Greetings: 

Welcome to our September issue. September is the month when we say goodbye to summer and welcome the fall. The chess pieces you see on this month’s cover represent the next moves we make as we journey to a good life, knowing the right strategies, thinking the critical thoughts, preparing the youth for this adventure called life and listening to them on the way. Kindergarteners are embarking on a 12-year journey called education; college graduates have completed the journey and are now out in the world plotting their next moves as entrepreneurs or corporate team members. Retirees are also strategizing their continued survival in a world that’s not through with them yet. 

This summer, the Real Men Charities’ free summer camp featured a unique program called “Fun with Chess.” We think you’ll enjoy reading about it in this issue. 

We asked our young writer Joy Williams to explain what Generation Z is concerned about. The results? A conversation between a Zoomer and a Boomer that starts in this issue. We’ll publish part 2 in our October issue. In this issue, we pay tribute to two elders who have given so much to the Black community. Chicago knows and loves Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr, and admiration for this icon is expressed in this issue by The Reverend Dr. Brian E. Smith, Director of Community Relations and Strategic Partnerships of the Chicago Theological Seminary.

There is a hero in our midst who is also a proud Chicagoan. In this issue, you’ll read about Judge Arnette Hubbard, and the stairstep conversation that led her into a career of law, with civil rights always in its forefront. 

What keeps us going, from youth to elderhood; what keeps our voices strong and our minds active is our health. What is the good life without it? Now there are resources right in your community called community health centers. As you will see in our article, staying healthy is more convenient than ever. 

This month we lost a great actor, a great human being, James Earl Jones. I came across this tribute and I thought it was so fitting, and honor to this giant of a man: 

“The voice of generations Was mute until high school, the trauma of a great migration slipped his soul into sadness. His speech into stutters. His mind into observation. It was poetry that compelled him to write. A teacher who compelled him to recite. And thus was born our Othello, our Macbeth, our Hamlet And all the Kings Lear, Mufasa, Jaffe Joffer. We fell in love with Roop. We wept with Kumalo. We gave him Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, Tonys. He gave us pride, dignity, regality And for every bigot who imagines a future, a space without Blackness, he cemented it in the Universe’s Lexicon. He gave us Vader. His voice, our father. A poem opened his mouth. And for us he opened his soul. May he rest in the Power His words gave all of us “When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language.” -James Earl Jones #LesléHonoréPoetry #JamesEarlJones #RIPJamesEarlJones. 

We also lost two great musicians this month. Frankie Beverly, was the lead singer, songwriter, producer and founder of the band, Frankie Beverly and Maze. Almost every day still has me seeking and acknowledging the Golden Time of Day. I’m grateful for his tremendous contribution to songs that calm and inspire. Rock and Roll Hall-Of-Famer Tito Jackson was so much more than a member of the Jackson Five. His musical talent was undeniable and as Berry Gordy said, “Tito was the glue that held the Jackson 5 together.”

This month we also hosted our men’s health awareness talk on prostate cancer at the Quarry.