Maynard-Reid's 2023 Annual Letter

 

January 1, 2024    

 

397 SE Highland Park Dr

College Place, WA 99324

Dear Friends and Family

Here is the 2023 edition of our annual letter:

 
January:

Vie, Natasha and family began the New Year in Zimbabwe with the Pemba side of the family. The 30-hour trip home made them wish for another vacation of rest.

You may remember from last year’s letter that Pedrito had to leave Zimbabwe early to get to his teaching stint in Florida at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies. A highlight of this week of intensive teaching “Cross Cultural Perspectives on Worship” was his dramatic scripture reading from the Jamaican New Testament (in patois, of course) for a chapel session.

 

 

Since we were gone for the Christmas break, our holiday celebration with Lorraine had to be postponed to January. What a blast with loads of Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Three Kings Day presents.

 

 

 

 Walla Walla University annually joins with our sister College (Whitman) across town for Martin Luther King’s celebration and march. Pedrito was invited to give a mini speech. He was headlined in the local newspaper, The Union Bulletin.

 

 

 

We were so happy that Vie was able to participate in the Family Expo Fair in Tri-Cities where she could promote Real Time Pain Relief products. You will find a link to her products here.

 

The first Black Adventist Student Association Leadership Summit was held at Loma Linda University.Black Club leaders from Walla Walla, Pacific Union, La Sierra, and Loma Linda and sponsors were in attendance. Pedrito has been the sponsor for WWU Black Student Christian Fellowship for about 25 years.

A couple days later he spent two days with the planning committee for the 2023 Pastoral Evangelistic Leadership Council. They met in Long Beach, California, only a few blocks from his sister Audrey's house. Audrey and daughter Ruth-Anne, along with our cousin Liz, her family, and friends, took the opportunity to celebrate the Chinese New Year with Jamaican and Chinese cuisine.

 

On the Maynard-Zhang side, this year involved a great deal of travel for work for pedrito ii (pedrito ii uses lowercase for his name as a humility and human solidarity practice). It started with a trip to Albuquerque, NM, to kick off a study with a coalition of researchers and Indigenous communities to better understand Indigenous students’ and their communities’ interest in and access to computer science education. Margaret continued to work on artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), 3D modeling and fashion design throughout the year. Their eldest child and our first grandchild, Jasper, led a capstone team in designing and building thread4thread, a clothing exchange online application for Seattle's trans+ community. This resulted in winning the IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Sovereignty) award in June. Leo, our second grandchild, turned 19.

February:

Walla Walla University kicked off Black History Month with one of the best Sabbath celebrations: Claudia Allen speaking; Benji Young and Wayne Bucknor, guest musicians from Oakwood University; Portland Adventist Academy Gospel Choir, WWU Berean Gospel Choir, among other musical guests; and Pedrito at the Casavant pipe organ. View the video on YouTube.

 

 

 

Black History Month included a number of new and interesting activities and events. One amusing one was the launching of a Drink of the Month by the Black student club (BSCF) called “Pedrito’s Punch.” You can view the video promo on Instagram.

 

 

Vie took a well-deserved 3-week vacation to go and visit the Maynard-Pemba/Pemba grandkids in Florida. But if you know Vie, you know she can’t sit still. She and Natasha spent many hours on various house and yard projects, including cutting down trees! Natasha attended the Link to Pink cancer survivor celebration put on by UF gymnastics. It was fun to be a part of this again.

March:

This year the university made exceptional efforts to reach non-dominant cultures and recruit their college-eligible students. One such effort was at Mt. Tahoma Church near Seattle. Pedrito was the guest preacher and recruiter. He and Vie took the opportunity to spend some time with pedrito ii and family.

 

 

 

 

A highlight of March was having Mitchel Bryce (ShelleyB) visit us. It was 30 years to the day that she left Walla Walla to return to Jamaica with an engineering degree. While here in the early 1990s she had no time for travel. So, for the two weeks she was here, we took her to as many places as possible: around Walla Walla, Seattle, Rosario, and ferrying to the San Juan Islands. We had a glorious time.

 

 

pedrito ii traveled to New Orleans, LA, to participate in an Advisory Board convening to advise on the forthcoming revision to the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science A exam.

