Kimberly D. Jones

Hello and WELCOME to my Blog.  I am a Senior Communications Student at the University of Houston.  What you will see on this page are a variety of  pieces written for my Opinion Writing Class.  I hope you enjoy my writing style and the content of each story.  If you would like to contact me to discuss my work, please post a comment or email me at mskjones@hotmail.com

A New Mourning

My cousin De Shante’ received some devastating news today.  She learned that she had a little life growing inside of her fifteen year old body.  As she listened to the doctor, she watched her freedom walk right out the door.  

For the rest of her life she will be enslaved to the responsibilities of motherhood. She is now left to mourn her carefree teenage years. 

Hello is what she will say to the overwhelming task of raising a child in her youth.  She has no idea of the expense of motherhood.  Swiftly flying away, are her dreams of going off to college with her peers.

The media serves our children hot dishes of temptation daily through the music they listen to, the movies they watch, magazines they read, even the video games they play.

All these media sources are within reaching distance of children and shape their minds.  A message of immediate gratification is emphasized daily.  Unfortunately, many teenagers act on what they see and hear, and suffer the grave consequences of making bad decisions influenced by media.

Cougars; Helping and Healing

If you are humanitarian at heart and love working with children, then the Cougar for Kids Volunteer Program needs you.   Their monthly meeting will be held on Friday, May 1 from 12-2pm in the Technology Building (T2), Room 201.  Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni are all welcome to come. 

“We need more manpower so we can accomplish more,” said Chair of the Cougars for Kids Student Auxiliary Committee, Taylor Doty.  This program is all about meeting the needs of children who attend local schools and are patients of local hospitals.  Most are low income.

Volunteer activities include reading, storytelling, playing games, help with school assignments, and also mentoring. “CFK is unique because it’s not random,” says Doty, “You will visit the same hospital or the same school each week.  This allows you to develop a personal relationship with the children.  You can touch their lives and really make a difference.”

Inspired by Dr. Jerry Evans, an Instructional Assistant Professor in the College of Technology, CFK was established in 2007 and is the largest Volunteer Organization on campus.  “Dr. Evans was volunteering at a local hospital one day and thought it would be a good idea to get college students involved, and now the program has spread throughout the entire university,” Doty said.

Even if you have a busy schedule, you can still participate.  Thirty minutes is the minimum requirement.  Also, for your convenience, CFK will work with you to find a location that’s close to your home. 

All who are interested, that can’t attend the monthly meeting, can visit the website and complete the online application.  www.tech.uh.edu/CougarsForKids.  Once approved, the volunteer can select the location of their choice and arrange an interview, and scheduling.  To assist with this process, student volunteers will also be assigned a Faculty Sponsor. 

Some locations will require a drug screen, possibly a background check and training to help volunteers familiarize themselves with procedures.  A UH Release Form and Indemnification Agreement for schools or hospitals, must be submitted to Dr. Jerry Evans.  Both can be taken to Room 330, Technology 2 Building, or faxed to 713-426-6417.

If you absolutely can’t give your time, but would like to make a contribution, you can always make a donation.  “Some of the funds are used to have social events for the children or even help the families of children who have experience tragedy,” Taylor said.  One family of an ill child had their house to burn down, so the volunteers helped with clothing and other necessary items. 

Both children and volunteers have a lot to gain from this program.  “The volunteers will gain a sense of pride and fulfillment because they were able to help someone.  Even if it was by simply explaining their assignment.  The children will gain the safety and comfort of knowing that someone really cares about them and learn that they can do anything,” Doty said.

Ride On!

Energy and excitement are two words that describe what you will feel while watching Justin Lin’s Fast and Furious 4. Prepare to be thrilled and captivated with fast cars, fights, and the fury of love.

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, are all re-united for the franchise’s fourth installment. The appearance of all these actors together makes this film better than its second and third.

