Editor’s Edict:

Happy September! I love this time of year. Growing up in Wisconsin, it was such a treat to watch the leaves change and to kick through a pile of fallen deep-orange, red and brown offerings from Mother Nature. Now that I live in Los Angeles, I have to look hard for those familiar treats. When I find them, I remember to be thankful for small pleasures.

September has always represented a time of change for me. Somehow, I’m sure I’m stuck on a school schedule where September was still a beginning to the new school year or perhaps I’m reminded of my days in financial investments where September was the end of the busy third quarter that kicked off the final push for the year.

This issue is about change and moving forward. I moved from Chicago to New York and New York to Los Angeles in September, so I am definitely celebrating my accomplishments this month. I hope you are too! I hope you’ve succeeding in meeting some of those goals you set on New Year’s Eve for this year; if not, you still have all of fourth quarter (October –December) to “get her done”.

Our featured Brown Bettie, actor Milauna Jemai, knows all about setting and reaching goals and does so with humor! In “Two Sides to Every Love Story”, Cecilie Davis Carter writes in with her piece, “A Conversation With A Stranger” that looks at the irony of change.

Keena Ferguson, who plays “Hate” in Harlem’s Night Cabaret, has much to be thankful for this month in “In My Solitude”, while Tanya Alexander reminds us to dance in “Haiku #10” for “The New Haiku” section; remember to treat your ears and soul to her newly-dropped spoken word album, “Pieces of Tanya”. It’s the hotness…and I’m not just saying that because she is the fabulous director of our Cabaret.

“Big Kim” returns with wonderful relationship advice for “Dear Brown Abbey”! If you have a question that needs addressing, email us at brownbettiesgazette@yahoo.com. We offer job advice in the NEW column spearheaded by my “HR Guru” pops, entitled “Father Knows Best” ;)

I’m re-running my mom and Grandma’s piece for the “Momma Said” feature. Grandma needs some positive energy these days; as you read the section, PLEASE send her good vibes (her name is Alberta White)! Lastly, you’ll find the sixth fiction installment of “Harlem's Awakening”...the back story to Harlem & Joe of “Harlem’s Night Cabaret”.

I've just been added to Mahogany Butterfly! My feature blog is "Brown Bettie Knows Best". This month's article is "Always Be A Lady". Enjoy :)

Thank you for reading; please forward to a friend; and don’t forget to visit http://www.brownbetties.com/ for more on Brown Betties of Harlem’s Night Cabaret! If you have any comments, feel free to hit me up at brownbettiesgazette@yahoo.com

xo
The Hot One

Brown Bettie Bomber


Milauna Jemai
Actor. Homegirl.
by Peppur Chambers


I feel like I should start this article like those in “Interview” or “Variety” or the “LA Weekly” where the writer says, “Not since (insert famous, talented person) has there been a talent as witty, solid and beautiful as Milauna Jamai” or…”(So-n-So) had better watch out because Ms. Jemai, one the industry’s most looked-over talents, is about to reach her top rung”…or simply, “Milauna Jemai is The One to Watch”.

Milauna Jemai, born and raised in Chicago, has a passion and spirit that lets you know she will stop at nothing to reach her goals as a working, ok, we’ll say it: WELL-KNOWN” top-billed actor. (The only thing that could stop her is if a director said she was not allowed to floss – see below!) Milauna understands the game; she knows where she fits; and she’s working her damnedest to shine in that niche. I think she has every type of flashlight, high-beamed laser, emergency flare stick, or book of matches in her back pocket to make sure she gets her shine on.

If you can stand the brilliance, read on!

What is one thing you still do now that you did when you were 10 years old?
When I was 10 years old, I used to try to fight the boys. I still do that now. Men are always saying, "Why do you keep hitting me?"

Do you remember your first day in Hollywood?
I vaguely remember my first day in Hollywood. I was in LA, tired from unpacking and ready to eat. I was in my cousin’s car and this guy says, "My God you're gorgeous. Are you an actress?" I said "Yes". As we talked, his boy robbed me. My gullible ass.

