SUMMER & SABBATH: THE SIGNIFICANCE
by Jacquie Johnson
As we enter the summer season, I encourage all of you to prioritize some much-needed time off. It’s an opportunity to recharge both your body and mind, process any emotions that may have been pushed aside, and reflect on the events of the first quarter of the year. The warm breezes, longer days filled with sunshine, and a general sense of liveliness create the perfect conditions for relaxation and recreation. It’s essential to make time to slow down and take a break for the sake of our overall well-being.
However, the concept of rest goes beyond simply taking a pause from work and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Allow me to share the significance of observing the Sabbath and why we should integrate it into our lives. In a biblical sense, Sabbath encompasses a deliberate commitment to rest, allowing for introspection and fostering a spiritual connection with God. It serves as a vital counterbalance to the demands and busyness of our daily lives, promoting a healthy lifestyle. By fully rejuvenating ourselves, we are better equipped to wholeheartedly devote out time and energy to our loved ones, friends, and, most importantly, our relationship with God.
3. Indulge in recreational activities you love. Carve out time for hobbies and pursuits that may be overlooked during the work week, allowing yourself to relish in activities that bring you joy.
4. Opt for wise food choices. Nourish your body with healthy, seasonal options like fresh produce, acknowledging the direct impact of food on your stress levels.
Recognize the crucial role sleep plays in maintaining overall well-being.
On your wellness journey, the summer season and the practice of Sabbath can harmoniously coexist, complementing each other in meaningful ways. Here are 6 suggestions to embrace the essence of summer by prioritizing rest and rejuvenation.
1. Engage in prayer and reflection. Allocate dedicated moments to connect with God through prayer, scripture, and attentive listening.
2. Recognize your preferred mode of recharging. Understand whether you find energy in solitude or social interactions. Embrace your unique personality and engage in restful activities that truly invigorate you.
5. Prioritize sufficient sleep. Recognize the crucial role sleep plays in maintaining overall well-being. Make a conscious effort to provide your body with the necessary amount of restorative rest.
6. Stay physically active. Preserve your physical health by engaging in enjoyable exercise routines, either alone or with your loved ones, embracing the opportunity to keep your body active and invigorated.
Contributing Writer, Jacquie “ooh” Johnson
Jacqueline Johnson, a native of Texas, resides in Denton, TX with her spouse and two daughters. She has two grown sons living in California, and a grandson. Jacqueline founded Jacquie ooh, an online resource center dedicated to providing women with the tools to think and live well. She also developed the Glow Collection by Jacquie ooh, an all-natural skincare product line that feeds your skin with gourmet nourishment. Jacqueline is deeply involved in her community and was appointed as a precinct chair. She has authored two books: Glow Through It 21-Day Devotional Journal for Women and Dare to Sparkle Entrepreneur Guide+Dream BIG 4-Day Devotional. To learn more about Jacqueline Johnson, please visit her website at www.jacquieooh.com
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The Great Storyteller
Javier Wallace
He is a great storyteller and shares knowledge about how our ancestors migrated to Texas.
The summer is the best time to learn something new and have fun at the same time. The Black Austin Tours is the perfect way to learn about Austin’s black history and have a good time. Even if you have lived in Austin all your life, you will learn some Austin black history history you may not have known. Meet Javier Wallace, the founder of Black Austin Tours. He is a great storyteller and shares knowledge about how our ancestors migrated to Texas.
Javier Wallace’s family are rooted here in Austin. The family has been in and around Austin for a long time. Wallace’s mom is from Austin and lived off East 12th Street. His father is from the Republic of Panama, the former United States Panama Canal Zone, to be specific. His father came in 1974 on a tennis scholarship and attended HustonTillotson College. He remained in Austin and worked for AISD until his retirement. On his mother’s side of the family they go back to the Central Texas region, not exclusively Austin, even before Austin was a city in 1839. Wallace can trace the lineage here to Central Texas, both in the neighboring county of Bastrop and other counties, even back in the 1820s when Texas was part of Mexico, and people were being trafficked for enslave purposes into Mexican Texas. That is how far his mom’s family goes back. They have been here quite a while he said with a smile. Wallace’s grandparents moved into Austin in 1940 and they are both from the St. John colony in Caldwell County. But Wallace has found records of ancestors that were formerly enslaved that are buried in the city limits of Austin like in Bethany Cemetery on Springdale across from Sims Elementary. He has ancestors that are buried there.
