A Poem I Wrote

I'm not one to write poems--at least I thought I wasn't. But I was daydreaming in class and found putting words together quite therapeutic and fun. This poem I wrote a couple years ago as I was riding in a car through the Kentucky woods. I dedicated it to my Great-Grandmother, Edith Toussaint, who turned 100 last week.

If They Struggled Not

I drive past where people used to run

Run not for medals

Run not for pleasure

Escape danger hope

People

Those people

Black people

My people

Individuals ran through the beautiful scenery

That I see now

If they never ran I would never have seen

If they never feared I would never have dreamed

If they never dared I would never have studied

If they never hoped I would never have stood

Did they ever think that at the end of these woods

Lived a young girl

Creating her own legacy in 2008?

Unnamed stepping stones

For the good of a whole race and way of life

Unnamed faces

Blazed the forest trail

for thinkers

Doers

Finders

Lovers

Mothers

Of now and tomorrow

Knowledge of past is not the end of my journey

Just cuz I know what they did don' mean nuthin!

I take their speed

Agility

Purpose

Their torch

I press on

Daring

Praying

Hoping

Fearing

Their cries beckon me

To remember and never ever forget.

What a travesty,

A waste of history if I don't acknowledge

Thank

Hope

And follow their whispers

Recorded by the trees they passed

"Dream,

Make me proud.

Hope with poise,

Run!"

Til later...

Obama's Health Insurance Gift Certificates, Short/Long-Term Plans

Last question! I had to, for my class, devise short and long-term activities to help me achieve my goal of greatness from my Self-Help book by Kyser. Here's what I came up with:

1: This weekend, I am going to sit and write out a Life Plan. So many things in my life—plans for Summer 2010 and Life after December—are in the air. I need to write all the things I’m thinking about down on paper so I don’t forget the little ones, “minimalize” the important ones, and make a big deal out of things that aren’t big deals. I don’t have degrees where I can say “I’m going to medical school, therefore I will be a doctor”. With an Organizational Communication degree, I can go into literally any field and do something. Such decisions! As for long term, I would like to see how far my Life Plan can take me. I don’t want to totally stick to it because I might miss a great, unexpected twist in life because it wasn’t on my Life Plan. However, having it on paper will be helpful in taming all of my lofty ideas.

2: 1) I have an appointment to meet with a woman professor who has been recommended to me for quite some time now. I think she will have some insight and she will be helping me with my cover letter so I can finally apply for internships for this summer. Long term, I am hoping for at least 3 people in my life that are willing to impart their wisdom to me. I don’t want to just pick any one person and I also have to realize that they have to grow too—therefore I must not put them on a pedestal.

3: I already have a budget in place and I was actually under-budget (spent less money than planned) in January which is a good thing! I was really proud of myself. A short-term goal with this one is to see how much I spent for February and compare the numbers to January. I should also figure out which health insurance plan I’ll need—this is when I think that Barack Obama needs to give out gift certificates at the Health Insurance Store so that I don’t have to pay premiums for a year. Alas… As for a long-term goal, I need to research how much life costs. I have no idea of the expenses associated with living on my own in a non-school environment. I don’t want to be totally surprised by these expenses because of my unrealistic ideas.

And finally for real--the last question!

What are concrete accountability measures to indicate you are making progress in carrying out implementation?

I think that a checklist will give me lots of accountability. I will also be blogging about my progress. I do want to read about this transitional stage of life when I get old and senile and 30. I also have my Mom who is such a great asset and keeps me on my toes. My main thing I need to focus on emotionally during this stage is staying calm and letting what happens happen. No reason to get overly paranoid about things I can’t help. Mailing applications takes time—so sitting next to the mail box waiting for responses from internship opportunities is not a wise use of sanity or time. My mind must stay occupied. Just like in the movie My Life, I have to let go on the roller coaster of life and enjoy the ride. Woohooo!!!!!!!

3 Things I Learned From My "Self-Helping Ourselves" Book

So this assignment, I have to list three things I can do as a result of my book by Chaz Kyser called Embracing the Real Work: The Black Woman's Guide to Life After College. I will be tracking in future blogs my progress on these three things. I think I will actually add a fourth...an extra treat to my Bloggers!

The first thing I need to do is to come up with a Life Plan. As I find all these “fun” things to do, I often get distracted with my true purpose. Lots of things are good ideas, but what is my great idea? And how do I get to my great idea? Of course, I should keep my options open, but it is far too late in the game to “wanna be a lawyer, firefighter, and a doctor” like we all said when we were knee-high to a grasshopper.

The second thing that I need to do is find a Career Mentor—or a Life Mentor. I need to find people to surround me who are where I want to be. This idea follows the purposes found in shadowing or interning. Seeking out people who have another angle on my great idea will alleviate most or all of my unreasonable expectations about the field, give me a road map to get to my great idea, and encourage me as I walk on that path to get to my great idea. Then, Kyser said to make sure that you give your Career/Life Mentor updates on your progress—you don’t want to be an advice moocher.

