I sit with queens
Feet curled beneath me Head back laughing Comfortable but not conforming Ready to laugh the big laugh Wisdom reigning Buckets Filled up And dumped out They know all the secrets of the Nile Strong shoulders don't collapse under the weight of civilization or lack thereof No pretense Or past tense Present And future Spoken & affirmed No questions to answer No explanations needed Talk talked of intellect and trivial pursuits just the same The laughter does not change the ignorant, the arrogant Demolition of mankind Construction of humanity Womanhood birthed and labored Demands and expectations not our own A conscientious ownership of power and determination Ready to laugh the big laugh At the fools who think we show our teeth in vain We show our teeth Not needing to grin & bear But bare all Original sins told Judgement missing No posters hung or milk cartons or songbird to carry away a redraft of the original With new verses Left open to curses Given no commandments or small prayers to guide inner demons No demons Just queens Heads thrown back Ready to laugh the big laugh
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Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first poet I ever slept with. His faded blue, tethered book worn white in some spots tucked neatly under my pillow. His words were exotic and romantic like foreign films. I was quickly and easily seduced even though and perhaps because I needed a translator. My mother had been the one to introduce us. He was not her first but one of her favorite lovers, so at around 10 years old she thought it time I met his acquaintance. I was in love. After our introduction, my mother tasked my cousins and I to commit Dunbar's poem "In the Morning" (found here) to memory and to act it out. This meant we had to understand the poem's meaning and decipher its complex dialect. There was no bothering her to ask what this word meant or how to pronounce that. We were given an important assignment. She told us she loved the poem, and she knew we would do it justice. We read and re-read--silently and aloud. Rehearsing and changing intonations to make it flow and match the meaning. We read other poems in that blue book to help us. It took awhile for us to all to be stage ready, but when the time came we performed our hearts out to unbridled applause. That is the memory I have of my mother one year after her death. She always challenged my cousins and I to be thinkers. As youngsters, we were unaware of the depth of the intellectual pursuits she challenged us with. We simply thought it was entertainment and we loved (as did she--being a true thesbian) to perform for an adorning audience which she always was. I can still remember all the words and scenes we created for "In the Morning." To this day, I often breakout into poetic verse with ease ... we wear the mask that grins and lies ... but am not limited to Dunbar. Shakespeare's works, T.S. Elliott (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was one of her favorites), and lines from her beloved David Copperfield roll freely from my tongue. Every word of "The Raven" nevermore is in my lexicon because of my mother. She set the stage for my love of learning and words. It is because of her example that I am a teacher today. Her education of a world of words and characters inspired and challenged me. I never wanted to let her down in life and now in death. Today, I recited "Lias, Lias, bless the Lord ..." in honor of the smartest woman I will ever know. She'd want to be honored no other way! Blasphemy! Heretic! Heathen! Sound the alarm (some already have--your distance speaks volumes. To "like" one of my pictures does not automatically link you to my religious ideology or lack thereof) religious zealots! For the past year, I have not been on the best terms with the big Guy. I have questioned the hell out of Him. I have seriously asked multiple times why He hath forsaken me. He was not listening to me and oblivious to my wants and needs. I needed to put some distance between us. That's what you do when you're in a relationship with an absentee partner, right? The odd thing is He and I had a good thing--a really good thing. I could depend on Him and He always came through and most times exceeded my expectations. We talked all the time and understood one another. Then my mother got sick, and that seemed to come between us. I was angry. I needed to focus on her. Even when I tried to make time for He and I, it wasn't the same. I withdrew, and it seemed He was giving me the cold shoulder. The feelings just weren't there anymore. It's been hard to not be in that relationship; I am not sure it will ever be the same. I have been really resistant to taking Him back. If I am being honest, the trust isn't there. I have had people try to hook us up again, but their words of wisdom come off as canned and insincere (stop telling me I must, I must, I must increase my faith). It's like people just see His side of it and I am supposed to ignore feeling ignored. I am working through the pain of multiple losses, and that's some heavy stuff. Maybe I have complicated a simple relationship. Maybe I put too much blame on Him. Maybe it's not Him but me. Right now, our status is it's complicated. Sometimes I want Him back, but others times I think of the hurt and those feelings of abandonment and I am okay with our relationship limbo. If it is meant to be, we will find our way back to each other. This school year, one of my goals was to see my students grow in empathy and awareness of life outside of their bubble. I teach in a predominately white middle-to-upper class school in a Chicago suburb. My students are far removed from the realities of kids a mere 30 miles down the expressway; my reality as a product of the south side of Chicago. Their lives, while far from perfect, are utopian compared to the lives of some of their neighboring peers. Research supports the need to provide students of color with culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum. I wholeheartedly support and appreciate the pressing need for black and brown students to have instructional practices matching their learning styles and aptitudes as well as texts reflective of their interests and experiences. This is long overdue. I believe culturally responsive practices will help bridge the achievement gap offering marginalized students a voice and a means of championing who they are and from where they've come. But I ask, is this enough? Is this enough to disrupt the pervasive fear entangling and threatening to entrap our nation? I see the white elephant in the room. It is the curriculum of the white elite that only serves the status quo. It maintains white is right and to speak against its ideology is a cardinal sin. How does education tackle this white elephant in the room? I believe as culturally responsive teaching builds awareness in the black and brown educational world; an awareness must also be taught in the educational world of the white elite. I have seen firsthand the pressing need for "Allies and Advocates" curriculum and pedagogy. As education reflects and responds to the needs of society, it is clear students need to be explicitly taught not to fear and exclude that which is other. In order for both sets of students ("majority" and "minority") to grow and evolve for the better, there must be an overhaul of teaching practices and curriculum for the white elite