{"id":527,"date":"2002-01-01T08:39:43","date_gmt":"2002-01-01T08:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ricardocrooks.com\/?p=527"},"modified":"2019-12-08T22:10:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T22:10:23","slug":"american-like-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ricardocrooks.com\/american-like-me\/","title":{"rendered":"American Like Me"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row top_margin=”0″ bottom_margin=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1574150573347{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-right: 25px !important;padding-left: 25px !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”10″ accent_color=”#c06f6b” el_class=”brdr-lne” el_id=”main-sep”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row top_margin=”0″ bottom_margin=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1574345330110{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_hidden-lg vc_hidden-md”][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”10″ accent_color=”#c06f6b” el_class=”mbl-sprtr” css=”.vc_custom_1574345251396{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1572094724860{padding-right: 25px !important;padding-left: 25px !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_custom_heading text=”Whatever your life\u2019s work is, do it so well that you become the best at what you do!” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:44px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1572891888268{padding-top: 35px !important;}”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n
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Harold Crooks<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

My father paraphrased that statement from Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cThe Street Sweeper\u201d speech. He lived by those words, lead by example, and taught me to reach for the stars \u2014 that I could be anything I wanted to be!<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The adventures of a military brat.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Where you go, we will go. Where you stay, we will stay. \u2014 Anniebelle Sue-Helen Machen Crooks<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

My parents were inseparable, like peanut butter and jelly. Our family followed my father wherever his career led\u00a0him or sometimes forced him to go.<\/p>\n

My father was in the U.S. Air Force, and like most military families, we were always in the process of relocating. I guess that\u2019s why to this day I feel most at home while traveling, living out of a suitcase.<\/p>\n

I was born in Mobile, Alabama, but raised abroad. I spent my formative years growing up in Okinawa and Japan, and my teenage years in England. We moved back to the States when I was 17, and continued traveling once we arrived. This time to see America by car, a family road trip that brought us to all 50 states twice.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1947″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_border”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

My father wanted us to have a culturally rich childhood. So, he took advantage\u00a0of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by having us live off-base whenever possible, so we could participate in the life and culture of the communities where we were stationed.<\/p>\n

While living in Misawa, Japan, and Kadena, Okinawa, I attended non-military schools and learned to speak English and Japanese at the same time. In England, I attended a private school, and we lived on Buzzards Close, in Little Bourton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I realize\u00a0what a privileged childhood I had. I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to grow up, eat, worship, and go to school with the locals in the places we lived.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”History is written by everyone.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

A people without the knowledge\u00a0of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots.\u00a0\u2014 Marcus Garvey<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

It was such a privilege to participate in community cultural activities alongside the locals in Japan and England. Each country has unique festivities that are very different from our celebrations here in America.<\/p>\n

I am fortunate to have had this experience and to have learned history from the perspective of three intertwined but very different cultures.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Omatsuri Festival<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n
\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Guy Fawkes Night<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n
\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Independence Day<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”U.S. Air Force \u2014 our proud and patriotic family.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God. \u2014 Ronald Reagan<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

My father came to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago with his mother, who died of breast cancer, while here on a work visa living in Seneca, South Carolina.\u00a0He was just a\u00a0child at the time and became a naturalized citizen of the United States at a young age.<\/p>\n

My mother was also from Seneca, South Carolina. My parents met and married in Greenville, South Carolina, and soon afterward, my father pursued a career in the U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n

He honorably served his country for 30 years and achieved the highest enlisted rank of Chief Master Sergeant\u00a0(CMSgt). He was a technician for Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory (PMEL) and also served in\u00a0Vietnam.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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My Sisters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Double Impact: Making the world a better place, one smile at a time. \u2014 Monica & Diana Crooks, DDS<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Both\u00a0of my sisters served in the military, and they were officers, both Captains (Capts). At that time, it was unusual to have two sisters in the Air Force, even more, that they were both dentists, and most uncommon that they were\u00a0stationed together at the same airbase in the same clinic.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Growing up with strong parents taught me to be strong.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Any\u00a0couple can have children and call themselves “parents.” But real parents are people who put their children above their own selfish needs and wants. \u2014 Ricardo\u00a0Crooks<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

My parents taught me so many wonderful things. I can\u2019t even begin to mention all of them, and only now that I am older, I realize the utter importance of all the things they did for me.<\/p>\n

I am the person I am today, mostly because of what my parents gave me: my values, my emotional stability, my interests, my tendencies, and my ability to be a reliable and secure individual in the world. I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am now or achieved anything that I have achieved\u00a0without the constant support\u00a0of these two extraordinary people.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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My Parents<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Immersed and integrating into cultures different than my own.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it\u2019s a start.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Anthony Bourdain<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

