Lessons from Mark Essex and Christopher Dorner

Over a 43-year career in journalism, I have been blessed with some memorable experiences: I have covered presidential and vice presidential campaigns, I have flown on Air Force One, I have gone to parties at the White House, met Pope John Paul II, spent two weeks in Egypt, visited former slave dungeons in Dakar and Accra and have traveled around the world, including Rome, Paris, London, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Havana, Vienna and recently Beijing and Shanghai.

Of the thousands of stories I covered since I began my career in 1970 – primarily for Sports Illustrated, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Tribune, Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service – one has affected me more than any other. It was the violent death of 23-year-old Mark Essex on Jan. 7,1973.

The key to a good smoothie is the ingredients

No matter what plan you've tried, losing weight is not all that easy. A smoothie – if it's prepared the right way – can be a big boost.

This week, I'm going to share with you some of my world-famous smoothie recipes that have helped many in their quests to feel better and return to that youthful look.

These smoothies are fruit rich and blended with water instead of yogurt and milk. Convenient, ultra-fast and energizing, they can be used as a meal replacement. Choose your fruits carefully, because our bodies are made differently.

Why I’m quitting Facebook

I used to be able to justify using Facebook as a cost of doing business. As a writer and sometime activist who needs to promote my books and articles and occasionally rally people to one cause or another, I found Facebook fast and convenient. Though I never really used it to socialize, I figured it was OK to let other people do that, and I benefited from their behavior.

I can no longer justify this arrangement.

Governors should stop bashing liberal arts

(CNN) – It seems everyone knows a college degree is important but few have a plan to keep it affordable.

Just this past academic year, tuition went up twice as fast as inflation and the cost of textbooks rose faster than tuition. Meanwhile, The New York Times recently reported that "wages have fallen to a record low as a share of America's gross domestic product."

As a result, the average 2011 graduate left school with $26,600 in student loan debt, helping to push the country's total student loan debt past $1 trillion.

Child development: The Urban Child Institute, WLOK form outreach partnership

One of the leading child advocacy organizations in Shelby County and one of the oldest locally-owned radio stations in the Mid-South are joining forces to take their messages to the streets, literally.

The Urban Child Institute recently formed a new partnership with WLOK to increase awareness for best practices to promote optimal brain development in young children from birth to age three.

The shared commitment from both partners is to ensure that more parents have access to information and resources that will help to position their child for academic and career success.

KKK countdown to what?

While the KKK stands for Ku Klux Klan, the letters actually are an acronym representing standstill and decline.

The group's hooded history is the saga of a group of American citizens who occupy a "hall of shame" that is home to far too many whose beliefs fly in the face of the "ideal" of the country.

Now, a KKK countdown is on. Klan members have applied to rally in Downtown Memphis on March 30. That intention has stirred an array of emotions and has appointed and elected officials engaged in a variety of activities associated with the possibility – indeed the likelihood – of the gathering.

Healthy-eating path easier to find than youth fountain

During my extensive travel around the country, I've met some interesting people. Many of them were inquisitive about their health. But to my surprise, the discussion oftentimes centered on their search for the elusive "fountain of youth."

Conclusion? People will go to great lengths to try to slow down the aging process.

Breaking news: There is no such thing as the magical "fountain of youth."

Tobacco smoke: 7 remedies for protecting your heart & lungs

Typically, the harmful effects of tobacco smoke are associated with diseases and conditions that affect the lungs. Hidden behind the tobacco cloud are dangers lurking for the human heart as well.

It is possible to defeat these preventable diseases and live a healthier, normal, and productive life once tobacco use is removed from the equation. The most obvious solution to avoid heart and lung diseases caused by tobacco use is to quite smoking altogether.

If you are having trouble quitting, however, there are other ways to wean yourself off this deadly habit. Such remedies include:

African-American teens, gun violence and the specter of empty rhetoric

The death of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old honor student at King College Prep High School on Chicago's South Side, is finally receiving the national attention that it deserves. An honor student and majorette in her school's marching band, Hadiya had recently participated in President Obama's inaugural parade in the nation's capital.

After leaving school on Jan. 29, Hadiya was shot and killed in a park after she and friends sought shelter under a canopy when it began raining. She was killed about a mile from Obama's Chicago home. Hadiya's father, Nathaniel Pendleton, summed up his loss this way: "They took the light of my life...She was destined for great things and you stripped that from her."

Whole Foods exec must think we’re whole fools

There is a Whole Foods store about three blocks from my home, and around the corner from my gym. I am enamored by the displays of produce, the red peppers contrasting the yellow ones, the kale, chard, and collard glistening from their morning sprinkle. I love the way the fish gleams back at you, char and salmon, swordfish and tilapia. When I walk over to the prepared food, I grin at the ways the veggies are layered with cheese, crumbs, and so much more. They have sandwiches that I identify with, ingredients that I salivate about.

And now I must declare that I would rather drink muddy water or sleep in a hollow log than to indulge in whole foods.

Eat your veggies & be careful how you cook ’em

"Eat your vegetables" are words we have heard the majority of our lives. They came from grandparents and parents. We still hear those words today. However, the vegetables come to us in different ways now. They come in the form of processed foods, dried foods, and, in most cases, they aren't veggies in a package, just a picture on the box.

There are great benefits to eating vegetables. They are essential for a healthy lifestyle and provide needed nutrients. They also include vitamins and minerals, plus fiber and phytochemicals that are important to strengthening the body's overall immune system.

Obama gun photo a mistake

When then Sen. Obama was running for president, many of his critics accused him of being a Muslim – as if being a Muslim in a country that prides itself for its freedom of religion is a bad thing.

In fact a Pew Research Center poll taken October 2008 found 16 percent of voters who identified as conservative Republicans thought he was, despite numerous photos of him and his family attending a traditional Christian church.