Thirdly, I need to practice budgeting now. I disagree with 50 Cent. I won't be abiding by his new hit "Baby By Me" which says "...Have a baby by me, Baby, be a milllionaire." I agree with my friend Andre "Skinny" Foster here at Murray State when as his status de Facebook, he said the lyrics should actually be "Have a baby by me, Baby, Be on WELFARE!!" I did sin and should prolly go to confession for skimming over his very heathenous lyrics so I wouldn't recommend anyone to skim over them. Trust me...it's bad. I do wonder how many ladies are thinking that they'll actually get his alimony check if they let him do Verse 1 and Verse 2 of his song on them. Alas! This pop culture is CRAZINESS! But I digress...

Since money has a magical chemical characteristic called disappearing, it’s quite important to at least have an idea of where it went. My mom is queen of this. She can balance her checkbook to the penny—if I’m within $50 and not in the red, it’s EPIC success. I don’t think this is a good idea when I am on my own. Since I have a miniscule amount of dinero now, it should be a lot easier to manage the amount and get the principles of wise money saving, spending, and tracking.

FOURTHLY, I have to be willing to be an entry-leveler. I can't expect to have a dream job or summer internship without digging through the trenches of monotony. I have to suck it up, grab the salts, and walk through the mud. Mud is thick too--and really messy, but necessary to build bricks. (Deep thought!) So although paper-filing, running errands, and other various office work duties may seem like it's conflicting with my dream of greatness, I gotta pay my dues and keep hope alive for my job of being in charge of people and having someone/subordinate/intern go get my Venti London Fog with decaf chai, soy, and sugar-free hazelnut from Starbucks because A: I don't have to, B: "I don't want to, and C: I served my time getting my bosses drinks.

Self-Helping Ourselves

So readers...

I know this seems like a cop-out, but I am copying my assignment answers for this blog. Why you ask? Because I like my answers. :) This is for my Developing Human Potential Class. We are supposed to be self-helping ourselves through the reading and reflecting on a self-help book. I'm also reading 3 other books (at least I'm supposed to be...). I am--believe it or not--getting off FaceBook to do my homework! Yay me! So here goes...

I chose the book Embracing the Real Work: The Black Woman’s Guide to Life After College by Chaz Kyser because this book is precisely where I am in life. I’ve been in school for the past 18 years and am not about to embark on a new journey—where there are no textbooks and no professors. I’m not a smoker, working on getting skinny, relatively calm most days, non-menopausal…it took a while to figure out where my self needed help. When I looked on Amazon, this book appeared with a light from above, and I knew it would be perfect! I may not be a smoker or a habitual liar, but I am PETRIFIED of my future—specifically my future beginning in 10 months…

I think by my being proactive—which is the first step in Covey’s book—is paramount in beginning a self-help process. You have to buy the book, actually OPEN it, and at least skim it, consider doing something that it says before it a self-help book will do you any good. I’ve survived all of those steps and am liking how I see myself in my future as a result of this book. Secondly, I have to Begin with the End in Mind” which is Habit 2. Here, I practice looking beyond my next step, whether that step be physical, mental, spiritual, etc., and look towards my future where it really counts. After looking there, I have to come up with a plan to get to the end destination—this destination is a successful 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd career.

In this 2^nd book, Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins, it says that “[An] attribute great leaders and achievers have in common is that they operate from the belief that they create their world…” I’m not sure how wholly I believe in this ideology, but I do know for a fact that if I perceive myself as a victim in all circumstances, then I will always be 2 steps behind success and freedom from chains of subordination. SO, that means that I must take control over my world and learn to take precedence over my situations—good ones and bad ones.

In the 3^rd book, Top Performance: How to Develop in Excellence in Yourself and Others, Zig Ziglar talks a lot about how to be a leader in life. One thing I like from this book is the question: Why should anyone want to follow you (me)? My life is creating a social footprint in society. People should look back and know that I was here. That I did great things. Not-so-great things. In order to influence people, you have to be influential—one of those “DUH” things… So how does this question have anything to do with my self-help book? Lots. People should see me as an example and want to be like me—not all of me. But there has to be something in my life that is worth emulating and taking to heart—otherwise, what’s the point? So in my self-help pursuit, I am fixing a part of my life that will one day be worth emulating.

Wut U Iz On Campus?

I'm starting to like this blog thing now. It's kinda nice to end the day thinking about my day and looking forward to my next set of adventures that will start at approximately 9 minutes after 7 am aka after I hit the snooze button once.

