Author Archives: Valerie Fraling

“I am woman, hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore and I know too much to go back an’ pretend. ’Cause I’ve heard it all before and I’ve been down there on the floor no one’s ever gonna keep me down again.” Helen Reddy For Woman’s Month, we salute Shirley “Big Shirley” Belton, […]

“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the […]

“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.” Dom Tomás Balduino The Friday Night Bunch surprised everyone when we ventured east of President Street, for a unique […]

“I’ve been all over the world. I love New York; I love Paris, San Francisco, so many places. But there’s no place like New Orleans. It’s got the best food. It’s got the best music. It’s got the best people. It’s got the most fun stuff to do.” Harry Connick, Jr.   “I only wanted to […]

“We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. We know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.” Rick Warren (President Obama’s 2009 inauguration) “I remember it […]

“I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day and I don’t borrow from its sunshine for its skies may turn to gray. And I don’t worry about my future for I know what Jesus said and today He walks beside me for He knows what lies ahead. Many things about tomorrow […]

“Santa Claus, go straight to the ghetto fill every stocking you find, the kids are gonna love you so leave a toy for Johnny, leave a doll for Mary, leave something pretty for Donnie and don’t forget about Gary. Tell him James Brown sent you, huh and go straight to the ghetto. You know that […]

“There will be peace in the valley for me, someday; there will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray. There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow, no trouble, trouble I see. There will be peace in the valley for me.” Thomas Dorsey “He that would live in peace and at ease must […]

“When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics….” Dr. Martin Luther King On election night, […]

“Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and most needs have desires, let these be your desires: to melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night; to know the pain of too much tenderness; to be wounded by your own understanding of love; […]