Celebrated Morehouse College Glee Club Brings 100 Years of Its History To Los Angeles

Halfway through rehearsal, the basses got an earful.

"Your start is too aggressive! Like boom, boom, flap, flap, upside the head," conductor David Morrow shouted Sunday from a dark spot offstage in Club Nokia at L.A. Live. "It's not about the volume, it's about the quality."

And with that, the Morehouse College Glee Club — the world-renowned, historically black, all-male choir that has sung at the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — humbly cleared their throats and gave perfection another try.

The group was to perform its 100-year celebration concert to a sold-out audience in just a few hours. Among the songs they'd rehearsed for the occasion had the lyrics: "Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead and no man yet to be born can do it better."

Judging by the way the young men locked focus on Morrow — on his hands, on his eyes, on his faintest muttering and slightest facial expression — their aim was precisely that.

With a repertoire that encompasses spirituals, adapted operas and the work of contemporary composers, the Morehouse glee club has stayed in demand year after year, performing on national and international tours. It has become the principal ambassador of Morehouse, the prestigious, historically black, all-male college in Atlanta.

Now, if only they could get people to quit comparing them to "Glee," the television hit about a group of misfit teenagers who dance and sing in a high school choir. Ever since the show started airing in 2009, audiences have expected the Morehouse group to deliver jazzy, over-the-top musical routines.

"I get asked a lot, 'Who's your choreographer?,'" Morrow said. "And I say, 'What?' We only have one number where we move."

Still, the Morehouse glee club doesn't lack style: The men wear sharp suits even on plane flights, and they walk onstage with short, brisk steps.

Then there's its tight-knit history. Since its formation in 1911, the club has had only three official directors (Morrow is the latest). Each was taught by his predecessor.

Around their Atlanta stamping grounds, the men are a high-profile bunch.

"You come to expect that each time you see them walking across campus in their full regalia, something big is about to happen," said Darnell Holcomb, president of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Morehouse alumni association.

Joining the choir, senior baritone Justin Shaw said, is not nearly as difficult as staying in it. There are four rehearsals a week, and the tour schedule is demanding. Some students quit within weeks of joining. Those who remain hold fast to the club's motto, which is repeated after every rehearsal: "The Morehouse College Glee Club is an eminent expression of brotherhood, a united force of dedication and commitment, and an unselfish labor of love."

"It's very much, 'no pain, no gain,'" Shaw said. "But those who commit are fully committed."

A good number of the songs they perform were born in slavery. Their writers are mostly unknown, but their messages of desperation, hope and survival continue to resonate.

Keep reading...

Morehouse College Student Named "Freshman of The Year" Dies Tragically, Legacy Lives on Via Youtube

It would've been easy for Khalifah Muhammad, a freshman who measured just a shade over five feet, to get lost in the crowd at Morehouse College.

But the 18-year-old, recently killed in a car accident along with an older brother not far from their Silver Spring, Md. home, stood tall during his brief time on campus, rubbing shoulders with Spike Lee and starting a club for ambitious peers, the 5th Floor.

After learning of Khalifah's death, club members had new T-shirts made in his honor. "They say ‘Khalifah changed my life,' " his mother, Nisa Muhammad, told the AJC. "He had his whole life figured out. He was a leader."

His professors took note, naming the English major Morehouse's Freshman of the Year. “In reflecting on [Khalifah's] brief life, I can only think about his potential,” said Paul Wiebe, chair of the school's English Department.

After graduating from Morehouse, Khalifah hoped to attend New York University Film School, fulfilling a lifelong dream to make movies. He was already a prolific filmmaker, shooting digital shorts that can be viewed on his YouTube account.


(recorded one week before his death)

"I really wanted him to explore his passion," his mother said. "It was something he was very good at."

