"You Were Gone" by Nikki Giovanni

Have you ever had something on your mind, and you just didn't know why? Well, like I stated in an earlier post, I love to hear Nikki Giovanni read her poetry, and one of the poems that I like to hear her read is "You Were Gone." For the last two or three weeks, the words "You Were Gone" have been on my mind. So, here is the poem:

You Were Gone

by

Nikki Giovanni

You were gone

like a fly lighting

on that wall

with a spider in the corner

You were gone

like last  week’s paycheck

for this week’s bills

You were gone

like the years between

twenty-five and thirty

as if somehow

You never existed

and if it wouldn’t be

for the gray hairs

I’d never know that

You had come.

Happy Friday!



A Good First Week!

This is a picture that a student drew for me. She thought enough of me to do this
the first week of school. Tears!!

This past week, God opened the flood gates, and the DC area got drenched. It rained, and I mean really rained from Monday until Friday. However, on Friday, it rained, rained, rained, but around 1o'clock, God showed us his Mercy; the sun came out, and the weekend was absolutely beautiful.

This really cool thing happened, the rain did not damper the first week of school. I met all of my students, and I must admit, I am already in love. My freshmen were bright-eyed and bush-tailed and captured my heart instantly. My AP 12English students appeared nervous and anxious when I explained to them their work load, but I let them know that I was 100% in this with them, and they seem to relax, but only a little.

My work week ended with me receiving an email from one of my seniors from last year thanking me for pushing him to "dig deep." He also wanted me to know that he received an "A" on his first college paper. I sat and looked at this email for awhile and thought: "This is why I do this job, and do it with love."



My classroom with the big windows.

Books and Desks!

This week I was able to keep to a conscious eating schedule; I have a NEW refrigerator in my room. I was able to do three workouts with Berhane, the best trainer in the world, and I am back on my every Thursday hair appointment schedule. In the midst of all of this, I was able to meet up with friends Thursday and Friday nights to hang out.

Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Johnetta Cole, a living legend, at the fabulous, good-old, old-fashioned Historical Black College (HBCU) football game between Morehouse College and Howard University.



Howard University celebrating after their Victory!

Dr. Cole turned and looked me in the eyes and asked me:

"What do you do for a living?"

I told her, and she said to little old me:

 "You are a SHERO."

I said "No, not really, but I do love my job"

She repeated "Yes, you are a SHERO."

This was very humbling coming from a modern day GIANT.

Dr. Johnette Cole is an anthropologist who collected data in Africa, took Spelman College to a whole 'nother level as their president and has done so many other greats things, and she thinks that I am a SHERO. Very humbling to say the least!

One of my heroes: Johnette Cole, ex-president of Spelman College.

I started my Sunday at church with a great 9/11 message: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.

After church, I met friends in DC for my favorite festival: Adams Morgan Day.

With Friends at Adams Morgan Day!

Me with the owner of New Orleans Cafe in Adams Morgan!

Right now, I am completely beat, but my dear friend, Dr. Semple, stated that "If you are not tired at the end of a day, then you ain't living."

So, I guess I am living.

If this week is any indication of what is to come this school year, I have a whole lot to look forward too!

Vance Lang Doing the Damn Thang!



My nephew: Vance Lang

In schools, all across American, there are students who are labeled Gifted and Talented. If my nephew, Vance, was school age, he would have this label. He is a self-taught musician who works with high school band students during his free time, he is a poet who use to send his family poems, but he stopped for some unknown reason (Vance, what Happened?). He is a DJ who really knows how to entertain the crowd, and he can run a TV station all by himself: camera man, production man, anchor man etc. He is also easygoing and super funny; his Facebook posts always bring a smile to my face.

When my daddy and Vance's granddaddy died, LJ Stallworth, Vance shared this poem with his family and friends. I am going to share it here with his permission:

Subject: In Memory

Date:  Wed, 24, January 2001  06:53

Hello All

I am sending this message for my family, but I thought that I would offer something to inspire everyone. We are always getting e-mails from some unknown person giving us words of encouragement and inspiration so, I decided to start my own.  In the last week I lost my grandfather, and it still hasn't quite settled in on me yet, but I am dealing with it.  Even though he didn't leave us with a suitcase full of money, he did leave us with our family intact.  He is gone, but the things that he taught us still live on.  His strength flows through all of us, and he is touching you right now if you are reading this e-mail. I am glad that I have my family and that they love and protect me.  Not because I am the greatest in the world but simply because I am theirs (Deep huh).  Anyway, I wanted to send out a copy of the poem that I wrote so my family can see it. For everyone else, use it anyway you can.

