In January, 1969, the Free Breakfast for School Children Program was initiated at St. Augustine's Church in Oakland by the Black Panther Party. The Panthers would cook and serve food to the poor inner city youth of the area. Initially run out of a St. Augustine's Church in Oakland, the Program became so popular that by the end of the year, the Panthers set up kitchens in cities across the nation, feeding over 10,000 children every day before they went to school
Photo: Nancy Thompson ,Black Panthers' Free Breakfast for Children' program (Oakland, 1971)

Reposted from Instagram@prodbylax #audioengineer #producer #recording #freeplugin #free #musicproduction #mixing #mastering #mixingmusic #audioproduction #homestudio #studiosession #freeplugins #parallaxproductions #mixengineer

Breaking free from a narcissist will have you feeling a bit out of character. It's in how you end up fighting a battle you can't win. Getting away is best, but for those who have been through it know that the ugliest parts come out in the end.

You didn’t lose the love of your life—you lost a parasite that was draining the life out of you. Narcissists aren’t soulmates; they are predators in disguise, and understanding this is crucial to your healing. The person you saw at the end of the relationship is who they truly are.

Their true nature was hidden behind a facade of charm, charisma, and manipulation. They lured you in with false promises, fake emotions, and a convincing act. But underneath it all, they were feeding off your emotional energy, chipping away at your self-worth, and eroding your sense of self.

What you experienced wasn't love; it was a toxic cycle of abuse where each day felt like a battle for survival. Their gaslighting, emotional blackmail, and constant criticism weren't signs of affection; they were tools of control and domination. Their infidelity, deceit, and lack of empathy weren’t mere mistakes; they were deliberate actions to exploit your vulnerabilities.

You didn’t lose a loved one—you escaped a toxic nightmare. You broke free from a cycle of abuse, and that takes incredible courage, strength, and resilience. Narcissists are incapable of genuine love; they only mimic it to get what they want.

To heal, you must accept the truth: you were not loved, you were used. You were a source of supply, a means to an end, and a pawn in their manipulative game. But now, you are free to rediscover yourself, embrace true love, and live a life filled with purpose, joy, and authenticity.

You deserve real love, genuine connection, and healthy relationships. You deserve to be seen, heard and understood. You deserve to be valued, respected, and cherished. Never settle for anything less. You are worthy of love, and it will find you when you least expect it.

Divorce is undoubtedly one of life's most challenging experiences, and the complexities involved can often be overwhelming. Amidst the emotional rollercoaster, the practical aspects of dividing assets, including your home, can add an extra layer of stress. In this blog post, we explore a solution that aims to simplify your divorce journey: selling your home stress-free to John Everett.
http://www.webuyhouseslv.net