Khalifah was also passionate about making a difference, especially after visiting quake-ravaged Haiti on a relief mission earlier this year. "It was his first time out of the country, and he's by himself, going to Haiti," said his brother Nasser Muhammad, 24. "It changed him. He got to see people less fortunate than him. He wanted to go back and document what's happening there."

Khalifah had been home in Maryland since May, spending most of his time with brother Idris, 18 months his senior. They were driving home from dinner with two friends when Idris swerved to avoid something in the road, his mother said. He apparently overcompensated while trying to swerve back into his lane, sending the car into a telephone pole, one of the two female passengers in the backseat told Nisa Muhammad.

Both girls sustained minor injuries; Montgomery County police are investigating. "They did everything together," Nasser Muhammad said of his two younger brothers. They avoided trouble, he said, though as teammates on a youth basketball team they ran afoul of their coach "because they'd only pass the ball to each other."

A Morehouse spokeswoman said a memorial service will likely be held in August, when students return to campus.

"I was his older brother, but he wowed me," Nasser Muhammad told the AJC. "People looked up to him, and so did I."

Source

--Story by Christian Boone. Staff writer Raisa Habersham contributed to this report

Folks Who Get It - Watch "Five Deep Breaths", The Short That Got Morehouse College Filmmaker Seith Mann Noticed

Seith Mann, 37, is an acclaimed African-American film and television director. The Morehouse College Alum directed the award-winning Five Deep Breaths and has gone on to direct for The Wire, Hung, Heros and Grey's Anatomy.



Part 2, under the hood.



Keep your eye on this black talent. We'll see you at the Oscars Mr. Seith Mann!

Freaknic Remembered - From Harmless Morehouse & Spelman Picnic To Complete Debauchery

Freaknic. Mention the name of the famous-some would say infamous-Atlanta spring break festival to those who attended, and you get a myriad of responses. Some remember the early years of the 1980s, when students from HBCUs from throughout the Southeast could meet and fellowship during a four-day picnic. Others remember the ugliness that plagued the later years, when the city of Atlanta did all it could to discourage the festival.

Either way, Sharon Toomer, one of the Freaknic founders, has seen it all.

"It all started back in 1982 as a way for DC students in the AUC [Atlanta University Center] to have a picnic for spring break," said Sharon Toomer, who was a Spelman College student and member of the DC Metro Club at the time.

"A lot of us couldn't afford to go back home to DC, so we decided to have a picnic in Atlanta."

And thus began the first Freaknic, which was held at Atlanta's Piedmont Park, with about fifty students attending from the historically black AUC, comprised of Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown College and what is now known as Clark Atlanta University.

Freaknic 2010 Fails To Live Up To The Hype!

The name Freaknic was suggested by a DC Metro club member as a way to tie into the popular 1980s term "freak," which was being used in hit songs like Funkadelic's "(Not Just) Knee Deep (Freak of the Week)" and Chic's disco hit, "Le Freak." Soon, students from HBCU schools as far flung as Tuskegee University in Alabama to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania were making their way to Atlanta to celebrate spring break.

And Freaknic filled a niche in the market, as most spring break destinations like Panama Beach, Daytona Beach, and Cancun, Mexico, were geared toward white college students. There wasn't an exclusive place for African-American students to blow off a bit of steam before returning to the rigors of school.

Continue reading:

13-Year-Old Stephen Stafford II Wows Morehouse Students Who Want To Be Like Him When They Grow Up

You Can Always Tell A Morehouse Man -- But You Can't Tell Him Much

As a 13-year-old, Lithonia resident Stephen Stafford II can usually be found sitting in front of the television playing video games or playing his drum set.

But Stafford is no typical 13-year old – he’s a college student. The triple-major child prodigy is becoming a sensation at Morehouse College.

“I’ve never taught a student as young as Stephen, and it’s been amazing,” said computer science professor Sonya Dennis. “He’s motivating other students to do better and makes them want to step up their game.”