Its hard to put the words together

When I'm trying to say good-bye

It's hard to think about you

without wanting to cry

The selfish part of me wants to be sad

Why did you go away?

The truth is you've done so much

so I can't be sad on this day.

It's hard for me to accept you leaving.

I thought we had plenty of time

I guess taking the small things for granted

left me with tears in my eyes

I know you're in a better place

but I really want you here.

I really miss the conversations

although it wasn't always what I wanted to hear

We're all going to miss you

we love you dear

We have to live without you

but in our hearts you're always here

Words can only say so much

but there's so much I want to say to you

But what is it that I can say

To get this message to you

Really I just want to tell you good-bye

You told me to do good and I'll always try

For your wife, daughters, grandchildren, family and friends

co-workers, neighbors, the list doesn't end

We know that you are gone and we must move on,

We will because it was you that taught us to be strong.

Vance Lang January 2001

(VL3)

and I will leave you with a quote from my granddaddy

"I am the one who did so much with such a little.  Now I can do most anything with nothing"

Now you see, Vance Lang is a great poet, person and nephew.





Vance Lang doing his TV thang with his Mardi Gras beads on!

 

Vance Lang DJing and eating on a chicken wing at Mardi Gras!

Oh, I forgot to add, Vance Lang is single and only the serious may inquire.

Vance Lang doing the damn thang!

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson



Beyonce and/or Sasha Fierce



Today, there are so many references to literature in our everyday lives: "What's in a name?" from Romeo and Juliet, "The Midas Touch" from Greek Mythology, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

On my students' summer reading list was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. So, I have spent some time reading and thinking about this novel. One of the messages that I got from the book is that we are all doubled, meaning that we have a good side and a bad side. According to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, if we allow our bad side to come out it, it will basically take over.

So, I thought alot about this idea of the bad side. And, my thinking lead me to Lord of the Flies by William Golding and how boys who were stranded on an island, for some reason, deflected to their bad side. I thought about the movie "Black Swan" and how the main character's evil side took over, and I also thought about Beyonce. Is Sasha Fierce her bad side, and will it take over if she is not careful? I also thought about us humans, are our good and bad sides in constant battle with each other? Do you ever think bad thoughts and suppress them or act on them?

If you have ever used the phrase, "He's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," I would recommend that you read this book in order to get a basis for what you are talking about. It is the type of book that is very difficult to put down, and it really made me think about human nature. Stevenson is such a clever writer; he adds lots of great details, and he ties them together at the end of the novel and makes the reader say hmmmmm. It is a very short read but packed with thoughtful, engaging information.

I am going to start my school year doing a deep analysis of this book with my students. I hope that I can use this book to get them to always let their good side prevail, because if their bad side comes out, it just might take over.

I am interested in knowing your thoughts on Good vs Evil. HOLLER.

"Zeitoun" pronounced Zay-toon



Image from Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in  August 2005, I remember seeing many images like the one above, and I literally thought "This couldn't be happening in this country!"

I remember spending countless hours glued to the television feeling anger, disbelief, but mostly sad. I would look at the people who were hot, hungry and begging for help and silently cry.

I remember the racial tension in the air and feeling like lots of other people: The government was slow to respond because the people impacted by the storm were Black.

At the Advance Placement (AP) conference for people who teach high school AP classes, I was given a copy of a book titled Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Needing something to read, I decided to read this book. It is An Entertainment Weekly Book of the Decade, A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, A New York Times Notable Book, and named One of the Best Books of the Year by The San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Kansas City Star. It is also an American Book Award Winner. And it came with rave reviews from one of my favorite authors, Edwidge Danticat.

This book caused me to have a complete paradigm shift. The media is powerful, and most of the the people who were shown suffering during Hurricane Katrina were Black people, so I unconsciously thought that "The Katrina Situation" was "A Black Situation", but this book, Zeitoun, helped me to see that Katrina was "A People Situation."

