Spirit, Love, and Music: How Walt Alexander’s Book on John Coltrane Is Bringing Faith and Jazz History to a New Generation

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

The children’s book that turns one of jazz’s famous falls and comebacks into a story of grace is now headed for the screen, with a movie adaptation in development to carry John Coltrane’s story of faith and redemption to a much wider audience.

Some stories about faith begin in a church pew. This one begins in a Navy uniform, on the deck of a ship, with a young man praying for a country he had just watched a war destroy.

Long before A Love Supreme became one of the celebrated recordings in American music, John Coltrane was a boy in Hamlet, North Carolina, watching his father hem a stranger’s coat, and his grandfather preach to a congregation that trusted him completely. Both men were, in their own way, in the business of fixing things: one mended clothes, the other mended souls. Then, within months of each other, both died. Coltrane was still a child. Music became the thing that held him together.

That origin story, and everything that followed it, is the subject of Walt Alexander’s Spirit, Love, and Music: John Coltrane and the Love Supreme, a picture book that tells Coltrane’s life not as a jazz history lesson but as a testimony. It is a story that has already reached young readers, and it is now set to reach a great many more.

A Story Built on Rock Bottom, Not Just Genius

Most tellings of Coltrane’s life linger on his technical brilliance, the “sheets of sound” that reshaped the saxophone. Alexander’s book takes a different route. It moves through Coltrane’s brief Navy service during World War II, where he witnessed the devastation of postwar Japan and prayed for a peace he would spend the rest of his life trying to make music out of. It follows him home to addiction: years of heroin and alcohol that cost him gigs, his reputation, and, for a time, his sense of who he was.

The book does not soften that chapter. It shows a man on his knees, surrounded by the wreckage of his own choices, before it shows him rebuilding. The turning point, as the book tells it, came through a friendship with fellow musician Eric Dolphy and a private vow Coltrane made to God, his family, and himself: no more drugs, no more alcohol.

What followed was a vision Coltrane described of visiting God in Heaven and asking only one thing: to give pleasure to people through music.

  • What does it actually take to turn addiction and loss into a legacy of grace?
  • How does a single promise, kept quietly for years, become a piece of music still studied and performed six decades later?
  • And what does a picture book do with material this heavy, and still leave a child feeling hopeful?

Four Parts, One Prayer: A Love Supreme as the Book’s Spine

The album that gives the book its subtitle structures its final act. Alexander walks readers through the four movements Coltrane composed as an act of worship: Acknowledgment, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm, pairing each with the scripture that echoes it. Acknowledgment sits beside Christ’s words in John 14: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Resolution answers Peter’s call in Acts 3 to “repent and turn to God.” Pursuance chases Matthew 6’s promise to “seek first the kingdom of God.” Psalm closes the circle with David’s charge in Psalm 100 to “enter His gates with thanksgiving.”

It is an unusual structure for a children’s book, treating a jazz record as a devotional in four parts. It is also precisely what makes the book resonate with adults who pick it up expecting a simple biography and find something closer to a testimony of forgiveness.

Why It Reaches Past the Children’s Shelf

Coltrane died of cancer in 1967, not long after a final tour of Japan where he performed for audiences still living with the aftermath of the war he had once prayed over, and wrote a piece called “Peace on Earth” for them. Alexander’s book closes on that note, and on Coltrane’s own signature phrase, repeated throughout his life and his liner notes alike: “All glory to God.”

That closing is the book’s real argument. Coltrane’s story, as Alexander tells it, was never really about jazz innovation for its own sake. It was about a man who fell, asked for forgiveness, got back up, and spent the rest of his life trying to be kind to people of every background and every faith, because he had come to believe God loved them all. Coltrane’s ongoing legacy through organizations like Kids for Coltrane is proof the story never stopped being useful to people well outside the jazz world.

The Author Behind the Story

Walt Alexander wrote Spirit, Love, and Music not as a music-history primer, but as a testimony he wanted young readers to inherit. What comes through across the book’s forty-plus pages is a storyteller more interested in redemption than in résumés, someone who found in Coltrane’s life a template for talking to children about faith, failure, and second chances without flinching from any of the three. The book’s dedication says as much in its own quiet way, offered to his parents “experiencing the Love Supreme,” and to a young reader named Sammy, urged to remember that faith, hope, and love in God, in yourself, and in others are the tools to make every dream come true. It is a small detail, but it tells you exactly what kind of book this was always meant to be: personal first, instructional second.