“When I saw how much knowledge Stephen has at such a young age, I wondered what I had been doing with my life,” laughed third-year student, Eric Crawford. A psychology major and computer science minor, Crawford wanted to step up his game so much that he got Stephen to tutor him. “Even though I’m older, Stephen is like a mentor and my elder in computer science,” said Crawford.

“Eric’s a really fun person to be around, and we have a good time together,” said Stafford.

Crawford added, “Stephen has a lot of patience with me. I got a 95 in the class because of Stephen.”

The Story Continues...

Black Colleges Struggle For Relevancy As Opportunities, Money Change The Game

Historically black colleges and universities, like many other schools, are struggling with both fewer resources and a growing demand from students for financial aid.

But the institutions known as HBCUs have another problem that some leaders contend is theirs alone: Many African-American students are finding their needs met elsewhere.

In 1977, 35 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to black students were from historically black colleges. By 2002, the share was down to 22 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, even though the number of African-American students earning bachelor’s degrees from historically black colleges actually grew.

In the days of segregation, African-American students had limited options. Now, with a wide range of choices, only 13 percent of African-American college students are enrolled in HBCUs.

Kristin Mason, a junior English major at Atlanta’s Spelman College, is one. Mason, who is from Colorado, chose Spelman, she said, because of the “sense of belonging” she felt surrounded by smart black women.

Morehouse College senior Shaun Harris, a business major from Illinois, said he was “looking for brotherhood” at the Atlanta men’s school whose alumni include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But Mark Gamble of Columbus said he “embraced the diversity” at Georgia State University, where about 60 percent of the students are white, 26 percent African-American, and the rest are other ethnicities or identify themselves as multiracial.

“I like being around whites, blacks, Asians and all the other minorities,” said Gamble, a sophomore film major.

Georgia State freshman Mercedes Callaway of Atlanta said she chose the state research university over Spelman, a private women’s HBCU, because of money. A friend at Spelman is “getting a good education,” said Callaway, who is on the HOPE scholarship. “But she’s in debt to pay for school.”

HBCUs are losing students to a range of institutions, said William “Sonny” Walker, who graduated from a historically black college in Arkansas and has served on the boards of three others, including, currently, Atlanta’s Morris Brown College.

“Many of the students who came from middle- and upper-income families, whose parents could afford to pay tuition, are going to Harvard, are going to Georgia, are going to Georgia Tech, are going to Vanderbilt,” Walker said.

Many historically black schools have lower endowments than other colleges, making less money available for scholarships, school officials say. But those institutions play an important role, said Leonard L. Haynes, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

At historically black institutions, he said, students of color can “get an education, get nurturing, get to mature and get to be good citizens after they graduate” in an environment that celebrates their cultures. “If they didn’t exist today, they would have to be created,” Haynes said.



The current economic climate —- which is hitting universities across the country, public and private —- is making it harder to pay the bills, exacerbating problems both for families of students and for the schools themselves, officials of local colleges say.

Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman all revealed this month that they are cutting back on expenses.

Clark Atlanta President Carlton E. Brown said 70 faculty members and 30 other staffers were being laid off because of an “enrollment emergency” after years of declining numbers. At least 200 students recently dropped out or transferred to state colleges because they could no longer afford Clark Atlanta, Brown said.

Morehouse officials confirmed that they had not renewed the contracts of about 25 adjunct professors, about a third of the school’s part-time instructors.

And Spelman officials announced that they are eliminating 35 positions, 23 of them staffed, phasing out the college’s department of education and discontinuing some programs.

Spelman, whose donors include Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey, is in high demand among black women, said its president, Beverly Tatum.

“Students want to go to Spelman,” she said. “The issue is whether they can afford to go to Spelman.”

Morris Brown has struggled for years. It faces a Feb. 17 deadline to pay the remaining $214,000 of past-due water bills to the city of Atlanta. The college lost its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2002, largely because of financial instability.

