Marcus Garvey Day Centre

MARCUS GARVEY DAY CENTRE REOPENS

By Roy Taylor

The Marcus Garvey Day Centre with Charitable Status was established in 1984 as a voluntary sector organisation to primarily provide day care services to meet the needs of African|African Caribbean people, and welcome people of other communities. The Marcus Garvey Day Centre has re-opened, thanks to widespread public support and we’ve improved our services to meet the needs of the aging African Caribbean community. We can provide culturally sensitive support to those with dementia physically sensory and mental health disabilities. The Charity provides a service to residents of rural communities with limited or no access to culturally appropriate services and provides opportunities and access to other services for Black Elders, particularly those of the Windrush Generation who are isolated in their homes. The Day Centre also provides day care for the Citizens of Nottingham who suffer from Dementia and Alzheimer diseases and afford respite breaks for their carer’s. The Day Centre also engages the service users in Art and Craft activities particularly those with dementia, including board games, floor exercises subjected to their ability to do so. The Marcus Garvey Day Centre is open 4 days per week, Monday-Thursday and the opening hours are 08:30 in the morning to 16:30. If you your parents or family member require Day care services, please contact the Marcus Garvey Day Centre at 0115-9792906 or Adult Social Care, Nottingham City Council-0300-131-0300.

THE IMPACT THE COVID PANDEMIC HAD ON BASKETBALL

By Toto Fagbenle

Whenever I speak on the topic of basketball, I find myself so engrossed and intrigued on the subject that I sometimes don’t know when to stop talking about it. The feeling of loving something so much to the point where you would do anything for it conveys a passion and a bond none can break. A lack of this specific thing you love can unfortunately lead to negative results more than the positive. I felt the negative results however when the Covid-19 pandemic initially occurred. Basketball and sports in general were hit very hard around the world when the coronavirus disease started to be known in this world. Before, the actual lockdown was initiated, basketball leagues around the world had already taken caution by closing their leagues completely to limit the spread of the virus. The main league and association, the NBA (National Basketball Association), closed early March right after centre for Utah Jazz, Rudy Gobert, joked around with the mics during an interview while saying that the Covid-19 disease was on the mics and so he continued to rub his hand across the mic and table. Shortly after this interview, Gobert was found with the Covid-19 disease and so he had to self-isolate but it was too late by then. The whole league was closed, and all the players were sent back home and had to quarantine until further notice. While that was happening in the USA, in the UK, non-essential contact and travel were to be stopped. Basketball courts around the UK were locked up while the basketball hoops themselves were boarded up to prevent anyone from entering the court and even shooting the ball. It was a devastating time for basketball lovers, especially the young, aspiring basketball players who wanted to get better so they could go to America. Lucky for me, my local park had not boarded up the basketball hoop, but they did lock the door, and it was impossible to get past. Since the basketball court was locked up, the only way to get onto the court was to climb over a tall fence. It was not easy to climb the fence at all, especially if it was raining|rained. However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And that was the motto I lived by for the many more months to come of lockdown. Whenever I got past the fence and got onto the outdoor basketball court, I would do a mini celebration as I would feel like I had reached the top of Mount Everest safe and sound. I would quickly snap out of it and straight away start playing basketball by myself. There is a very high chance that I was doing something illegal but that was not on my mind. What was on my mind was getting better while everyone else struggled to find a court. The joy of playing basketball by myself was ephemeral. Sadly, pedestrians would walk past and see me playing and jump over the fence as well. This would, of course, be ranked as disobedience of non-essential rules, but the passion I had for basketball made the sport ‘essential’ for me. Meanwhile in America, the NBA had come up with a plan where the NBA players on every team were to play basketball in a ‘bubble’ to limit the spread of the virus. The plan worked but it also meant that families could not be seen as the players were to be isolated from everyone but their teammates. This changed not only the NBA forever, but basketball and sports in general. Fans were not allowed to attend games anymore, giving a different feel of games. The pandemic has taken a toll on sportspeople, and it is obvious to see that most have become less fit and essentially lazier during the pandemic. One could also argue that it left a negative impact as it disallowed basketball players and other sports persons in different disciplines to get opportunities to play professionally overseas.

WILL SMITH OSCAR DEBACLE By Latoya Brown & Marget Jagne

During the 2022 Oscars, a stunning turn of events occurred when Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock by hitting him in the face after he made an insensitive joke, “Jada, GI Jane 2, I can’t wait to see it” about Will Smith’s wife Jada, who suffers from alopecia (the partial or complete absence of hair from areas of the body where it normally grows). To those who don’t understand this was a joke referring to the movie GI Jane where the main character is a female who shaved all her hair off resembling Jada. As the whole globe was exposed to this since it has made headlines on news articles and is one of or even the most trending topic right now on social media. Many people have come to the defense of both parties as a result of this. On Chris Rock’s side, some have suggested that he may not have known that Jada has alopecia, but this is a highly unpopular opinion because Jada is a well-known celebrity, and it would be extremely rare for someone like Chris Rock to be unaware of her condition. On the other hand, though, people have come to the defense of will smith suggesting his act of violence against Chris rock was totally justified due to the fact that a “man has the right to defend his wife”. Although there are differing perspectives on the incident, no one can disagree that Will’s use of the “F Word” when he sits down after the attack on live air, especially on a show that promotes family friendliness, was exceedingly unethical. Another issue to mention is that the Oscars’ viewership has been steadily falling for years; as a result, the producers of this year’s broadcast attempted to boost viewership by including live performances and small shows to excite the crowd and bring in more viewers. People have speculated that Will Smith’s recent outburst of emotions was a wellexecuted skit to add drama to the show as a result of his recent eruption of emotions. Many other points of view, thoughts, and ideas have emerged as a result of this incident; Will Smith has officially apologised saying,” violence in all of its forms is poisoned and destructive. My behaviour at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line, and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I wanted to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love of love and kindness”.

COME & WORK WITH US

Come and join the Estates and Facilities Team! We are a vibrant and diverse team, responsible for looking after the beautiful campuses of University of Nottingham and are looking for enthusiastic, motivated and customer focused people to provide an excellent experience to our wide range of customers. We have a mix of positions available for cleaners, catering assistants, bar staff and many other roles in our halls of residence, university buildings and Café’s, over a range of hours and days that are fl exible and could fi t around your family and other commitments. The University of Nottingham has been providing an outstanding student experience for over 140 years and is a leading university of worldwide signifi cance with established campuses in UK, China and Malaysia. Our award-winning sites at University Park and Jubilee Campus are only 15 minutes by bus or tram to Nottingham city centre. https://fumbu.org/0ej