From the Page to the Screen

Spirit, Love, and Music is now moving beyond the page. A movie adaptation of the book is currently in development, built to carry Coltrane’s story of struggle, faith, and redemption from a children’s bookshelf to a much wider, cross-generational audience. The goal behind the adaptation is the same one that drove the book itself: put a message that has already resonated with young readers- that a fall is never the end of the story- in front of viewers who have never picked up the book at all.

When it arrives, the film will do for the screen what the book already does for the page: take a story usually confined to album credits and liner notes and hand it instead to anyone who has ever needed to believe that falling down is not the same thing as being finished.

A tailor’s son does not choose to become a legend…

A relapse does not have to be the last word on a life…

A promise kept quietly, one difficult day at a time, can still be composing music sixty years after the man who made it is gone…

All glory to God, Coltrane said. Sixty years later, his story is still finding new ways to say it back!

Author Name: Scout Walt
Book Title: Spirit, Love, and Music: John Coltrane and the Love Supreme
Published by: City Light Publishers

Books Before Brides and How a Chance Encounter at a Nigerian Gas Station Sparked a Movement to Protect Girls

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

By: Newsroom Staff*

In 2012, on a work assignment in southern Nigeria, Ben pulled into a gas station and met a girl who would change the direction of his life. She could not have been older than 12, pumping gas for long hours for little pay. Curious, he asked why she was not in school.

Her father had died. Her mother was sick. There was no one to send her, even though she wanted to go.

“I didn’t think any child at 14 should be working,” Ben said. “If you want to work, it should be by choice, not because you didn’t have an option.”

He decided, on the spot, to send her to school. That decision became the seed for what is now a book, an organization, and a personal mission he has carried for more than a decade: ending the practice of marrying off young girls before they have the chance to be educated.

A Childhood Shaped by What Poverty Takes Away

Ben did not grow up poor himself, but he grew up close enough to poverty to watch what it does to a family over time. He has seen dreams stall out permanently, and girls handed into marriage early simply to relieve a household of the cost of feeding them.

“What propelled me to become who I am is the poverty that I’ve seen around me,” he said. “I’ve seen people’s dreams go unrealized because they don’t have opportunities.”

That proximity to what could have been, paired with what education did for his own family, convinced him early that schooling is the fastest route out of generational poverty. “My family stood out among so many people in my neighborhood simply because of education,” he said. “I would also like to extend that kind of help to others.”

Why “Books Before Brides”

The title is deliberately blunt. In northern Nigeria, Ben witnessed girls as young as nine or ten handed over to much older men, often for economic reasons and with the tacit approval of local custom. He pointed to a widely reported case of a state governor who married a 15-year-old while in his fifties, an example, he said, of how little is done to discourage child marriage in parts of the country.

The consequences go far beyond a stolen childhood. Ben’s eldest sister, a school vice principal and school administrator, is often among the first to encounter these issues firsthand. Through her work in education, she sees the challenges girls face and can escalate serious cases to Ben for further support. His sister, a doctor, has also helped by gathering a team of medical personnel to establish a temporary medical care center for the girls for a few days, but her involvement has primarily been in coordinating that medical support rather than directly managing the cases.

He is direct about who bears responsibility. “People masquerading as husbands, people I call silent predators,” he said. “They exploit the poverty of parents to gain access to their children.”

For Ben, the book is not an argument against marriage. It is an argument for sequencing. “You will get married if you want to, but no child should be denied education,” he said. “Because I know what education can do.”

The Girl Who Proved the Theory

Among the stories that shaped the book is that of a young woman he calls Esther, who went on to complete industrial training in southern Nigeria. Ben arranged and paid for her first-ever flight to Lagos. She had never left her home city before, let alone boarded a plane.

“The excitement on her face was unmistakable,” he recalled. “The possibilities that were unlocked said it all for me.”

Esther, now around 26, is one of several young people Ben has personally supported through school. “I’m never tired because I can see the results already,” he said.

Haven Consulting Services

That commitment eventually became an organization. Haven Consulting Services grew directly out of Ben’s experience with girls like Esther and provides support through carefully scheduled medical and educational outreaches. The organization currently supports seven individuals directly, covering tuition, schoolbooks, and bags so finances are no longer the reason a child is kept out of school. Because these outreaches require significant financial resources, Ben aims to organize them at least twice a year rather than maintain a constant outreach operation.

“I have seen girls who once worked as gas station attendants doing extremely well in school right now because they received external support,” Ben said.