 

Natasha and Dalitso went to Legoland and the Florida Aquarium for Dalitso’s second week of spring break.  This was her final year at her year-round school for which they receive two weeks of spring break.  Evans traveled to Zambia on an audiology humanitarian trip where he conducted free hearing assessments for those in need.

April:

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) was held in Baltimore, MD, this year. Many of the sessions were challenging and inspiring in these difficult times. And, there were many great presentations and connections. Pedrito was delighted to get an autograph and photo with Ijeoma Oluo (author of the best-seller So You Want to Talk About Race), one of the plenary

presenters. At the end of the conference he overnighted with Mayra del Villar-Malcolm and family. Delightful!

 

 

 

Pedrito got the opportunity to go to New York to represent Walla Walla University at the Central Islip SDA church on a Sabbath morning, and at the Wayne Johnson Reunion concert at the Goshen Temple in Brooklyn in the evening. A highlight of the trip was getting to spend time with his brothers.  Such times are always filled with energy and joy.

pedrito ii co-presented with his colleague Chen Chen at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in Chicago on their work “In-school and/or out-of-school computer science learning influence on CS career interests, mediated by having role-models” (now published in the Computer Science Education Journal). He also got to hear Dr. Cornel West give the plenary address.

May:

pedrito ii and family came for Mother’s Day weekend and the annual Walla Walla Balloon Stampede.

The annual Regional Convocation (NPUC Black Camp Meeting) was held at Mt. Tahoma Church in Tacoma, WA. Pedrito taught the Sabbath school lesson, and was the emcee of the evening concert. We stayed with the Maynard-Zhang's while in Seattle.

 

 

 

Vie and Pedrito made their annual trek to southern Oregon, where Pedrito represented WWU at Milo Adventist Academy and gave out almost half a million $$ in scholarships.

 

 

Dalitso graduated from 5th grade and went on her safety patrol trip to Washington D.C.  

 

 Evans opened up his own audiology practice, Ocala Hears, in Ocala, FL.

June:

 

 Vie’s birthday weekend was a full one with Lorraine coming up from Portland, BSCF (Black Student Christian Forum) end-of-year BBQ, and the Black Faculty and Staff Fellowship potluck celebration in our backyard.

 

 

Pedrito, as a board member of the Walla Walla Symphony, was elected to serve on the search committee for a new music director. Yaacov Bergman, who served for 36 years retired and also sadly passed away. The search committee process to replace Dr. Bergman was extremely extensive and thorough, narrowing down from over 130+ candidates to 6. The season, which began in October, will have each candidate conducting a concert. Exciting!

 

 

Jasper graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Informatics (data science) and a minor in French. What a glorious time for all of us to celebrate their amazing accomplishment. The graduation was huge – 5,500 graduates! We were all so proud. Natasha and her daughters flew up for the graduation. They first drove to WW to spend a couple days, and then we all drove to Seattle to attend and celebrate.

 

We returned the same day to be present at WWU’s graduation. Two hours later, Pedrito was on a flight to Andrews University for a summit of Senior Diversity Officers in Higher Education in the North American Division. Many thanks to Margaret and Kevin Brown who opened their home for him to crash that night.

Later that week we welcomed our 2 cousins, Joy Bryan from Barbados (who just headed to Tanzania on a diplomatic assignment) and Joneen Wilson from California. We had a blast!

 

 

 

The next day Pedrito was on his way to Florida for his June intensive teaching at IWS in Jacksonville. He took time to stop by to see his dear friends, Angel and Francis Hernandez, who had recently moved from Pacific Union College to the Orlando area. We had a great time together, including shopping at the huge Caribbean Supercenter.

The week of intensives at the Worship Institute was exhilarating, with a great and engaging cohort of graduate students. A highlight was Pedrito leading the entire school in a march/dance processional from the cafeteria to the church singing “Siyahamba” (Marching in the Light of God), to begin Chapel that Friday. Memorable.

 

Natasha took her psychology doctoral interns on a capstone immersion trip to Jamaica for the 4th year.

