By Chinta Strausberg

With popularity growing, the 22nd annual Real Men Cook celebration will be held on June 19, 2011 at the Chicago State University which ironically falls on two special days—Father’s Day and  Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day when 149-years ago President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and 101-years since Father’s Day began.

With Texas being the last state to find out that slavery had been abolished two-years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, today 39 states and the District of Columbia now recognize Juneteenth and today 149-years later Real Men Cook is being celebrated simultaneously in 13 states across America.

Sporting chef’s hats and aprons, the men prepare their best dishes and actually proudly serve the anxious people attending this event, but they are also helping to particularly change the image of African American fathers so often betrayed in a negative light by the media.

These Real Men Cook events, held on June 19, 2011 in five cities:  Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles, shed a more positive light on fathers and their relationships to their families and their communities.

It is the spirit of fatherhood that fills the atmosphere of Real Men Cook activities and the realization that these men can actually cook some very tasty and attractive meals and through their volunteerism they also raise more than $1 million for charity.

Real Men Charities, Inc. is the national not-for-profit organization that presents the Real Men Cook events uses the funds to build and continue programs to honor fathers and father figures, to empower families and perpetuate the memory and spirit of Karega Kofi Moyo and Yvette Moyo-Gillard who founded the annual Father’s Day event.

Real Men Cook  promotes father figures in our communities by showcasing their culinary talents but also spotlights their close ties to their families and communities.

 “I can’t tell you how many times people in smaller cities tell me that their families get together, and the fathers and grandfathers treat them to a feast on Father’s Day, said Real Men Cook co-founder Yvette Moyo-Gillard. She emphasizes the new tradition is not merely about food.

“Ultimately, what the event does is enable others to see the fathers in our community as we see them every day: Nurturing men who work hard to provide for their families and their communities,” she stated.

Agreeing is Mark Fishback, a law clerk who has volunteered for the past 10-years. He is passionate about his involvement with Real Men Cook. “It is a moving Father’s Day experience, nurturing and ministering souls through substance—not fluff and commercialism,” he said. “The food is the draw; but the lasting image of who black men really are and what we really do has the greatest effect.”

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for this year’s 22nd Real Men Cook that ironically falls on Father’ day. It will be held in the Cordell Reed Student Union, Chicago State University, 9501 South Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, Illinois, begins at 1:30 p.m. and ends at 6 p.m.

There will be a moment of silence/prayer for Daryl Hawks and deceased volunteers. During the program, the Soul of Fatherhood Award will be presented. The Parade of Cooks will be showcased and scheduled is a 2:30 p.m. Ribbon Cutting ceremony: Children’s Zone (Real Men Read and “Let’s Move” – inspired play/exercise, grilled fruits and veggies).

The opening ceremony will start with a joint press conference with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition which is holding its Black Male Crisis Panel (part of the PUSH National conference). PUSH and Real Men Charities will be announcing its partnership to actively address the issues negatively impacting African American men.  Real Men Charities and Real Men Cook are perfect examples of projecting positive images and lifestyles of African American men.

Newly elected Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) will also be one of the host.

Good health is also being promoted by Real Men Cook which is opening its Real Men Charities Health and Wellness Zone.

The WLFM Jazz Band, Infuzion, will perform “Music to Munch By,” followed by the opening of  Teen Zone– a career mentoring and action plan development. Steve Hurley will be on hand with his special musical mixes. 

There will be a “Let’s Move” dance contest and  there will be acknowledgments and giveaways, Children’s and Teen Zone closes. Towards the end of this year’s event, there will be  musical headliner, Nanette Frank who will perform just before 2011 Real Men Cook closes for the year.

Tickets are currently being sold for $20 for adults, $10 for children ($5 additional at the event) –online at: www.realmencook.com, at the Southside YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island and at the Community Mental Health Council, 8704 S. Constance Avenue.

Everyone is welcome and do bring your entire family.

(From New America Media)

By Khalil Abdullah

Washington,  D.C.—During a week when the national media are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides and the progress made since then against racial bias, concerns persist about deep-seated racism in the United States.

Recently, for example, leaders of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation were faced with accusations that their $75 million initiative to address structural racism in America was unnecessary. They answered their critics during a forum on race and racism hosted by the Hudson Institute.

