Ceramics

Proactively Green

My proactively green journey has been a constant battle. I duel daily with myself lol. More often than not, I am slayed by myself. I have made a more conscious effort though and I am somewhat proud of it. Right now, my home has one huge box with cans, plastic, paper, of course the glass is already being upcycled and other recyclables. The plan is to have more of a setup like this eventually:

I have yet to take them to a recycle center, but I plan to next week. I will definitely upload some pics.

The next thing I did was take advantage of something we have here in Mobile, AL called, "It's Easy to be Ungreasy". I have never been one to pour grease down the drain. I've always put it in some random container that eventually gets thrown away. This way it isn't causing any sewage problems and they use the grease to make some type of fuel, go figure.  

I can honestly say that every time I drink something out of a can or bottle it actually pains me mentally to just throw it away. I am very conscious of my actions and those around me. I wish we had more recycling bins around the city and that more stores/ restaurants had them as well.  Hmm, maybe that's a step further down the line for me in my proactively green journey, to make the city in which I live just a little bit more green. Maybe I can prick the conscious of more haphazardly green minds to make them more proactively green.

Happy Reading,

Andrea

Going Green Rant

You know what? 

It is really...really hard to go green! When I opened up my trash service for the first time the very first thing I looked into was recycling options. You know what I found? 

Nothing.

There are no recycling options! At least not in my area. Until recently when a new place opened up in September of last year, there was not a single recycling plant in my area. Not one! It is so frustrating to WANT to care about our environment and the planet and not even having the OPTION of doing the right thing, especially when you're of the mind that something like recycling should be mandatory in the first place...and there isn't even the option. 

I read a post recently by Mike Rowe (yes, that guy from Dirty Jobs, who, by the way, if you are not following on Facebook, you absolutely should be) about recycling, and I am going to share just a small portion of his words here, because really, the man is totally elegant:

"A couple of weeks ago, I was stuck in traffic on Lombard Street, desperate to get across the Golden Gate Bridge for a meeting I was doomed to miss... the guy in front of me threw an empty Big Gulp out the passenger window. I watched the giant cup bounce around the street, roll into the curb, and come to rest on the grate of a storm drain. The guy was driving a Prius, and the irony was just too much to bear.

"I hopped out of my car, retrieved the trash, and approached his vehicle. Squatting on the pavement, I addressed the gentleman from the passenger side. “Hi there!” I said, grinning my best gameshow host grin. “I think the wind blew this giant cup out of your environmentally friendly vehicle. Here you go.”

"I dropped the Big Gulp on his seat and turned to leave, but the man stopped me.
“Hey...wait a minute,” he said. “You’re the dirty jobs guy! Holy crap! Are we on TV right now?” The man craned around, looking for a camera crew, ready for his close-up.

"For a moment, I wished we were on television...

"Here’s a question - How can we expect people to care about their “carbon footprint,” when they don’t even know what they’re walking on? How relevant is global warming to a people who still throw their crap out the window?

"I’m no expert, but it seems to me that most of the “big” environmental challenges in today's headlines are impacted to some degree by our strange tolerance for litter, and our stubborn refusal to punish litterbugs in a way that might actually discourage their decision to treat our country like a landfill. Doesn’t it make sense to do all we can to discourage littering, before we try to argue the merits of windmills and electric cars?"

 Alright, I know that was long, the original post was even longer! But, well worth the read, and I definitely recommend the full read. While Mike is talking primarily about littering, he still makes the best argument: How could people possibly care about the environment on a large scale when most people don't even pay attention to how they personally contribute to garbage problem? How can I care about recycling my plastic so it doesn't end up in the ocean when there isn't even an option to do anything differently!

Blerg-

You know...I haven't been able to bring myself to throw away any plastic bags since I discovered how to make plarn! I haven't made any plarn in several months so they're just piling up...but I can't throw them away!

And you guys know I'm definitely not throwing out anything glass. 

The one thing I have tried to start doing is setting aside my plastic to take to that new recycling place. I filled my bin up...loaded it into my trunk...and it's been sitting in there for about a week...still haven't taken it over to the recycling place. I shake my head at myself just thinking about it...

But that's my point. The most frustrating thing about wanting to care is how easy and convenient society has made not caring. 

Till next time.