 

 

 

Vie came down to Gainesville to stay with the Maynard-Pemba/Pemba family and play with Grandma. On her way there she swung by Jacksonville to spend a day with Pedrito and to meet his colleagues and students.

pedrito ii attended the Jobs for the Future (JFF) conference in New Orleans, LA, where his team announced the new Gallup-Amazon Careers of the Future Index and report. The following week, he attended the Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) in Atlanta, GA.

July:

We only had one day together in Walla Walla when we returned from our separate adventures in Florida, before Pedrito was off to Asia for his research trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It was a super successful trip where he got some very valuable material for his research on Asian worship. There were many highlights of the trip which you can read in Pedrito’s blog (see link at the end of this letter). But we must make special mention of meeting the foremost ethnomusicologist in Asia, Dr. I-to Loh, in Taiwan; and the absolutely delightful visit to Singapore with IWS student Rev. Daphne Lau as Pedrito’s host.

We were delighted to see that Pedrito’s new contract for his administrative position had him move up in rank to Senior Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion.

 

Natasha, Mayamiko and Dalitso spent a couple days at Disney to end the summer before school. 

 

Mayamiko also earned her driver’s permit!

 

 

 

August:

Vie and Pedrito were invited by Margaret (Johnston) Brown (and her husband Kevin, and son Sam), to join them in a birthday trip to Jamaica. Also on the trip were Beth Johnston Taylor and her husband Lyndon. Fifty years ago Pedrito called them daughters and they called him father, and have ever since. We took them to places where the tourists usually visit, like Dunn’s River Falls, Green Grotto Caves, and rafting down the Martha Brae river. But we also took them to places most tourists never see: like going to Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville via the center of the island through Brown’s Town and Spaulding; to Pedrito’s

childhood church, Rollington Town in eastern Kingston (and all through downtown Kingston and uptown St. Andrew); Port Royal; St Ann’s Bay street market; and meals in Jamaican friends’ homes: Erma and Pops Hutton, and Yvonne (Vie’s sister) and Dave Higgins. We had a blast eating all the tropical fruits and enjoying the culture and staying at Bahia Principe resort in Runaway Bay.

Pedrito received news from the publisher of his book Diverse Worship: African American, Caribbean, and Hispanic Perspectives (InterVarsity Press), that they have contracted for publication by Faithlife as part of their Bible software (Logos). This means that they will convert the digital text of the book into their proprietary format to sell to customers who use their software, which usually includes different types of features that make searching text easier for students, preachers, and others who use the software. 

This was our 20^th year for the Thailand Mission and Cultural Trip. We had a smaller team, with only seven of us. It was a delight to have Deanna Ludwig-Bos again as my co-leader. And what a delight to have ShelleyB coming from Jamaica to join the team.

 

 

 

pedrito ii turned 50. In celebration, for his annual motorcycle trip, this year he enjoyed a fantastic 2.5- week trip exploring New Mexico (photo blog). The many highlights included experiencing White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Meow Wolf, and especially participating in the Pueblo of Acoma’s Feast Day.

 

Dalitso started middle school and joined the rowing team in town.  Mayamiko started 10th grade and started playing soccer again. She also got to go on a 4-day cruise with her best friend.  Dalitso continues to enjoy drawing, conjuring up new creations every day.  

 

 

 Natasha was elected to the National Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers board.  She traveled to D.C. for their annual board meeting and to attend the APA Convention where she got to see many old friends, former professors, students, interns, and coworkers.

 

September:

 

Natasha’s training director peers nominated her for the organization's highest honor, the Helen Roehlke Award. The Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies (ACCTA) has been her professional home for 15 years.

 

Walla Walla Symphony's performance of The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns for Walla Walla Public Schools elementary students, was released with Pedrito narrating. You can find the recording on the Symphony’s website.  You might remember that last year he did the narration for the story of “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev.

Pedrito flew to Portland every Sunday to teach Christian Ethics at WWU’s School of Nursing campus.  He loves the journey, the students and faculty, and challenging young minds with new ways of ethical thinking.

pedrito ii flew to Albuquerque again to participate in a second convening with the Indigenous Students CS Study coalition. Also, his team worked with Gallup to publish another study, this time on how much role models matter for young people as they pursue careers of the future. Also, after ~80k miles together, he traded in his beloved 2014 Yamaha V-Star 950 motorcycle for a 2023 Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic.

