In celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday I thought I’ll blog about Dr. Naison and his lovely wife who have been married for over 30 years.  If family is not one of the main things to be thankful for, what is? By looking at this photo one can tell that they are still happy with one another. It was satisfying to be around them too. They are very down to earth and warm people.

Dr. Naison is the head of the African-American Studies Department at Fordham University and while I was in school, I took his class titled, From Rock and Roll to Hip-Hop.

I learned so much in that class. It was the only class I was able to talk in dept about the music I listen to…and I was a music major. In addition to it being the only class that allowed me to express my love of Gospel music, it was not (and still isn’t) considered a music class at Fordham.

Every time I think about how Fordham doesn’t include music classes that talk about music besides Classical and Jazz, it really annoys me. I tried talking to the Music department but nothing was changed. How Fordham University is going to be in the heart of the Bronx (where Hip-Hop music was born) and doesn’t include Hip-Hop music in its course selection?!