Beatrice Sims turns 106
Aunt of Senator
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Beatrice Sims, aunt of Senator Curren D. Price Jr., celebrated her 106th birthday Oct. 4 surrounded by family, friends and staff at the Country Villa South nursing home.
Sims is the oldest of four living sisters and one brother and was raised on a farm in Mississippi until age 17. She moved to New Orleans at that point to attend Xavier Prep Catholic School.
Sims left school to work as a domestic sewing and repairing clothes then moved to California in 1944. There she purchased her own sewing machine and became a seamstress working from her home. She also made clothes for children she knew free of charge and volunteered at local senior citizen centers and for the Red Cross.
“I am blessed to be here for these 106 years, and I am happy the way my life turned out,” said Sims.
NEW ORLEANS—The New York Times Magazine recently ran a story on my home, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a place one of the most powerful newspapers in the world insensitively dubbed a “Jungleland.” Contrary to the article, residents of this community are not reconciled to life in the wilderness and we don’t live in an untamed mess of overgrowth or in a forgotten wasteland. We are not resigned to anything; we are fighting to revive our community.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A man who confronted two gang members at his stepdaughter's birthday party in Watts was fatally shot, police said today.
The victim, whose name was unavailable, told two young men to stop flashing gang signs at a party in the 9900 block of Anzac Avenue when he was shot in the chest about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, a Los Angeles police watch commander at the Southeast Station said.
No immediate arrests were made.
On Aug. 27, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten and shot to death by two White men who threw his mutilated body into the Tallahatchie River attached to a 70-pound weight.
Earlier that summer, Till’s mother Mamie Till had sent the young Chicagoan to the South to visit relatives. Before he left her sight, she gave her son a stern warning, saying, “Be careful. If you have to get down on your knees and bow when a White person goes past, do it willingly.”
When you were a little kid, you had some weird ideas.
For one thing, you were convinced that monsters lived beneath your bed or on the other side of every door. You seriously thought that if you worked hard, you could somehow gain superhero powers. And you believed that your toys could talk.
On that last one, come to think of it, you still sometimes wonder….
The weather is heating up and that means it’s time to fire up the grill. Whether it’s a graduation celebration or just a simple summer get-together in the backyard, make sure to bring the fun and flavor of New Orleans to the picnic table.
The whole family looks forward to enjoying traditional fare like hot dogs and hamburgers. Amp up the fun and flavors of the grill even more with jambalaya, a new take on group-friendly meals that’s easy to prepare.