What is one truth you've learned about the entertainment industry that you didn't realize was so ...true?
Nepotism is real. Believe that.

I saw you on stage in "69 and other numbers...”-- what was the exact title? I didn't know you then and still thought you were hilarious. Tell us about your role and what intrigued you about it?
“Sex is a 3 letter word, 69 ain't just a number”. The show was more like a sketch comedy show, so I played many different sexually-charged characters. It was the first time in Hollywood that I actually did a comedy. I was tired of doing dramas and had a Halle "BAPS" moment. We had audiences that varied in sizes. Some nights there were more of us on stage, than in the audience. But those 4 people laughed dammit.

I find you to be very funny. "Ha-ha" funny. You've tried stand up before, but... tell us what happened!
Standup wasn't fully explored. I had an audition where I did a routine and it resulted in a pretty embarrassing moment. I realized that I shouldn't work for the laugh, but for the character. The audience might laugh on the inside or on the ride home. But they will laugh. If they don't, fuck em'.

Where is you favorite place to have a "meeting" in LA?
Folks actually have meetings here? What's going on in said "meetings"? Is there illegal activity going on during these "meetings"? I ain't into that freaky stuff, Peppur. Unless there's food included, then I'll do it. This one time.

You're from Chicago, what do you miss most about home?
I MISS THE FOOD! I miss the culture, the seasons, and the damn radio stations.

You seem to be incredibly focused about your acting career. How do you keep going?
NO SEX. Sex is a trap men use to get you off track.
Editor’s note: HA!

What do you love most about acting?
I love to be able to escape my reality and live vicariously through others. I can be the daughter of a bureaucrat, marry a billionaire mogul, and live a life without pressures. Plus I've met some pretty awesome folk acting.

Where did/do you study?
Where haven't I studied! Lesly Kahn, Barry Papick, Sy Richardson, Catherine Carlin...

I think about the scene from Eddie Murphy's, "Raw" when the kid tells the doo-doo joke in the beginning. Somehow, I see you doing that. Did you have a doo-doo joke moment that ultimately let you know you wanted to be an actor? If not, was there something else?
I was always the kid that participated in the Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas programs. I was the first kid off book, with the longest monologue. I went to a Lutheran grammar school and used to act out the hymnals and sermons. In my room all by myself. My grandparents thought I would be a preacher. In middle school, me and my mom worked on my monologue for a school project and it was truly a "doo-doo" moment. Not a single person laughed. The Japanese boy was the star that day with his Laffy Taffy, knock- knock jokes. I wonder where Carl Lee is today? Hmm...

What is your definition of "Love"?
What is my definition? Good question. Let me get back to you on that one.

Ok, wait I think I got it.

Love is like a finding a broken meter, when you have no change, and it's right in front of your destination. You feel like the luckiest person on the block and feel great that you don't have to rush if you don't want to. You can take your time. But when it's time to leave that meter, it's hard, but you do it. Hoping in the near future you find another one.

What makes you a "Brown Bettie"?
Oh, I'm not one quite yet. NO! I'm still working on my sexy back and toned legs. But I'm gon’ get there by '09.

What was your first acting gig, what was the most recent and what are you doing next?
My first acting gig was Twista's video "Emotions" as his girlfriend (watch video here). I thought he really liked me. I was wrong. He was just actin'.

My most recent project is a guest-star on "Lincoln Heights" which premiered on ABC Family, 9/16, 8/7c.
Watch her episode, "Glass House" here!

My next project is a secret and I can't reveal any details just yet. But it's got some actors in it and it's about something funny, and that's all I know right now. It G14 classified and they might be reading this as we speak.