A Father’s Watchful Eye

Books Before Brides and How a Chance Encounter at a Nigerian Gas Station Sparked a Movement to Protect Girls Body Image

Photo Courtesy: Prof. Benjamin Adejumo (Ben’s wife Jessica Nkechika Adejumo and daughter Jeanna Ibukunoluwa Adejumo at home in Nigeria; despite living and working in the U.S., his daily dedication as a father continues to anchor his advocacy for girls’ education and safety.)

Ben’s advocacy starts at home. His wife, Jessica Nkechika Adejumo, and their daughter, Jeanna Ibukunoluwa Adejumo, live in Nigeria while he works in the United States, a distance he said makes his involvement in his daughter’s life even more deliberate. “I talked to my daughter’s teacher just two days ago,” he said. “If you spend five hours with my daughter in school, I want to know what you are going to tell her. Don’t tell me about mathematics or her musical skills. I know that already. Is she kind? Is she friendly? Does she look happy?”

That kind of attentiveness, he said, is what he hopes other parents take from his example. “If you know better, you will do better,” he said. “It is my job to protect my child, to make sure she gets ready for life.” Jessica shares that same watchfulness at home. “That awareness does not stop at home; I also take it into my interactions with her school,” she said. Staying engaged and paying attention can help protect a child long before a crisis occurs.

What He Wants Readers to Take From It

Ben hopes readers walk away with three convictions: that there is no substitute for a girl’s education, that education is one of the most effective tools for breaking cycles of poverty, and that in communities where marriage is still treated as more urgent than school, that hierarchy needs to be reversed.

Asked to summarize the book in one line, his answer was immediate: “Go to school, get an education, and change your life.”

A Problem Beyond One Country

Child marriage is not a problem unique to Nigeria, Ben noted, pointing to similar realities in Southeast Asia and India. “It’s better to address it now and let the movement gain traction,” he said.

A Message for Communities, Men, and the Diaspora

Ben’s call to action extends well beyond parents. He wants community leaders in Nigeria to better understand what an educated girl can become for an entire generation, and he wants the Nigerian diaspora in the United States to invest their resources back home. He also has a direct message for men and boys: to see every girl and young woman as they would their own daughter or sister and to treat them with the same respect and care.

“If you imagine your own child being affected by a situation like this, personalizing the issue can change the way you respond to it,” he said.

Looking ahead, Ben wants to see counseling built directly into community programs, so girls have somewhere safe to speak up without shame, and real systems of accountability for those who cause harm.

Bringing the Book to Readers

Books Before Brides is published by Trinity Publishing Press, the imprint behind Ben’s catalog of purpose-driven titles. The e-book edition was created to reach readers in Nigeria and across the diaspora communities Ben hopes to mobilize.

His larger message, though, is one of possibility rather than despair. “A child with no special advantages can become somebody without knowing anybody,” he said. “Dreams do come true, regardless of your background or where you come from.”

Join the Mission for Change

Ben Adejumo’s work doesn’t stop at the final page. Readers can learn more about the principles of Books Before Brides by checking it out on Amazon. His library of articles on leadership and ethics, along with details on Haven Consulting Services’ work in protecting girls and restoring access to education, is available at benadejumo.com.

Time in a Bottle, Faith in a Song: The Storytelling Threads Connecting Eddy Mann and Jim Croce

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

Photo Credits: MTS Management Group

By: Nate Cross

Some songwriters seem determined to conquer the world. Others are more interested in understanding the people living in it.

Jim Crocebelonged unmistakably to the second group. So does Eddy Mann.

Separated by generations and different artistic missions, Croce and Mann nevertheless occupy neighboring territory in the great American singer-songwriter tradition. Both understand that a song doesn’t need to shout when a conversation will do. Both gravitate toward ordinary human experience. And both recognize that some of life’s largest questions become more powerful when expressed through small moments.

Jim Croce and the Art of Making Life Sound Like a Song

Croce’s recording career was tragically brief, but the songs he left behind have displayed extraordinary durability. “Time in a Bottle,” “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels),” “I Got a Name,” “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song,” and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” revealed a songwriter capable of moving effortlessly between tenderness, humor, character sketches, and melancholy.

His great gift was accessibility without shallowness.

“Operator” begins with something almost painfully mundane: a man trying to make a telephone call. Yet beneath that ordinary situation lies heartbreak, wounded pride, and the painful realization that a relationship has already disappeared.

