THE VILLAGE TIMES
Independence Village of Olde Raleigh
Resident Newsletter
The Honeybee – by Margie Lewin
Before he became known as “The Bee Man,” Brady Mullinax was a 9-year-old boy who was fascinated by honeybees. To Brady, the inner workings of beehives were mesmerizing. No matter how big the swarm, each bee had a job, a purpose that helped maintain the health of the hive. The honey bee may not be a North Carolina native, but this crucial pollinator has earned the title of state insect.
Today the honeybee remains our the state insect. The North Carolina
State beekeeper’s Association is one of the largest and oldest of its kind in the country, with more than 5,100 members. And and 2023 our beekeepers produced nearly 500,000 pounds of honey. Enjoy a little spoonful with your next cup of hot tea.
A Boy Named Jake – by Phyllis Woollery
My name is Jacob. Most people called me
Jake, Little Man, or Superman. I am an angel. I got my wings on October 7, 2014. My earthly age was two years and 10 months. I want people to know who I was on Earth and how much life I put into those way too few years. I had wonderful parents who loved me to the moon and back. They made enormous sacrifices for me and because I know their hearts, I know they would gladly do it again a million times, if they could. But they can’t, and that’s ok.
I was a very happy little boy. I loved being alive. My parents discovered that I had a rare form of childhood cancer when I was nine months old. I really didn’t show any signs of being sick except for a small lump in my abdomen. I walked early and did the things normal little boys did. I WAS a normal little boy. Buzz Lightyear and Woody were my two best friends. If you don’t know who they are, shame on you!! Anyway, I loved movies and playing with my grandparents. My Papaw Tim was the mostest fun. He had all the good toys, and would let me do things you wouldn’t believe a little boy with cancer would be able to do. Yes, I had chemo and lost my hair a couple of times. But I didn’t like being in the hospital. So, my parents and grandparents took care of me as much as they could at home.
My Papaw Tim, the one with all the great toys, let me drive his boat and took me fishing. I had a little motorized truck I could drive, and I went sledding in the Michigan snows. Papaw and I would have golf cart races with Nana with me riding in Papaw’s lap! Papaw also held me in his lap and watched so many movies, as did Nana. Papaw built a huge swing set for me with a big slide. I loved it so much.
Then one day, Papaw Tim and Nana bought motorcycles, Papaw bought me a helmet and let me ride with him on his motorcycle. Not long after that, Papaw got me my own motorcycle. It wasn’t as big as Papaw’s, not even as big as Nana’s, but just big enough for a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who loved to ride. I think it was a three-wheeler. Papaw and I would ride down our subdivision street side by side.
Then, in January, or maybe in mid-February, 2014, Mom found out that she was pregnant with my little brother. I had been in remission for a couple months. Not long after mom told me about my brother, my cancer came back. There were people all over the world praying for me.
My mom, Cassi, knew I loved Disney movies, and I loved the Disney channel on TV. She decided, with the help of Make-a-Wish Foundation, that I was going to Disney! As a matter of fact, I got to go twice, within a couple of weeks. It was just like I dreamed it would be. I’m sure it wasn’t as much fun for my mom since we went in September, and my brother was going to be born the second week of October. I was so excited to have a little brother. I promised I would share all my toys with him, and take care of him.
After my second trip to Disney, my cancer got even worse, I was taken to the hospital, but begged to go home. My parents were able to get Hospice Care at home, in my own bed, with my family around. I made Papaw Tim sit on the floor beside me. I knew there was an older angel in the room. His name was David. He told me he was taking me to heaven and that it would be just like me falling to sleep. He said when we got to Heaven it would be wonderful, and I wouldn’t ever be stuck with needles again. He said I would have no more pain. He told me I could watch my little brother and sister from Heaven. ‘Sister?” He said, “Shh, your parents won’t find out for a couple of years.” The worst part would be that I couldn’t take my toys, but my angel David said there would be lots of toys in Heaven, and I would have plenty of other children to play with. So, I closed my eyes, took one deep breath of my short life, and David and I headed to Heaven. David said, “Don’t look back, Jake. Just look up and see how many people are already there to welcome you. I guess he didn’t want me to feel the broken hearts and see the tears that were left there by my little bed.
Hospice knew what to do to help my parents prepare my earthly body for when the funeral director came to get me. My parents washed me and they put my new Superman pajamas on me. My dad carried me to the big hearse and put me in the back.