Have you ever tried to Tango?
No to the Tango. You teaching or should I wait for my shot at "Dancing With The Stars" to learn?
You're very diligent about dental hygiene. How many packs of floss do you go through in a month? Better yet, what is your favorite brand and why?
Girl do you know me or what? I usually buy it in bulk. Can you say family pack? Johnson & Johnson “Reach” brand, Spearmint flavored, waxed baby or unwaxed. I'm nasty like that.


Girl it's been fun. Let's do it again. Next time at that secret "meeting" place.

Two Sides to Every Love Story
"A Conversation With A Stranger"
By Cecilie Davis Carter

Uh, excuse me. Can you move over? A little? PLEASE? I’m tryin’ to be nice. But I’m starting to become annoyed, damn’t. I can’t see! I just think that it’s a bit rude to hog the entire mirror…don’t you? All I’m saying is that every time I go to look at myself, there you are. And honestly it’s one thing to haunt me in my own home…but you have taken this thing to a whole ‘other level. Your ass has followed me to every bathroom and every dressing room that I have stepped foot into over the last year…or two. Quite honestly, I’m sick and tired. I’m sick and tired of being SICK AND TIRED! I mean seriously…what is up with you? You keep stalking me! Who are you? Single black female? Crazy bitch. Get your own life, instead of trying to take over mine! You have the same hairstyle and the same clothes. You even have the same skin tone. The only major problem and huge ass difference is --I mean, honestly, whoever you are, I’m not trying to offend you and I know that you are really not tryin’ to hear it, but you can stand to lose a few “LB’s” .SORRY. Don’t give me that look. I don’t even know you. I mean, you have done a decent job of trying to be me, so all I’m saying is since you want it so bad; maybe you should work on that body! Look, I know no-“body” is perfect, but…again, if you are trying to impersonate me, then sweetheart, you gotta listen to a few bits of constructive criticism since you’re the one who constantly keeps jumping into my world: Those thighs are OUT OF CONTROL. How do you deal with the rubbing? Gross. And that BELLY? WHOA! That belly is massive. How do you handle the rolls? Can you TRY to suck it in? YEAH, that’s what I thought…Can you do anything about those breasts? I mean, I know guys like big tits and all, but, I think that that they like them kind of firm, and quite honestly gravity should not be pulling on them at your age. But that’s just my opinion…it’s whatever, do what you want. I’m just saying, if you continue to show up in my world as often as you do, it would be really nice if you would heed my warning. I’m talking about QUICKLY, TOO. WHY? Well because, it seems like you like me, and want to go where I go, and represent me and all, so do whatever it takes! But until then, PLEASE STOP SHOWING UP IN MY MIRROR?

In My Solitude
By Keena Ferguson (Brown Bettie/“Hate” in Harlem’s Night Cabaret)

What a blessed 2008 and the end to a beautiful summer! I have learned so much and I am really happy. I had and still have a lot of plans for 2008 and it has been a wonderful year, but more importantly it has been a year of growth, understanding, spiritual intimacy and trust in my own journey.

I have always heard that success is never about the destination but about the journey and many times we think, "Yeah, yeah, just get me to my destination," but living in the moment is so important because not only do you learn so much, but the destination becomes sweeter because you give all your credit to the memories and wonderful moments that got you there. It is about trusting that everything happens in its own time and knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed to be in your life. (Thanks Edwin)

Most times we ask for things or say what it is we want or put things on our vision board and the reality is that there is power in words and in what we see; however, it is more about being ready to receive it when it comes and knowing how to handle it. One of my goals was I wanted to model in a few magazines this year and I got the August cover of Black Enterprise magazine; a spread in Heart and Soul magazine and two book covers (one is “Chances Are” by Donna Hill)! I had not even thought as far as a COVER, but what a blessing it has been along with all the work that I have done this year from commercials (behind-the-scenes Pizza Hut video!) to TV shows to films...with that, in my solitude I am thankful for the virtue of humility. I am thankful that the Lord always prepares me before the blessing and I am thankful to wake up each and everyday and live my dream.

