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Blog archive

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Melba Swafford Guest Speaker, Vital Signs

By Blog Master
Posted: 03/08/2021
Tags:

Notes thanks to Sharon Jarrett.

The group discussed an article from the Los Angeles Times about a recent decision by the LA Police Commission to reinstate an African American Police Officer who was terminated from the department in 1900 after he was accused of an assault.  The case went to court and the officer was exonerated but never returned to the force.  The incident was brought to the attention of Chief Michael Moore who took the matter to the Commission for review.  The historical facts were noted, he was reinstated and an apology issued.
 
A brief discussion followed about repairing past actions in the current time.  It was noted that at a recent Pasadena City Council meeting about the General Plan for city development, Council Member Kennedy asked the Mayor to include historical information in decision making documents. Council Member Kennedy noted the harm caused by the 710 easement and requested the impact on the African American and Japanese American communities be noted in written documents as determinations were made about the property.
 
It was noted that the Glendale and Brand Libraries produced a multi episode series on racial inequity in the city called "Reckoning". it is available on the library web site.  Also recommended was a Netflix series "Amend:The Fight for America".
 
The participants were reminded that there is a reference list of articles on the Group's blog. 
 
The next meeting will be on March 19th at Noon. 

Dr. Melba Swafford will discuss her book, "Vital Signs Are Stable".

 

Here is a brief synopsis and biography:

Young Negro girls born into the poverty of 1940's Smokey City weren't supposed to attain success in any endeavor. When you're born into a world stunted by the isolating forces of racial and socioeconomic oppression, what's possible is supposed to be limited. In Vital Signs are Stable, Ruth guides us through her improbable journey, forged in the harsh realities of the Jim Crow South, but triumphant as she applies grit and determination in her rise into the rarefied air of academic medicine. The journey is a breathtaking story of Ruth's triumph over the seemingly insurmountable challenges life placed in her way.
 

Dr. Melba Swafford, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine (retired) is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. She received her BA and MD degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she also completed her anesthesiology residency. She completed a fellowship in Cardiovascular Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine after which she joined the Baylor College of Medicine faculty at the Fondren Brown Cardiovascular Unit of The Methodist Hospital.



Dr. Swafford's book, "Vital Signs Are Stable", is available on Amazon.

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