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Bern Nadette Stanis (Thelma of Good Times) to Highlight Cultural Extravaganza at Limestone

Bern Nadette Stanis

Bern Nadette Stanis, perhaps best known as Thelma on the wildly popular television series Good Times, will highlight the Cultural Extravaganza program at Limestone College on Sunday, February 28 in Fullerton Auditorium. The event, which is free and open to the public, will run from 4-6 p.m. It is sponsored by the Cherokee County Branch of the NAACP, Communities in Schools and the Lambda Rho Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

During her appearance, Stanis will speak about the culture and social consciousness of Good Times and its relevance in the African American community. "I think that unless we as Americans understand and learn about our collective history "the good, the bad and the ugly" only then can we understand our past however painful it may seem at times to positively move mankind forward," says Teresa Morrow, Executive Director of the Communities in Schools of County Cherokee.

Included in the program will be

  • An address about the importance of culture by University of Texas Professor Dr. Frederick Williams
  • A book signing by U.S. Army journalist Rhonda M. Lawson, author of A Dead Rose
  • Local citizens being honored for their community service and commitment to area youth
  • Art displays from Alma Elementary School students and local artists
  • Performances by The All Male Chorus of Blacksburg and local dancers
  • Slave narratives read by local youth
  • A sneak peek reading from the forthcoming autobiography of Dr. J.W. Sanders Sr., who was named to the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame in 2005

While Stanis captured the hearts and minds of many during the 1970s sitcom, she is back with a vengeance in her quest to quell apparent self-esteem issues and insecurities within the youth generation.  Today, she travels the world promoting her book, Situations 101: Relationships The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and her poetry book, For Men Only.

Stanis says that she was "astonished by the everyday questions and persistent dogmatic relationship environment that many families, friends and women in general endure and sadly see as 'the norm.'"  This realization led her to proactively seek a forum to reach out and stop the cycle of perpetually justifying reasons to remain in difficult relationships.