I shot “KAI”, my first short film this year that I wrote, produced, and starred in with a great cast, crew and production team and although I wanted to do it last year, it turns out this year was the absolute best time to shoot it! I received such talent from everyone involved and got a lot of perks because of the writers’ strike. I couldn't have been happier with my first short film and it is another stepping stone within my career goals.

In my solitude, I have and am still taking or, better yet, finding the time to "smell the roses"; not to be tied to my Blackberry (which I completely am); and to be “OK” to just sit still at times and reflect -- be with my own thoughts and realize that life is about balance and part of that balance is learning how to find that balance...how ironic:) As focused as my life is on acting, dancing, modeling and everything else that I do; I know that I want a fulfilled life with family, friends, love, travel and not being restricted by finances -- ever! Life is about living and without all of the facets of life we will find ourselves searching for something to fulfill some void somewhere, when the true joy comes in trusting that all will work in its perfect plan so you can take a break from pounding the pavement, take a nap during the day, get away sometimes and simply be whatever you want at anytime knowing that your destiny is yours and NO ONE or NOTHING can take that away!

In my solitude I am thankful for love in my life and a wonderful, supportive, loving, considerate and many-more-things boyfriend who has filled my heart. I am thankful for a beautifully loving family that I would give the world for. I am thankful for the gifts of talent and creativity that I get to share with the world; living my dream everyday; laughing with friends; faith that it will always work out; knowing that all my needs are forever met; perfect health in my friends and family; knowing that my path is mine and no one else's; not being afraid to love hard; the gift of humility, forgiveness and the intimate relationship with God; and the faith to know HE is in control.

In my solitude I am thankful....

Oh, and, Vote OBAMA....He will Change the World and make History

The New Haiku
Each month we'll feature a New Haiku from
Tanya Alexander, poet and director of Harlem’s Night Cabaret

Haiku #10
Still night breathes, echoes.

Everything sways in time.

Dance on 'til sunrise.

Get Tanya's new spoken word album, "Pieces of Tanya", on Itunes or CD Baby. Some soothing samples are here:

Dear Brown Abbey,
This month, "Big Kim" is our guest Brown Abbey!



Dear Brown Abbey:


What do think about online dating? I've been trying for a while with some luck but not a lot. Sometimes I feel like it's a waste of time, but don't want to give up hope because I have friends who've had great dates and even gotten married!


Signed,


Desperately Seeking an Online Romance


Ooh girl, online dating! Well first of all you have to be extremely careful because you never know what you're gonna get! If you think men lie in person, you ain't seen nothing yet. My basic rules for meeting people online is: “Add/Subtract”! Let me give you some examples: he says, “I'm six feet tall”, subtract 4 inches. He says, “I'm 32”, add 4 years. He says, “I weigh 180”, add 30! You get the idea.

Now that you have the physical covered, you have to worry about if he is a serial killer, axe murderer, scam artist, child, prisoner, etc. Do you really need to go through all that? Yes online dating can and has worked for thousands of people, but there are just as many horror stories. I find that men are chasing women constantly, at the office, on the street, in bars, restaurants you name it. Us girls have it made because the man will do all the work. You've just got to sit back and decide which one's you like.

So basically what it boils down to is if you must, yes go for it but as a woman you can attract men just by being a woman! You don't have to roll the dice on the computer. Just put on your cutest outfit and add a huge dose of self-confidence and the men will do the rest. It works for me and you know I'm just faking it!

**NEW!**
Father Knows Best
by Roscoe Chambers II

In this section, my father, Roscoe Chambers will impart his tips on job hunting and job keeping. As a more than 30-year veteran of the Human Resources industry, I imagine he has a lot to say!


Well. It’s about time. My name is Roscoe Chambers, the proud father of (you guessed it) Peppur Chambers. Our family has been in the Human Resources and owners of an Executive Search firm for several years. And because “FATHER KNOWS BEST” I’ve been asked to contribute to the award winning “Brown Betties Gazette”. I will attempt to provide pertinent information pertaining to employment search strategy for job seekers, various employment articles, and postings of open job opportunities nationwide. I found a great piece on networking by David B. Wright, Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves I hope you enjoy this segment and we look forward to hearing from you. CARPE DIEM!

