Under the baobab: Women celebrated on Mother’s Day, and more Happy Valley happenings

Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Teacher Appreciation week. Viva Mexico and Cinco de Mayo celebrating the victory over imperial France. 3 Dots celebrated its fifth anniversary and Eisenhower Auditorium is commemorating the 50th anniversary of its opening.

In contemporary times, Mother’s Day has evolved into a harbinger of progressive feminism and celebration of the expanding rights of women, Dobbs not withstanding.

I have been blessed to have had the two most important people in my life be both mothers and teachers. My beloved teenage mother, Bessie Mae, nurtured and taught me everything I needed to know to survive into manhood with dignity and wonder. My partner, best friend, and wife of 54 years, Jo, teaches me every day how to live with grace and kindness. We partnered in the flowering and grooming of two daughters/mothers, Alison and Alexi. Jo, a community treasure, is also a teaching professor in the Bellisario College of Communications (BCC) for hundreds of our young people every year.

The ascendancy of our sisters to their well-deserved place as partners in the creation of the human narrative was exemplified in the BCC undergraduate commencement, which was resided over by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, the first woman to hold such position, and Dean Marie Hardin. PSU trustee, BCC alum and World Cup champion Ali Krieger delivered an inspired discourse on inclusive community unity and holding fast to our dreams. As a member of the Board of Trustees she was also the person authorized to confer degrees. Of the six student marshals — Shannon Cain, Emily Eng, Ryan Manuud, Jamie Nguyen, Julia Martes and Mitchell Scordo — four were women.

Nationally, we are blessed to have Vice President Kamala Harris, also a first, as a beacon in the house at the top of the hill.

While we were in New York City for a costume fitting we were fortunate to attend “Sally and Tom” at the Public Theatre, directed by Penn State School of Theatre’s Steve Broadnax. The Broadway-bound show featured PSU MFA grad, Alano Miller. The provocative play explored the relationship of President Thomas Jefferson and enslaved woman Sally Hemmings. The two sired six children together, under dubious circumstances. The drama is set in a modern theater company. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Susan Lori Parks posits the profound question: Can love or any genuine emotional connection exist between an enslaved person and her enslaver?

In our Big Apple outing we got a chance to wear a one-of-kind Jimi Hendrix long coat near the red carpet at the Met Gala. The paparazzi ignored us. We also went to a Stop the Destruction in Gaza rally outside the gates at Columbia University. Several hundred students, not outside agitators, were demanding the university divest its pro-Israeli holdings. The university canceled its combined graduation. Over 50 universities across the country have had demonstrations against this war in the Middle East. It is becoming a factor in the Presidential election.

A major highlight in our visit was Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen.” Based on Keys’ songs, it is a semi-autobiographical story of her growing up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, where we spent some of the best years of our life. The Broadway show received 13 Tony nominations. It is a wonderful, foot stomping extravaganza exploring the coming of age of a 17-year-old mixed race kid and her Italian mother. The show starred Maleah Joi Moon and featured Shoshana Bean as the mother. It is an ideal Mother’s Day delight.

Back in town, through May 14 the American Association of University Women is holding its used book sale at Snider Agricultural Arena. Get a bag of books for $10 on Tuesday!

Congratulations Sisters, and thank you for making my life.

Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He was the 2022 Lion’s Paw Awardee and Living Legend honoree of the National Black Theatre Festival. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.