Quoting author William Faulkner, Kellogg Foundation President Sterling Speirn told the audience that structural racism in America continues to affect people of color. “The past is not dead. The past isn’t even in the past. The past is alive now,” Speirn said at the forum entitled, “Race and Racism in America: Are We Now a Colorblind Society?”

Gail Christopher, the Kellogg vice president overseeing the foundation’s “America Healing” initiative, said, “Racism is a set of beliefs that helped to shape this nation. To suggest that centuries of institutionalizing those beliefs could suddenly be eradicated in less than 75 years is, I believe, simplistic, misguided, naïve at best.”

But the foundation has come under attack by some critics, who contend that structural racism—race bias engrained in institutions, policies and attitudes–is no longer an obstacle for people of color in the United States. They call for evidence that such barriers still exist.

Others, who also largely reject the argument that 400 years of U.S. history has resulted in systemic or structural barriers, insist that any obstacle related to race, should it exist, can be overcome by individual endeavor and anti-discrimination laws.

A Wall Street Journal editorial by Harvard University’s Stephan Thernstrom decrying the Kellogg initiative partly led to the Hudson Institute’s decision to host the forum. Joining Thernstrom on the panel were Speirn, Christopher and political consultant Ron Christie, author of Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur.

The panelists all said the United States is not yet a colorblind society, and they agreed that their point of divergence was on how to achieve it.

Their comments, however, exposed wide philosophical differences. Christie, an African American, said he was especially concerned that America was “self-segregating” again. He believes that a flourishing “cult of ethnicity” emphasizing origins through hyphenated identities was counter productive in reaching an ideal where “we cherish our American citizenship.”

Thernstrom ceded that America’s past was once shaped by a caste system based on color, but he said the election of President Barack Obama was one of many indications of the capacity of the American people to look past race. Stating that “a member of the White House is a member of the [once] untouchable caste,” he stressed that the 2008 election shows how far America has come.

Also, Thernstrom cited the growing number of black-and-white friendships and the increased rate of interracial marriages as confirmation that America is at a very different place than when, as he put it, “the very heart of the caste system was sexual fear. Black men were lynched for even looking at white women in the wrong way.”

One audience member commented afterward that Thernstrom was disingenuous in citing statistics on racial intermarriage as a fundamental shift in attitudes on race and culture.

The person pointed to the 2006 election when the GOP ran an ad in Tennessee pandering to racial fears in the white community. It inferred that the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, congressional member Harold Ford, Jr., an African American, was having sexual relations with white women.

“The ad was successful, I might add,” the attendee said, noting that Ford lost the election after the ad boosted turnout for his white opponent.

Thernstrom not only recoiled at the notion of the existence of structural racism but took exception with the construct of white privilege. “I can’t really find out quite what white privilege is and how you know it when you’ve identified it,” he said.

In response, the Kellogg Foundation’s Christopher noted a 2002 Institute of Medicine report revealing how African-Americans and members of other ethnic groups seek medical treatment for the same conditions, but are treated differently.

She said white privilege is rooted in a mythology, which “suggested that the less pigmentation you had, the higher up you were on this hierarchy of race.”

Science has long-since proved that color is only skin deep, Christopher said. But racial differences are still manifested in U.S. society, not only in the unconscious actions of many individuals, but also in fields as diverse as medicine, education and employment.

“The systems that evolved from that mythology are alive and well,” Christopher said. “That’s what we mean by white privilege.”

Yet, it was Speirn’s depiction of white privilege that drew the most audible reaction from the audience: “I love it when Chris Rock and others, you know, ask white people how much we’d have to pay them to be born a person of color in the United States. It was $50 million.”

Speirn asserted that one goal of the Kellogg Foundation’s America Healing grants initiative is to enable communities “to have courageous conversations about race and historic and structural racism, and current racism.”

He noted that William K. Kellogg founded and endowed the foundation with wide latitude to determine its initiatives, as long as it addressed the needs of vulnerable children, not regardless of race, poverty or other social barriers–but because of those factors.

Christopher said America Healing encompasses far more than just a black-white paradigm. She cited a California community including whites, Hispanics and blacks that used its Kellogg grant to delve into the reasons for its poor access to quality food. The researchers found that individuals doing the same job for the same employer were “paid differently by race,” directly diminishing their purchasing power for food and other necessities.

