Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me. 

In life your giving choices. These choices your giving, you have the opportunity to think through your circumstance or situation to make the ultimate decision for your life. To even begin to move forward, you have to acknowledge and learn from what had just happened. You have these desires, goals, and wants, however, do you really know how to obtain them the right way? There is a right way and a wrong way of handling things. You know if you made the right choices depending upon how the outcome ends. Always remember people have choices as well. Just because they don't agree, doesn't mean rejection. It just means you were going in the wrong direction. We all have the opportunity to learn from everything we encounter. Initially there's gain in terms of growth, which is always and will be a wonderful thing. Just know that in your relationships, you are not alone. You have to consider the other person as well. You may be moving forward alone, or may not be moving forward at all. At the end of the day, LIFE is a lesson learned journey, and we are extremely blessed to have the opportunity to make choices.

The Parable of the Talents

You all heard of the parable of the five talents. A lot of people use this parable to teach us about investing money, or our gifts that we have. I tend to look at this parable differently.
Here's a link for those who may want to glance the scripture: http://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/passage.aspx?q=matthew+25:11-21.
When God gave these men talents, all except for one took their talents and came back with more. The one, took his talent and buried it in the ground. God was glad to see the four men who invested in their talents and came back with more. The one who buried his talent came back with just that one he was given, and in his case God casted him away. I look at this parable differently than its used to adapt to money, or our gifts, or anything that pertains to self. This parable is an amazing example of how to use what was given to us to empower others. We have been given so much, and I call the Bible the Book Of Life, just because it teaches everything you need to know and more. It teaches us about LIFE. How we should live, how we should be, how we should treat others, how we learn about who we are, and our worth, and the list goes on. I receive this parable as... What God gives us, use it to bring more back to him. So now your bringing more back to him. This parable is a deep parable that has been used in many different ways. You have to literally invest what you know, and share it, so that you impact those around you where ever you go. Remember the one who was given a talent, took his talent and buried it? He kept the talent all too himself, which caused him to be cast away. It's an honor and privelegde to run into someone who's passionate about helping others become better, because their going to help you as well. Realizing that we help eachother. You don't get that a lot. I love running into those who want to see me become better, who want to see me be successful. I love running into those who love life and sees life for what it is. There is a gain for us all, because there's more than enough. What will be your gain? 

Public Schools Need "Empowerment"!!

I was on FB the other day. I saw one of my high school teacher making a comment on a friends page. I was so blown away that she was even on FB. Now, I know FB has become extremely popular, however, there are still not many people utilizing FB. I figured if my high school teacher was on FB, I knew the other one (her partner in crime) was on there as well. So I looked her up, and BAM! She's on FB too. All of a sudden, memories of my experience in high school started popping up... Because I was not taking life SERIOUS according to a couple of my teachers, I was unable to attend a tour at University of Cincinnati. I was told that I wasn't going to mount up to anything. I wasn't able to be a part of different activities because I didn't have a GPA of 2.5 or higher. I was young who loved life and people. I was considered a class clown, and at that time, who wasn't? In fact, it really had nothing to do with my behavior, because I was still growing and still learning who I was. Something you don't get taught at Public Schools. I am a high school graduate of a Cincinnati Public School.

I have no regrets of my past experiences or certain comments that were made towards me. In fact, I felt like Jay-Z in his track called "So Ambitious". On this track he goes completely off on the teachers who told him he wasn't going to mount up to anything, because he rapped all the time, and possibly was a class clown too. Creativity. We all were born with it. Why take it away? Why not use what we have to empower tomorrow? I say that a lot. One, I say it to constantly remind myself, two, to remind others. Now Jay-Z and many others are living the LIFE they want to live. Maybe a LIFE those past teachers dreamed about. When those memories came back to me, I began to think... I wonder if I'm living a better LIFE than they are? I wonder being as young as I am, am I living a better LIFE than they were when they were my teachers? 

I'm not talking about being able to go on trips when I want to. I'm talking knowing who I am, my passion, what drives me, and where do I want my LIFE to go? Knowing who you are, you know what you want to do, you know your passion, and your purpose. Knowing your purpose on earth is the most important thing people yearn and search for. Who am I? This is the million dollar question. When I wonder if I'm living a better LIFE than my teachers back then, and today, I just let my light shine. The experience I had in high school was fun, sad, and very effective. I want to say thank you to all the teachers who had a pinch of doubt about in me. I want to say thank you to all the teachers who made negative comments about me. I say thank you to all! Today, I know my purpose. I know who I am, and I know what I want to do. I'm being a positive impact on the young, the old, and the restless. No one cares about how much you know, until they know how much you care. I wished my parents were able to afford a better learning environment. I came from a dysfunctional home setting, and there's no telling how many others came, or come from that same circumstance that attended public school back then and today. Then to go to school, and still go through a dysfunctional setting. Not saying all teachers were negative in their approach, however, most were. I wish children were able to give their opinion of Public School teachers, or do a survey on teachers who chose to teach at a Public School. Maybe we'll have a much more greater outcome on graduation rates, and a less academic achievement gaps. Know your purpose, know who are, know what you want to do. If you don't know how, ask me or seek a mentor that will help you. A lot of times we just don't know where to begin... 

"Use what you have today, to empower tomorrow". ~Gail Gardner 

Blossoms Empowering Young Women

 Blossoms… This is a national organization I have where I empower girls 9-12 years old, and raise academic achievements in Public Schools. Blossoms was founded in the beginning of last year and began Sept. 17, 2010. With the help of so many people who I cannot name in this blog. After completing this course called PLI(Parent Leadership institute), I had to come up with a program where parents, students, and teachers came together, along with raising the achievement gap in our Public School. I was told by my principal at my Public School, that she wanted me to do something with her 9-12 year old girls. She began saying her score was very low, and the girls argue and fight a lot. She also mentioned how she wanted me to focus on bullying issues with the girls as well. Now I did approach her with something totally different, like having an after school mentor program. Well my principle needed help with the girls so bad, and thought I would make a perfect fit. With the idea of my principle wanting me to do this, it gave me a lot of lead way, in terms of being able to utilize whatever it was going to take to make this happen. Like I mentioned before with the help of others Blossoms was born. Today Blossoms is still going through trial and error. We’ve had a successful year so far, and plan to have many more to come. The girls are blooming into beautiful young women. They are being empowered, and learning who they are. Life doesn’t get any better than that at their age. If you would like Blossoms to come to a Public School near you, feel free to contact me. If you have any suggestions or would like give monetary donation, contact me.