Color Me Green (Andrea)

So me being the person that I am, I have never really given a whole lot of thought to being green. I know right, burn me at the stake, rake me over hot coals and all that jazz. Now don’t get me wrong, I do select the paperless billing option on my bills, I carpool when possible and I even recycle every blue moon. It’s not enough.

The truth of the matter is it’s a very important issue. I should be more proactive. Starting our business has opened a door for me to be able to do that. Being green is important to my business partner, she is way more conscientious of these types of things than I am, so that means it is now important to me. We do a lot of upcycling, which is essentially repurposing different things to give them a new or different meaning. We are all about the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. To think that I almost didn’t write this post because I didn’t know what to say. If nothing else I have learned that just haphazardly being green isn’t enough. I need to be proactively green. Hmmm, that sounds like another blog post to me. Stay tuned, I look forward to sharing my proactively green journey with you.

Happy Reading,

Andrea

*We welcome all green ideas, especially the cost efficient ones J

Color Me Green (Alana)

One of the biggest things I am doing now is upcycling glassware and ceramic dinnerware into beautiful pieces of art. I paint my henna designs on almost everything right now, and while I love that, there are more things I’d like to do in continuation of the upcycling theme. There are a lot of pieces out there that can’t be painted because of previously existing designs or the shape wouldn’t allow it, and I’d like to keep upcycling with those pieces. I have tons of projects saved on my Pinterest account for upcycling projects! Lawn ornaments, bird feeders, wind chimes, fairy houses…these are just a few of the ideas I'm cooking up for the future. 

I also really love the idea of recycling plastic bags and plastic bottles into art or useful things. Plastic is only biodegradable under very specific conditions. Bacteria doesn’t really touch the stuff, and since bacteria is how most organic material biodegrades, that’s kind of a problem. Quite a lot of our plastic ends up in the ocean, where it gets lots of light and water churning it around, and under those conditions plastic will eventually biodegrade. So, that’s cool that it will eventually break down, the only problem is that when plastic breaks down it becomes toxic and it ends up in the guts of sea creatures we eat and washes up on shorelines. But anyway, all that is to say, I recognize that plastic is a big problem and hope that one day there will be better alternatives, but until then! There are a lot of projects I’d like to do to recycle what plastic I can. 

As we grow as a business I hope to do more green things, and I hope we can support green movements and other really important causes in the future. 

I found my information about plastic HERE if you want to know more, and you can see their sources on the second page of the article.  Also, SciShow, DFTBA!

Till next time!

Alana

Social Media: Do you use proper etiquette?

Social media, in my personal opinion, is essential to a business in this day and time. People are always asking are you on Facebook, Instagram, what about Twitter and many others. While everyone wants to know if you are on these social media networks, keeping them up to date can be a pain. I am however so very grateful to the person/persons that came up with the idea of linking accounts so that one post can go across multiple networks. Linking accounts makes keeping social media up to date slightly less daunting. Some critics don’t like this feature but I love it. All of that is a moot point though if first you don’t know proper social media etiquette. Seeing as this is our first post on social media, I feel it not remiss if we discuss etiquette first.

       
       If you Google social media etiquette for business, tons of hits will come up. I will only post 5 key points. Feel free to post some etiquette rules (for business or personal) you feel are important in the comments below.

#1 Which is kind of a pet peeve of mine. Don’t write on someone’s business page wall and tell them to like your page or follow you. Don’t even do the, I liked your page so go like mine thing.

#2 Don’t flood news feeds with constant posts. If you post multiple times a day, make sure they are spaced out accordingly to avoid the flood.

#3 Mistakes happen but please, please, please check for typos and grammatical errors before posting.

#4 Be respectful, nice, courteous, you know the saying…do unto others….A thank you goes a long way and makes supporters/followers feel appreciated.

#5 #Don’t #over #use #the #hashtag. Just about all social media networks use hashtags. On some sites its ok to use multiple hash tags others it’s not. If you don’t know don’t over use, stick to just #one or #two.

This is one of many sites I came across about social media etiquette. It has a guideline that breaks it down for each network. Check it out, it has some pretty good info on it.

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/09/19/social-media-etiquette/

Happy Reading,

Andrea

Did You Do The RESEARCH???

Feels like college again….research, research, research. Starting and owning a small business is not an easy job. I’m writing the article knowing that a lot of the things I will mention we ourselves have not done. We are totally not hypocrites, how dare you even think it. Oh, what’s that you say, you weren't thinking it? Oh well, must be my guilty conscious, lol.  According to the U.S. Small Business Administration to run a successful business, you need to learn about your customers, your competitors and your industry.

