Planet Fitness Invites Local High Schoolers to Work Out Free All Summer
Planet Fitness, one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers with more members than any other fitness brand, announces the return of its High School Summer Pass™ program, inviting high school teens ages 14 – 19 to work out for free at any of its 2,500+ Planet Fitness locations across the U.S. and Canada this summer, between June 1 and August 31.
The program is now open and teens can visit PlanetFitness.com/SummerPass to register for the program before gaining club access starting Saturday, June 1. Teens under the age of 18 in the U.S. and 19 years old in Canada must register with a parent or guardian online or in-club. Since the High School Summer Pass program began, Planet Fitness has invested more than $200 million in waived membership dues to promote youth health and wellness and improve the physical and mental health of millions of teens 2.
Where are the Black men in Psychology? According to a 2019 Pew Research study, “Black men account for 48% of the U.S. Black population, but less than 1% of the psychology workforce” and 2022 American Psychological Association (APA) data shows that only 4% of the U.S. psychology workforce identify as Black and of these Black psychologists, only 8% were Black men.
Why are Black men underrepresented in the field of Psychology? The answer is multifaceted and can be examined through a myriad of different contexts. First off, Black boys and men are not socialized to identify with psychological practices. Psychology can be defined as the study of human behavior in relation to the mind through concepts such as subconscious and unconscious thoughts, implicit and explicit biases, and other mental functions such as motivations and feelings.
The relationship between Black men and psychological practices can be traced to the Eugenics movement. Similar to Phrenology, the study of the skull, eugenics focused on the attributes of Black people and used questionable scientific practices to hypothesize a striking difference between that of their White counterparts. Researchers Ayah Nuriddin, Graham Mooney, and Alexandre I R White, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in their 2020 article for the Lancet peer-reviewed medical journal, writes,
“the history of medicine and health care in the USA is marked by racial injustice and myriad forms of violence: unequal access to health care, the segregation of medical facilities, and the exclusion of African Americans from medical education are some of the most obvious examples… Enslaved Black people’s bodies were exploited for the development of some aspects of US medical education in the 19th century. Medical schools relied on enslaved Black bodies as “anatomical material” and recruited students in southern states by advertising its abundance. This practice was widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries. American medical education relied on the theft, dissection, and display of bodies, many of whom were Black.”
These practices established a perpetual legacy of distrust between the Black community and the medical community. Perhaps the solution towards broadening the number of Black men into the field of Psychology lies within the concept of reimagination. Reimagining and redefining what experiences of Black men both as therapists look like.
Since the roots of psychology are within colonial spaces (these spaces that diminish attributes and experiences of people of color), more call to action is focusing on redesigning what therapy looks like for the Black community. According to a recent article from the Austin Herald, “The importance of culturally specific mental health professionals cannot be overstated when we consider the structural inequities that disproportionately affect Black communities… culturally specific therapists offer a variety of modalities and may be more likely to provide a decolonized approach to wellness and support…”
This Mental Health Awareness Month, think about the dynamic of Black boys and men and psychology. Think about the number of Black male therapists, counselors, and social workers that are known. Then think about the possibility of reimagining this dynamic and the impact it could have on helping to rebuild and rehabilitate Black boys and men.
Turning the Page: Celebrating Graduates and Addressing School Closures in San Antonio
Hello SAISD Parents and San Antonio Community,
The school year is almost over, and summer is just around the corner. Congratulations to all the students for successfully completing another school year. A special congratulations to the Senior Class of 2024 – may your next journey in life be filled with progress and success. Parents, Sam Houston High School graduation will be on June 7th at 8pm at Alamo Stadium.
As you know, our school district has made some tough decisions this past year school which lead to closure of 15 schools. So, the school district will be hosting a final walk through for those that once attended Forbes, Gates, Miller, and Douglas Elementary schools. The days and times are are shown here
Lastly, I understand your concerns about the challenges facing our public schools and the importance of choosing the right educational environment for your child. It’s crucial to carefully consider all available options and advocate for the necessary funding and support for our public schools. I share your hope for a resolution to these issues before the next school year, and I encourage reaching out to our Governor to address these concerns. Because my biggest fear is that as we close our public schools…..charter schools from other states will then take over Texas which has proven to be a huge mistake.
If anyone has any question or concerns please email me at lena.lopez@saobserver.com.
Five Honorees to be Inducted into Class of 2024 SAISD Athletic Hall of Fame
This summer, the San Antonio ISD will mark the 10th anniversary of its Athletic Hall of Fame with a special induction ceremony. Five distinguished honorees will be celebrated, including a retired professional basketball player, an NFL veteran, a trailblazing figure in professional baseball, a notable WNBA player, and a historic city championship football team. The festivities are scheduled for August 10 at the Alamo Convocation Center, beginning at 3:30 pm.
Opportunities for sponsorships are also open. For ticket purchases or to learn more about sponsorship options, click here or call (210) 554-2655.