Action packed from the start, the opening scene begins with the blue-eyed, pretty boy, Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) on a foot chase. The FBI agent leaps over roof tops and runs through alley ways and apartment complexes to apprehend a suspect that will lead him to the notorious drug lord, Arturo Braga.

Then the movie transitions to a highway in the Dominican Republic, where Dominic Toretto, played by the beautifully sculpted Vin Diesel, his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his gang, show off some dangerous driving while hijacking fuel tanks.

The hijacking goes bad and Dom decides to flee to Panama, leaving his lover Letty behind.  While there, he receives a phone call from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), that Letty is dead.   

Dominic’s love for Letty sends him back to Los Angeles, California to find her murderer.  Ironically, her killer works for Braga.  Brian and Dom decide to team up and trust each to bring down the bad guys.

Well Braga gets caught, and the FBI takes Dom in too.  However, we can stay tuned for installment number five, because the movie ends with Brian, Mia, Tego, and Rico racing towards the bus that is transporting Dom to jail.

The Beauty of Deception

If you’re in the mood for a classic romantic comedy, then Duplicity, starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen is the movie to see. This is the first time that Oscar-nominated Tony Gilroy has reunited Roberts and Owen in a movie since Closer. Duplicity is fun-filled and light-hearted. Distrust, deception, dishonesty, blackmail, love, and corporate espionage are the main ingredients to this film. Gilroy, creator of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Ultimatum pulls this spy movie off very well. It opens with two very important corporate executives fighting outside an airport. This sets the tone for the corporate rat race that is so bad that one corporate tycoon buys a landfill just to look through another company’s garbage.  

The beautiful, aged to perfection, Julia Roberts plays the role of Claire Stenwick and the gorgeous dark haired Clive Owens plays the role of Ray Koval. These two spies fall in love after Ray has been duped out of secret information by Claire. Since they are both secret intelligence agents, they decide to partner up and go in business for themselves working as double agents. This get-rich scheme calls for extensive travel, luxurious hotels, and many secrets. All this time apart from each other, leaves room for them to continually question and doubt each others loyalty and confidence in their relationship.

Most of the movie centers around Stenwick and Claire chasing after a secret formula for hair growth, that is supposed to make millions for whoever launches it first. Unfortunately, in the end they are both double-crossed by an another double agent and the formula for success that they have worked so hard to steal , turns out to be just a recipe for skin scream.

Overall the movie is light and fun. If you are looking for something deep and symbolic then this is not the movie for you. But if you’re looking for a good flick to kill some time on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, then by all means see it today.

Signs of Progress

Since the 196o’s, the role of the African American woman has certainly changed here at the University of  Houston.  African American women have transitioned from being students, to faculty, and even holding the most high office of university president.

Myra Conley, UH Alumni and Assistant Dean of  Students, has seen change up close at UH.  Conley arrived on the campus as a student in the 70′s, not long after the reign of Lynn Eusan, UH’s first African American Homecoming Queen. Lynn Eusan

“Historically, higher education has been dominated by white males”, said Conley,  “Although our population of African American faculty is small, it has improved from when I was a student here. 

Conley explained that when she was a student, most of the African American Faculty were in the African American Studies department, but now UH is more diverse.   

 Although the 70′s and 80′s was a time where many African American Women experienced racism and limitations,  Conley said for her, that was not the case.  “I’ve always had opportunities to move up, I never really experienced a glass ceiling,” she said. 

A  glass ceiling is the unofficial, invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing in businesses dominated by white men. 

As UH faculty, Conley also had the opportunity to work under the leadership of Marguerite Ross Barnett, who was the first African American Female President of UH.   Barnett  “I was excited.” Conley said.  “I feel her presidency here was timely and she was well qualified for the position.”

 Barnett was president from 1990-1992.   Her life was cut short when she lost the battle to cancer at age 49.