Learn Your Customers

Who is your target audience for sales and services? Is it men, women, adults, teens, children? Learning about your customers helps improve sales. Believe it or not, just knowing the form of payment your customer type prefers can improve your sales. Say you have an elderly couple wanting to buy from you, they may only pay by check but you don’t accept checks so that could be a loss in sales.  Maybe there is a younger couple who wants to purchase something and they don’t carry cash, only debit or credit. There are lots of possible scenarios, for each you should be prepared for. You should know your target audience and make any necessary changes needed to accommodate them. What forms of payment they prefer to use, what they like to buy, when they like to buy it are all things you should know. Knowing your target audience should also have an impact on your marketing as well. Whether it’s by flyers, brochures, email, text or an app, you should know the best method and use it to your advantage.

Know Your Competition

        Google is a great tool….use it or whatever search engine you prefer. I have searched using keywords that describe our products to see what comes up. This is good because it shows you who has similar products. It also shows if your products are showing up in these searches and if so, how far at the top of the search results are you. This is just my FREE method for checking out the competition. I know there are many more feel free to share in the comments below. Seeing where you show up and how many others offer the same or similar products is a way to improve your business. Maybe you need a new advertising strategy or you may even need to change or switch up your product ideas.

Know Your Industry

If, like us, you corner the market in your area, that can be a good and a bad thing. Good because no one else in your area does or offers what you do, so you have the opportunity to get all of the local business. Bad because being so unique comes with a different set of battles like just getting your name and what you do out there. Our business is constantly growing but not always in monetary form, sometimes it just in awareness or recognition. If by chance you are in a well-known industry your challenges are slightly different. Yes, you have to get your name out there but you have to be even more innovative in the products you offer and how you present them. All that being said, know you industry, the ins and outs of online sales and in person sales.

        This is one of my longer post but it’s packed with useful information that only touches the tip of the iceberg on business research. Know your customers, know your competition, and know your industry. Did YOU do the research?

Where'd The Money Go?

        Good question. Knowing where your money is going is one of the most important elements of your business. You go to a craft show or you make sales in-store or online and when its all said and done it seems like you have nothing to show for it. Keeping track of your expenses and sales is a must. It will allow you to see where your money is actually going. When you keep accurate books, you will be able to determine your profit and loss margins as well. Once you have a clear idea of how you are spending and making money set a budget. Oh no, not a budget, SMH yes, my friend, a budget.
       
        There are some great programs available to help with book keeping. I know many small businesses, like us, can't really afford to just out right purchase book keeping software, but thank goodness there are some free/low cost options available. You can search the web for some free book keeping software and there are also templates available to use if you want to take that route. We chose to use QuickBooks online. Its very affordable and they have many plan options available to meet your financial needs. I like QuickBooks because it does all the figuring for you. It makes life so much easier and allows us to focus on other things. It shows your expenses and sales reports as well as allows you to run profit/loss reports. Book keeping, good book keeping, is essential to your business and should be a top priority."Pot meet Mr, Kettle", I know I'm speaking to myself as well. It can be hard to stay on top of but it's a necessary evil.

        You should also make a budget and stick to it. (Man, I'm really ragging on myself here.) You will definitely be wondering, "Where'd The Money Go?", if you don't. Spending more than you are earning is never a good thing in business or in life. That's why setting a limit(budget) is a must.

        I said all of this to say, good book keeping is essential to running and growing a business. If you have your books in order you won't have to wonder, "Where'd The Money Go?"....You'll already know.


Happy Reading
Andrea

Daylight Savings Time

So, it's daylight savings time, again. I was just getting use to the extra hour of sleep, now it's time to take it away. Woe is me. If you haven't figured it out yet, I dislike daylight savings time. Maybe it's not so much daylight savings time but just the fact that twice a year I have to change my internal clock as well as my watch. Here's an excerpt from a great article on daylight savings time from National Geographic.

"Each U.S. state and territory is free to ignore daylight savings time, so residents of Arizona (except those on the Navajo Nation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other territories won't move their clocks this weekend.

If these exceptions seem confusing, the situation was far worse 50 years ago, according to Tufts University professor Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. Before the U.S. Uniform Time Act of 1966, DST was often observed very locally—and chaos was the result.