Wallace started Black Austin Tours officially in 2019. He came back to Austin to get his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at UT. He started the tours partially because he was a broke graduate student. The tours allowed him to bring additional income into his pockets. When he finished his Master’s Degree in 2011, he decided to move to Panama where his dad was from. He lived in Panama from 2012 until 2017. While in Panama he thought about his family roots and learned more about their history and contributions there. In 2015, he co- founded another travel company called Afro Latinx Travel Company, where they host people that are interested in learning about black history experiences in a Spanish speaking country. They are working in Panama and they have done some work in Cuba. When Wallace returned in 2019 to Austin, he was familiar with doing tours. Being a grad student in Austin he wasn't satisfied with what he was hearing and being told about black history in Austin. Wallace saw that there was a gap even though there were other people doing black tours in Austin. However, the tours at the time were not done consistently. But he had time,so he offered the tours everyday. He hosted the tours one to two persons at a time. Wallace worked with AirBnB’s and Feature story continues on p6
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had become known as a great storyteller. He even did a video to help others learn how to tell stories. But once the news did a story on him and promoted the business, he decided to keep the 20% he would have to give the AirBnB business and created the Black Austin Tours.
Wallace offers three standard tours which have grown out of each other. This comes from just doing them and what people are asking about. Wallace goes deep into some subjects during the tours. “I can pull out a date. But it’s more than just spitting dates. It’s about using the outside space to think about the contributions of black people in Austin.”The downtown tour starts at the State Capitol building, and then on to the Texas African American History Memorial. He puts the story into context of how black people got to Texas. Wallace walks through the history of black people in Texas that does not begin with Anglos, but one that's much larger in helping people understand that when Texas was a part of Mexico, like we're often taught here in Texas. However, they never teach us that there were people of African descent and black people in that space as well. He reframed that narrative by saying there were a lot of enslaved people, and so we use that space to really think about that. Also, how the State Capitol was built off convicted people that were articulated, convict leasing, and going to the governor's mansion and talking about the role of slavery and Austin had 40% of the population enslaved. Downtown provides a good opportunity to think about the different sites associated with black people as well after slavery. Helping people understand what happened when black people moved to East Austin and created the Negro district.
The East Austin tour is very similar. A lot of people want to learn about black people in East Austin because of gentrification. Wallace now talks more about the 1928 plan while visiting different sites in East Austin, particularly off of 11th Street, San Bernard, and bits of the George Washington Carver museum. During this tour, people should think about not what the City of Austin did to black people exclusively
by creating the Negro district, but what did the people inside of the Negro district do? How they used racism and the policies that tried to demean them, and how can we use that to say they actually used what they had and they created a very good community.
The last tour is the Colorado River Tour. Wallace gives a shout out to the great people at the Rowing Dock. They own the company and the kayaks and they're the ones who invited Wallace out. His thought was he was never going to get on that body of water, but they showed him there's a way to survive. He felt if I don't die, I'll think about doing it. He didn't die so he created the tour. He feels the tour is extremely important because kayaking and paddle boarding is one of the biggest attractions here in Austin. Again, Wallace found a record of his family, on his mom's side, entering Texas as enslaved people through the Colorado River. He started doing more research and found that the Colorado River empties into the Gulf of Mexico near the port of Galveston and Matagorda which were the biggest ports of entry for enslaved people coming into Texas and that just blew his mind. Wallace realized this body of water is not just for people to have fun on that tour. Wallace talks about the history of the waterways and Texas particularly, and how they used to transport people, the cotton enslaved people were producing and then one of the good things are the highlights of that tour down on the river is talking about people who were adamant on
desegregating Barton Springs and Zilker Park because that iconic Park did not allow black people there. But in that space while they sit on that river where people are having fun, Wallace is conscious about individuals that took intentional action and broke laws that shouldn't have been laws or rules anyway, to force the city to desegregate and allow everybody who wants to go into Colorado water, do so. It was only 50 years before when black people couldn't before and that's a good part of the tour to be on. There's a lot of history of black people escaping from slavery in Texas in the Colorado River and how it played a big role in how they got to Mexico for freedom.
Wallace would like people to know “many black Austinites specifically and black people from this area have made a tremendous contribution to this space, regardless of what our numbers are in the demographics as far as percentage. I think we have really shaped and literally grew this city out of nothing, which it was when it was established. And we've done it and we should be recognized as such and we should never feel as though we haven't contributed and should not receive everything that we have fought for and everything to advocate for.” Wallace continues to say he knows probably a lot of people reading this are Austinites to understand how much of a contribution we have made to the city and that we should never be silent on any issue. And however it is our voices come out and shine we should do and and for me it's me screaming in the street and I'm fine with that.. And I just want everybody to know we've done so much here. And we are not crazy when we make demands for this to be better for us because we gave them everything that this city is. Make sure you take a tour. You can visit the website at https://blackaustintours.com/. You will have a class and fun all at the same time.
Photo credits:
• Chelsea Purghan
• Rowing Dock
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people I loved, but I still wanted to have my own life. Even though everyone I knew lived in California, I decided to go to the University of Oregon to study biology. I settled on this major after changing my mind a countless number of times, and I was convinced that I wanted to study ecology and work in nature. Little did I know, this decision would become my biggest regret.