“Time in a Bottle” takes an equally familiar human desire, the wish for more time with someone we love, and makes it feel eternal.

Croce didn’t need elaborate production to create those worlds. His voice, guitar, and eye for detail did most of the work.

That same preference for human-scale storytelling offers an interesting way into Eddy Mann’s music.

Eddy Mann’s Songs Point Somewhere Beyond the Story

Mann’s career has unfolded over decades rather than the handful of breakthrough years Croce was afforded. The Philadelphia-area singer-songwriter, musician, worship leader and minister has released an extensive catalog combining elements of folk, contemporary Christian music, worship and, increasingly, jazz.

His songs often begin where Croce’s did: with the realities of being human.

The difference is where Mann ultimately looks for the answer.

For Mann, songwriting and ministry have become inseparable. Faith isn’t merely a subject added to his music; it provides the lens through which he interprets love, hardship, uncertainty, mortality, and purpose.

That perspective is particularly evident on The Unveiling, his ambitious album inspired by the Book of Revelation.

Revelation might appear to be about as far from the intimate singer-songwriter tradition as imaginable. It contains visions of cosmic conflict, judgment, and eternity. Yet Mann approaches it with surprising intimacy.

Instead of concentrating on apocalypse, he searches for reassurance.

On “I Will Never Know the Desert Again,” Mann draws from Revelation’s promise of an end to hunger and thirst and turns it into something personal, a meditation on surviving life’s desert seasons and believing suffering isn’t permanent.

His single “We Are” takes another unconventional path. Inspired by Revelation 4:8b and 4:11, the song blends contemplative worship with sacred jazz and unfolds naturally in 5/4 time.

The lyric circles around an elemental idea: humanity is created with purpose.

Mann has also connected the song to his belief in brotherhood and sisterhood. Where contemporary culture often encourages people to identify themselves according to what separates them, Mann emphasizes the collective.

We.

Different Destinations, Similar Instincts

No one would mistake Jim Croce and Eddy Mann for the same kind of artist.

Croce emerged from the early-Seventies folk and singer-songwriter boom, transforming bars, highways, relationships and unforgettable characters into compact pieces of American storytelling.

Mann’s musical universe is explicitly Christian. Scripture, worship and ministry occupy spaces in his work that they did not in Croce’s.

Yet their songs share an important instinct: start with the human being.

Croce understood that loneliness could live inside a telephone conversation.

Mann understands that theology can live inside a personal struggle.

Croce could contemplate mortality by imagining time stored inside a bottle. Mann can approach eternity by imagining the day when the desert finally disappears.

Neither approach requires bombast.

That’s especially significant in Mann’s work. Contemporary worship can lean toward enormous production and equally enormous emotional crescendos. Mann frequently moves in the opposite direction, allowing the song to breathe.

It’s the old singer-songwriter principle: if the idea is strong enough, you don’t have to chase the listener.

Songs That Outlive the Moment

Perhaps the most poignant connection between these two songwriters involves time itself.

Croce died in a plane crash in 1973 at only 30 years old, just as his career was reaching extraordinary heights. The existence of “Time in a Bottle” consequently acquired an emotional resonance its writer could never have anticipated.

Mann has been granted the longer road.

After decades of recording and ministry, he still speaks about the future with curiosity rather than finality. His work continues to evolve, but his fundamental mission remains remarkably consistent: love one another.

Croce wrote about how quickly life disappears.

Mann writes about what might remain when it does.

Somewhere between those two perspectives lies one of songwriting’s oldest purposes.

A song captures something temporary, a conversation, a heartbreak, a prayer, a moment of revelation, and gives it another life.

Jim Croce mastered that art in remarkably little time.

Eddy Mann has spent decades pursuing it.

And both remind us that sometimes the shortest distance between one human heart and another is still nothing more complicated than a voice, a few chords, and something worth saying.

Where Mountains Meet Culture: Exploring the Spiritual Side of the Himalayas

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

The Himalayas are often introduced through numbers: the world’s highest peaks, dramatic altitudes, challenging trekking routes, and adventures such as the Everest Base Camp Trek. But beyond the photographs, the mountains reveal another story shaped by faith, culture, community, and centuries-old traditions.

Across Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan, mountain life is closely connected with spirituality. Prayer flags move above villages, monasteries sit beneath enormous peaks, and ancient traditions continue to influence everyday life. Yet the Himalayas are not culturally or religiously uniform. Each region has its own people, languages, beliefs, architecture, food, festivals, and way of life. For many travelers, experiencing these traditions becomes as memorable as reaching a famous viewpoint.