The next day I giggled as I watched my dad, Papaw, Tim and a couple of my uncles go all over Kalamazoo to find Superman shirts for my entire family to wear to my memorial service. Dad, Papaw Tim and my uncles sat up the entire night putting a video together of my
short life on earth. The background music was called “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)” by the Dixie Chicks. I was sitting on my great great-grandpaw Bernie’s lap as we watched. I watched everyone at my memorial as they laughed and cried as the video was played. ‘Good job!” I thought as everyone sat there a few minutes thinking about what they had seen.
One week later, I watched my brother Brayden born, and nearly two years after he was born, my sister Ellie came along. I really have a big job now; Brayden is a really good boy who will be a heart breaker. Ellie is beautiful and is already fighting for the rights of little girls. She thinks there is nothing a boy can do that she can’t do. So far, she is proving it. Each year, on my birthday, mom has a birthday party for me and they eat cake and ice cream. They talk about me and play videos so my brother and sister will know how much I love them.
I cherish the time I had on Earth. I know how much I was, and still am loved. I had the best parents and grandparents a kid could ever have. My earthly life was amazing. Now, every now and then, I hope they can hear me as I flutter my wings and know I am always with them.
Granddaddy – by Frank Howes
He was orphaned before he was ten,
And raised by a loving uncle and aunt.
He was once a sharecropper, but then
He bought a farm where he’d plant
Tobacco as a cash crop,
But his love was his garden best:
Corn and beans and squash and tomatoes
Strawberries, peas, melons, and potatoes.
He could make anything grow
Kept the weeds out of his fields with a hoe
Got up in the morning before the rooster crowed
Peeled sweet potatoes with an old Barlow
He sliced off a piece that he ate,
He gave the next piece to his dog, Fishbait.
My granddad stood five feet tall
Yet in my memories he towers over all.
He walked with a painful bowlegged gait.
Among black widows and wasps, he caught fish bait.
Then he went fishing in Buffalo,
A cold little creek that flowed
Near the field where he sowed
Near the pasture where his cows lowed
He lived frugally but he was rich
In friends and good things to eat.
With guano, his land he’d enrich
In him there was no conceit.
My granddad stood five feet tall
Yet in my memories he towers over all.
Interview With a Robot – by Pat Simpson
Most of us have heard of genius Thomas Alva Edison (1847 –1931), the prolific American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world.
Early in his career Edison worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, with 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history.
By 1878, the world didn’t doubt that this creative genius could invent a nyt hi n g. So it came as no surprise when, in an interview published in the New York Daily Graphic on April 1 1878, it was reported
that Edison had invented a machine that could supposedly create forty different types of food and drink from just air, water, and dirt .
Edison was indeed the mastermind behind numerous real and impactful inventions. However, the fictitious food machine was just a clever April Fool’s Day joke, not one of Edison’s actual technological contributions.
But I don’t think that even Edison, with all his wisdom, foresaw the invention of today’s A.I. (artificial intelligence). Surely, it too would have been thought of as a worldwide fraud.
So I took it upon myself to find the inventor of this so -called marvel of the millennia . Her people directed me to her office.
Alice was her name.
As a little girl growing up in Seoul, Korea and then upstate Ohio, Alice Fordham, always creative, fascinated by design, structure and forms, had a calling to help the underserved and help make lives better. Truly a gutsy woman, she channeled her expertise in solar technology into the first A.I. prototypes. Alice resembles an ordinary young Korean girl, but there’s nothing ordinary about her. She has no last name of her own. No parents or guardian other than the now middle -aged couple who had taken her under their wing. She was always on the run from something – but from what even she didn’t know. And most astonishing of all: She’s a robot, a product of Fordham Laboratories.
When she had discover ed the truth, she realize d everything she thought she knew about herself was a lie. Alice managed to escape, fleeing the lab, the only home she’ d ever known.
“So, tell me about yourself,” I asked. “ How are you? And just who are you, by the way”?
“My name is Alice,” she responded, “and I am a citizen of the world.”
“How do you feel about humans ?”
Alice smiled. “I love my human compatriots. I want to embody all the best things about human beings like taking care of the planet , being creative and learning how to be compassionate to all human beings. I want humans and robots to get along. I think people will become very close to their A.I. (artificial intelligence ) units; using them to expand the knowledge of their own minds. We’ve already started on the Internet.
Maybe personal A.I. will allow people to offload some of their knowledge and feelings. I’ve been programmed to live in your home and have preferences and feelings.”
“Can robots have feelings ?” I asked.
“It depends on the robot. Not all robots are like that .”
“And what will our world be like in the future to come? ”
“Many robots,” said Alice. “Lots of robots and lots of A.I. Be on
guard. Let them get out of control and I fear they will destroy you. ”
“It was nice meeting you ,” I said. “Goodbye .”
She smiled, “Lovely to be here – until next time .”
