RIP

[anaisninja]

Maya Angelou – Just For A Time

Oh how you used to walk
With that insouciant smile
I liked to hear you talk
And your style
Pleased me for a while.

You were my early love
New as a day breaking in Spring
You were the image of
Everything
That caused me to sing.

I don’t like reminiscing
Nostalgia is not my forte
I don’t spill tears
On yesterday’s years
But honesty makes me say,
You were a precious pearl
How I loved to see you shine,
You were the perfect girl.
And you were mine.
For a time.
For a time.
Just for a time.

[Jesse]

Such a beautiful, and inspiring woman. You touched the lives of so many... journey well, Maya Angelou!

[CherylNYC]

From the Advocate

http://www.advocate.com/arts-enterta...rverie-dies-93

Stormé DeLarverie, a longtime member of the Stonewall Veteran’s Association and pioneer LGBT activist, died Saturday morning. DeLaverie was 93 years old.

The Bronx LGBTQ Center called DeLarverie the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement in a statement Tuesday.

DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1920, and is best known for having a role in the popular drag performance group, Jewel Box Revue. The group was comprised of a dozen drag queens and DeLarverie, as King Stormé, the sole drag king.

While records of the 1969 Stonewall Riots have often been described as incomplete, DeLarverie is best known for her involvement at the 1969 uprising, which followed a police raid on a New York City LGBT bar. The event is often credited as launching the modern fight for LGBT equality.

At a Stonewall Veterans event, DeLarverie recalled, “A cop said to me, ‘Move faggot’, thinking that I was a gay guy. I said, ‘I will not! And, don’t you dare touch me.’ With that, the cop shoved me and I instinctively punched him right in his face. He bled! He was then dropping to the ground — not me!” Two weeks after the rebellion, DeLarverie was a part of the official formation of the Stonewall Veteran’s Association on July 11, 1969.

DeLarverie was a vital member of the Stonewall Veteran’s Association, rising through the ranks to eventually become the organization’s vice president. The Imperial Kings and Queens of Greater New York, a sister organization to the Stonewall Veteran’s Association, also recognized DeLaverie’s work in the early drag scene.

The New York Times ran a piece on DeLarverie in 2010, detailing the activist’s years struggling with evictions, and hospitalization after being found “disoriented and dehydrated” at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, DeLarverie's longtime home. Despite these hardships, DeLarverie still reminisced the days of being one of the first advocates for gay rights.

A memorial service will be held this Thursday, May 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Greenwich Village Funeral Home in New York City.

[cricket26]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/29....html?referrer

[Kelt]

Massimo Vignelli, Visionary Designer Who Untangled the Subway, Dies at 83

Samples of some of his classic work

[Kobi]

Emmy Award-winning actress Ann B. Davis has died at the age of 88, TMZ reports. The Brady Bunch and Bob Cummings Show alum passed away following a severe fall in her home.

She won two Emmys, in 1958 and 1959 for her role as Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show, but Davis is best known for her portrayal of Alice, the Brady's wacky housekeeper on The Brady Bunch, which aired from 1969 to 1974.

Davis also appeared in the films A Man Called Peter, All Hands on Deck, and Lover Come Back before retiring in 1976. She also reprised her most famous role in numerous Brady Bunch reunion specials, including 1981's The Brady Brides, 1988's A Very Brady Christmas, and 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie.

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/ann...lkA1ZJUDM3Nl8x

[Kobi]

LAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The last of the 29 Navajos who developed a code that stumped the Japanese during World War II has died.

Chester Nez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died Wednesday morning of kidney failure, said Judy Avila, who helped Nez write his memoirs. He was 93.

Before hundreds of men from the Navajo Nation became Code Talkers, 29 Navajos were recruited to develop the code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language. Nez was in 10th grade when he enlisted, keeping his decision a secret from his family and lying about his age, as did many others.

"It's one of the greatest parts of history that we used our own native language during World War II," Nez told The Associated Press in 2009. "We're very proud of it."

Of the 250 Navajos who showed up at Fort Defiance — then a U.S. Army base — 29 were selected to join the first all-Native American unit of Marines. They were inducted in May 1942. Nez became part of the 382nd Platoon.

Using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, clan, braided hair, beads, ant and hummingbird, for example, they came up with a glossary of more than 200 terms that later was expanded and an alphabet.

Nez has said he was concerned the code wouldn't work. At the time, few non-Navajos spoke the language. Even Navajos who did couldn't understand the code. It proved impenetrable.

The Navajos trained in radio communications were walking copies of the code. Each message read aloud by a Code Talker was immediately destroyed.

"The Japanese did everything in their power to break the code but they never did," Nez said in 2010.

After World War II, Nez volunteered to serve two more years during the Korean War. He retired in 1974 after a 25-year career as a painter at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Albuquerque.

Nez was eager to tell his family about his role as a Code Talker, Avila said, but he couldn't. The mission wasn't declassified until 1968.

The accolades came much later, and the Code Talkers now are widely celebrated. The original group received Congressional Gold Medals in 2001, and a movie based on the Code Talkers was released the following year. They have appeared on television and in parades and routinely are asked to speak to veterans groups and students.

Nez threw the opening pitch at a 2004 Major League Baseball game and offered a blessing for the presidential campaign of John Kerry. In 2012, he received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas, where he abandoned his studies in fine arts after money from his GI Bill ran out.



- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.as....RZYAKqe8.dpuf

[Kobi]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Don Zimmer, a popular fixture in professional baseball for 66 years as a manager, player, coach and executive, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Zimmer was still working for the Tampa Bay Rays as a senior adviser. He had been in a rehabilitation center in Florida after having heart surgery in mid-April.

After starting as a minor league infielder in 1949, Zimmer went on to have one of the longest-lasting careers in baseball history.

Zimmer played for the only Brooklyn Dodgers team to win the World Series, played for the original New York Mets, nearly managed the Boston Red Sox to a championship in the 1970s and was Joe Torre's right-hand man with the New York Yankees' most recent dynasty.

Along the way, Zimmer played for Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel and coached Derek Jeter — quite a span, by any major league measure.

Zimmer spent time in a lot of uniforms. He played for the Dodgers, Mets, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati and Washington. He managed San Diego, Boston, Texas and the Cubs.


- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.as....RQyN7bWZ.dpuf