Sidney Poitier was a 20 year old dishwasher in NYC. He came from the Bahamas and could only read 3rd grade level, having great trouble with 3 syllable words. He lost his dish washing job, so he looked in the want ads and was about to throw the newspaper into the trash box on the street when he read: Actors Wanted.
The 'wanted' seemed like an invitation, so he walked to the address, was given a two page scene to read by a large man. Poitier slowly read word by word in his Caribbean accent. The large man grabbed him by the belt and collar and pushed him to the door saying, "Stop wasting people's time. You can't speak and you can't read.
Go back to dish washing." Walking to the bus stop Poitier stopped on the street thinking, "How did he know I was a dishwasher?" Poitier said: "I realized that was his perception of me. No value but something I could do with my hands. Even though he was correct in his anger to characterize me that way, I was deeply offended. I said to myself, 'I have to rectify that.' "I decided right then on that street, that I was going to be an actor just to show him he was wrong about me. I had to take the responsibility to change how people perceived me.
I continued as a dishwasher, but I began to work on myself."
Poitier auditioned at the American Negro Theater in Harlem, hoping to get into classes there. He didn't know that one could buy books with plays in them, so he memorized an article in True Confessions magazine.
He wasn't accepted, but Sidney said, "I'll be your janitor for free if you let me study here." The school accepted that deal. Months later, he was told he had no gift for acting and had to leave. Unknown to Poitier, three fellow students that liked him went to the head-master and asked her to give him a walk on in the next play. She said, "No, but I'll make him the understudy for the lead. (She had no intention to use him).
However, the night of the play, the lead, Harry Belafonte, had to help his janitor father carry out the six heavy boxes of furnace ashes, and it had to be done that night. So Poitier went on, knew his lines and did he best he could. In the theater that night was a producer that offered him a bit part in his next play. His character was the first to speak as an excited man who has to tell some news in the first scene, and that was all.
Poitier said, "When I looked out through a peephole at the 1,200 people waiting for the play to begin, I became paralyzed with fear. "I ran out on stage and started with my 7th line first. The other actor's eyes bulged out, but he came up with the right answer. We skipped around lines, then my character left the stage and that was my only scene. The audience didn't know the play, so they liked my confused, excited character.
"However, walking back to the room I was renting, I decided to give up on acting. I bought four newspapers on the way home and was surprised that I was mentioned favorably in three of them, like: 'Who was that funny kid that came on at the beginning?' So I decided to continue acting." After a few small parts in small movies, it was 1954. Sidney Poitier was sent to an audition for a movie by an agent named Martin Baum, but was not Poitier's agent.
Poitier read a scene in front of the producers, they wanted him and gave him a full script to take home. Poitier's character was a janitor who saw a crime committed by gangsters. To keep him quiet, the gangsters kill his daughter. And he stays quiet. Poitier said, "I really hated it. At that time, I had no objections to playing a janitor, but I hated the idea of a father not taking action on the gangsters. The janitor permits what the gangster do to him. To the writers it's just a plot point, but I can't play that because I have a father. And I know my father would never be like that. And as a father myself, I would never be able to NOT attack those gangsters. I want to do movies that show who I am as a human being."
Poitier called Martin Baum who said they will pay $750 for the part. ($7,000 today). He told Baum, " I read it and I can't play it," and explained why. Baum said, “That’s why you don't want to do this? You need that money don't you?" Poitier desperately needed the money. He had to pay the hospital $75 for his 2nd daughter's birth. But didn't take the part. Poitier said, "That speaks to who I was then and still am. And who I am is my father's son. I saw how he treated my mother and family. I know how to be a decent human being.
So I pawned my furniture, such as it was, got $75 and paid the hospital. Then I went back to dish washing. "Months later, Martin Baum called me and invited me to his office and said, "I have never been able to understand why you turned down that job. I told him why again, but I don't know if he understood it.
But Martin said, 'I have decided that anyone as crazy as you are, I want to be their agent.' He's been my agent till now." Poitier won an Academy Award for Best Actor for 'Lilies of the Field' in 1963. Five years later, Sidney Poitier was offered the lead in 'In the Heat of the Night' to be produced by Walter Mirisch (West Side Story, The Magnificent 7) Poitier said, "When I read the script, I said, 'Walter I can’t play this. The scene requires me to be slapped by a wealthy man and I just look at him fiercely and walk away. That is not very bright in today's culture. It's dumb.
"This is 1968. You can't do that. The black community will look at that and be appalled, because the human response would be different. You certainly won't do the movie with me this way. 'If I do this movie, I insist to respond as a human being; he pops me and I pop him right back. If you want me to play it, you will put that in writing. Also in writing you will say 'If this picture plays in the south, that scene is never removed.' Walter said, 'Yeah, I promise you that and I'll put it in writing.' "But being the kind of guy Walter is, his handshake and his word are the same, so I didn't need to have it in writing, and he kept his word. That scene made the movie. Without it, the movie wouldn't have been as popular."
'In the Heat of the Night' won five Academy Awards: Best Picture - Best Screenplay.
