Beating my Daddy's record

My father, John J. Williams was amazing. He had four careers... he would have had more had he been allowed to teach in public schools when he graduated from college. That's another story.

He received his Master's degree when he was 70 years old, and I thought that was PRETTY DARNED OLD to be doing anything like that.  But, I was very, very proud of him and always hoped I would do something as significant long before that birthday. As of today (May 26, 2018) I have 11 months to beat his record!

Hard as it may be to believe.. certainly hard for me... I will be 70 in April, 2019.

So, I have set a deadline for my 'significant' thing. By April 10, 2019 the documentary "Kaukauna & King: 50 Years Later" will be finished.

If you wonder why you don't see me around town as much, it's because I am in seclusion writing and editing. Ross, Debbie, Kathleen, Rob & Jackie will see me. Probably more than they want because I am going in obsessive- mode. But, to the rest of the world, I will be in hibernation. Of course, I will still sneak out every month to host "Black Nouveau" and do stories for the show or "10ThirtySix",but then I will retreat to my "office", computer and notebook and the occasional dinner of pizza.

B100

Time is all we have in life. Period.

How we use it, how we abuse it, how we waste it, how we pray for more of it... that is all that we have.

The reunion of classmates from 50 years ago at Northwestern University was time well-spent.

Some of the time I spent at the B100 Commemoration of the Takeover of the Bursar's Office taught me things I did not know about being a student in 1968. I didn't know that the administration separated the Black women in Allison Hall... one at each end of a floor and one in the middle.
Now I know why I had a corner room. I thought I was just lucky. But then, the window did connect to the heating system which made a convenient platform to sneak in and out of the dorm. I of course, never used it for that purpose.

Seeing friends that I had not seen in 50 years was truly a blessing.  Learning that one of my buddies from Northwestern had died just before the reunion, brought me to tears. Time, it's all we have.

Getting to know some folks I really didn't know well in 1968 was a joy. Let's keep in touch. The email thread that preceded the reunion brought many of us together. Don't let it fade, over time.

The dinner at the president's house was joyous. All the hugging and kissing and "do you remembers..." and the "oh my, who is that?" We could have stayed there all night!

The time of the weekend went so fast. Here it is a week later. But I'm still thinking about it and reading new emails.

Looking back over 50 years brought up so many personal memories, too.
My first job, my first boyfriend at N.U., my first husband, my parents illnesses and passings, why I lost contact with one of my friends, my second husband, two sons, three jobs, retirement... and trying to hold onto every moment because, as the saying goes "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery , today is the gift. That's why we call it the 'present'".

Thank you all for the gift of spending some of your precious time, together.

Answers to questions you didn't know you wanted to ask

This is the day after the 48th anniversary of my 21st birthday.

You do the math.

People often ask me why am I still so busy hosting "Black Nouveau" a show on MilwaukeePBS, doing stories for another program "10ThirtySix"... serving on boards, MC'ing events, and producing my first independent movie. The answer: connections and purpose.

I miss the connections I made over the years covering news in Milwaukee. Talking to people and hearing their stories is inspirational. Since my platform to tell their stories has changed, I try to make the most of it whenever I can. Maya Angelou said it best: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

My hope is that those connections will make people feel better about themselves and become open to connections with people they don't know... yet.

And, while retirement gives you time to do all those things you put off while you were working, it's hard to focus on one project or another because there is so much to do.

But, when I embarked on the documentary film "Kaukauna & King: 50 Years Later" I found my purpose.

Telling this story has put me in contact, in one way or another, with more than 200 people since I naively set out on this journey 2016!  I am getting an unofficial, O.T.J. education in filmmaking and running a business.

This film has become my passion project. It is what I think about before falling asleep on the couch every night and waking up with my cat, Homer staring me in the face, every morning.

The emotions that go along with this journey have been surprising. Being able to bring together people who have not seen each other in 50 years brought me to tears. Helping open the eyes of people who don't know the story or the play that started it all, "In White America" is powerful. As I told producer, Debbie Paschke, the day when I see the poster for the film standing in the lobby of the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee and when they call the crew of the film on stage to discuss it, she will have to walk out there.  I won't be able to say much of anything. It will be like holding your baby for the first time and the nurse says "he's beautiful".  

All I will be able to say is "Thank you" and cry.