Christopher said that although America is not consciously racist, “our culture is racialized and our systems reflect that.”

She emphasized that the America Healing initiative is ambitious in scope, encompassing concern for Native Americans, African, Americans, European Americans, immigrant children. Observing that “the data would suggest we’ve made dramatic progress as a nation,” she added, “the data would also suggest that we’re at risk.”

At the conclusion of the panel presentation, Christopher took a moment to answer the question, “What does success look like?”

She reflected, “When all the nuanced histories of the diverse groups that helped to build this nation are part of the school curriculum, and residential segregation is no longer the norm,” she said. “When poverty is no longer racialized in this country and a child’s race is no longer a major predictor of his future.”

(From the Active Transportation Alliance)

Crossing guards shepherd us safely across the street. They keep children safe from traffic throughout the year–no matter the conditions: wind, rain, snow or sweltering heat.

Since 2005, the State of Illinois has been officially honoring these individuals with Crossing Guard Appreciation Day. This year, the event takes place tomorrow, May 3, 2011. 

The Active Transportation Alliance invites everyone throughout Chicagoland to participate. Here are a few ideas for honoring your local crossing guard.

• Download and present them with a certificate of appreciation: www.activetrans.org/crossingguard.
• Write a thank you note.
• Give the guard a gift card to a local business.
• Take a photo of your crossing guard and upload it to the Crossing Guard Appreciation Day Flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/1663431@N23/.
• Share a story about the great work that a particular crossing guard does in your neighborhood: www.activetrans.org/crossingguard

Visit www.activetrans.org/crossingguard to read comments people made about their favorite crossing guards in 2009 and 2010.

The Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. The organization builds a movement around active transportation, encourages physical activity, increases safety and builds a world-class transportation network. The Active Transportation Alliance is North Americas largest transportation advocacy organization, supported by more than 6,000 members, 1,000 volunteers and 40 full-time staff. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

The event marks the beginning of a year-long festival of programming featuring some of the nation’s leading scholars, musicians, civic leaders, visual artists, policy makers and cultural workers. The series is structured to look back on what the WPA brought to millions of unemployed Americans at the peak of the Great Depression — and how we can organize and thrive in the worst economic crisis of the last 80 years. 

The Wednesday event begins with a toast to the collaborating partners who developed the series  from 5-6pm; a 6pm film screening co-sponsored with the Illinois Labor History Society of the award-winning Peter Miller documentary Sacco & Vanzetti, called “a concise yet passionate history lesson whose relevance could not be timelier,” (Variety); a public dialogue with Professor Alison Fraunhar of Xavier University; and music by troubadour Joe Bella. Admission is free, and attendees will receive a round of drinks on the house and a complimentary copy of the program booklet showcasing the first phase of this series. To see a copy of the program booklet, click here

WPA 2.0, a Brand New Deal: During Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first term as president, Congress passed The New Deal, a series of economic programs designed to help lift the nation out of the Great Depression. In 1935, Roosevelt established the WPA, the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal’s largest agency and a core part of the effort to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work. The WPA fed children and redistributed food, clothing, and housing; built parks, bridges and schools in virtually every part of the country; particularly in rural communities and the West; and spent more than $135 billion in today’s dollars between 1936 and 1943, providing 8 million jobs and serving as the largest employer in the country. Besides providing meaningful employment to out-of-work artists, WPA organizers were inspired by the notion that all Americans, rather than just a privileged elite, could take heart from and deserved access to art.

In 2011, portoluz‘ ten-member program committee chose WPA 2.0, “A Brand New Deal” as an overarching theme for a visionary new multi-disciplinary program designed to revisit the paradigm of public cultural engagement, within the context of sweeping new attacks on a host of civic milieus, from arts education in public schools to collective bargaining. The project is designed to look at the conditions that gave rise to New Deal reforms, and explore what parallels might be relevant today. portoluz developed this instigation as a kinetic and contemporary take on a meme by utilizing a variety of forms of cultural production to explore the Great Depression of 1929; the WPA and role of the “cultural worker;” and the current recession. By riffing on history, re-mixing archival ephemera, and commissioning and curating a wide range of voices, portoluz seeks to primarily emphasize and inspire solutions that respond to today’s worldwide economic and social crisis.

