S.D. Spady Elementary School Celebrates Diversity

Students, Parents and Teachers Enjoyed Exciting Heritage Festival
Delray Beach, Fla. – Nov. 18, 2009 – S.D. Spady Elementary Montessori Magnet School in Delray Beach welcomed a record crowd to its annual family picnic, with a theme of “Honoring All Cultures,” this past weekend. Parents, teachers, school administrators, PTA members and other representatives from the community donated their time and talents to present this free, family-oriented event on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., exclusively for the Spady pupils and their families.

The multicultural festival featured authentic ethnic food, games, crafts, activities and traditions from 15 different cultures represented in the school population, including Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, German, Brazilian, Haitian, Peruvian, Swedish, Italian, African American, Cajun French and others. Highlights of the day included performances by the Junior Delray Divas and Southern Dance Theatre troupes, as well as a Brazilian kite-flying demonstration, Peruvian dancing, Haitian artwork, Indian jewelry, an authentic Mexican piñata, Chinese tea rituals, Japanese origami, with materials donated by The Morikami Museum, and the “Cultural Carnival” parade.

The children also enjoyed face painting and fun with the Krackerjac Clowns, bounce houses, pony rides, a variety of games and crafts, traditional picnic fare and tastes from different cultures, such as German potato salad and apple strudel, Italian spaghetti and meatballs, Cajun seafood gumbo, Mexican rice pudding, macaroni and cheese and collard greens and other cultural delicacies. Students also had the chance to “Cream a Teacher,” by throwing whipped cream pies at beloved teachers as well as Principal Martha O'Hare, Assistant Principal Rona Tata and Magnet Coordinator Teresa Thomas.

According to Picnic Coordinator Carrie Gibbons, “All the students, teachers and families really seemed to enjoy the 'Honoring All Cultures' theme. We have such a rich and diverse population here at Spady, and it was educational, fun, entertaining, inclusive and delicious to experience all that those cultures have to offer. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful community here at our school.”

The S.D. Spady Elementary PTA Picnic Committee, chaired by Gibbons and Andrea Dias, organized, sponsored and hosted the event with assistance from numerous volunteers. Proceeds from the event will be donated to various organizations within the school, such as the school Safety Patrol, and other charitable groups in the community.

The picnic also offered a unique opportunity for parents to protect their children through the SecureChild Photo ID System, available free of charge from Paul Jenkins and Ibis Financial during the day. Other event attendees included Susan Berkowitz-Schwartz from All Peoples Day, Charlene Jones from the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, representatives from Costco, and Jeanne Monte accompanied by an eager, helpful group of foreign exchange high school students from PAX.org among others.

With a long and rich history, Spady Elementary School is named for Solomon David Spady, the African-American educator who gave more than 35 years of service to the school, which was originally established in 1895 as “Colored School #4. In 1922, Dr. Booker T. Washington recommended Spady, a student of Dr. George Washington Carver, to become principal of what was then called Smith-Hughes Vocational School. Spady often inspired his students by telling them about his personal encounters with Washington and Carver. Since 1989, Spady Elementary has been a public magnet school in the Palm Beach School District, offering a high quality Montessori education for nearly 700 students, ages three to 12, from throughout Palm Beach County.

Blogging With Integrity

As an seasoned journalist and marketing professional with more than 20 years of experience, I was gratified to learn about the new Blog With Integrity movement, started in July 2009 as a direct result of conversations among four bloggers, Susan Getgood, Liz Gumbinner, Kristen Chase and Julie Marsh to combat the recent spate of unethical behavior by some bloggers. The four got together to provide bloggers like myself with a tangible and collective way to express our commitment to a simple code of blogging conduct.

I would like to make a commitment to you, my readers, to always be transparent in my motives and objectives, to give clear disclosure, to cite sources, to give attribution and credit and to always clearly define articles from ads and advertorials. I have signed the Blog With Integrity pledge (www.blogwithintegrity.com) and urge other bloggers to follow suit. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please post your comments.

Who Is Today's Michael Jackson?

By Caryn L. Stumpfl

Despite all the weirdness, the eccentricities, the plastic surgery, the drugs and the hype, Michael Jackson really was one of the biggest stars of the late 20th/early 21st centuries. In fact, it could be said he was the biggest musical superstar/performer of all times. Hopefully, his music will remain the focus of all these memorials happening this week. Some disingenuous folks seem to be jumping on the Michael bandwagon now that he's gone and that kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The same people were badmouthing him as a pervert or pedophile just a few years back but now they're embracing him and his memory as if none of that ugliness ever happened.

