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While my story is an “open canon” (there will always be more to add to the story the more I discover and process), writer Julia O’Donnell summarized my story in the following article . . .

[Gee]nealogy

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On its face, the lecture wasn’t so different from countless other events Dr. Rev. Alexander Gee had attended in his years as a Black pastor, community leader and activist in Madison, WI. But the way the lecturer that night spoke about African-American history struck a chord with Gee, and that night he found himself sitting at his computer typing his family name into the search engine on Ancestry.com.

That simple search marked the beginning of a journey that soon found Dr. Gee sitting across the kitchen table from his White cousin, drinking sweet tea and looking at old family photos of the descendants of a White slave owner who raped Dr. Gee’s enslaved great-great grandmother.

[Read more…] about [Gee]nealogy Story

You are invited to a special evening as I share my journey into my family genealogy and America’s history.

A year in the making, the Black Like Me with Dr. Alex Gee Podcast is releasing a special audio series that tells the surprising story of my family history. Hear how I made new discoveries about my past and met White descendants of the Gee family name I didn’t know I had…

This fun evening will include some audience interaction, light refreshments, and special guests that you won’t want to miss.
– Dr. Alex Gee

This is a free event, but please RSVP via this attached Eventbrite link.

Twenty-Nineteen, here I come.

Too many really good people are sitting on the sidelines watching so many others who should really be sidelined.

We view screens as windows into the lives of others and we only participate in real change— and real living— voyeuristically.

We view the world from our sofas.

We pontificate in 140 characters or less.

We repost and retweet instead of saying #Amen.

We merely like 👍🏾  and rarely love.

We text “Happy Birthday” to close friends and make comments on complete strangers’ posted pics with words like #Amazing & #Fantastic.

Have metal phones and crystal screens made us plastic people?

I understand the lure of social media…I am a fellow junkie.

It’s like time-travel…

It feels omniscient…

It allows us to finally keep up with people we don’t care about while ignoring those we say we really do care about.

Twenty-Nineteen, here I come.

I want to spread my wings this year, and not just my thumbs.

I want to leave the house every so often, without my phone, and not have a panic attack.

I want to glue my eyes to the needs and beauty of the world around me, and not just my screen of the latest post that distracts me from true beauty.

Virtual is not always a virtue.

The two are certainly not necessarily mutually inclusive.

Perhaps we need a real reality check and not merely a virtual reality check.

I feel a need to occasionally escape my parallel universe of being here and there, simultaneously.

I see, and too often, participate in parallel universes.

I text while I drive because I feel the need to be in two places…universes…at the same time.

We sit in this meeting, with these people, but we text those people in that other meeting, as if we can’t ever stand being where we are.

We wake up with phones in hand.

We go to the bathroom with phones in hand.

We text people who are sitting six feet away from us rather than speaking to them.

We drive with phones in hand.

I occasionally see couples who sit in restaurants across from each other – with phones in hand.

I even see people on Sundays who worship with phones in hand.

We have three thousand Facebook friends, but we eat alone.

We have five thousand Twitter followers, but we claim no one has our back.

We follow trends, but what’s trending in our lives is emptiness and fear.

And because our smartphones have become our virtual ventriloquist dummies, people ignorantly text and tweet and repost things and words we would never dare say to others. Because…they didn’t really say it…it was merely a tweet. Right?

And although technology makes our memories shorter…it has a very long and very good memory! Just ask famous people who, years ago, stupidly posted thoughts which have come back to haunt them as star athletes, entertainers or professional.

Twenty-Nineteen, here I come.

I need more escapes in 2019.

I need more walks with my wife.

I need more talks with my daughter.

I need more meals with my mother.

I need more laughs with my sister.

I need more guys trips with my friends.

I need more trips with my nieces and nephews.

I need more unplugged beauty in my life that isn’t virtual, but real.

Look out Twenty-Nineteen, here I come.

Unplugged more often…

Unhinged less often…

More engaged…

Less distracted…

More present…

Greater clarity…

More fulfillment…

Realized destiny…

Reengagement of old friends…

Availability to new ones…

I’m a technological junkie, hence I write with quite a bit of trepidation. Notwithstanding, the brightness of my future requires a focus and a lucidity that cannot necessarily be illuminated with the backlight of my iPhoneX.

I know that my destiny is not virtual…therefore my approach to obtaining it cannot be either. It must be real and actual.

I know so many brilliant people out there. I’d rather see posts of your dreams than your deep fried lunches. Please post pics of how you are living out your purpose and not just your meal or latest hairdo.

Social media is filled with the haters and drainers of our dreams. If we are to shake off the haters, we might need to squelch their voices as well. With all the virtual chatter, we’re virtually left with little energy to create a destiny worth posting about.

Social media isn’t bad—unless it is numbing your creativity, muting your voice, enhancing your procrastination, limiting your scope or belittling your effectiveness. 

Our world is hurting and divided and cold. I can understand why we’d want to hideout in virtuality. However, our best selves and best thoughts are needed in order to create businesses, solve problems, build bridges, help others and enjoy life.

If virtual reality is solely a mere escape from reality, then it is no longer virtual reality, but an actual death.

Death of creativity.

Death of planning. 

And death to real relationships that could offer a viable solution if we weren’t so virtually preoccupied.

My resolution is to be more resolute and more present in 2019 — actually.

Ttyl

Alex

P.S. And anyone who continues to send me those “Let’s keep it going by forwarding  this to ten other people…” gets deleted to virtual hell immediately!