WoundedHealer

Learning to love Hip-Hop

I don't like Hip-Hop. People understand this about me as much as they understand that I don't like shellfish. No, I'm not allergic. No, I don't like lobster. No, I don't like shrimp. Yes, I eat some fish. And, yes, I do know what I'm missing because I've tasted it all before and I don't like it.

The story with Hip-Hop is usually much more aggressive but similar just the same. Yes, I enjoy poetry. No, Hip-Hop is not the same as poetry. No, I don't have anything against Hip-Hop. No, I don't believe it's all about drug dealers, murder, and the "b"-word. No, I am not making a political stand against Hip-Hop. I prefer lyrics be sung and most Hip-Hop is rap. Yes, it is possible to be from Memphis and not like Hip-Hop.

Anyway, I recently decided to embark upon a self-study of Hip-Hop. I enlisted the help of people who enjoy the music and were willing to give me a song list of about 10 songs or so to listen to and who understood that I enjoyed a good vocal hook to be, uh, hooked, to the song. What happens to me is as I listen to the rapped lyrics I get either sleepy or annoyed and don't really hear what is being said – sometimes I miss the benefit of great lyrics. The other issue is I miss out on metaphors, similes, and slang because I am not focused on what the artist is trying to say.

So, my pre-lesson for Hip-Hop was to go to a children's book that Nikki Giovanni edited that had an audio component – Hip-Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry. I zoned in on a classic Hip-Hop track, Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. I own that track in its entirety – all 13 minutes – and started listening to it in the shower. I can recall my older brother and sister talking about how Mama bought that album for them and wrote out the lyrics so they could learn to rap along with the artists. I wanted to listen to anything that was Hip-Hop that I already had some connection to as a warm-up for my ears to lyrics spoken to a beat.

Lesson Learned: I still prefer poetry or spoken word to Hip-Hop. It is not the same thing. However, moving on to Lesson 1.

I'm still working it!

I have my business cards and I am particularly proud of them. They are branded the way the blog and website are branded and I designed it all by myself. It's simple but I feel like it represents me. I am pretty simple on the outside, too.

On the website I added another blog. This one is designed specifically for issues pertaining to Early Childhood Education and to tie in my life's purpose with my creative goals. I'm very excited about all of this.

The one thing I cannot forget though is to continue to create. I have been working hard to prepare for the weekend of networking that is coming up and haven't written for two days. If I don't have a product the marketing materials are moot. To that end, I am going to write as soon as I publish this entry.

Write the vision ... and then work it!

I have heard I have to not only write the vision, but I have to work the vision. Writing the vision is a way of communicating what will be. Working the vision is the way to see it come to fruition.

I am very excited to say that since I wrote the vision I have been working the vision. The first step (outside of producing my art) was to create a website. Check. The next step was to get business cards. Working on it. And other steps include networking and researching the industry. I am excited to state that I have three networking opportunities scheduled for this month already. (So the business cards need to be ready to go sooner than later.)

The first event is through my book club. The author of the book we are reading currently (Shandra Hill of Actions Speak Louder) will be there and this will be a great opportunity to meet an African-American woman novelist. I made a connection with Tia McCollors that way and then attended her writer's workshop. She is the one who gave me sage advice about networking and getting serious about this writing thing.

The next event is a meeting that a friend of mine set up with an author that he knows. We will be meeting for dinner.

The third event is a book signing for Kimberla Lawson Robywho is a New York Times Best Seller and a Christian Fiction author. I've been advised (by Tia McCollors) that attending book signings is another great networking opportunity. So I'll be armed with business cards, books for signing, and prepared to hold engaging conversations.

By the by, I think it is of utmost importance that I add here that I HATE NETWORKING! But I have been allowed to get over my fears that are associated with it (not the discomfort) by my current day job and so I have courage to get out there and get it done.

I'm excited! I am working the vision!

The Benefits of Vision

I was so bold as to write the vision and share it publicly on January 9^th. And after writing the vision publicly I have been a little scared about going forward and pursuing the dream, the vision. Focus on the vision was keeping those fears at bay but still, in researching the writing/publishing industry and in catching up with current affairs as regards young children, I have been met with people's experiences of years of rejection before finally being published. That is scary – not rejection in and of itself because that is to be expected (Walter Mosley has published more than 27 books and still gets rejected regularly) – but further delay of my dream, my purpose, is what scares me.