Nepal: Where Many Cultures Meet

Nepal is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the Himalayas. Hinduism and Buddhism have shaped much of its history, while many communities also preserve indigenous traditions connected with nature, ancestors, and local beliefs.

This diversity is visible throughout trekking regions. A mountain journey may pass Hindu temples, Buddhist monasteries, prayer walls, traditional villages, and terraced fields. Trekking in Nepal is therefore not only a physical journey but also a journey through a changing cultural landscape.

The Everest Region and Sherpa Culture

The Everest region is internationally famous for Mount Everest, but the cultural identity of the Khumbu is equally important. The region is traditionally home to Sherpa communities whose culture has been strongly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism.

Monasteries, prayer wheels, chortens, mani stones, and colorful prayer flags are common features of the landscape. Tengboche Monastery, located along the traditional route to Everest Base Camp, is one of the region’s best-known cultural landmarks.

For trekkers following the Everest Base Camp Trek, reaching Tengboche adds a cultural dimension to the mountain journey. The trail passes through forests and enormous peaks into a landscape where religion and daily life remain closely connected.

Sherpa culture should not be reduced to mountaineering. Language, Buddhist traditions, festivals, architecture, food, family life, and village communities are equally important. The mountains are not simply an adventure destination; they are home.

Manaslu: Side of Himalayan Life

Photo Courtesy: Outshine Adventure

The Manaslu region offers another perspective on Nepal’s mountain culture. Compared with some established trekking destinations, it can feel quieter and more remote. As the trail climbs deeper into the mountains, villages become more isolated and Tibetan Buddhist influences become increasingly visible.

The Manaslu Circuit Trek passes mountain villages, forests, suspension bridges, terraced hillsides, monasteries, chortens, mani walls, and high passes. Cultural experiences here are closely connected to the environment.

Mountain homes reflect local traditions and climate, while prayer flags mark important places along the trail. Communities have adapted their lives around agriculture, livestock, trade, tourism, and seasonal conditions. Walking through these villages provides insight into a way of life very different from Nepal’s cities.

Annapurna:

The Annapurna region provides one of the clearest examples of Nepal’s cultural diversity. Trails pass through communities with different ethnic backgrounds, languages, traditions, architecture, and religious practices.

Lower areas may feature Hindu temples and villages surrounded by terraced farmland, while higher communities show stronger Tibetan Buddhist influences.

The Annapurna Base Camp Trek is therefore more than a route toward a spectacular mountain sanctuary. Walking through villages, meeting local people, staying in family-run teahouses, and observing traditional lifestyles shows how communities have adapted to the geography of Annapurna.

The mountains may bring travelers here, but the people often become the reason they remember the journey.

Buddhism in the High Himalayas

Buddhism has played a major role in shaping many Himalayan communities. Monasteries and gompas are not simply historic buildings; in many villages, they remain active religious and community spaces.

Prayer wheels, mani walls, stupas, chortens, and prayer flags are part of everyday life. For visitors unfamiliar with Himalayan Buddhist traditions, their meaning may not always be obvious. A knowledgeable local guide can provide useful cultural context.

A prayer wheel is more than a colorful object beside a trail, while a monastery is more than an architectural attraction. Religious practices connect with ideas of compassion, protection, karma, and spiritual well-being.

Responsible cultural travel means more than photographing religious sites. Understanding their meaning helps travelers appreciate why these places remain important to local communities.

Tibet: Culture on the High Plateau

Across the Himalayan border, Tibet offers a very different landscape but shares important cultural connections with the high mountain regions of Nepal.

The Tibetan Plateau stretches across vast distances, with high-altitude settlements, monasteries, ancient religious traditions, and dramatic mountain landscapes.

Tibetan Buddhist culture has deeply influenced the region’s architecture, art, festivals, literature, and religious practices.

Travelers taking a Tibet Tour may encounter enormous monasteries, traditional settlements, prayer wheels, incense, murals, religious sculptures, and pilgrims moving through sacred spaces.

Yet the experience is not only about religion.

Tibetan culture is also reflected in food, clothing, music, language, nomadic traditions, family life, and the relationship between communities and the high-altitude environment.

The landscape itself plays an important cultural role.

Mountains, lakes, rivers, and valleys are often viewed through spiritual as well as geographical perspectives. For visitors, this creates an experience where culture and landscape are difficult to separate.