Honorees are:
Theresa “Terri” Diane Acosta Fox Tech HS / Class of 1994 Athletic Trainer
Wade Key Edison HS / Class of 1964 Football
Orlando Mendez-Valdez Lanier HS / Class of 2004 Basketball
John “Mule” Miles (posthumously) Wheatley HS / 1940 Alum Baseball
J. L. August Bridge Builder Award Luncheon at Perry’s Steak House
The Dr. Jeffery Lawrence August (JLA) Bridge Builder’s Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, awarded college scholarships to three deserving high school seniors from underserved communities. The recipients—Jeremiah Conway from Young Men’s Leadership Academy, and Bryson Adams and Jaeden Servantez from Sam Houston High School—each received a $1,000 scholarship. The awards luncheon, attended by 31 mentees who received mentoring certificates, took place at Perry’s Steak House and featured guest speaker Retired Colonel Gerald Jolivette, former Vice Base Commander at Lackland Air Force Base.
J.L. Bridge Builders Foundation
The luncheon also recognized Ahmad Whitted as Mentor of the Year and Tristian White from Sam Houston High as Mentee of the Year. Ms. Marquisha Nellum from Sam Houston High School was honored for her significant contributions in planning weekly mentoring sessions and organizing the annual event.
Sean “Diddy” Combs issued a public apology through an Instagram video nearly two days after CNN released footage of him assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016. The video, which shows Combs engaging in physical violence against Ventura, aligns with claims made in a now-resolved federal lawsuit Ventura filed against him.
For nearly 48 hours after the video’s release, Combs faced widespread backlash but did not respond. His apology came only after his previous denials were contradicted by the video evidence, leading to criticism that his remorse was motivated more by exposure than by genuine regret. In his statement, Combs said, “I was f**ked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I am disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
Ventura’s attorney, Meredith Firetog, criticized Combs’ apology as self-serving, noting his history of denying the allegations from Ventura and others, who Combs claimed were merely seeking financial settlements. “That he was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words,” Firetog stated.
Combs, a prominent figure in the music industry and founder of Bad Boy Records, has also faced accusations from five other civil suits following Ventura’s claims, all of which he denied. Despite his previous assertions, Combs now acknowledges seeking professional help and commits to bettering himself, though he asserts he is not asking for forgiveness.
This incident casts a shadow over Combs’ significant contributions to hip-hop and his status as a successful entrepreneur, highlighting the complex legacy of one of the music industry’s influential figures.
The song called the “Yellow Rose of Texas” was written by racists and changed over the years. The lyrics were changed over time as the word “Soldier” replaced “darky.” And the first line of the chorus was also changed to read, “She’s the sweetest little flower….” For generations, the Yellow Rose of Texas has been one of America’s most popular myths, connected to Texas and San Antonio, ballooning over time and doing little to resemble the truth of what happened on April 21, 1836, at the battle of San Jacinto, where a new Texas Republic won its independence and created a slave republic. The woman who has been traditionally connected to the story was an ordinary remarkable free black woman from the North, Emily D. West who never had a sexual relationship with Santa Anna. This was a total racist lie.
When you live in Texas seething with accepted racism, invented stories appear to supply the idea of racial superiority. Racial myth even has tourist value. In San Antonio, this has even taken the form of naming a hotel after Emily Morgan (West), an idea that reinforces the other myth—that of the Alamo, for the hotel is directly across the street. Racial myth and racist history remains an almost permanent structure of thought that is transmitted from one generation to the next, carried like a mental Trojan horse, hibernating, embedded in the minds of millions, and hidden in bedtime stories and old grandpa mythical tales that are highly infectious. The ignorant Alamo historians run around telling stories that old racist liars told them.
After the Battle of the Alamo, which was little more than a small skirmish, with the Alamo defenders being killed within 30 minutes (of those that did not run), thousands of Anglos began running in what became known as the “runaway scrape.” Anglo settlers picked up everything they owned and headed toward Louisiana. It was here that Emily West (Morgan), from the New Washington Hotel in then Mexico (now Texas) saw the running white settlers as Santa Anna’s army was in pursuit. Emily West would have known that Blacks were being freed everywhere Santa Anna went to drive slave owners out. The Yellow Rose of Texas song was actually a slave song brought from Louisiana with these words: “There’s a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see, No other darky [sic] knows her, no darky only me She cryed [sic] so when I left her it like to broke my heart, And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part. She’s the sweetest rose of color this darky ever knew, Her eyes are bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew; You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee, But the Yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee.”
The earliest known version of the song is found in Christy’s Plantation Melodies, a songbook published in Philadelphia in 1853. Christy was the founder of the racist blackface minstrel show known as the Christy’s Minstrels. These racist actors presented Black stereotypes and like most minstrel songs, the lyrics are written in a cross between the dialect historically spoken by African-Americans and standard American English. The song is written from the perspective of an African-American singer who refers to himself in racist terminology as a “darkey,” longing to return to “a yellow girl,” a term used to describe a light-skinned mulatto woman. The song had nothing to do with Emily West, but this was the type of racist buffoonery that ruled Texas.