The Morris Brown board and its president, Stanley Pritchett, say they are looking at specialty programs and projects that might save the school, which, he said, would probably not be able to continue as a traditional liberal arts college.

Despite their troubles, historically black colleges and universities have fierce defenders.

“We need to find a way to preserve these institutions,” said state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), chairman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. “Our universities have struggled to survive just as we as a people have struggled to survive.”

Historically black colleges “speak to the legacy of our forefathers,” he said.

Jones, whose degrees are from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, packed his oldest child off to college this fall.

He’s a freshman at Johns Hopkins University.

ATLANTA’S HBCUs

Clark Atlanta University Research university Enrollment: 3,900 Founded: 1988, merging Clark College and Atlanta University

Morehouse College Traditional men’s college Enrollment: 2,800 Founded: 1887 as Augusta Institute

Morris Brown College Liberal arts college Enrollment: About 200 Founded: 1881

Spelman College Traditional women’s college Enrollment: 2,200 Founded: 1881

By Gayle White, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Why I'm Going To The Angel City Classic: Morehouse Men And Kappa Alpha Psi, Then & Now!

Great Memories of My Frat and Dear Ole' Morehouse

2008 Morehouse College Alpha Phi Alpha Probate Line Makes Some Noise!

Does Morehouse Have Beef With Brothas On That Gay Tip?

Between White Class Valedictorian Joshua Packwood, CNN Political Anaylst Jamal Simmons, and former prison inmate Genarlow Wilson, my alma mater is getting all kinds of media attention. But this latest piece on the cover of the Los Angeles Times California section has some of my brothers extremely hot and bothered. After the jump, check it out.

Michael Brewer, a senior at Morehouse College, was strolling purposefully around this storied campus on a hot spring day, his heavy frame dripping sweat, his hands clutching a small stack of fliers.

"No more hate," the fliers read, in a stylish typeface. "No more discrimination. No more." "What's up, brother?" Brewer said in a lilting, cheerful voice as he approached a fellow student in a dark business suit. "Take one of these, if you will."

The young man gave the flier a glance. It was promoting what was perhaps the most ambitious week of gay rights events in the history of Morehouse, the only historically black all-male school in America.

"What the hell is this?" he said under his breath. He laughed and threw it in the trash.

But Brewer had already moved, unfazed, into the lobby of Wheeler Hall, where he was taping up posters. The events had been his idea, and he knew they wouldn't go over well with everyone.

"Morehouse is like this enclave where Stonewall never happened," Brewer said, referring to the 1969 New York protest that galvanized the gay rights movement. "It just doesn't exist in this realm of reality."

Brewer, 22, didn't come to Morehouse with the intent of changing it. But he found that he had no choice. He had arrived here from Oklahoma City pretty comfortable with himself: outspoken, proudly smart and, at 5 foot 9 and 300 pounds, hard to miss.

Early on, he decided he wouldn't water down his gay identity.

And that, historically, has been a problematic strategy at Morehouse. The 141-year-old college has played a key role in defining black manhood in America. But with a past steeped in religion, tradition and machismo, it has struggled to determine how homosexuality fits within that definition.

The private school was founded shortly after the Civil War with the help of Baptists sympathetic to the plight of illiterate freedmen. Over the years, it became famous for turning out the vaunted "Morehouse man" -- a paragon of virtue and strength in a society that once institutionalized the destruction of the black nuclear family.

Traditionally, its students have been expected to follow a well-worn path: They were to choose ambitious wives, preferably from Spelman College next door, a historically black school for women. They were to become captains of industry, leaders of men, saviors of a race.

But now, more than ever, students like Brewer are forcing the school to confront a vexing question: Can the Morehouse man be gay? On a Thursday in late April, Brewer set up a folding table full of sign-up sheets in the Yard, the paved central square in the heart of Morehouse's compact, red-brick campus.

Down the street, the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel -- named for the school's most famous graduate -- was disgorging scores of students in suits who had been at a ceremony for top-performing seniors.