Why Nepal Can Feel Connected to Tibet

Travelers moving through northern Himalayan regions of Nepal may notice similarities with Tibet. Centuries of trade, migration, religious connections, and cultural exchange helped spread Tibetan Buddhist traditions through many northern communities.

This shared heritage appears in monasteries, religious art, architecture, prayer flags, mani stones, and traditional practices.

However, Nepal and Tibet are not identical destinations. Nepal has a highly diverse religious landscape where Hinduism, Buddhism, and indigenous traditions coexist, while Tibet has its own distinctive cultural identity shaped by its history and geography. Their similarities create a connection, while their differences make each destination unique.

Bhutan: Where Tradition Remains Part of Everyday Life

Further east, Bhutan presents another expression of Himalayan culture. The country is known for Buddhist heritage, dramatic valleys, monasteries, dzongs, traditional architecture, and cultural preservation.

A Bhutan Tour can take travelers through landscapes where religion and traditional architecture remain closely connected with everyday life. Dzongs, fortress-like structures combining administrative and religious functions, are among Bhutan’s most distinctive landmarks.

Bhutanese culture also includes traditional dress, local food, festivals, village architecture, farming practices, music, and family traditions. One striking aspect for travelers is that culture is not presented only for visitors; it remains part of everyday life.

Festivals, Faith, and Community

Festivals bring Himalayan culture to life. Religious celebrations, masked dances, community gatherings, seasonal festivals, and local ceremonies can transform villages and monasteries into lively centers of activity.

Buddhist festivals may involve prayers, traditional music, ceremonial dances, and religious rituals. Elsewhere in Nepal, Hindu festivals and indigenous traditions add another layer to the country’s cultural diversity.

Bhutan is also known for religious festivals, particularly traditional masked dances performed at dzongs and monasteries. Experiencing these celebrations respectfully can provide insight into traditions preserved across generations.

From Trekking Routes to Cultural Journeys

One of the great strengths of Himalayan travel is the ability to combine adventure and culture.

A traveler may begin the morning walking through a forest, spend the afternoon crossing a suspension bridge, pass a centuries-old monastery, and end the day in a mountain village sharing dinner with local hosts.

The physical journey and the cultural journey happen at the same time.

That is what makes trekking routes such as Everest, Manaslu, and Annapurna so much more than hiking trails.

They are routes through living communities.

Likewise, travel through Tibet and Bhutan can combine dramatic landscapes with encounters with religious traditions, architecture, food, festivals, and local ways of life.

Experiencing the Himalayas With Local Knowledge

For travelers coming from Europe, Latin America, or elsewhere, understanding the cultural side of the Himalayas can sometimes be difficult without local context.

Experienced local tour operators can add value by providing communication and cultural knowledge. A company such as Viajes a Nepal can help Spanish-speaking travelers explore Nepal and the wider Himalayan region through trekking and cultural experiences.

Whether the goal is reaching a Himalayan base camp, exploring remote communities, discovering Buddhist heritage, or extending a journey toward Tibet or Bhutan, local expertise can help travelers experience more than the standard tourist route.

The difference can be simple but important: understanding not only where you are, but why the place matters.

The Himalayas Are a Cultural Journey, Too

The Himalayas are often described as the roof of the world. But they are also a meeting place of cultures.

From Sherpa communities in the Everest region to Tibetan-influenced villages of Manaslu, from the diverse communities of Annapurna to the high plateau of Tibet and the preserved traditions of Bhutan, every part of the Himalayas tells a different story.

Religion is woven into many of those stories, but so are family, food, language, farming, trade, festivals, architecture, and everyday mountain life.

For travelers, this creates an opportunity to experience something deeper than scenery. The mountains may first attract people to the Himalayas, but culture is often what makes them want to return.

From Childcare Provider to Community Leader: Dr. DeShonda Jennings’ Work with Children and Families

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

For Dr. DeShonda Jennings, childcare has never been simply a profession. It has been a calling rooted in service, family, education, and a deep desire to help children reach their full potential.

With more than 25 years of experience in early childhood education, Dr. Jennings has grown from a childcare provider into an author, speaker, coach, media host, and respected advocate for parents and childcare professionals. Her journey reflects what can happen when personal experience, professional knowledge, and a clear sense of purpose come together.

