developing healthy relationships. Many have not seen these kinds of relationships, and this plays out in their daily lives.

Dr. Hare commented to me afterwards that the session was as valuable as anything that occurs in the classroom because we were teaching life. I shared that students can't do well in the class if their out of class life is messed up. Hopefully this is a step in helping more students become whole.

The Prez