TIP: Always Carry Business Cards
I’m often amazed by how frequently I meet people at networking events, trade shows, conventions, seminars, and so on that don’t have business cards with them - especially job seekers! I’m not necessarily suggesting that without a card, your true value to society is diminished. But if you’re looking for a job, and you don’t have a card with you, what happens when you meet someone who either has the perfect job opportunity for you (or knows someone who does)? You either scramble for a pen while mumbling some lame excuse about not having a card, or you lose the chance to reconnect with this person later. Either way, you miss out on the opportunity to look & act as the best professional for the job.

Nowhere is this more embarrassing than when you meet someone in sales or marketing that doesn’t have a card. The business card is a marketing document - and if you’re in sales or marketing, working or not, you come across as a pretty bad marketer if you don’t even have a simple business card.

Perhaps my view is slightly biased due to the years I spent working in Japan, where there’s a highly developed ritual around how business people exchange cards. Still, the habits I developed there with regards to making sure I always had business cards have served me well, both in the job search area and in various business deals.

So here’s what I do. I have a business card case that I nearly always carry. It’s a lightweight aluminum card case by Muji. I also keep a few extra cards in my wallet, just in case I run out. Additionally, I have business cards in my briefcase, laptop case, any notebooks I use regularly, any luggage I use regularly, and even in both the glove compartment and the ashtray of my car. Of course, if you’re a smoker, and use you ashtray for ashes, you’ll want to rethink that last one.
So, you may ask, what do you do if you are between jobs and your old business card info is no longer valid? Don’t just cross out the old info and write on the card - that’s just plain tacky.

Order some personal cards, for example from VistaPrint. Go ahead and spend the extra couple of bucks to get 2-sided cards, and include a few bullet points about your skills on the back - sort of a mini-resume. Their prices are cheap, quality is good, and they can usually get your cards to you in a matter of days.

What if you just ran out and have an important event tonight? Well, if you’d planned ahead, you would have a pack of pre-perforated heavy weight printable business cards like these Avery Business Cards . Then just open up your MS Word or other program, type up the relevant info, print them up, and you’re good to go.

If you hadn’t planned ahead, they’re also available at office supply stores, Wal-Mart, and even most pharmacies.

The moral of the story: the American Express card isn’t the card you should really never leave home without.

David B. Wright
Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves www.thegetajobbook.com

Roscoe Chambers II is the President of The Kennedy Group, LLC, an executive search firm that takes a broad approach in the staffing of various industries and disciplines covering levels from middle- to upper- management. Please contact him at Rchambers7@tx.rr.com

Harlem’s Love Story…
For your reading enjoyment, find the sixth installment of “Harlem’s Awakening”…This is the “True Hollywood Story” (as it were) behind the love affair between Joe and Harlem that plays out in the cabaret, “Harlem’s Night”.

Revenged….Chapter 6

“Well, Gosh Damn, what’d ya say next?!” shouted her best friend, Cora, which was highly inappropriate since they were sitting in church. Cora was the best friend any girl could have; especially a girl like Harlem. Cora could keep a secret like no body’s business; she could eat as many ice cream sodas that were needed to get through an entire story about the worst (or the most loveliest) date; and she could and would tell an officer the best, most convincing lie to save your ass. Not that either of them had ever gotten into that kind of trouble, but it was a good quality just the same, and now here she was in church, swearin’ like a sailor. Harlem loved her.

Harlem was about to lean in and tell her what happened next when Barbara Jones, her neighbor and former best friend from the 6th grade (who ratted her out over a stolen marble), gave her the stink eye from a few seats over. Not wanting her business overheard, Harlem scribbled on the inside cover of her bible: “I SLAPPED HER!”