When I first started reading this book, I assumed that the characters were Black. Even with a name like Abdulrahman Zeitoun, I still assumed that the characters were Black because of my unconscious thoughts. Once I discovered that the characters were not Black, I was disappointed and almost stopped reading the book. I thought: "The nerve of Dave Eggers to take a Black story and tell it from the point of view of a Syrian and a White lady." But, I overcame myself and continued to read this book, and I am so happy that I did.

Abdulrahman Zietoun in the New Orleans Greyhound bus station where he was held after ­being arrested. Photograph: Julie Dermansky/Polaris

Zeitoun is the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Muslim Syrian-American owner of a painting and contracting company in New Orleans and his wife Kathy, who is a White, Muslim woman from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Abdulrahamn decided to stay in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and Kathy decided to evacuate with their four children.

Abdulrahman just happened to have a canoe and was able to rescue many people and help many animals. He felt like he was divinely left in New Orleans to help. However, everything changed when cops bursted into his house and took him to a Greyhound bus station that had been converted into a prison. (What really surprised me is how quickly New Orleans was able to build a makeshift prison that was stocked with food and water, and regular citizens were stuck on bridges for days.) Abdulrahman greatest fear happened, and this incident completely changed him!!!

Eggers gives details accounts of the experiences of Zeitoun and many other innocent people who were imprisoned for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This book is captivating and adds another story to the many stories that are already told about the horrible things that happened during Hurricane Katrina. It is a MUST READ!

The 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was August 29th, and I have not been watching much television, but I have not seen or heard any stories about the anniversary. Some people can forget, but others are left with the scars forever.

I am so grateful for authors who feel that everyday people's stories are worthy to be told.

Dave Eggers: Cute Right?

Part 5 THE END "If There is No Struggle, There is No Progress!"

You know how rappers, such as Too Short and Jay Z, will release a CD and say that it is their last CD and then release many more CDs after they promise that the newly released one is the last one? Well, that's not what I'm going to do with this series on health. This is the LAST one, I hope! Just joking! It really is the last one. Eventually, a person has to take all of the lessons learned and live by them: plain and simple.

Too Short!

Jay Z

So, I have been on this journey to live healthy for quite awhile. I have always been an exercise girl. I hurt my knee in college in an aerobic class many moons ago. So, the journey started a long time ago for me. The eating healthy part took quite awhile, because years ago, we did not have all of the knowledge that we have now, and I am not sure if I was ready, years ago, to receive the knowledge anyway. There was no way I was going to give up fast food, and now, I won't touch it. I had to renew my mind.

But, with knowledge comes power. I really started to read everything that came my way about diet and exercise, and it finally dawned on me that the two things go hand in hand. They are really like ice cream and cake, Ashford and Simpson, Ben and Jerry and peanut butter and jelly: they are good alone, but really work better together.

Visiting some of my sho' nuff health conscious friends in Chicago three years ago, they showed me so many films and gave me books to read about beef, chicken, and pork. They made me a believer, and I have not really able to eat beef, chicken or pork since. 

Trying to stop eating meat and my doctor telling that my cholesterol was TWO points high, was enough for me to go a nutritionist and get this eating thing right.

I really know that the nutritionist was wondering, "What is going on with this lady?" I took the packaging from everything that I eat into her office along with my blood work from my doctor, and I said "Help me PLEASE," and she did. We read all of the labels, and she told me what to keep in my diet and what to throw out. She even gave me recipes ideas, and helped me to understand how to get enough protein in my diet without eating beef, chicken and pork. She is so caring that she responds to all of my frantic emails about my diet. The frantic emails have almost stopped: I'm learning to make the right decisions on my own. Cheryl Harris is on my team forever.

Next, one of my friends told me about the best trainer in the whole wide world, Berhane. And I am not exaggerating, he is the best trainer in the world. He is the jelly on my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he is the glue that sealed my health deal. He helped me to take my workouts to a whole 'nother level, and I mean a whole 'nother level.

Berhane really wants me to be healthy until I die. He is not just my trainer, but I consider him my life coach, good friend, laughing buddy, confidant etc. He is a complete package.

The results that I have experienced with Berhane are unbelievable. The number one result is the renewing of my mind and the regular reminder from Berhane, "Take care of the inside of your body and the outside will take care of itself." He has made a believer out of me, and he is also on my team forever.

