Maya Angelou, Dies at 86

Two weeks ago, I came across this Maya Angelou interview on Oprah's YouTube channel. This put a lot of things in perspective for me. When you are faced with opposition, you have to stop and say thank you because there is something greater in store for you. With that said, thank you Maya Angelou for your countless words of inspiration that has and will continue to uplift all walks of life.

Book Haul!

I stopped by Barnes & Nobles yesterday and was greeted by my favorite word...CLEARANCE!! They have a large amount of books on sale for 75%. So I started digging and bought two books for about $7 total! Can't beat that.

The first one is called Still I Rise by Roland Laird & Taneisha Nash Laird. It talks about African American history from the 1600's to now in comic book form. The book was a quick history lesson with a twist of humor. Its interesting to see how much our ancestors had to endure to get the right to vote, keep a job and gain their freedom. Whats sad to say is that today some people are still fighting those same battles.

The other book I bought is called More Black Memorabillia: A Handbook & Price Guide. I don't own any memorabillia but I specifically bought this book to see what kinds of things were made to represent blacks. From women constantly being portrayed as the mammy and bare skinned children playing with tigers as if there animals, this book has alot of powerful images.

Ears of silence

Image: jasonbandura.com

 

Finally, I reached the subway platform to take the train one stop to my job. It was way too hot to walk the 10 blocks or so in the middle of the heat. As I scrolled through my iPod to see what song to play next, I was interrupted by someone screaming. In the back of my mind I'm thinking, "Just another person screaming in NYC." Being the nosey person that I am, I put my music on pause to hear what he was saying. And the first thing to hit my ears was, "My people are dying!" So I turn to look at the gentleman and he was a well clothed male that looked like he was on his way to work. As I listened closely he continued to scream that his country is torn apart and that his ancestors have given so much to make it whole. Now the question I started to ask myself is, "Where is this man from?" As soon as I mentioned those words to myself, the police showed up at the scene and the train I needed to take was on its way down the rail. Right before I boarded the train I heard the man say, "Ayiti!" No one cared because to them he was just another "person" wailing out in NYC. When in reality all he wanted was to be heard. So much of what this man had to say ricocheted on ears that were dead silent.

Loving yourself

 

 

We come in all shapes and sizes. Tall, short, skinny, fat, round, flat, etc...

I was reading the July 2010 issue of Essence magazine and Jada Pinkett Smith was on the cover dressed in nothing but her skin. In the article that was written about her, she mentioned how we need to embrace ourselves and not care what others may think of us. After, I read this I sat and reflected on what she was talking about and it's so true. Here in America we live in a society where we are constantly judged by the way that we look. So many people are worried about making sure their appearance is acceptable in other people's eyes. When all that should matter is learning how to accept yourself. And I mean, to be honest, I at times look at other females and say what if I had longer hair like her or what if I were a couple inches taller. But then I realize that God made us all differently in his own image. So, why worry about what they have that I don't have?