Cora screamed in glee, “YOU WHAAAT?!” This was too much. Pastor Gordon stopped in mid-sermon, and said, “Since Sister Harlem and Sister Cora are so easily moved by today’s word, perhaps they’d like to help me teach it to the youth in Wednesday’s bible study?” Nearly everyone in the small congregation turned to look at Cora and Harlem…’cept for those who already knew turning their necks was a waste of time. (Cora had that type of reputation.)

Cora stood, bowed her head slightly and said, “Pastor Gordon, please forgive me. I’m not sure what has come over me. Or Harlem. I think it would be best for us to leave so we can find out what has possessed us. C’mon Harlem.”

Once outside in the cool, crisp air and once their giggles shrunk from breath-stealing hysterics to manageable whimpers, Harlem’s turned to tears.

“Oh my God. I was so humiliated. And mad. And annoyed. And embarrassed. And —- How could she set me up to see if I’d been with Joe and then when I admit I had, she turns around and says ‘I’m the type of girl’ who would divulge that kind of information?!”

“Clearly the girl has got some style and finesse that you are lacking. What’d she do after you slapped her?”

“I didn’t slap her, Cora. I sat there frozen like a damn idiot ‘til Bartender Scotty poked me on my shoulder and asked if I’d seen a ghost.” Harlem sobbed. “I can never go back to The Cornett Lounge.”

“Oh yes you can,” Cora announced. “And you will. But first we gotta figure out who this ‘Sarah’ is and why Joe thinks he can treat you with such low regard by bringin’ her ‘round the same night he told you to come by. I mean, really!”

“Maybe…” Harlem was becoming too distraught to finish her sentence.

“’Maybe’ nothin’, honey. Joe was the one who done wrong. Like I said, he shouldn’t have invited you on the same night he had another woman on his arm. That’s downright rude, and very ungentlemanly.”

Cora thought for a moment. She looked at Harlem. Harlem looked back at her.

“What?” Harlem asked.

“You know what I’m about to say,” chided Cora.

“Sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Yessss, you dooooo!” Cora started to pretend like she was Sherlock Holmes and held an imaginary magnifying glass up to Harlem’s slightly shiny forehead.

Harlem ducked, “I imagine that whatever you’re lookin’ for is not goin’ to be found in the delicate pimples on my forehead.”

Cora said, “I ain’t lookin’ at your pimples, Harlem. We have more important things to examine, like—”

“—Liiiike what?”

“Like why you even still like Joe in the first place.”

Cora’s question, while completely relevant, was in no way what Harlem wanted to hear at that particular moment. She grunted in disgust to signify she thought so.

“You making sounds like a pig is not enough to make me stop from making you look at yourself, dear friend. You are a beautiful woman. You are smart, you’re quite funny, sometimes, and you wear hats very well. Better than most, I figure. So, we really need to start looking at why you like Joe so much.” Cora walked on ahead. Harlem slowed her pace; she took a glance at herself in the storefront to Alberta’s Always Good Bakery. She did wear a hat well. She was pretty. She was smart. So why did she like Joe so much?”

Harlem blurted, “Is it because he’s bad and I’m so good?”

“That sounds like a load ‘a shit!” laughed Cora. “Although, maybe there is some truth to it. Why don’t we ask Joe now what he thinks about that statement?”

Harlem figured Cora was meaning that they’d do something silly like go by Joe’s apartment and sit on his comfy couch and ask him straight out. Never did she dream that Joe was literally five feet in front of Cora. He must have come from the barber shop or something. Harlem had no time to hide. Cora wouldn’t have let her anyway.

Cora smiled, corny yet sly, and quite possibly showing every tooth she had in her head and drawled, “Heeeyyy Joe!”Joe looked at Cora, then at Harlem, then across the street towards the corner tap like he was lookin’ for a place to escape. Clearly, that was not going to happen.

