Playwright Patricia Estelle McCall introduces "Love...Or The Singularity of Gary"

On November 22, 2009 I had the pleasure of seeing a reading of "Love....Or The Singularity of Gary" by Patricia Estelle McCall (a.k.a. "Trish"), who is the daughter of Omar McCall Sr. This full length reading which took place at the Paris Health Club on West End Avenue in New York City had three characters, "Trish" as the survivor at age 45, Chandra Thomas as the survivor at 25 and Brian Schneider as the infamous Gary. Here we have an affluent Caucasian religious fanatic who pictures himself as a "Bishop" who has managed to imprison several young African-American females. He commits unspeakable acts on them, in some cases even murder. One of his victims has a relentless desire to stay alive and she uses every trick in her arsenal to do so.
I will not divulge any more information about the play because I want you to see it for yourself. You could hear a pin drop during this performance and thunderous applause from a full house at its completion. Everyone was surprised to find that this was based on a TRUE story. This was the second of three works by Patricia Estelle McCall, I wasn't able to see the first one "A Funeral" but if it was anything
like "Love...Or The Singularity of Gary" then it must have been a gem too.

A Tribute to Lisa

I had the pleasure of meeting Bertha McKinney at a family reunion several years ago. She really impressed me as a warm and knowledgeable person, and to make things even better.....she's a relative. At the time she also told me about the passing of her daughter Lisa. She was trying to get the Lisa Nicole McKinney Foundation up and running. Being a music person I was amazed at Lisa's accomplishments in the field of music.....and even more excited about the future she would have had, had she lived.
Lisa was one of so many talented young women to leave us far before her time. I
think of people like Minnie Riperton, Laura Nyro, Syreeta Wright and a host of others, even my own mother Bettye McCall left this earth at the age of 42. This thing called life is the most precious of all gifts God has given us, which puts a great emphasis on the true significance of family reunions. Had I not been at that
particular family reunion I would have never known about Lisa McKinney.
One day while crossing Easton Avenue in New Brunswick I happened to notice one of the buildings of Rutgers University was renamed McKinney Hall. Of course I knew it wasn't named after Lisa, but it started me thinking about her again. I never knew this extraordinarily talented and beautiful young lady also who attended Rutgers University at around the same time that my daughter Joy was there. It is such a pity that they didn't know each other since Joy was just a few years younger. This just shows the importance of knowing your family members. We are fortunate in that we have people like Claire, Gwen and Ishmael (and others) who are historians of the Foster-Mcall family who do pain-staking family research just like Bobbie did when she was alive.
It is my hope that we as a family keep the memory of Lisa Nicole Mckinney alive by
contributing to the foundation which will give money to outstanding young students at The Wayne State University School of Music. Bertha and I will elaborate further
on this topic at the 2010 reunion in Somerset, New Jersey. See you there!
Peace Claude

Confirmations

1. Evan Milligan 11/27/09
2. Ryane 11/27/09
3. Kendall Wilson 11/28/09
4. Dominic Wilson 11/28/09
5. James Wilson 11/28/09
6. Jeanine Wilson 11/28/09
7. Al Hamilton 11/28/09
8. Fran Hamilton 11/28/09
9. Henry Booker 11/28/09
10.Daryl Booker 11/28/09
11.LaShawn Booker 11/28/09
12.Valencia Marbury 11/28/09
13.Justin Woods 11/28/09
14.Asia Marbury 11/28/09
15.Tanisha Woods 11/28/09
16.Vivian Booker 11/28/09
17.Lori McCall 11/29/09
18.Bertha McKinney 11/29/09
19.Gwen Patton 11/29/09
20.Ramona Foster-Lang 11/30/09
21.Alicia Cox 11/30/09
22.Mia Cox 11/30/09
23.Marcus Lang 11/30/09
24.Earline Lang 11/30/09
25.Michael McCall 12/5/09
26.Linda McCall 12/5/09
27.Toni McCall 12/5/09
28.Claude Chaney 12/5/09
29.Evette Chaney 12/5/09
30.Jessica Pitts 12/5/09
31.Ruby Pitts 12/5/09
32.Keith Kennedy 12/5/09
33.Charles Lockhart Sr. 12/6/09
34.Brenda Lockhart 12/6/09
35.Jarrod Lockhart 12/6/09
36.Charles Lockhart Jr. 12/6/09
37.Monica Lockhart 12/6/09
38.Colin Lockhart 12/6/09
39.Randall Mccrary Jr. 12/10/09
40.Tanisha McCrary 12/10/09
41.Morgan McCrary 12/10/09
42.Emmett "Albert" Smith 12/10/09
43.Linda Smith 12/10/09
44.Paul Graves 5/4/10
45.Sandy Graves 5/4/10
46.Al Hamilton Sr. 5/23/10
47.Fran Hamilton 5/23/10

Confirmation Date (1) - December 10, 2009 (IMPORTANT)

Dear Family,
The time has come for me to have exact numbers to give to the hotels and other businesses involved with our 2010 reunion. That is why I need the names of every family member who intends to go to this reunion to send me an e-mail of confirmation. If you have children I need to have their names too. This is extremely important. If you have previously told me verbally that DOESN'T count.
I need something in writing that states your intention to attend. I would also appreciate if those family members with internet access would inform those without. Please send me an e-mail of their names as confirmation of their intention to attend.(Cch092775@aol.com)

Peace, Claude