Biking with friends in Montreal!

Biking in Vermont!

So, I am on a roll with this health thing and will not be stopped anytime soon. In the world that we live in with processed foods everywhere, eating consciously will always be a struggle, but remember, I don't view struggle as a bad thing. I am determined to eat things that are good for my body and do some sho' nuff challenging exercises regularly.

There are no easy lasting fixes. A person must be willing to make changes for A LIFETIME, yes A LIFETIME, in order to see LASTING results.

Eventually, I had to stop talking about this health thing and just be healthy.

This is where I am, and I hope that you will join me.

Fit for Life!!!!

I had to add a little TOO SHORT, who is my favorite rapper, and this is also my THEME song. By the way, this song was on what was suppose to be his last CD......Go figure!

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Read Part 3

Read Part 4

THE BIG CELEBRATION wasn't!

 

Reading about the people of the Harlem Renaissance, I really use to wish that I had been in my twenties in the 20s and living in Harlem. I would have loved to have hung out at some of those parties that were thrown by A'Lelia Walker, daughter of Madame CJ Walker. Langston Hughes referred to A'Lelia as the "joy goddess" of the Harlem Renaissance for her parties and patronage. She partied with Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer and many other Harlem Renaissance Artists. I try to image the creative ideas that must have been circulating at these parties along with plenty of alcohol and food. I know that those were some sho' nuff good parties.

I would have loved to have been a college student during the 60s so that I could strut an afro and sneak away or boldly walk away from my classes to march with the people of the Civil Rights Movement. I can imagine having meetings with the ladies in my dorm to strategically plan actions for the next Civil Rights events. We may have been scared and terrified, but hopefully determined to move forward for "Our People."



Gloria Steinem: The Women's Right Movement

By the late 1960s Steinem had gained national attention as an outspoken leader of the women's liberation movement. In 1971, she joined Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to form the National Women's Political Caucus, encouraging women's participation in the 1972 election. Also, in 1972, Gloria gained funding to publish the first feminist magazine MS. I would have loved to have been along side Gloria, writing very racy articles about women's issues, especially Black women issues.



The Black Panther Party

I really hate that I missed those Black Panther Rallies of the 60s and 70s. I would have loved to have held up my Free Angela Davis sign, wear all Black, and rock the Afro.



First Black President and First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice: What a Day!



However, TODAY is, also, a great DAY to be alive!

We have witnessed the Million Man March in DC that inspired many men to go back to their homes and start groups that have been doing positive things every since. We have witnessed a Presidential campaign that fired people up in a way that I have not seen before in my lifetime. We have witnessed the election of our first African American President. We have witnessed the seating of the first Hispanic Justice in Supreme Court History and the justice just happened to be a woman.

However, the erection of a Monument for an African American non-President is the moment that I am most happy about. This was suppose to be the weekend that the Dr. King memorial was dedicated, but due to an act of God, the BIG CELEBRATION wasn't.

The Dr. King memorial in DC!

The Dr. King Memorial was opened to the public on Tuesday, and that's where I was when DC experienced the earthquake. I couldn't think of a better place to be. I sat at the memorial and marveled at the significance of this magnificent monument. On Thursday, I volunteered at the convention center and met so many people who were very serious about this Dr. King thing. It warmed my heart to hear countless Dr. King stories. Thursday and Friday, on my way home, I couldn't stop myself from driving by the memorial to pay homage to a man who truly deserves a monument on the National Mall.

Yet Do I Marvel by Countee Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,

And did He stoop to quibble could tell why

The little buried mole continues blind,   

Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,

Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus

Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare   

If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus

To struggle up a never-ending stair.   

Inscrutable His ways are, and immune   

To catechism by a mind too strewn   

With petty cares to slightly understand   

What awful brain compels His awful hand.   

Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:   

To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

The Harlem Renaissance, The Civil Rights Movement, The Women's Right Movement, The Movement of the Black Panther Party are what I consider to be great times to have been alive, even with their ups and downs. But, TODAY, is also a great day to be alive, and I am happy that I am here.

I only regret that my daddy is not here experiencing these things, but.........

The BIG CELEBRATION wasn't, but the feeling of pride felt by the people in DC and other cities IS!

Long live THE KING on the National Mall.

You got to experience it for yourself!