that does more than relegate the teaching of "minorities" and their heroes, causes and more to a month or one historical figure but engages students in ongoing discourse that humanizes all and offers a broad understanding of black and brown people along with the events and circumstances that impact their lives. I realize what I am asking for is a total reformation of curricular ideology and development. I realize this will not be an easy task. I realize not everyone will agree there is a need for such change. I also realize teaching the "majority" to be allies and advocates through new approaches, texts and discourse geared toward the UN-whitewashing of curriculum is one of the only ways to bridge our divide and see real societal growth. As an educator, I want to prepare my students to be productive citizens who contribute to the world. As an educator of color, I want the same and more, especially in the current American climate with its rampant and flourishing forms of -isms. It is increasingly imperative that students are able to move beyond their u-centric views, to see and interact with people and situations beyond the lens of their white privilege, to engage in honest and open conversations about the -isms refuting stereotypes and fighting prejudice, and to be allies of the world who advocate for people and causes that may not directly affect them but affect the greater good. It's time to address that elephant in the classroom. To say I am still pondering the myriad levels of Get Out is an understatement, I have probably consumed at least 10 articles and spent too much time dissecting the film's most minute details. My husband and I have knighted Jordan Peele and contemplated and revered the internal and external struggle inherent in creating this type of social art. Genius, we say--pure genius. Last night, my daughter called me, on her own without prompting or to request money, to discuss the film as she saw I'd checked-in at the theater on Facebook (strategic on my part--folk need to know) the day prior. We talked for almost an hour about the film's hidden details and the brilliance of producing something so racially relevant and charged without totally alienating the majority, and yet intimately speaking to the minority--again I say, pure genius. And then we talked about Georgina, one of the two women of color in the film. The character who crept me out so much that I'd pushed her into the corner and far recesses of my mind until that point. Unpacking Georgina and I Why had I chosen to forget her? And upon remembering her, why has she now dominated my thoughts? How is Georgina really a representation of self? (Bear with me, I know I stand to lose my audience here, but hear me out.) The very reason I pushed Georgina into the background is the very reason she is truly unforgettable: her presence and power evoke fear. Her character represents the house negro of past living among her masters (Is Walter ever in the Armitage home?) as a subservient matriarch (captive and grandmother), yet still somewhat conscious of who she really is (i.e. lone tear). Her character also represents the modern day black woman, similar in the aforementioned constructions, but also as more "woke" than her black male counterparts, less desirable in the eyes of the predominate culture (a black woman always fretting about her appearance) who was NOT vying for her (the black males were the prize bucks), and restless and apologetic (Georgina was always popping up out of nowhere moving fast and apologizing for her actions). I see myself in Georgina--restlessly working to get it right and feeling the need to apologize for who I am. A recent encounter best illustrates this: I had a meeting where I felt pressed to apologize because I was not myself and I was not as vocal as expected and for something else totally out of my control. I have to run faster, spit farther, jump higher smiling all the while. I feel pressured to rein in my level of consciousness and advocacy based on what I believe is racially unjust as not to offend those who might perceive me as an angry black woman (some of you have thought just that). I see you, Georgina! Sister, I understand how your power and presence evoked fear. Sister, I got the message that I have to get out of my own head and not be pushed to the background. Sister, I got that my beauty is not determined by outside forces and sources. Sister, I apologize no longer!
A product of my hood.
An entrepreneur. An advocate. Black activism at its finest. Black magic. Chance the Rapper. Why Chance is a real deal revolutionary:
Again and again, Chance proves he is a man of action, a man who believes in himself and his community, and a change agent empowering a broad base of young people through education. His activism is definitely planned, purposeful and certainly not by chance. Revolutionaries act. What a challenge of greatness to us all!
I cautiously walk into this year looking both ways: looking back at the weight of 2016 and looking ahead at the expanse of 2017. I am leery to cross into hopeful, but just as leery to not--feathers of my soul aren't yet weightless as Dickinson reminds me 'Hope is a thing with feathers.'
I need something to ground me on this 2017 journey. Looking back, I had LOVE. My 2016 one little word never failed me. It wrapped me up, sang to me, talked to me and laid with me during my times of despair and continues to cling to me in memories and moments. Looking ahead, my one little word needed to push me. It needed to be all things. Hard task, I know. Then it came to me on the lips of Yeezus, Kanye West, of all artists--yep, it had to be birthed from true craziness ... Don't let me get in my zone! ZONE It was perfect to guide me through the expanse with purpose and passion. I need to get in the zone by staying laser focused, zoning in on the things that are important, and zoning out some things and people. Zone represents my space, my being and my direction. It represents my confidence and attitude. It is holistic and present and future. It is big and small enough to carry me through 2017. I still have trepidations about this year considering my last, but hey "you need to crawl 'fore you ball" and I know one thing if I'm in the zone NOTHING CAN STOP ME! Last year, I included a music video with my one little word, so here's to Kanye. Listen at YOUR OWN RISK but if you do, lean back, nod your head and enjoy! She was remembered by who came right before her (so close they almost touched the womb together) and then after (knitted together just the same) sandwiched in between her lullabies, a crecsendo of chaos, coming so fast there was little time to enjoy her or remember her tiny hands or distinguish her from the others in the solemn return to calm coming so fast But for her fair skin and heart shaped face (Alpha & Omega) Bouncing on her father's knee, I wonder if she smiled.
Poise and intellect exuded from her. Gwen Ifill was one of my idols. She, among others, spurred my desire to be a journalist, and even though life had another path, I appreciate her representation. Her words, her voice will be missed. Authentic and relevant. Here is a sampling of reasons I adored her as a journalist. #RIPGWENIFILL
Flag raised,
Kneel down Hostility & rage Chin up, Fist high Hostility & rage Black lives, Matter too Hostility & rage Shots fired Blood soaked Bodies lie Again, Again Silence |
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