 

Jasper started a new job at West Monroe in Seattle as a Data Engineering & Analytics Consultant. They also turned 22.

 

Leo started his Junior year of college. He transferred to the University of Washington this year where he was accepted into the Paul Allen School of Computer Science and continues to excel in his studies.

October:

Both the vegetable and flower gardens did very well this year. We would have reaped an abundance of Jamaican pumpkins had it not been for a surprise frost. But we picked the sorrel before that onset. We got an abundance of red peas (kidney beans); and made gallons upon gallons of apple juice and grape juices. We share much of our produce with the homeless shelter and the food bank. For our annual apple juicing weekend, the Maynard-Zhangs came down from Seattle, and Lorraine came up from Portland. Pedrito’s cousin Joy Bryan also joined us, as well as our dear friend, Toma Selfa. It was an exciting weekend!

At the end of the month Pedrito was invited by the Belvedere SDA Church in Atlanta, GA, to lead the congregation in worship, both as organist/song director and preacher. It was a high day in Zion! They recaptured the old West Indies College worship services. He was delighted to see his cousin Trevolyn and her husband, and dear friend Dahlia Pottinger. His host, Heather Edwards, was unforgettable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

pedrito ii represented Amazon at the National Native American Hall of Fame (NNAHOF) Gala at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. He also took the opportunity to visit with some leaders from Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah who are doing bar-setting work on Cherokee language revitalization. A week later, he attended the CSforAll conference in Oakland, CA. He also took the opportunity to get in some Pi Gua Zhang kung fu training while there.

November:

The annual meetings for the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS) was held in San Antonio. Pedrito always has a wonderful time with his roommates of many years, Gerald Wheeler and Ernie Furness. He is also so happy to see and converse with Olive Hemmings, and to go with Cyndy Dinwiddie and Matthew Epp to a Caribbean restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 For thanksgiving, we invited Lorraine to Walla Walla to celebrate both Thanksgiving and her 60^th birthday a few days early. We had a fantastic time.

 

 

pedrito ii co-presented with his colleague Hilah Barbot at Code.org’s CSEdCon conference in Las Vegas, NV; they gave a plenary presentation about the cool programmatic and research investments their organization Amazon Future Engineer is making to support pathways to careers of the future for all students – particularly those from underserved and underrepresented groups. They also took in the incredible Cirque du Soleil show “O”.

 

Margaret attended Google ML Community Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

 

 

Jasper wrote 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). They will release this novel, an LGBTQ fantasy fiction, in 2024.

December:

Pedrito and two of his Theology students and advisees, Curtis Morris and Almonds Sebirokwa, made the trek down to Oakwood University to the Pastoral Evangelism Leadership Council (PELC). Over 1000 pastors, Bible Workers, and religious leaders gathered for worship and learning. And did we full-throated-worship!

 

 

The Maynard-Zhang family went to the awesome “MJ the Musical” show together.

 

Our 1965 Blue Bug still runs; BUT, the 1995 Avalon (which we bought with 10 miles on it) made history! 400,000 miles (without any major mechanical issues)!

 

We topped off the year with Vie completing one of her bucket-list items: To visit all seven continents of the world. What a wonderful time we had with Pedrito’s former student and our dear friend, Rachel Davies, in Melbourne, Australia. Seeing kangaroos, koala bears, and cockatoo birds in the wild; visiting botanical gardens; and celebrating a warm Aussie Christmas, was a feast for the soul.

 

 

 

 

But there was one more topper! pedrito ii was featured in the centerfold of the WWU School of Engineering’s Innovo magazine, under the section, “Careers of Distinction.” He was portrayed as an alum who “has honed soft skills and pursued value-aligned career.”

Well, that’s it for life at the Maynard-Reid’s (and Maynard-Zhang and Maynard-Pemba/Pemba families) for the last 12 months. Thanks for your love and prayers. If you wish to see numerous photos of this year’s events, please visit our photo site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143715478@N06/albums/  and visit Pedrito’s blog as well:  http://blessingsfrompedrito.blogspot.com/.

We would love to hear from all of you, so drop us a line at pedrito@wallawalla.edu or violet.maynard-reid@wallawalla.edu or “friend” us on Facebook.

Blessings

Vie and Pedrito

 

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