I remember coming on campus last semester and all the students were trying to figure out who/what/how they were going to live their lives for the next semester/year. Everyone was making last minute class changes, figuring out social allegiances, and the freshman were trying to not look lost while the upperclassmen were rolling their eyes at the freshmen's overly inflated ego. My friends and I were walking to Winslow--the local eatery of such mass-produced bliss--and were bombarded with several young "boys' (not men) who were definitely persuaded to follow the BET-social construct aka "plain ghetto". Being quite loud for no reason, one of the boys yells at one of my friends, "Ey! Wut you iz on campus?" My friend was taken aback by the question--exactly what does he mean by that question.

Now at this present moment, she could have answered this question in one of several ways: I am a:

Girl,

Short,

Black,

Relatively smart,

A sister,

Not your wife,

Cute,

Funny,

Broke...

He actually wanted to know what year she was in school, but that only came from more probing on her part to see the actual intent of the question.

Stephen Covey talks about Identifying Roles in his book "7 Habits" on page 162 (just in case you're interested) and tells us that the first thing we must do in order to be effective in our daily lives is to notate who we actually are--to answer the question "Wut u iz on campus?" Now of course, we probably won't be using that lingo, and some of us are probably not "on campus"... But who are you? Who am I?

I may not have all the answers or all of "who I am". On Facebook as my Intro to Me Section, I have the following: I am SINGLE, SAVED, SANCTIFIED, SEXY, SASSY, AND SMART.

What else am I? Well, here's a list of a few ideas off the top of my head:

Follower of Truth in Jesus,

TA in Org Comm Dept.

Grad Student

President of Voices of Praise

Alto

Natural Black Hair Wearer

Exerciser

Music Lover

Sister

Daughter

Friend/Compatriot

Future Wife/Bride

Roommate

Listener

Facebooker--sometimes stalker when convenient

Nosey

Future-driven

Real sleepy right about now...

Like driving in a Jaguar on the Autobahn going 45 mph is the same as living a life with knowing the potential/purpose. The Jaguar will get in the way of those who know who they are, and what they need to be doing. It will also reach the destination...eventually. And the Jaguar can't enjoy the journey because it's not being challenged or stretched to its maximum capacity/potential.

I want to be a speeder on the Autobahn, reaching my destination right on time, and not getting in the way of others Moving Forward--a theme song of mine from Israel Houghton. But amazingly enough, this all begins by asking myself-- "Wut u iz on campus?"

Not Even a Plastic Spoon

I’ve officially highlighted some important ideas from the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. This is one of the required reading books of my Developing Human Potential Class. The 7 Habits are as followed: 1) Be proactive, 2) Begin with the End in Mind, 3) Put First Things First, 4) Think Win/Win, 5) Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, 6) Synergize, and 7) Sharpen the Saw.

I realized early, mostly due to my mother, that if I want something, it’s not going to be handed to me on a silver spoon—not even a plastic spoon. You have to figure out a way to get it. This always starts with a vision. Then comes devising a plan. After that comes implementation of that plan. If you don’t have a map, you’ll never get to your vacation spot. But you also can’t take just any map and assume it will get you where you need/want to go. You have to have the right map—this can come via a person, personal research, or just careful logic.

I chose to do the research. I have spent hours—days—poring over resumes trying to figure out where I want/am called to be. According to this book, this is a good thing as long as planning out the future doesn’t distract you from current tasks. The latter is something I struggle with. It’s so much more fun looking for jobs and new cities to visit than to do homework!!!

I’ve tried to be very strategic in my life-building. I try to find a connection between where I’m headed and all my activities so that they don’t become useless resume-stuffers. Now, I can say I am very proud of all the things I have experienced, done, and have been a part of. It’s mind-boggling sometimes. Not to say that I’ve solved cancer, but I have tried stewed cactus in Mexico, swam with Nemo in Belize, played a Rachmaninoff Prelude, and have made relationships with people from LOTS of different countries. All of that would be pointless if I didn’t have a purpose. All the things I’ve just mentioned are near and dear memories and have crafted me into the person I am today.

More later.

Not Just a Travel Blog Anymore...

It’s been 10 years since my last jerry-curl, 4 years since high school graduation, 1 year since my last purchase of sexy-butt jeans, 3 months since my most recent hairstyle (DREADS!!!), 6 weeks since my first cruise, 1 week since my last ½ solo in the choir, 3 days since I last shouted in church, 1 day since I drank my favorite orange juice, 15 minutes since I ate my last bite of 2-day old, mass-produced, cheesy, yellowy, mashed potato leftovers from Winslow, and 5 minutes since I started my new topic in my blog.

Unfortunately, my “travel-only” blog is going to be presupposed by a class assignment. I’m currently taking a very Dr. Phil-esque class called Developing Human Potential. I had to find an elective at the VERY last minute this semester when registering for classes. I was at a loss, and after much soul-searching and friend-asking, I decided to take the plunge into the wave pool of Human Potential. After a week in the class, I was UPSET because I wanted to develop OTHER people’s potential, NOT mine!!! The nerve of the professor to make us become better, more effective people so that we will be able to bring others through that process in our futures. Imagine that!