To devlelop WPA 2.0, portoluz collaborated with numerous artists, guest curators, historians, and others to produce a broad range of events - From documentary film screenings, to intimate roundtable discussions, the organizers intend to spark a city-wide discussion about art/work and  the kind of society we wish to live in.

Featured participants include: Timuel Black, Dean Baker, Van Jones, Helen Shiller, Don Byron and Reginald Robinson.  For more on the individual programs and participants, click here.  

For a gallery of promotional images of the participants: click here.

• Saturday April 9th,  3-5:30pm: John Conyors The 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act. Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington, Chicago.

• Thursday April 28th, 5:30: Lawyers Panel — discussion on the meaning of Haymarket. Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton Street, Chicago.

• Saturday April 30th, 2pm: Public invited to be the re-enactors — Haymarket plaque dedication and re-enactment. Haymarket Square, Randolph & Des Plaines, Chicago.

• Saturday May 1st, 7pm: Bucky Halker — Music and Rebellion:  The 125th Anniversary of Haymarket and May Day. Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. 

• Thursdays May 5th and 12th, 6pm: Mark Rogovin/Milton Rogovin — exhibit and film screening. Gage Gallery At Roosevelt University, Chicago.

• Thursday June 9th, 5pm: Tour of the Lane Tech WPA murals. Lane Tech High School, 2501 West Addison, Room 113, Chicago.

• Saturday June 18th, 2pm: Timuel Black and Reginald Robinson — Tim Black on remembering the New Deal. Du Sable Museum of African Amerian History, 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago.

• Sunday June 12th,  5-7pm: Dan Swinney — “Breaking Ground: A New Educational Model for Working Class Youth. Private Hyde Park home — pre-registration necessary.

• Tuesday June 21st,  6pm: Carl Davidson — Mondragon Collectives. Unity Center, 3339 S. Halsted, Chicago.

• Saturday June 25th, 11am: Larry Zgoda discusses Edgar Miller. Sol Kogan Studios, 155 W. Burton, Chicago. Pre-registration necessary.

• Saturday July 9th, 4-6pm: Lisa Brock / Debra Evenson — Recent changes in the Cuban economy. Calles Y Suenos, 1901 S. Carpenter, Chicago.

• Saturday July 16th 7pm: Muntu Dance Theater — This Far by Faith, A Muntu Gala. Harris Theater, Chicago.

• Sunday July 17th, 2:30pm: Theo Jamison — Master Class in Katherine Dunham Technique. Hamlin Park field house, Chicago.

• Sunday July 17th, 5pm: David Schweikert — Alternative Economics for Hard Times..Evanston private home; pre-registration necessary.

• Sunday August 7th, 5pm: Sm/art Cities: Building space for progressive culture and sustainable cities. Honey Co-op, 3740 W. Fulton, Chicago.

• Sunday August 14th,  6pm: Helen Shiller — Reflections on 30 years as Alderman. Ten Cat Tavern, 3801 N. Ashland, Chicago. 

• Date TBA: Don Byron’s New Gospel Project — music of Thomas A. Dorsey. Location TBA.

• Tuesday Sept 13th,  6-7:30pm: Heather Becker — WPA … A Celebration of the Chicago Murals. Conservation Chicago, pre-registration necessary.

• Monday September 12th,  6pm: Dean Baker — The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Lecture Series. Congress Lounge, 2nd Floor, Roosevelt University.

• Saturday October 1st, 2pm-4pm: Thom Lucas – The African American Contribution to Printmaking Innovation and Design During the WPA period.  South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan, Chicago.

• Sunday October 2nd, 3pm: Bill Fletcher & Amisha Patel –The New Deal- Historical Lessons and Implications for today. Venue to be announced.

• Sunday October 23, 3pm: Photography Exhibit — Social Realism and the Photography of Sydney Harris. Heartland Cafe, 7000 N. Glenwood, Chicago.

• Sunday October 9th, 3pm: Las Guitarras de España — Songs from the Spanish civil war. S.P.A.C.E., 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston.