"In 1965 there were 130 cities in the country with populations of 100,000 or more," Downing explained. "Fifty-nine did not observe daylight saving.

"Of the 71 that did, there were at least 20 different adoption dates. In Minnesota, St. Paul was on one time, Minneapolis was on a different time, and Duluth was on Wisconsin time. In fact, somebody even found a Minneapolis office building in which the different floors of the building were observing different time zones because they were the offices of different counties."

As discombobulating as daylight savings time can be now, it was much worse before 1966. I can't imagine what kind of chaos ensued as a result of not having a uniformed time. I guess I can't really complain because it's much better now but I still would like for it to stay one way or the other, preferably the falling back time portion lol. 

What would you prefer?

Happy reading,

Andrea

The Many Perils of Small Business

So you want to start a business, forming the idea, easy, implementing the idea, not so easy. Why must it be so hard to own your own business? Throughout our journey I will be sharing with you some of the perils that we face as a small business. Some of the perils we face are relevant whether its small business or big business. One of the key factors for starting, owning and running a business is money. There are many different perils but for this post I plan to focus on money.

So you have the idea and you are tired of working for "the man" so you decide to work for yourself instead. Great idea, first question, where do you get the start up capital. Getting start up capital can be one of the biggest hurdles of starting a business. It's great if you can go to the bank and get approved for a loan and generate the revenue to pay back the loan but many people, including us, don't have what it takes to get approved or just don't want the added debt. So what do you do? Get investors, people who believe that you have a viable product and want to take part of your business. Get support from family and friends. Another good option is start a campaign on Gofundme.org. Or you could do what we are currently doing, which I must say is not ideal but its the route we have decided to take so far, and that's the pay as you go option. This option makes it so that you don't have to take out loans but your business will grow at a much slower rate because you may not be able to buy all of the equipment that you need until funds become available. Eventually, will we have to take out a loan, yes, but not just yet. We want to make sure we are in a position so that the business itself can make the loan payments and not have that money coming out of our personal pockets.

This particular peril kinda ties into another one of my blog post titled "Where'd The Money Go?", which will be published soon. Money is one of the deciding factors of business. So no money, no business so to speak. Not much you can do if you don't have the capital to keep your business running. So stay tuned as I share more of the perils that we face as a small business and also share some info on money management.

Happy Reading,

Andrea

Ceramics

Hey there! This week I want to share with everyone something I've been working on for the past two months. If you follow me on Instagram or any of the Alana Kruse Creations pages that we have, then you've already seen some of the work I've been doing.

I want to level with you guys...I'm actually having a little bit of a crisis right now. I signed up for a pottery class, I've taken this class before, same professor and everything...and I'm rediscovering a deep passion. Well, that's obviously not the crisis part. The thing is...I don't know what to do anymore. I had plans to apply for graduate school as a counselor, put my bachelor's in psychology to good use...but now...ugh! I just love making things so much. That's all I want to do...make stuff! Let me show you what I mean...

This was my first attempt at sliptrailing. For those of you that don't know, slip is basically watered down clay that has pigment added to it; and sliptrailing is when you put the slip into some form of bottle and trail the slip onto a piece to make patterns. So, not only is this bowl actually pretty well formed, but I think my very first attempt at sliptrailing turned out pretty good!

After doing some experimenting with the slip I created these:

As you can see, I took to this pretty quickly and pretty well. And I'm really passionate about what I'm doing. I absolutely love the creation process from start to finish. From wedging clay, to throwing, to trimming, to decorating. I love every step of the way.

Another decoration technique I've been playing with is called sgraffito, which just means carving, essentially. Take a look:

Yea...I gotta say, sgraffito is holding me just as enthralled as slip trailing. This bowl is one of my favorites. That flower! I surprised myself. Really.

Another fun part about doing this from start to finish is the end result:

You can never really tell how a piece will turn out. And that's part of the magic, I think. And it's also really fun when happy accidents happen:

Yea...this is my favorite bowl so far. I'm keeping this one! Haha! But I am also trying to recreate that effect on the inside on other pieces. This one took even my professor by surprise. And sometimes things don't quite turn out the way you wanted:

There's definitely an element of suspense and stress over how your pieces will come out of the kiln. I'm so, so nervous about how those plates will turn out! I have high hopes for those pieces! If you'd like to see more of what I've been doing, Instagram is the first place I post, and there's not 100% carry-over onto other social media accounts like Twitter, although I do share some things. If you want to find me on Instagram I'm @alanakrusecreations. If you prefer Twitter, I'm @akrusecreations, and we're also on Facebook as Alana Kruse Creations. So, if you want to see more of what I've been doing, you can find my work on any of those.

