Day: February 20, 2018

When I saw the movie “The Black Panther” on Saturday, I immediately called Ali up on the phone and  said “you have to take the soccer team to see this movie.” The kids on the team come from Southeast Asia, The Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa.

Movies like this are beyond the reach of most of these kids, they are too expensive, and their families generally do not have viewing or streaming technology. Few of the families have cars to get out to the cinemaplexes where these movies are often shown.

It costs about $250 take the whole team to a movie and give them soda and popcorn. Yet this exposure to relevant culture is critical to their personal development and their acclimation to American life.

Ali loved the idea and jumped on it.

Anyone who has seen the movie will understand why it is important for these kids to see it, I wrote a review of the movie Saturday night. I give Ali a blank check every week to hold for “emergencies” like this.  The movie imagines a world that has not been colonialized, a them that touches almost every one of these children.

It shows a world of pride and advancement and compassion, one they rarely see reflected in their own lives. Ali said it was the best movie he had ever seen, and the kids loved it. And they got the importance of it.

Thanks to those of you who have supported this work, it is making such a difference in the lives of these kids. You can support the RISSE soccer team and other refugee and immigrant children by donating to the Children’s Refugee Fund, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected].

I intend to focus on the soccer team and also the RISSE (refugee and immigrant support center in Albany, N.Y.) women’s basketball team throughout this year, it is so important that they be supported and succeeded. They have suffered more than enough. Thanks. Small donations are just as important as big ones, and just as welcome and appreciated.

Tomorrow, the big soccer indoor tournament, Friday the refugee kids meet the Mansion residents. A great week.

Tomorrow is an important day for me and for the RISSE soccer tea. The President’s Day Indoor Soccer Tournament is being held at the Sportsplex of Half Moon in Half Moon, New York. Maria and I are both coming and Red, the official team mascot has also been granted permission.

Wednesday is also the day of the big surprise to the RISSE kids – they will each get a classy Nike Brasilia Bag stenciled by Todd Van Epps of Wicked Smart Apparel in Watervliet, N.Y. just before the game.

Maria will present the bags to each of the soccer players, I’ll take pictures, and Ali will give some pep talks.

Ali, a demanding and focused coach,  is much into winning, he wants victory after victory. And he wants them to win the tournament tomorrow.

I want to tell the kids winning is great, but how they play is also important and we are proud of them win or lose.

I’d like to tell the kids also and tell them that the bags are to give them pride and dignity and to to support them. I want to tell them that I understand how much they have been through, and how much of a struggle their journey to America has become.

I want to tell them that America is a generous and welcoming place.

I want to tell them that I am aware of how painful the controversy in America over refugees and immigrants is to them, and of how much abuse they suffer, and to assure them that I and the people who support my work will be with them every step of the way through this soccer tournament and season, a landmark year for them all.

That’s what the bags are about, at least for me.

On Friday, the team is coming to my town, Cambridge, N.Y.,  to have lunch with the residents of the Mansion. The Round House Cafe is catering, the Mansion will give them a table filled with the makings of Hot Fudge Sundaes. Then they’ll come to Bedlam Farm to see the donkeys and watch Red work.

Ali and I have been scheming all week about how to present the bags – the kids know all about them already, of course. I got a surprise for Ali also, a megaphone so he can yell at the kids while they practice. Thanks to the generosity of Kevin Smith of Sportsplex, we’ve been able to purchase practice time through the rest of the winter, and pizza afterwards as well.

I’m excited about this tournament, and shocked to have the team call itself the “Bedlam Farm Warriors” I feel like one of those shiny-suited old men with cigars who own football teams. Well not quite. It will be lovely to give those kids these bags.

This photo is for sale, $130, unframed, 8″ x 12″ on the best rag paper.

Contact Maria at [email protected].

Check out the new photos-for-sale gallery. This is one of the last photos taken of Simon as the three sweet donkeys came to the gate to bray for carrots and some attention. There, Simon brayed his “call to life.” I think of him often.

My granddaughter is a happy person, I think, she has the most radiant smile, although I’m told she can be decidedly pig-headed when she wants to be, just like her mother. One reason Robin is smiling is that this photo was taken this morning on the beach at Cancun Mexico, where Robin and Emma and Jay are saying all week at the invitation of their other grandparents.

I think Robin lucked out with the other grandfather, this is a great treat after this winter. Robin apparently drove her mother crazy on the airplane, but takes right away to the high life. I like to see that smile.