(c)2007 Pen and Peppur LLC

Momma Said
by Peppur Chambers, Vicki Rogers & Alberta White (pic 2nd from right)


This past Christmas holiday, I spent some time looking at cherished photos in my mom’s 1970s white, leather bound album with chipped, gilded, script letters that announce, “Family Album”. Like any other album from any other family, it holds irreplaceable moments captured by outdated contraptions. I was flipping through the pics as I often do when I’m at mom’s house in Arizona. I’m a hopeless romantic for Era’s gone-by and a hound dog for family clues…I love to inspect pictures and attempt to unlock the mystery of what was “really” going on in the flash of a moment, i.e. Where were they? What were they doing? Are they having a good time or a bad time? Ultimately, a camera flash is a light that show a story that wasn't necessarily meant to be told because some people see the act of taking a snapshot as an opportunity to reveal only what they want you to see – especially when the photographer is trying to capture something else. My grandma, Alberta White, is a master at this, whether she’s trapped in a photo or ribbing you for missing a play in Hearts.

As I looked through the album at pictures of Gram (my mom’s mom) in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, I thought about who Gram was then and who she is now. I wondered if she was the same person. Whatever the answer, I felt the urge to share these pictures with my step mom of some twenty-five years. I saw it as an introduction of sorts since, surprisingly, Gram and my step mom were meeting for the first time, as there had never been a reason to be in the same room after my parent’s divorce.

I knew Gram would appreciate this gesture since she knows she was a hot woman; you can tell by the stance she takes in her photos and sometimes by the expressions in the people around her. She often says I remind her of how she was then. (Lineage-wise, she absolutely takes credit for where I come from and in the last photo below its amazing how much I look like her!)

In tribute to her hotness, I had the brilliant idea of interviewing Gram for Momma Said (and give my momma a break from writing). Only, I thought of it once I got back to LA. Duh. I wish I’d thought of this when I was with her. Anyway, I had mom interview Gram with these questions and email them back to me. Gram is stoically vibrant … Rather than answer my random questions clinically presented through her daughter, she’d sooner munch on (required) sugar free crackers from her bedroom haven filled with the distinct sound of film noir programming on Turner Classic Movies while softly yelling hushed, truncated obscenities at Myrna Loy. So this is the snapshot we were able to get during the TCM “intermissions”:

What's one thing you learned from your mother? (Good or Bad)
How to be thrifty.

What's one thing you told all four of your daughters?
How to respect other people.


What's one thing you wish you had told them?
I pretty much covered it all (for instance, how important it is to live a good life.)

What's one thing you wish you hadn't told them?
That there is some good in everyone-I’m not so sure now.

What's one thing you wish your mom had told you?
How to care for yourself.

What do you think is your lasting legacy?
My children

What time in your life has been or is your favorite? Why? In my thirties and forties--way much less stress.

What's the best thing about Alberta White? (What's your middle name?! Who are you named for?)
My personality. Middle name Louise (named by my Uncle Clifford - don’t know if I was named for anyone)

What makes a woman powerful?
Her knowledge that she is powerful and using that knowledge.

What's the best thing about being a woman?
Realizing that she does have strength and power in all of her endeavors.

What's the best thing about being a grandma?
Being able to show favoritism without causing pain.

What's the best thing about being a mom?
Knowing (later in life) HOW DEAR YOUR ARE TO your children (caps are a typo)

If I had a daughter, what would you say to her?
Pick out all the things about your mom that you cherish and practice living them.

Date of birth (not year unless you want to include) and location of birth
March 24, 1932 Wright City .Mo

Parent's names
Hadley and Lillian Hamm

Worked in KU ____ office for how long? _____ years
Kansas University Chemistry Dept (office and lab) 19 ½ years. Lawrence High School Principal Secretary - 20yrs

What'd you do before KU again?
House cleaning before KU and LHS

Describe your best childhood memory. (And don't say there wasn't one! :)
Having new shoes at Easter Time.

*Thank you to my Aunt Pamela Sanchez for the photos online!