VIA News — In observance of Memorial Day, VIA Metropolitan Transit bus service will operate on the following schedule on Monday, May 27, 2024. Visit VIAinfo.net/routes, or call (210) 362-2020 for full schedule information:
All regular bus routes – “Saturday” schedule “Go Line” customer information line, 210-362-2020 – 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Customer Concerns line – Closed – Submit concerns at viainfo.net/contact/ Downtown and Crossroads Information Centers – 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All other information centers – Closed
Customers can purchase passes and plan trips with the free VIA goMobile+ app or within the Uber app.
Annual PitchBLACK Event Grants $380,000 to Upcoming San Antonio-Produced Film “American Sons” About JV Villarreal, the 22-Year-Old San Antonio Marine Killed in Action
For the last seven years, Black Public Media (BPM) has hosted the PitchBLACK film forum – a grant-based competition for independent filmmakers pursuing creative endeavors. This year BPM awarded over half a million dollars in grants to several filmmakers and creators developing various projects tackling a range of different subjects. Among the recipients, the most substantial award was given to the filmmakers of “American Sons,” a documentary about a 22-year-old Marine from the westside of San Antonio who was killed in action in 2010.
BPM is a Harlem-based media-centered nonprofit dedicated to promoting “the development of visionary content creators,” seeking to emphasize “stories about the global Black experience to inspire a more equitable and inclusive future,” according to their mission statement. Formerly known as the National Black Programming Consortium, BPM develops, funds, and distributes content that highlights Black representation, generally focusing on documentary stories.
Producer / Director – Andrew Gonzales
The PitchBLACK film forum is hosted annually by BPM, with the goal of supporting and uplifting independently-funded filmmakers and storytellers aiming to spotlight perspectives from the Black community. This year’s session, which was held in April, saw a grand total of $610,000 awarded in grants to help various creators with their ongoing creative ventures, the most that PitchBLACK has donated since its creation less than a decade ago. Of the awards presented, the largest came from the Jacquie Jones Memorial Fund award, totaling $380,000, and was given to San Antonio native Andrew J. Gonzales and El Paso native Laura Varela, the respective director and producer of “American Sons.”
Gonzales and Varela both work and reside in the San Antonio area, and have been active in the film industry for over a decade. Back in 2015, the pair took home the top prize in the City on The Rise Film Competition at the San Antonio Film Festival, and have each gone on to amass a slew of other awards and honors for their separate documentary pursuits. Varela has also taught courses on documentary film at UTSA as a visiting professor.
“American Sons” is currently slated to debut on PBS in 2025 and centers on Corporeal Jorge “JV” Villareal, a young marine killed in action in Afghanistan. Villareal, who was from the westside of San Antonio, documented much of his life in combat through a series of video diaries that help frame the narrative of “American Sons.” The film also focuses attention on JV’s family and his Marine unit as they navigate the aftermath of his death. Gonzales and Varela hope that the film will shed light on the harsh reality of life in deployment, while providing insight into the emotional upheaval many veterans face during the transition from combat to civilian life.
The PitchBLACK grant will allow Gonzales and Varela to complete their film, which has already been in production for nearly five years. Stay tuned for future updates on “American Sons.”
The “bleached blond bad built butch body” comeback that keeps giving.
Representative Jasmine Crockett is doubling down on her viral jab against far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene by beating the firebrand at her own game: Crockett filed a trademark on the phrase “bleach blonde bad-built butch body” and is producing a “Crockett Clapback Collection” featuring phrases the freshman lawmaker has said.
Crockett, a representative from Texas, posted a mockup of a shirt featuring the phrase “bleach blonde bad-built butch body,” which Crockett refers to as “B6” for its alliteration. On announcing the line of swag—which trademark filings note will include hats, hoodies, socks, and t-shirts—Crockett says proceeds “will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House!”
The diss came during a House Oversight Committee meeting after Greene inexplicably insulted Crockett’s appearance while ranting about Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter. The committee meeting was reviewing a vote on whether to file articles of contempt against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to provide confidential recordings between Biden and special counsel Robert Hur. During Greene’s tirade, Representative Crockett asked her, “Do you know what we’re here for?” to which Greene responded, “I don’t think you know what you’re here for. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
In response to the trademark and merch launch by Crockett, Greene made the incredibly normal decision to publish a video of herself working out. “Yes my body is built and strong,” Greene wrote. “NOT with nips, tucks, plastic, or silicone, but through a healthy lifestyle.”
Leaning into white fragility, Greene appeared on Fox News to decry body shaming against herself while doubling down on body shaming others, griping to the outlet notorious for cookie-cutter bleach blonde, Botoxed hosts, “I think no matter what shape, size or how we look, we need to be ourselves, not telling women the only way to be attractive or accepted is to have fake boobs, fake hair, fake lashes, and injected faces.”