And...of course...I had to make myself a yarn bowl!

So do you see what I mean, now? I'm having a little bit of a life crisis because I really love what I'm doing now and I want to keep doing it. Problem is...it's pretty expensive to keep up independently. So...what do I even do? Just stay in school forever so I can keep doing this?

(*deep sigh*)

I guess I'll end up doing what I feel like is the responsible thing...I'll have to let you guys know what that is when I figure it out!

Till next time,
Alana

I Know I Have A Book Addiction: First Step....Admitting You Have A Problem

While Alana deals with her Pinterest addiction, I have my own addiction to deal with....my addiction to books or should I say to reading books.

Ever have that book or series of books that take you to a happy place? You know that book that every time you read it endorphins are released in your brain to give you a natural high. Well that's me in a nut shell, always reading trying to get that natural high lol. If you check out our Pinterest you will see some of my favorite reads from the classics to sci-fi / fantasy.

I go through phases of wanting to read different genres. It's like food, ya know, you eat what you have a taste for. Well, I read what I have a taste for lol. Sometimes, I have a taste for an epic journey in a foreign land or in outer space. Sometimes I want to play hard to get with a wealthy duke or viscount. I never really know until I get ready to read what I want to satisfy my appetite.

I do know this, I have to read at least one book a day or I get cranky. Reading soothes me, it's my escape from the real world. I do tend to prefer romance to thrillers or suspense but every now and again I do enjoy the occasional thriller. The real world we live in is so far from fantasy, it's a cruel reality at times. So yeah, I stick to the books where you are in love at first sight, married in a week and stay married til death do us part. What a laugh, that's so unreal but what can I say, I love it.

I think it's time to address whether or not you, my fellow readers, have a book reading addiction.

You may be a book reading addict if:

1. You stare longingly at the book store as you drive by
2. You read at stoplights
3. Your wishlist on your ereader has 20+ books that are sequels or are part of a series
4. You have an ereader and actually use it to read books
5. You prefer apples to oranges
6. I was just seeing if you were paying attention ;-)
7. You love the smell of a new book
8. You binge read entire series
9. You pre-order the next book in a series
10. Reading helps you stay awake and the TV puts you to sleep

So yeah, even if you don't fit this particular list, you have a problem if you even had to check lol. I fit the bill for quite a few of these. I have a problem, do you?

If your answer is yes, add to the list in the comments below with your own book reading addiction problems.

Happy Reading ;-),
Andrea

Am I A Pinterest Addict?

Most people view Pinterest as a way to pass the time, but I genuinely use it as a tool. I find so many projects on Pinterest, and so much inspiration! I use Pinterest as a search engine almost as much as I use Google! No, wait…I probably use it more. 

A lot of my inspiration comes from Pinterest. I have a board for everything! I made a board for crochet before I learned how to crochet merely because I wanted to learn. After I finally learned how to crochet, I started pinning things like crazy. I ended up with a board with over 800 pins! After I finally learned how to crochet it started getting tedious to find things I wanted to do, so I eventually made several more crochet boards and started organizing. I had so many pins I couldn’t even organize all of them! I just got tired of doing it! And I know I need even more subcategories for my crochet boards. I don’t know if I’ll ever get that under control!

One of my favorite boards is my “Handy Tips and Tricks.” This is kind of my catch-all space. I have home improvement tips, natural remedies, life hacks, and most importantly, I have survival skills pinned here. You know…just in case there’s a zombie apocalypse or something…

On my own, I have 44 different boards. And now, since I’ve created our business Pinterest profile, and have added myself to the boards from the business account, I have 56 total boards! (That’s not counting my secret boards!) 

Do I have a problem?

I don’t know.

Maybe I’m just really organized and I have a lot of interests?

Don’t judge me…

Till next time!

Alana

Valentine's Day Giveaway Winner!

We are happy to announce Brittany Tucker as our Valentines Day winner. Thanks to all who participated. Our next blog giveaway won't be until March for St. Patrick's day, but you never know when we will have a social media outlet giveaway through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram so stay tuned for interesting blog posts and future giveaways.