Sidney Poitier was a 20 year old dishwasher in NYC. He came from the Bahamas and could only read 3rd grade level, having great trouble with 3 syllable words. He lost his dish washing job, so he looked in the want ads and was about to throw the newspaper into the trash box on the street when he read: Actors Wanted.
The 'wanted' seemed like an invitation, so he walked to the address, was given a two page scene to read by a large man. Poitier slowly read word by word in his Caribbean accent. The large man grabbed him by the belt and collar and pushed him to the door saying, "Stop wasting people's time. You can't speak and you can't read.
Go back to dish washing." Walking to the bus stop Poitier stopped on the street thinking, "How did he know I was a dishwasher?" Poitier said: "I realized that was his perception of me. No value but something I could do with my hands. Even though he was correct in his anger to characterize me that way, I was deeply offended. I said to myself, 'I have to rectify that.' "I decided right then on that street, that I was going to be an actor just to show him he was wrong about me. I had to take the responsibility to change how people perceived me.
I continued as a dishwasher, but I began to work on myself."
Poitier auditioned at the American Negro Theater in Harlem, hoping to get into classes there. He didn't know that one could buy books with plays in them, so he memorized an article in True Confessions magazine.
He wasn't accepted, but Sidney said, "I'll be your janitor for free if you let me study here." The school accepted that deal. Months later, he was told he had no gift for acting and had to leave. Unknown to Poitier, three fellow students that liked him went to the head-master and asked her to give him a walk on in the next play. She said, "No, but I'll make him the understudy for the lead. (She had no intention to use him).
However, the night of the play, the lead, Harry Belafonte, had to help his janitor father carry out the six heavy boxes of furnace ashes, and it had to be done that night. So Poitier went on, knew his lines and did he best he could. In the theater that night was a producer that offered him a bit part in his next play. His character was the first to speak as an excited man who has to tell some news in the first scene, and that was all.
Poitier said, "When I looked out through a peephole at the 1,200 people waiting for the play to begin, I became paralyzed with fear. "I ran out on stage and started with my 7th line first. The other actor's eyes bulged out, but he came up with the right answer. We skipped around lines, then my character left the stage and that was my only scene. The audience didn't know the play, so they liked my confused, excited character.
"However, walking back to the room I was renting, I decided to give up on acting. I bought four newspapers on the way home and was surprised that I was mentioned favorably in three of them, like: 'Who was that funny kid that came on at the beginning?' So I decided to continue acting." After a few small parts in small movies, it was 1954. Sidney Poitier was sent to an audition for a movie by an agent named Martin Baum, but was not Poitier's agent.
Poitier read a scene in front of the producers, they wanted him and gave him a full script to take home. Poitier's character was a janitor who saw a crime committed by gangsters. To keep him quiet, the gangsters kill his daughter. And he stays quiet. Poitier said, "I really hated it. At that time, I had no objections to playing a janitor, but I hated the idea of a father not taking action on the gangsters. The janitor permits what the gangster do to him. To the writers it's just a plot point, but I can't play that because I have a father. And I know my father would never be like that. And as a father myself, I would never be able to NOT attack those gangsters. I want to do movies that show who I am as a human being."
Poitier called Martin Baum who said they will pay $750 for the part. ($7,000 today). He told Baum, " I read it and I can't play it," and explained why. Baum said, “That’s why you don't want to do this? You need that money don't you?" Poitier desperately needed the money. He had to pay the hospital $75 for his 2nd daughter's birth. But didn't take the part. Poitier said, "That speaks to who I was then and still am. And who I am is my father's son. I saw how he treated my mother and family. I know how to be a decent human being.
So I pawned my furniture, such as it was, got $75 and paid the hospital. Then I went back to dish washing. "Months later, Martin Baum called me and invited me to his office and said, "I have never been able to understand why you turned down that job. I told him why again, but I don't know if he understood it.
But Martin said, 'I have decided that anyone as crazy as you are, I want to be their agent.' He's been my agent till now." Poitier won an Academy Award for Best Actor for 'Lilies of the Field' in 1963. Five years later, Sidney Poitier was offered the lead in 'In the Heat of the Night' to be produced by Walter Mirisch (West Side Story, The Magnificent 7) Poitier said, "When I read the script, I said, 'Walter I can’t play this. The scene requires me to be slapped by a wealthy man and I just look at him fiercely and walk away. That is not very bright in today's culture. It's dumb.
"This is 1968. You can't do that. The black community will look at that and be appalled, because the human response would be different. You certainly won't do the movie with me this way. 'If I do this movie, I insist to respond as a human being; he pops me and I pop him right back. If you want me to play it, you will put that in writing. Also in writing you will say 'If this picture plays in the south, that scene is never removed.' Walter said, 'Yeah, I promise you that and I'll put it in writing.' "But being the kind of guy Walter is, his handshake and his word are the same, so I didn't need to have it in writing, and he kept his word. That scene made the movie. Without it, the movie wouldn't have been as popular."
'In the Heat of the Night' won five Academy Awards: Best Picture - Best Screenplay.