Growing up as I did overseas influenced the foods we ate at home, and this is why I have such love for global cuisine, and ethnic flavors. As a young adult, my fascination with food led to me opening two establishments that celebrated the world on a plate!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Urban Caf\u00e9 <\/strong>\u2014 Was a\u00a0delicatessen that served soup, sandwiches, salads, coffee, tea, soda, and\u00a0snacks.<\/li>\n
  2. Cascades <\/strong>\u2014 Was an upscale restaurant that served fusion cuisine.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The menus of each of these eateries were representative of the many delicious foods I had eaten growing up.\u00a0Now, I have started the food vlog Go Keto Crazy<\/a>. It’s become quite evident that I have always been a foodie, ever since I was a kid!<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1897″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_border”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1574345287178{padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_hidden-lg vc_hidden-md”][vc_custom_heading text=”Whatever your life\u2019s work is, do it so well that you become the best at what you do!” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:35|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1574136923834{padding-top: 17.5px !important;}”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    Harold Crooks<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    My father paraphrased that statement from Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cThe Street Sweeper\u201d speech. He lived by those words, lead by example, and taught me to reach for the stars\u2014that I could be anything I wanted to be!<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The adventures of a military brat.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Where you go, we will go. Where you stay, we will stay. \u2014 Anniebelle Sue-Helen Machen Crooks<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    My parents were inseparable, like peanut butter and jelly. Our family followed my father wherever his career led\u00a0him or sometimes forced him to go.<\/p>\n

    My father was in the U.S. Air Force, and like most military families, we were always in the process of relocating. I guess that\u2019s why to this day I feel most at home while traveling, living out of a suitcase.<\/p>\n

    I was born in Mobile, Alabama, but raised abroad. I spent my formative years growing up in Okinawa and Japan, and my teenage years in England. We moved back to the States when I was 17, and continued traveling once we arrived. This time to see America by car, a family road trip that brought us to all 50 states twice.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1947″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_border”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    My father wanted us to have a culturally rich childhood. So, he took advantage\u00a0of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by having us live off-base whenever possible, so we could participate in the life and culture of the communities where we were stationed.<\/p>\n

    While living in Misawa, Japan, and Kadena, Okinawa, I attended non-military schools and learned to speak English and Japanese at the same time. In England, I attended a private school, and we lived on Buzzards Close, in Little Bourton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.<\/p>\n

    Looking back, I realize\u00a0what a privileged childhood I had. I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to grow up, eat, worship, and go to school with the locals in the places we lived.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”History is written by everyone.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    A people without the knowledge\u00a0of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots.\u00a0\u2014 Marcus Garvey<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    It was such a privilege\u00a0to participate in community cultural activities alongside the locals in Japan and England.\u00a0Each country has unique festivities that are very different from our celebrations here\u00a0in America.<\/p>\n

    I am fortunate to have had this experience and to have learned history from the perspective of three intertwined but very different cultures.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    Omatsuri Festival<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n
    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    Guy Fawkes Night<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n
    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    Independence Day<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”U.S. Air Force \u2014 our proud and patriotic family.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God. \u2014 Ronald Reagan<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    My father came to the U.S.\u00a0from Trinidad and Tobago with his mother, who died of breast cancer, while here on a work visa living in Seneca, South Carolina.\u00a0He was just a\u00a0child at the time and became a naturalized citizen of the United States at a young age.<\/p>\n

    My mother was also from Seneca, South Carolina. My parents met and married in Greenville, South Carolina, and soon afterward, my father pursued a career in the U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n

    He honorably served his country for 30 years and achieved the highest enlisted rank of Chief Master Sergeant\u00a0(CMSgt). He was a technician for Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory (PMEL) and also served in\u00a0Vietnam.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    My Sisters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Double Impact: Making the world a better place, one smile at a time. \u2014 Monica & Diana Crooks, DDS<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Both\u00a0of my sisters served in the military, and they were officers, both Captains (Capts). At that time, it was unusual to have two sisters in the Air Force, even more, that they were both dentists, and most uncommon that they were\u00a0stationed together at the same airbase, in the same clinic.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Growing up with strong parents taught me to be strong.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Any\u00a0couple can have children and call themselves “parents.” But real parents are people who put their children above their own selfish needs and wants. \u2014 Ricardo\u00a0Crooks<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    My parents taught me so many wonderful things. I can\u2019t even begin to mention all of them, and only now that I am older, I realize the utter importance of all the things they did for me.<\/p>\n

    I am the person I am today, mostly because of what my parents gave me: my values, my emotional stability, my interests, my tendencies, and my ability to be a reliable and secure individual. I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am now or achieved anything that I have achieved\u00a0without the constant support\u00a0of these two extraordinary people.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
    My Parents<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Immersed and integrating into cultures different than my own.” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:left|color:%23444444″ google_fonts=”font_family:Titillium%20Web%3A200%2C200italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it\u2019s a start.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Anthony Bourdain<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”tp-txt”]\n

    Growing up as I did overseas influenced the foods we ate at home, and this is why I have such love for global cuisine, and ethnic flavors. As a young adult, my fascination with food led to me opening two establishments that celebrated the world on a plate!<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Urban Caf\u00e9 <\/strong>\u2014 <\/em>Was a\u00a0delicatessen that served soup, sandwiches, salads, coffee, tea, soda, and\u00a0snacks.<\/li>\n
    2. Cascades <\/strong>\u2014 <\/em>Was an upscale restaurant that served fusion cuisine.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The menus of each of these eateries were representative of the many delicious foods I had eaten growing up.\u00a0Now, I have started the food vlog Go Keto Crazy<\/a>. It has become quite evident that I have always been a foodie, ever since I was a kid!<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”1897″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_border”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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