It was the kind of scene that has made generations of visiting black parents swoon with pride and possibility: a campus full of young, clean-cut black men, armed with book bags, talking about job prospects and big ideas.

Brewer was selling the idea of a day of silence for the victims of homophobia and asking his fellow students to sign up. He was wearing a T-shirt in the school's maroon and white colors. "Look, I'm sorry you're not a Morehouse man," it read. "I'm sorry you will never be a Morehouse man."

"Come on, Anderson brothers," he yelled to a couple of guys. "You're suited and booted. Look at you -- you're role models. Come sign up!"

After four years on the 3,000-student campus, Brewer seemed to know everyone who passed by -- the straight allies and the straights with hang-ups, the openly gay upperclassmen and the men on the down low, that is, straight to the world but open to gay affairs.

A trim ROTC member in a khaki uniform walked briskly by. "Renaldo, I'm looking for you to sign up, bruh!"

Continue

White Boy Lands Valedictorian Spot At Morehouse: You Got A Problem With That?

Meet The Tom Cruise Of Black Harvard

In its 141-year history, Atlanta's Morehouse College has managed to do something it has never done before. In 2008, "Da' House" has ended up with it's first white valedictorian.

The only all-male, predominantly Black campus in the country, where are the brothas with the perfect 4.0 g.p.a.'s and the extensive study abroad experiences? Where are the brothas interning on Wall Street and being Rhodes Scholar finalists? Where are the brothas with the same grades, same experiences, and the same opportunities "fighting" to become valedictorian of their alma mater?

Granted, Joshua Packwood deserves to be highly celebrated for his achievements at Morehouse. He put in the hard work and the dedication necessary to succeed in college. But should this be celebrated?

From his first day at Morehouse, Packwood has been a standout. His popularity got him elected dorm president as a freshman. His looks and physique made him a fashion-show favorite. His intellect made him a Rhodes Scholar finalist. His work ethic landed him a job at the prestigious investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in New York City.

But it's his skin that has made all of this an anomaly. The 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., will graduate on May 18 with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics.

He could have gone elsewhere, to a school like Columbia, Stanford or Yale, but his four-year journey through Morehouse has taught him a few things that they could not, and he makes it clear that he has no regrets.

"I've been forced to see the world in a different perspective, that I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else," he said. "None of the Ivies, no matter how large their enrollment is, no matter how many Nobel laureates they have on their faculty ... none of them could've provided me with the perspective I have now."

When Packwood applied to Morehouse, he had frequent conversations with George Gray, an alumnus who was a recruiter at the school. Gray was impressed by Packwood's credentials and spent months trying to talk the sought-after senior into choosing Morehouse over other elite schools.

"He had outstanding numbers," said Gray, now director of admissions at historically black Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark. "He was the kind of kid we were looking for to be a presidential scholar."

After several conversations, Packwood began to suspect that Gray had no idea that he was white. His suspicions were confirmed when one of Gray's calls caught Packwood in the middle of track practice.

"Don't let the white kids walk you down," Gray quipped. "Wait," Packwood responded. "You know I'm white, right?" Silence. Uneasy laughter. Confirmation.

"The challenge was to get the best student that we could, and Josh definitely fit that," Gray said.
And for Packwood, knowing that he had been picked on his merits, and not as a token white recruit, made the difference.

"That said I could come here and, ironically, be accepted for who I am," Packwood said. "I thought I made the right decision then, and I know I made the right decision now."

It was not as if this was the first time Packwood experienced life in the minority. He was among the few white students in his class at Grandview Senior High School in Kansas City, Mo. He has mixed-race siblings and his mother was married to a black man. Packwood's experiences growing up have helped him navigate black culture while remaining comfortable with his own complexion.