• Sunday October 9th, 2pm: Jamie O’ Reilly and others — Passiones/Spanish Civil War cabaret. S.P.A.C.E., 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston.

• Tuesday October 11th, 6pm: Dan Brinkmeier — American Regionalism and the WPA. LillStreet Art Center, Chicago.

University Park, IL – “Fade to Black”, a new Talk show, will debut tonight in the South Suburban area at 9:15 p.m.

The talk show, produced by James Worthington for Amistad Communications LLC., will air tonight (April 26) on WUPC-TV 10, University Park at 9:15 p.m. It will re-broadcast April 27 at 2:15 p.m. Angela Greene is guest host for “Fade to Black”.

Tonight’s guest is retired Judge Michael W. Stuttley, former Supervising Judge of Juvenile court. Stuttley presently serves as chairman of the South Suburban Disappropriate Minority Confinement (SSDMC).

“This show is a vehicle to let residents know what is going on in the South suburbs,” said James Worthington, Executive Producer of the show.  “Judge Stuttley is the first of many guests we will have on our show to inform viewers of what is going on in their community.”

Worthington started Amistad Communications LLC. in 2008. The purpose of Amistad Communication is to deal with public relations and other aspects of the media. Television is a new breakthrough for Amistad Communications.

Worthington has been featured on Probation Challenge’s Internet Broadcast with the Rev. Harold Bailey, host of the show. Previously, Worthington did play-by-play of the University Park Lions football games during football season.

Amistad Communication LLC was founded in memory of Worthington’s father, the late James O. Worthington, Sr.

According to Worthington, his father taught him to give back, to be a positive role model in the community and set a good example for young people in the neighborhood to follow.

“He taught me to never give up and work hard,” Worthington said.

To Be Recognized in over 60 U.S. Cities and Abroad

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Saturday, April 23rd promises to be a big day as Blacks nationally and worldwide take to the streets to join the international tide and struggle of revolution and change that is sweeping the planet. On “The National Day of Action And Unity,” Blacks will rally, march, demonstrate, protest, educate and confront injustices like never before in over 60 cities in America and Africa.

These cities and nations include: New York, NY; South Africa (Azania); Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Gambia, Africa; Norfolk, VA,; London UK; St. Louis, MO; France; Baton Rouge, LA; Nashville, TN; Lebanon, TN; Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Lakeland, FL; Athens, GA; Guyana-South America; Charlotte, NC; San Antonio, TX; Detroit, MI, Trenton NJ, Milwaukee, Wi; Hartford, Ct; Selma, AL: Oakland, CA; Houston, TX; Charleston, WV; Morgantown, WV, Birmingham, AL, Tampa, FL, Wilmington, NC; Baltimore, MD; Harrisburg, PA; Milwaukee, WI; Trenton, NJ; Jacksonville, FL; Chicago, IL; Louisville, KY; Watts, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Raleigh, NC; Columbia, SC ; Augusta GA; Tampa, FL, Selma AL, St. Petersburg , FL; Irvington , NJ; Brooklyn, NY; and more to confirm soon.

The day of action will be supported by students and youth, members of many Black churches, the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, the National Black United Front, the National Action Network, the Moorish Science Temple of America, Rainbow Push Coalition, and more.

“The National Day of Action and Unity” will bring to attention the plight of so many who are uneducated, exploited, behind prison walls, disunited , in poor health, homeless, victims of police brutality, pimped by crooked politicians, tortured, falsely accused, under developed, morally perverse, apathetic, addicted to drugs and alcohol, victims of harsh budget cuts and genocide. Special attention will be given to victims of neo-colonialism, corrupt governments, imperialism, capitalism and inadequate concern for the Diaspora of Africa. The injustice of Oscar Grant and the plight of political prisoners and the wrongfully accused from Black and indigenous nations will be a key rallying point.

Organizers are also calling for a “Buy Black Only” campaign and a boycott of all non-Black Businesses for the weekend of April 23rd.

The movement is organized by the people and for the people with new younger leadership. Organizers include grassroots activists, youths, residents, union members, community residents, spiritual people, revolutionaries and freedom fighters who have decided to take a stand together on April 23rd. The call of Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz has resonated with the disillusioned all over the earth.

Organizers are saying that they will rattle the enemy and those who are asleep to show and prove the world that Blacks are wide-awake!