As a mother of seven, Dr. Jennings understands the challenges families face while trying to provide children with safe, loving, and supportive environments. Her experience as both a parent and childcare professional has helped her see the industry from several sides. She understands the needs of children, the concerns of parents, and the responsibilities carried by childcare providers each day.

In 2007, Dr. Jennings founded DJ Shining Stars Daycare in response to the growing need for quality childcare within her community. What began as a way to support local families became the foundation for a much larger mission.

Over the years, she gained firsthand knowledge of what it takes to operate a childcare program, serve families, manage daily responsibilities, and maintain a strong educational environment. She also saw that many childcare professionals needed more than training. They needed encouragement, business support, practical resources, and a community that understood their experiences.

That realization led Dr. Jennings to expand her work beyond her own childcare program. Today, she helps daycare owners and childcare professionals build businesses that are both purpose-driven and profitable. Through coaching, speaking, books, and educational programs, she teaches others how to improve their operations while continuing to provide high-quality care.

Her work is centered on the belief that childcare professionals should be valued not only for the care they provide but also for their leadership, knowledge, and impact on the next generation.

Dr. Jennings is also the founder of the Childcare & Family Legacy Conference and Awards Ceremony, an annual event created to educate, connect, celebrate, and recognize the people who help shape the lives of children.

The conference brings together parents, childcare providers, educators, teachers, mentors, nonprofit leaders, vendors, and community advocates. Attendees receive practical strategies, build meaningful partnerships, and celebrate individuals who are making a difference in childcare, education, and family development.

The awards ceremony is especially meaningful to Dr. Jennings because so much of the work performed by parents, teachers, and childcare professionals happens without public recognition. Through this event, she provides a platform where their service, commitment, and leadership can be honored.

The 2nd Annual Childcare & Family Legacy Conference and Awards Ceremony will take place September 25–26, 2026, in Richmond, Virginia. The event represents another important step in Dr. Jennings’ continuing mission to strengthen the village surrounding every child.

Her influence also extends into media through The DeJour Village Show, where she leads conversations about parenting, entrepreneurship, community development, and the importance of working together. The platform gives guests an opportunity to share helpful information, personal experiences, and solutions that can support families and business owners.

As an author and speaker, Dr. Jennings continues to use her voice to educate and encourage others. She understands that building a lasting legacy requires more than personal success. It requires sharing knowledge, opening doors, recognizing others, and creating opportunities that can continue for future generations.

Her journey from operating a home-based childcare program to leading a growing community of parents, educators, and professionals demonstrates the power of staying committed to a purpose. Every part of her work connects to one central goal: helping children succeed by strengthening the adults and organizations responsible for supporting them.

Dr. DeShonda Jennings is not only caring for children. She is helping to shape the future of childcare, strengthen families, develop leaders, and build a legacy that will continue to serve communities for years to come.

To learn more about Dr. DeShonda Jennings and the Childcare & Family Legacy Conference, visit childcareconference.org.

American Casting and Manufacturing on the Evolution of Utility Infrastructure Security

NY Weekly Staff on September 20, 2026

Utility meters and infrastructure access points have always needed a way to show if someone tampered with them. Over the decades, the methods used to protect this equipment have changed as much as the threats themselves. Security seal design has moved from simple wire and lead closures to engineered plastic and metal systems built for specific failure points.

Utility companies today face a wider range of tampering attempts than in past generations, from meter bypass schemes to unauthorized access at substations and storage facilities. Looking at how seal manufacturing has evolved offers useful context for understanding what actually works in the field. The lessons come from decades of real-world use, not just laboratory testing.

What Has Over 100 Years Of Seal Manufacturing Taught The Industry About Utility Security?

Seal manufacturing has taught the industry that security depends on matching the right seal design to the specific point of vulnerability, not on using a single universal product. American Casting and Manufacturing has been manufacturing since 1910, and that long history includes direct exposure to how tampering methods change over time. As a fourth-generation, family-owned security seals manufacturer, the company has adjusted seal construction repeatedly in response to new tampering techniques observed by utility customers and other clients in regulated industries.

The second lesson involves the value of independent testing and documented standards. American Casting and Manufacturing holds ISO 9001:2015 certification for its quality management system and produces seals that meet ISO 17712 requirements for high security applications. These standards give utility companies a way to compare seal strength using consistent, third-party verified criteria rather than manufacturer claims alone. This matters because utility infrastructure often falls under regulatory scrutiny that requires documented proof of tamper-evidence measures.