Packwood's mere presence on campus wouldn't make history at this school founded by a black minister and cabinetmaker two years after the end of the Civil War. Howard Zehr, Morehouse's first white student, graduated in 1966, and there have been dozens of other whites on campus since.

And so Packwood turned down Columbia University, postponing his dream of living in New York City. He ignored some in his family who warned that he might not have the same opportunities he would have as a Columbia graduate, and headed South.

When he came to Morehouse, Packwood was sweating a bit under his swagger, which is why he was reluctant to run for president of his dorm at the end of his freshman year. The novelty was wearing off, but Packwood didn't want his new friends to think he was the white guy trying to "act black" or take over their school.

Classes proved to be a challenge socially and academically when the discussions shifted to issues of race. Once, Packwood was asked to sit on a panel about interracial relationships. Though he had dated black girls since high school, he spent the first hour of the panel getting warmed up, feeling out the crowd and trying to couch his thoughts.

"It was kind of heated, and there were very strong views on both sides," he said. "But eventually I realized they put me on the panel not to just pander to the crowd, but to voice my opinion."

Packwood said such exchanges taught him a lesson.

With each semester, Packwood's grades remained high, his confidence grew and his resume became more impressive. Summers were spent on Wall Street at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, he studied abroad in London and Costa Rica, and his studies have taken him to China and Switzerland.

He also drew attention with his looks — some Atlanta University Center coeds took to calling him "Tom Cruise." His photo album on Facebook shows a smiling Packwood posing with dozens of young, black women who fill his page with notes.

As Morehouse embraced him, Packwood became an unlikely ambassador for the school.

"Josh Packwood is Morehouse," the college's president, Robert Franklin, said in his inauguration speech in February. "He happens to be Euro-American and brings much appreciated diversity to our campus."

Wendell Marsh, a junior English and French major who is black, said talking to Packwood as a high school senior helped make up his mind to come to Morehouse.

"Right now we live in a time where people say the black institution is obsolete, that you can get a better education at a majority institution," Marsh said. "To see a white guy who had declined Harvard for Morehouse, I figured it was good enough for me."

WATCH VIDEO OF JOSHUA PACKWOOD

Packwood raised "the bar for everyone," said Stanton Fears, a senior economics major.

"The best man got it, that's how I look at it," Fears said. "It's about equality here, too. If he wants to come here and make a name for himself, he should be allowed the same types of things we're allowed."

Being surrounded by black men for his undergraduate career has taught him more about diversity, Packwood said.

"I've been here for four years and yet, I cannot give you the definition of black," he said. "I cannot tell you what a black man is. I really learned to look much deeper. It takes a lot of effort to know people."

As a graduate of Morehouse who was dorm treasurer, sophomore class president, writer for the campus newspaper and ultimately, student body president, I'm cool with this young man doing his thing. You don't come to Morehouse to "get by". You go to become the best you can be. Taking issue with Packwood for actually "believing the hype" of a Benjamin Elijah Mays. It was Mays, one of the most influential presidents the college has ever had, who once said that "Morehouse puts a crown above the heads of its student and challenges them to grow tall enough to wear it.

Just like Barack Obama becoming the first African American student to become the editor of the Law Review at Harvard University, we expect nothing less of Packwood.

I have two sons and trust me, I will do everything in my power to make sure they end up wearing the maroon and white. And if a white guy is running the show ten years from now, then that's who I want my boys running with.

Because when it comes to education, it's not about race family. It's about excellence! [Newsweek]

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Morehouse College Is Bringing Sexy Back, In The Form Of Being Smart, Intelligent And Relevant

Morehouse College To Develop Socially Conscious "Renaissance Men"

Let the church say AMEN!!!

In unveiling his vision for the country's only historically black, all-male college, newly confirmed president Robert Franklin said it's time to take our people to the next level by producing brothers of character who will graduate and make a difference.

Franklin said he wants the 2,800 young, black men under his stewardship to understand that they carry with them "the hopes and prayers of a lot of people." In the next few months, students are supposed to read King's sermon, "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?"