In 1875, Oliver Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, America's longest continuous sporting event. Lewis was born in 1856 in Fayette Country, Kentucky, to his parents Goodson and Eleanor Lewis. Lewis was born free, but there is little known about his parents or family. Lewis was only 19 years old when he entered the first Kentucky Derby. The race was held at what was then the Louisville Jockey Club on May 17, 1875, but is now known as Churchill Downs.

Ten thousand spectators watched this first race. Lewis rode a horse named Aristide, which was one of two colts entered by their owner, H. Price McGrath of Jessamine, Kentucky. The other horse, Chesapeake, was ridden by William Henry. Although the same owner entered both horses, Chesapeake was favored to win the $2,850 purse, and Lewis was told that his job was to lead most of the race to tire out the other horses. Out of the fifteen jockeys in the field, at this first Kentucky Derby, thirteen of them were African American. Aristide's trainer, Ansel Williamson, was also an African American.

Oliver Lewis followed his instructions and was pushing most of the field while trailing a horse named Volcano for most of the race. However, in the last stretch, Chesapeake was unexpectedly far back in the pack, while Aristide and Volcano were running neck and neck for first place. Lewis and Aristide pulled away near the finish line and won the race by two lengths. With that victory, Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Later that season, Lewis came in second in the Belmont Stakes in New York and won three more races at the Louisville Jockey Club, riding Aristide in all of them. He would never ride in the Kentucky Derby again, however, and would retire after that racing season for unknown reasons.

After retiring, Lewis worked for a short time as a day laborer, but then began providing handicapping tables and racing forms to bookies. He later became a bookie himself, which was legal in Kentucky at that time. Lewis married, although his wife's name is unknown. The couple had six children, including James, who inherited his lucrative bookmaking business. Oliver Lewis died in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1924 at the age of 68.

In 1930, a Hungarian inventor observed children playing with marbles in a puddle, noticing that the marbles left a trail of water in their wake. That's how the idea came about: why not use a ball-shaped metal nib for writing? This is how the pen was born. 🖋 László József Biro shared his idea with his brother György, a chemist, and together they began researching and experimenting to create a new type of pen based on this concept. Finally, they found the perfect combination: a viscous ink and a tip with a small ball that rotated freely, preventing the ink from drying out and controlling its flow. They presented their invention at the Budapest International Fair in 1931 and patented it in 1938, although they did not market it immediately. With the start of World War II, the brothers emigrated to Argentina, where they founded a company in a garage. Although they were initially unsuccessful due to the high cost of the product, they secured a contract with the British Air Force, which boosted their popularity. In 1943, they licensed their invention to Eversharp Faber in the United States for $2 million. In 1950, Marcel Bich acquired the rights and, on the recommendation of an advertising expert, dropped the "h" from his surname and founded the company BICGroup. In that year, they launched the first BIC Cristal, one of the most perfect designs ever created, of which more than 20 million units are sold every day around the world. Since 1953, more than 100 billion BIC Cristals have been manufactured, making it the best-selling pen of all time.