Conley said that she is proud of the progress that African American women have made and are continuing to make at UH and all around the world.  “UH is a great place to be because there is so much diversity and the differences of people are acknowledged, embraced, and celebrated here,”  she said, ”When I look at the news and I see what’s happening with other African American Women, they are buckling down, overcoming obstacles, stepping out of their environments and making things happen for themselves.”

There are signs of progress on this campus for African American women and African American women all over the world.

Picturing the Past

As many African American people prepare to celebrate another Black History Month, I realized that nothing tells the story like a picture. 

In the case of Emmett Till, one picture represents a young boy who has so much to explore and experience.  Another picture represents the results of his tragic untimely death.

With the help of Jet Magazine, this photo of Till’s deceased and brutalized body caught the attention of more than fifty thousand people and helped invigorate the Civil Rights Movement.

Till was a 14 year old, African American boy from Chicago, Illinois who had his young life taken while visiting his uncle, Moses Wright, in Mississippi.  

Although being warned by his mother, Till was still not fully aware of the racist rules of the South.  He went with friends to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market to buy candy and soda, but would later pay for a childish prank with his life.   

It is speculated that  Till, on a dare, flirted with a white woman by the name of Carolyn Bryant.  Some say that he either whistled at her, grabbed her hand and asked for a date, or simply said “Bye baby” as he left the store.

Roy Bryant, Carolyn’s husband,  was enraged when he heard of this, so he and his half brother J.W. Milam abducted Till from Wright’s home.  They beat him, gouged out one of his eyes, and shot him in the head before throwing his body in th Tallahatchi River with a 75-pound cottin gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire.

The teen’s body was found three days later and his mother, Mamie Till, intentionally requested a public funeral with an open casket to show the world how viscous her son’s death was.  “I wanted the world to see what they done to my baby,” said the grieving mother.  

There was a trial,  and and all white jury acquitted both Bryant and Milam. Sadly,  after  the trial Look magazine published “The Shocking Story of Aprroved Killing in Mississippi,” in which both men confessed to the crime.

Hopefully this picture of a the past will enoucage us to always treat each other with kindness, dignity, and respect no matter the race.  Racial relations in the South have changed tremendously, but we still have a some miles left to the journey of total equality and fairness for all.

A Tragic Ending for a Homeless Man in Houston

Who would have thought that a bus stop would be the scene of a murder?  As it turns out, a safe place to rest became really dangerous for an unknown homeless man.  

Saturday morning he was shot to death at a Metro Bus stop in front of Hoffeinz Pavilion on the campus of  UH.  My heart hurt when I heard it broadcast on ABC News Sunday morning.  It was a sad event.Daily Cougar Article

That poor man never knew the bus stop would be his final resting place.  No one is clear of why the man was shot.  It did not appear that he had been robbed. 

So if money was not the motive, what was?  Was this just another senseless act of violence?  Was this innocent life taken for no reason at all?

There are just so many reasons why this unknown man was homeless.  He could have lost his job and all his worldly possession.  He could have a mental disability. 

No one will ever really know his situation.

An Open Door

Tuesday morning TaNisha and I were apprehensive to make the phone call, but we were running out of options. We were at work and there was no way for us to view the Inauguration.

Debbie, a Manager at Frank’s Pizza, located a few blocks from our office, agreed to open the doors early, at 10:30 am.  Now we would be able to watch History take place.

We arrived and took our seats. One of the restaurant workers began to take pictures of us. He said he was moved by the greatness of this day.

Yolanda Anderson came in the door breathing deeply, almost to the point of total exasperation. “I ran all the way here because I did no want to miss this moment,” she said.

The word spread fast. More and more people trickled in. The whole first floor of this small restaurant began to fill with downtown workers of all ages and races.  We were sitting and standing together as Obama, a man of African American descent became America’s 44th President.

“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed—why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration…and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant, can now stand before you and take a most sacred oath.  We applauded. We could relate.  Debbie opened the door to Frank’s for us, but Obama has opened the door for change in America.