The 1975 alum also wants to "begin a conversation about a culture of dignity and decorum" that includes encouraging respect for women and a proposed dress code. "We want Morehouse Men to look the part, act the part, talk the talk, and walk the walk," Franklin said. He is also placing a priority on strengthening the school's relationship with the surrounding community, which sits in the shadow of downtown Atlanta and is black and economically depressed.

Franklin's most recent book, "Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities," published this year, calls on the black church and historically black colleges to play a role in improving such communities. "We will be exporting this message to the surrounding community," Franklin said, adding that he has invited young men who live near campus to visit Morehouse. "We want to make being smart cool again." He hopes to continue successful fundraising efforts at Morehouse. Last year, the school capped a $119 million capital campaign boosted by the acquisition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers, which are owned by the college.

Being a Morehouse grad, I am totally feeling what the brother is trying to do and applaud him big time for stepping up to the plate and assuming this responsiblity. We'll be watching and keeping you updated on what's jumping off in Atlanta.

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NO SEX IN THE CITY #5: YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL A MOREHOUSE MAN, BUT YOU CAN'T TELL 'EM MUCH... ABOUT LOVE!

Fine Paintings

by Cousin Kim

Ah, summertime in L.A.! Free concerts. Spending time outdoors. Catching up with good people. Running into ex-boyfriends.

It's inevitable that with more free time on my hands, I was bound to run into Morehouse Man.

Morehouse Man is a well-educated, handsome, Afro-Centric, tall, muscular, delicious specimen of manhood I met seven years ago. We were drawn to each other like moth to flame. For me it was his intellect as well as his physical appearance. For him, it was my spirituality, intellect, and the fact that I have "hips like the horn of Africa."

For those who know absolutely nothing about Morehouse College in Atlanta, it is the only Black, all male college in the country. And the men, well...

Anyway, I knew I would see Morehouse Man that day. It was a Jill Scott concert and he was the one who'd introduced me to her music years ago. How did I know that I would see him? I have learned that sometimes we have spiritual connections with people even though we are not meant to be with them.

I know that because of this, I can be at a concert with thousands of people in attendance and if he is there I will see him. Once I had a friend visiting from out of town and we were at the Los Angeles African Marketplace. I told her that I felt Morehouse Man's presence and that he was somewhere near. Less than two minutes later, there he was.

At the Jill Scott concert, I was pleasant when I saw him. We spoke briefly and I saw no reason to be rude. That night, however, at about 11 p.m. he gave me a reason. He called my land line, then my cell phone, then my land line again. I didn't answer. After all, calls after 10 p.m. are suspect; that's got booty call written all over it.

A few days later I emailed him to see what he wanted. He responded that he missed our deep, philosophical and intellectual conversations and wanted to know if we could be the kind of friends that talk on the phone sometimes. This man is not stupid. He knew that our long talks were like foreplay when we dated. Expertly massage the spirit and the mind, then loving the body relentlessly.

As I told him last summer, six years of a heartbreaking on-again, off-again romance, which felt like a taxiing plane that never took off, was enough. So I politely responded, "no, we cannot be the kind of friends that talk on the phone sometimes." Then I wished him his highest and greatest good.

My momma told me me that some men are like fine paintings.

They are meant to be hung on the wall and admired from AFAR. Morehouse Man is a fine painting never to be taken off the wall again.

DO YOU KNOW THIS GREAT MAN?

IF NOT, YOU SHOULD! Benjamin Elijah Mays is perhaps best known as the longtime president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was also a significant mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and was among the most articulate and outspoken critics of segregation before the rise of the modern civil rights movement in the United States. And it was also his birthday, yesterday. He was born August 1, 1895.

HAPPY, er belated, BIRTHDAY to a great man.

“Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.” -- Benjamin Mays

If you want to learn more about Benjamin Elijah Mays, click here.