A third lesson is that manufacturing control affects reliability. American Casting and Manufacturing operates a single facility in Plainview, New York, where raw materials, production, warehousing, and shipping all happen under one roof. This structure allows the company to maintain consistent quality across large seal orders, which matters for utility providers managing thousands of meters across a service territory.

Tampering Methods Have Changed Faster Than Many Utility Programs Realize

Early utility seals relied mostly on soft metal wire closures that were simple to apply but also simple to defeat with basic tools. Over time, tampering techniques became more sophisticated, including methods to reseal a closure so it appeared untouched. This forced seal manufacturers to design products with more visible tamper indicators built into the material itself.

Modern tampering attempts often target the seal’s locking mechanism directly rather than trying to cut through the body. Some bypass attempts involve heat, solvents, or precision tools meant to separate the seal without breaking it. In response, bolt seals were developed with hardened steel pins and locking bodies that resist these more targeted attack methods, making them a common choice for utility infrastructure points that need a higher strength barrier than standard plastic seals provide.

Utility providers also face tampering attempts that exploit gaps in inspection routines rather than the seal itself. A seal that shows clear tamper evidence is only useful if field staff are trained to check for it consistently. This is why seal design has increasingly focused on making tamper indicators obvious even to someone doing a quick visual inspection during a routine service call.

Serialization And Barcoding Changed How Utilities Track Their Assets

One of the biggest shifts in seal manufacturing has been the move toward serialized and barcoded seals for asset tracking. Utility companies managing large numbers of meters and access points need a way to verify which seal was applied where and when. Sequential numbering and barcodes give field teams and auditors a paper trail that basic unmarked seals never provide.

This shift also changed how utility companies handle chain of custody documentation. When a seal number is logged at installation and checked again at inspection, any mismatch signals a potential problem immediately. Custom printing options, including logos, numbering, and barcodes, allow utility providers to build tracking systems that fit their existing inventory processes rather than adapting to a generic product.

Trailer seals used in transportation and logistics settings faced similar tracking demands as cargo theft prevention became more data-driven. Trailer seals built for the trucking and tanker industry now commonly include serialization features originally developed for high-volume tracking needs, showing how improvements in one sector of seal manufacturing tend to carry over into others facing comparable security challenges.

Field Conditions Shape Seal Material Selection More Than Marketing Claims Do

Utility infrastructure is often located outdoors, exposed to weather extremes, corrosion, and physical wear that laboratory testing cannot fully replicate. Seal materials that perform well in a controlled test environment do not always hold up the same way after months of exposure to heat, cold, or moisture. This is one reason manufacturing history matters when evaluating which seal to use for a specific application.

Plastic seals offer flexibility and lower cost for lower-risk applications, while metal cable and strap seals provide additional strength for higher-risk access points. The right choice depends on factors like exposure conditions, required strength level, and whether the application calls for a high security classification under ISO 17712. American Casting and Manufacturing, a security seals manufacturer with decades of field data, can offer guidance based on how materials actually perform, not just how they test in a lab setting.

Utility providers benefit from working with a manufacturer that manages customer service with a personal touch and can deliver custom orders, rush orders, and drop shipments quickly. Because tampering methods and field conditions vary by region and application, matching the seal to the actual risk profile requires input based on real-world manufacturing experience. This kind of guidance tends to reduce costly mistakes from selecting a seal that looks adequate on paper but underperforms in the field.

What This History Means For Utility Security Programs Going Forward

The pattern across a century of seal manufacturing is clear. Tampering methods evolve, testing standards get more rigorous, and tracking technology becomes more integrated into daily operations. Utility security programs that treat seal selection as a one-time decision tend to fall behind as new tampering techniques emerge. Programs that revisit their seal choices periodically, based on updated field data, tend to stay ahead of the threats they are meant to prevent.

Looking forward, utility infrastructure will likely continue to see more emphasis on serialization, material durability, and documented compliance with recognized standards. Manufacturers with a long operating history and a track record of adjusting to new tampering methods are positioned to support that shift. Utility providers evaluating their current sealing programs may find it useful to compare their existing practices against these longer term industry patterns.

About American Casting & Manufacturing

American Casting and Manufacturing has been producing security seals since 1910 and has operated as a fourth-generation family-owned business since its incorporation in 1916. The company manufactures its full product line at a single facility in Plainview, New York, is ISO 9001:2015 certified, and produces seals that meet ISO 17712 requirements for high-security applications. Those with questions about utility sealing programs can contact the AC&M team or call toll-free at (800) 342-0333.

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