I went to my car to get some notes for the novel project I am currently working on and found some encouragement from a sermon that I recently heard at my church. Four things you must do with the vision are 1) see it, 2) receive it, 3) obey it, and 4) expand it. Those commands will keep me focused and give me courage. I've heard somewhere that courage is not being unafraid but doing something while you are afraid. I had a boyfriend who absolutely loved it when I admitted that I was afraid of something, anything, while still pressing forward. And somehow that love would propel me forward into even bigger things, but as usual I am starting to digress.

Even though I have finally, finally, done all four of those with the vision, seen it, received it, obeyed it, and am expanding it, I have to renew that promise daily. I have to remind myself to see the vision and remind myself that I have received the vision and to hold on to it. I have to remind myself to obey the vision and keep making forward progress. And I have to remind myself that the vision is bigger than my imagination.

The other part of the sermon expounded on what the vision can do. Vision exposes you to what could be – to the possibilities. Vision will expose you for who you are; it will expose your thinking; it will expose your constitution. Vision eliminates excuses. And vision empowers you. I find those statements particularly poignant as I am currently researching the appropriate industries and plotting out steps in the right direction.

My vision has exposed the possibility that I can be happy with the work I do; work with people who I enjoy and who enjoy me; help others; understand that even though all things aren't good they do work together for my good; and that I can be successful with a flexible schedule and a job that keeps me mobile. My vision has exposed my talents and gifts of writing and teaching, my passion for affecting the lives of young children, my drive and determination, and my fears and insecurities. It's a daily battle to keep my fears at bay and to believe in myself and the vision based on purpose. But when I know that I have a vision based on purpose that will give meaning to my life and leave a positive mark on the world, I find that I feel empowered. And there is no excuse, now that I have direction, for me not fulfilling the vision.

I feel good y'all.

If people can't see what God is doing,
   they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals,
   they are most blessed. Proverbs 29:18 (The Message)

What about your list?

It is time for the annual introspection that typically propels me forward in the New Year. I am now 33 years old and feel like for the last decade I have been working toward goals in my life in the same way some people work toward completing a Rubik’s Cube – get one side together and then move on to the next. Well, what happens when you do that? You never finish because you may have to undo the work you’ve done in the one area to achieve progress in the next.

I can divide my life in about ten different areas for ongoing progress and growth and I have seen how I have been trying to take baby steps toward progress and have been sacrificing progress in one area for others. For example, I was able to quickly get my finances in a place that made me feel comfortable but working the four jobs at the same time proved detrimental to my health. So the only way to move forward in several different areas is to take steps that work together to make small progress in more than one area at a time, not undoing or redoing work that has already been completed.

Self-Love, Health & Beauty

I am currently studying The Master Cleanse, The Raw Food Detox Diet, and Green Smoothie Revolution to get started making a transition to a more raw diet. I will be taking baby steps of performing regular cleanses, adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet, reducing (and eventually eliminating) flesh intake, reducing cooked foods in my diet. All of this will work toward getting my body in a state of better health, help me to drop some weight, clear up my skin, and will require that I practice taking superior care of myself.

Career, Education & Hobbies

I plan to work on completing a novel in 2010 following Walter Mosley’s guidance in This Year You Write Your Novel. In addition to that self-led project, I plan to make steps toward enrolling in Emory’s Creative Writing Certificate Program which will be a series of classes over the course of 2 years dedicated to the development of enthusiastic hobbyists.

Finances, Spirituality & Relationships

I have found and joined a church, New Covenant Christian Ministries, which will serve as the foundation for all my spiritual goals. I plan to extend the relationship building goals through my church by finding areas to be active in the church. I also plan to revamp my finances based on Biblical principles outlined in The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

Home

I have relocated recently to a place that will make it easier for me to achieve these goals for a variety of reasons (cheaper rent, closer to the city, etc.) and my home will be the headquarters for progress in 2010 so while there are no goals dedicated specifically to home, it will undergo changes as I continue to change in these areas.

I am very excited this year – and very nervous – but I trust that I will begin to see progress that will be permanent and begin to create the life I want to live.