Editorial
Passing the baton to a new editor
In the last issue I wrote about the new direction I would be taking at Albright as vice president for communications.
This new role, a result of a leadership and administrative restructuring that is enabling the College to do important work necessary to move Albright boldly forward, requires me to step out of my role as editor—a bittersweet moment for sure. While this transition may end my time as editor, it also signifies an exciting beginning, and new beginnings are most certainly a call for celebration!
Telling Albright’s story through the pages of this magazine for the past 20 years has been enormously gratifying and immensely humbling. But today, I am celebrating as I pass the baton to my talented new colleague, Carey Manzolillo, the new editor of The Albright Reporter.
Carey joined Albright in July from Alvernia University where, in addition to serving as editor of Alvernia Magazine, she strategically planned and executed internal and external communication as it transitioned over the last decade through a renewed call to mission identity. Carey brings a wealth of creativity and passion to her role as editor. She is looking forward to making new connections at Albright and learning about the College’s impactful stories. I invite you to contact her to share your stories and ideas for future issues of The Albright Reporter. Carey can be reached at cmanzolillo@albright.edu.
Please join me in welcoming Carey and in celebrating this new beginning for Albright College.
– Jennifer Post Stoudt
To contact the editor, email cmanzolillo@albright.edu
THE LAST WORD
Black & Mild, a poem by Taylor Grayson ’20
One day I dreamt of the King & I
In a battlefield of the do or die
Where we always said nah
“I’m gon sit right here”
“I can drink that water”
”I can face that fear”
Most marched while some fueled a riot instead
Whether peaceful or violent, they still want us dead
Superiority of the majority has blown out of proportion
No matter how they come for us they’ll never call it extortion
Won’t admit that asking if we’re mixed is highly disrespectful
And every time you stop and frisk the blood is seeping from our vessels
You want us to be calm but we can never get relaxed
Because even at the corner store we have targets on our backs
There’s nothing being done about the sinister adversity
And yet we should believe that everybody loves diversity?
We feel like we have to shed skin at our own university
Everyone’s wrapped around the blissful thumb of perversity
The years have passed to show that we’re only moving backwards
On a job hunt in 2018, our race is still a factor
People made fun of us for wearing garb to Black Panther
2 young kids wanted to see the movie so bad they beat cancer
That’s why when we get gifts like this there’s no way we can be calm
We don’t come in black and mild, there’s only calm before the storm
But the storm keeps on brewing, every time there’s a hashtag
How you expect us to be mild when everyone’s waving the white flag
Not the one of surrender, no the one of pursuit
The flag that says you have a hoodie on so I get to shoot
“That car costs way too much money sir, please step out the coupe”
So I can lay you down and bleed you out, that’s simply the truth
The flag that says We All Matter Here, Just Not You
The coolest monkey in the jungle, that’s what you find cute…. that flag.
We’re not standing for that flag, we’re not pledging to it either
You can kick him off the team for take a knee, but take a breather
This is Black History Month but we’re empowered all year round
There’s no resistance in the silence so best believe we’ll make a sound.
We matter today and we’ll still matter tomorrow
Our people are timeless, we grow from nothing, without sorrow.
We’ll never be black and mild, we’ll always be black and wild
Until the idea that we don’t bleed the same has been resiled.
Taylor Grayson penned her poem in honor of Black History Month. The tradition of Black History Month began in 1926 and coincides with the February birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass—dates celebrated in similar fashion since the mid-eighteenth century. Grayson’s poem is one of the many creative performance pieces and academic activities that resulted in Albright’s on-going work to develop an equitable and fully participating community.Taylor Grayson penned her poem in honor of Black History Month. The tradition of Black History Month began in 1926 and coincides with the February birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass—dates celebrated in similar fashion since the mid-eighteenth century. Grayson’s poem is one of the many creative performance pieces and academic activities that resulted in Albright’s on-going work to develop an equitable and fully participating community.