No matter what you think about him, Michael really did provide the soundtrack for the last forty years and was an awesome entertainer. I grew up with ABC, I Want You Back, Got To Be There, I'll Be There, etc. in the late '60s/early '70s playing on every pop radio station, hearing it at school, parties, on TV -- everywhere you looked, there were the Jackson 5. I discoed (not literally) to hits from Off the Wall in the late '70s and graduated high school as Beat It, Billy Jean and Thriller hit the airwaves. Nothing and nobody was bigger in 1983 than Michael Jackson. MTV, which reportedly had not been playing videos of black artists at the time, could not refuse Michael Jackson. They had to play him in order to exist. Michael, of course, continued to roll out hit after hit throughout the '80s and '90s as I danced in clubs and continued to watch him on MTV. I read about all of his trials and tribulations and laughed at his physical transformations, marveled at whatever weird thing the press happened to report about this month or that month. I feel like I've come full circle though, because at my wedding a few years ago, when I was picking music for the DJ to play, I just had to have several Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 songs on my essential playlist. You want people to dance at your wedding, right?

This week, my husband and I were trying to think of another celebrity/musician/entertainer who might be today's (or tomorrow's) Michael Jackson and we were really hard-pressed to come up with anyone who could equal his status. There are plenty of big stars, famous and weird people in the world but nobody can come close to his celebrity status. Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce ... they all fall a bit short now, don't they? Of course, we had Elvis and the Beatles but nobody ever really achieved the heights that MJ did. Do you have any suggestions for who could be the next "Michael" or who might replace him in the media or entertainment world? I'm eager to hear your point of view - please respond and leave your comments. Thanks!

Scam Alert: Beware of Certain Online Recruiters & Websites

I recently became aware of certain South Florida (and national) recruiters who are contacting jobseekers and telling them they have the perfect job for them. They convince the eager job applicants to come to their offices for a preliminary screening or even interviews and then proceed to give the unassuming job seeker the hard sell on their supposed "services" including resume review/preparation, sending resumes out to "hundreds" of businesses and other recruitment services (amazingly, no interviews!). They ask for money up front (sometimes upwards of $6,000) and proceed to deliver nothing. Other companies promising jobs right now are just fronts for pyramid (multi-level marketing) schemes. You'll find a lot of these companies on legitimate job websites like Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com. There are class-action lawsuits from duped job seekers (some at the executive level) all over the tri-county area in South Florida.

Steer clear (better yet, run away from): DuMarkt Concepts (parent company R3 Enterprises) and FES. Also beware of fraudulent freelance writing jobs online through Craigslist and other sites including GoFreelance (big scam!). Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'm not saying all online jobs are scams but there are many scams out there. Just be sure to vet the opportunity thoroughly before agreeing to anything (a quick google search can provide abundant helpful information). No legitimate recruiter asks for money from the jobseeker - they receive their compensation by the hiring companies they are contracted to represent.

Have you ever fallen victim to a recruiting or freelance writing scam? Let us know the details!

Post or Publish Here!

Send me your unpublished articles, manuscripts, poems, original artwork, photos, e-zines, e-books and/or links to the above and I'll post them right here on Soflawriters -- for FREE. It's the perfect way to get your byline out on the web for all to see and enjoy. You can access my e-mail through the "About Me" section or simply e-mail your files directly to cstumpfl@wncommunications.com. For more information, call 561.330.3805.

Excellent Writers' Resource

If you haven't visited http://www.writersweekly.com/ yet, I highly recommend it. This site is a wonderful resource for freelance writers of all kinds - from journalists to marketing pros and novelists -- all can benefit from Angela Hoy's helpful information. Her Whispers and Warnings column has been particularly helpful in my quest to expose a couple deadbeat publishers (and hopefully get paid some day).

R U Serious? Is Proper Grammar Passe?

You're probably familiar with the lexicon of texting - sending text messages through your cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone, etc. However, should the abbreviated terms, OK for text messages, be used in copy writing for publication in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, websites, e-mails, etc.? In my opinion, proper grammar and punctuation never goes out of style but occasionally does need to be updated for the times. Let me know your thoughts on this!