For more details visit:
www.blackpowermovement.com
www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002197010069

Janet Davies asked “Mother Wade” who bakes her cakes. Wade praised Sue Tzoumas, a representative from the Chicago Sweet Connections Bakery, for making her pastries.

By Chinta Strausberg

When ABC 7 Chicago’s 190 North Janet Davies whirled into Josephine’s Cooking, she literally created a traffic jam along the popular South Side 79th  Street Business Corridor.

The popular talk show host recently came to Josephine Wade’s newly named Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant, formerly known as Captain Hard Times, to tape her 190 North show. She was met by hundreds of patient and loyal customers who wanted to watch the filming of this 44-year-old historic restaurant.

The show airs 10:35 p.m., Sunday, March 20, 2011, on ABC’s Channel 7. Davies was pleased with the food and ambience of the popular restaurant.

Davies, who was accompanied by her programming producer Rubye Wilson Lane, tasted an array of selected dishes personally cooked by Wade, who had her son, Victor Love, right by her side. Wade is handing over the mantle to her son who is busy these days shadowing her every move.

Wade showed so many dishes to Davies for a minute she didn’t know where to begin, but her love for cooked greens drove her to not only gobble down her own but to turn around and eat some greens from a customer’s plate.

Davies love affair with Josephine’s Cooking was apparent. She strolled into the kitchen where she spotted her favorite dish, peach cobbler. With cameras rolling and while sampling the pie, Davies put  “Mother Wade’s,” as her customers call her, on the spot asking her to reveal her secret recipe.

Wade remained mum prompting Davies to turn her camera on the cook, J.C. William, who told her if she watched him one time, she’d learn the secret but that was not about to happen.

While filming for her Sunday show, Davies said she especially liked Wade’s hush puppies made out of black-eyed peas, red and green pepper, onions, seasonings, cornmeal, eggs and buttermilk.

But her favorite dish is still Wade’s peach apple cobbler. Davies tried to get Wade’s secret recipe, but neither Wade nor her cook would give it up. Resigned to the fact that no one would relinquish that recipe, Davies, who was in the kitchen, settled for gobbling down some of that pie that was freshly cooked.

In an effort to bring her customers the very best foods at affordable prices, Wade has a wholesale agreement with the Chicago Sweet Connections Bakery, 5569 Northwest Highway in Chicago.

Wade and her son, Victor Love who is taking over the restaurant, provided the customers with music by the Ken Davis Project. Rev. Marvin Alexander, from the Union Baptist Church, gave the invocation.

On hand for the 190 North taping was Sue Tzoumas, whom Wade has known for the past 24-years. She made a huge beautifully decorated cake that sat in the middle of the eloquent designed banquet room.

Wade, who has known Sue Tzoumas for 24-years, has a wholesale agreement with her company, Chicago Sweet Connections Bakery, which makes Wade’s tasty and professionally decorated pastries.

And, because Wade has a keen eye for beauty and a passion for perfection, she has her linens supplied by Party Linens by DeNormandie, 7780 S. Dante, Chicago. The company has been in business since 1903 and has serviced Wade for the past 20-years. Like an artist, Wade selects various colored linens to match the occasion.

After sampling an array of dishes including a huge fried turkey, Davies sauntered back into the dining area where she bumped into Herman Roberts, the owner of Roberts Motels. Davies laughed as Wade got in Roberts’ face and the two held a mock boxing match to promote their upcoming Friday, April 29, 2011 gumbo cook-off at the restaurant, 436 E. 79th St, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

Roberts, who said he has been cooking for 50-years and in business for 60-years, swears he will defeat annual winner Josephine Wade. “Everybody likes my gumbo,” he boasted. However, Wade shot back: “Just you wait and see,” she quipped her fists balled up ready for a TKO. “All food is good when you’re eating it, but we’ll wait and let the guests see” who makes the best gumbo.

After the cook-off, a panel of judges and the audience will determine who is the gumbo champion. For the past two-years, Wade has defeated Bishop Larry D. Trotter and CNN’ s Roland Martin. The proceeds go to a charity.

Don’t forget to watch ABC 7’s 190 North’s taping of Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host.

 Photo: Chinta Strausberg