When I thought of Oregon, I thought of trees and nature and calm. I visited once in the spring before making my decision; Eugene was beautiful and vibrant and seemed full of life. I wish I’d seen it during the winter. I thought I was used to cold and dark weather after living in Boston, but Eugene was a completely different story. From November through April, I was inundated by dark clouds and rain. Over the course of the ten week winter quarter, I only saw the sun three times. I was miserable. On top of the bad weather I had to deal with being tokenized by
white students, being harassed on the street, and I was paying an arm and a leg to be unhappy. I hated my major and I missed Boston every day. I had an amazing scholarship, a few friends, and I loved living in the city. I realized how hasty my decision to leave was, and I lamented over it for months. It was too late for me to go back to Northeastern, but I couldn’t stay in Eugene. I decided that it was time for me to leave again, only this time I would be returning home.
Next fall, I will be going to community college until I figure out what to do in the spring. The past two years have been a whirlwind, but I’ve learned so much about myself and the things I need: I deserve safety, security, and love. After moving from coast to coast, I can’t wait to settle down and take this time to figure out my next steps with an open mind and open heart; I’m ready to see what the future holds.
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Mary Linnen Editor
What is Mobility Training?
It combines mobility exercises that increase the range of movements and motions your body can perform. These include flexibility, but also balance, pliability and strength. The full combination is the best way to avoid injury.
One great thing about mobility training is its diversity. You can easily adapt it to meet your needs and your routine. From a pre-workout mobility exercise to a 10-minute full-body workout to a full yoga workout. However, it’s important to listen to your body. Bring mobility training slowly into your routine. The benefits of mobility training are plentiful:
• Promotes good posture
• Helps prevent knots and injuries.
• Relieves tension associated with sedentary lifestyles or overexercising.
• Improves all-round functional fitness performance.
• ncreases range of movement, helping us stay active and healthy longer in life.
• Reduces joint deterioration
• Prevents aches and pains
• Helps build stronger, more adaptive muscles and joints.
It’s never too late to start, the sooner the better. Remember, it’s diverse and can adapt to your routine and needs.
Evo. fitness evolved
FOODS YOU SHOULD NEVER STORE IN THE FRIDGE
What's not to love about a refrigerator and freezer? It's the place to stash your leftover pizza, the jam your mom made, the ice cream no one is supposed to know you have. It's a miracle of modern home life. But a few foods might not need refrigeration. Here are a few things you really should not refrigerate.
Bananas – Bananas need room temperature for two reasons: The warm temperatures help the fruit finish ripening (in case you pick up any still-green pieces) and the light and air slow down decay.
Coffee – Stored in the fridge, your coffee is more likely to pick up other flavors around it. Instead, keep it in a sealed container, in the pantry away from sunlight.
Tomatoes – The countertop, not the fridge, is the best spot for this summertime bit of goodness. The cold temps in a fridge can mess with the deliciousness of their texture.
Honey – Keep it in its original container, in a cool, dark pantry spot.
Fresh herbs – A fridge saps basil, rosemary, thyme, and more of their flavor punch and dries them out. Instead, tuck them in a small glass, stems down on the countertop.
Bread – Unless you prefer stale, dried-out slices on your favorite sandwich, stash loaves of bread in the pantry.
Oil – Much like honey, vegetable, olive, coconut, and other cooking oils will quickly solidify in the fridge. Keep them on a cool, dark shelf in the pantry instead.
Avocado – Super-unripe avocados have a hard time finishing the ripening process in the fridge. Leave them on the countertop.
Onions – Unless cut up, onions should go in the pantry. But never store them next to . . .
Potatoes – Which also need to live in room-temperature storage to maintain their texture. The gases released by the two tend to accelerate spoilage.
Garlic – Again, think about how you buy garlic: on a shelf in the grocery store—and remember that when you store it.
Helpful Hints!
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Did you catch Ujima Magazine and Gone Mad Production on the CBS: We Are Austin Show?
I was able to join Madelyn Patterson on the show and I discussed Ujima’s mission of telling stories about our “everyday heroes.” It was a great time and I want to thank Chelsey Hernandez and Trevor Scott for the great hospitality.
Thanks to Gone Mad Productions for having Ujima Magazine as a collaborator on this project.
To view the full interview, click the link: Ujima Magazine and Gone Mad Productions future plans of expansion and more
Is Rice Good For You?
Dietary
Guidelines suggest that at least half of your grains be from whole grains, and brown rice is considered a whole grain. But even white rice has nutrients. It is considered a good source of folate. In short, YES, rice is a healthy staple that offers many nutrients.
Try this recipe and yes enjoy your rice!
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice, or other long-grain white rice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Finely grated zest of one lime
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 cup lightly packed chopped cilantro (leaves and tender stems only)
Brown the rice:
• Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium high heat. Add the raw rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice has started to brown.
• Add the garlic and cook a minute more.
Add water, salt, zest, then simmer:
• Add water, salt, and lime zest to the rice. Bring to a rolling boil, then cover and lower the heat to low to maintain a very low simmer.
• Cook undisturbed for 15 minutes (check your rice package instructions), then remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
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