Black History Month: Yes! No! Maybe?

In honor of black history month, this post will be about some major black history highlights, some little known facts and of course my opinion on black history month. But first I would like to share this video by Smokey Robinson: I Love Being Black: Black American

Being a black person, I've always felt that there shouldn't have to be a black history month, but I never knew how strongly I felt about it until I started writing this post. Now, don't get your undies in a bunch, what I mean by that is that black history isn't something that should be relegated to just one month out of a year. Black history is something that should be discussed on a regular basis as is any history. There should not have to be a month set aside to bring out information, old and new, that has been discussed since the induction of black history month in the U.S. in 1976. The information brought forth during this month is information that is relevant no matter what month of the year it is. Now, this is just my personal opinion, some agree and some don't. I understand that this was brought about out of necessity in the 1920's with the formation of Negro History Week, as way to keep black history alive and celebrate those who have paved the way with blood, sweat and tears to bring about a change. But in this day in time I feel that it should not be necessary because we as people, not just black people, should have the information/discussions that we bring forth every year during black history month throughout the entire year. Maybe it is still necessary because we, as human beings, still have a lot of growing and maturing to do and if not for this month this information wouldn't be discussed but it is my sincere hope that one day it won't be necessary and American Black history will be just that, American history. What can I say, I love being black and its something that should be celebrated throughout the entire year not just one month. So let's have a Black history year, for that matter let's have a White history, Indian history, Hispanic history year, etc. Sorry if I offended anyone, that's not my intention. I could continue my rant but I think that's enough for one post lol.

So, being that it is Black History Month and it has been ingrained in my head by society that this is the time to share black people's accomplishments, I'll do just that. This list of facts was obtained from history.com.

• Black History Month began as “Negro History Week,” which was created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator, and publisher. It became a month-long celebration in 1976. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

• On February 12, 2009, the NAACP marked its 100th anniversary. Spurred by growing racial violence in the early twentieth century, and particularly by race riots in Springfield Illinois in 1908, a group of African American leaders joined together to form a new permanent civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). February 12, 1909 was chosen because it was the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

• Jack Johnson became the first African-American man to hold the World Heavyweight Champion boxing title in 1908. He held on to the belt until 1915.

• John Mercer Langston was the first black man to become a lawyer in Ohio when he passed the Bar in 1854. When he was elected to the post of Town Clerk for Brownhelm, Ohio in 1855 Langston became one of the first African Americans ever elected to public office in America. John Mercer Langston was also the great-uncle of Langston Hughes, famed poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

• Thurgood Marshall was the first African American ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court. He was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and served on the Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991.

• George Washington Carver developed 300 derivative products from peanuts among them cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, wood stains, soap, linoleum, medicinal oils and cosmetics.

• Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American ever elected to the United States Senate. He represented the state of Mississippi from February 1870 to March 1871.

• Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives. She was elected in 1968 and represented the state of New York. She broke ground again four years later in 1972 when she was the first major party African-American candidate and the first female candidate for president of the United States.

• The black population of the United States in 1870 was 4.8 million; in 2007, the number of black residents of the United States, including those of more than one race, was 40.7 million.

• In 1940, Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American performer to win an Academy Award (the film industry`s highest honor) for her portrayal of a loyal slave governess in Gone With the Wind.

• In 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. During her 8-day mission she worked with U.S. and Japanese researchers, and was a co-investigator on a bone cell experiment.

This is by no means a complete compilation of facts, just a mere tip of the iceberg, so to speak. So my question to you is, "Should there still be a Black History month?" Yes, No, Maybe? and Why? I know in my rant above I said we shouldn't have to have a Black History month, but I feel it is still somewhat relevant. If we don't have a Black History Month will this information be lost? Will our youth of today not be exposed to these facts or will there be more discussion on black history throughout the entire year? I don't know. I'm torn. I want black history to be something that is up for discussion/celebration at any point during the year but I not ashamed to admit that I fear if there isn't a Black History Month our struggles and triumphs won't be made known to the youth of today. Its a lot to consider.  

*Those who comment please be respectful of all opinions, everyone is entitled to there own opinion whether you agree or not. Express yourself but please be respectful. :-)

Here are a just a couple opinions on the subject:

(Edward Bowser)Do we still need Black History Month? Unquestionably. It just needs a facelift. 

Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous."

"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes". "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."

So? What do you think?

Happy Reading,

Andrea