Spring Fever Week 23!

This week, it wasn't as cold as it was in previous weeks, and that brought a lot of optimism into my life.  Even though on Monday, I spent it without a boyfriend, which is cool, but it was very boring that day.  Then on Thursday, it was almost 60 degrees!  I couldn't believe it!  Finally, I could smell the arrival of summer on the horizon and I couldn't wait to put away my linty pea coat, and trade it for my more form fitting lazer green hoodie.
Spring is almost here!  And the weather usually gets better in Cleveland around April and May, and I just can't wait till my graduation arrives so that I can get the heck out of this school, and the only way I will come back is if they want me to speak to those good for nothing kids because I will be some inspirational leader, whom will travel the country to speak to teens that live in inner cities.  Most importantly, this week, I finished my final college application and I also turned in my required materials for this final school.  So I now have to wait for Miami University and Howard University.  Miami will contact me on March 15th, and Howard, I don't know when.  So, my future is riding on these two schools.
With this, I've been keeping a close eye on Howard University, and I am fairly impressed with the school, and the mentality of the students there.  It seems like this is one of the only HBCUs that are doing great, but I still have to go to DC and see for myself.  So, we will see.  But what really gives Howard an edge is the fact that not only do they have a chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, but they also do the alternative spring breaks in the locations that I feel I want to go to the most.  I feel that I have to "pilgrimage" to Chicago where Derrion Albert, and Blair Holt, among others were killed so that I can immerse myself in the community struggles, and so that I can see if there is anything I can do to help with the problems happening there.  I know that every school has their alternative spring breaks, but Howard hit the right nerve at the right time and that is why I might pick them over Miami University if the visit goes well.
Now what Miami really has in its favor is the location.  Oxford OH is only a little over 4 hours away from Cleveland, and DC is about 6 hours or more away.  Also, Miami is a really good school, but what kind is of making me ify is the fact that they do not have a NABJ, and I need to be involved in that organization because I have to do that program where they allow the students to do a type of internship so they can really get newsroom experience, and I HAVE to meet Roland Martin.  Roland has to be one of my favorite journalists, if not my favorite  You can catch his show Washington Watch on Sundays on TV One.  I also am a huge fan of Soledad O'brien, forgive me if I spelled her name wrong, if you haven't checked out any Black In America specials, then I will tell you that it is a must see for every American.  Also I like Don Lemon, and you can catch him on CNN Newsroom.  Lastly, I am a fan of Jeff Johnson and that guy is all over the place, proud to say that he's from Cleveland!
So I still have my goals set high for myself and no matter where I go to school, I know that I will be able to accomplish the goals that I have intended to get done before I die.  So, as I struggle through the many things that teens my age got through in terms of self esteem issues, I know that underneath all my pain is a strong young girl ready for the world, ready to bloom into a young woman who knows that nothing is impossible and every dream she has is attainable.
Love,
               Blackness PeAcE

Black IZ Power Part 3! Black History Month Week 21

If you didn't know already, February is Black History Month.  Why is Black History Month in the shortest month of the year?  Because this happened to be the birthday month for both Abraham Lincoln, the great slave emancipator, and Frederick Douglas, the Martin Luther King Jr of the 1800s.  This was the idea of the great Carter G Woodson, whom was the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and in 1926 the first "Negro History Week" was observed.
Then in the 1970s, Black History Month was born and is still celebrated to this day in America and Canada.
I love Black History Month because it's one of the only times of the year when I get to write essays and share my knowledge with others that I normally don't talk to.  I don't talk to that many people at my school because Blackness is on a whole other level, one of which that they cannot touch, and I really do not feel that I have to talk to them.  Still, I feel that I owe it to my ancestors to put those differences aside to share my knowledge with people that would otherwise not know anything about it.  So I try my best to write and make little movies about these things so that I can make an impact on someone that I must of misjudged.
I also take a step over them and I try to demonstrate my pride in many other ways.  For instance, last year, the director of my school allowed me to wear a dashiki for Black history Month, and I wore it on Fridays because I only had about three of them.  Many people turned their heads, pointed fingers, laughed, and others took intrigue.  So I actually expected that kind of reaction because there are too many Black people ignorant to their history.  At first, I started to feel really bad about it, and I wasn't looking forward to school anymore, but I continued on, answered any questions, and answered ignorance with the strong pride that brewed within myself, something that I was proud and surprised by.
This year, we had a new director, and I was a bit doubtful about whether or not he was going to allow me to to wear it, and I was surprised when he said that I could.  This year, I have real Dashikis and I can't wait to wear them this Friday with my Afro and big earrings.  I missed this Friday due to a family tragedy, but you know that next week, I'm going to be on it!  So I can't wait to get that together.
Also, I have two movies that I will show my class this month; one is about the Black Panther Party of the 70s, and the other one is about how we have forgotten the struggle to the music of Heaven Help Us All.
So you know that I will be hard at work trying to inspire the hopeless, the clueless, and the ignorant.  Why do I do it?  I don't know.  Why did Martin Luther King try to compromise with racist white people?
See, no matter how many people tell you that it's dead, Black History Month still has its relevance because this is OUR history, no matter what color you are, if you are an American, this is your history.  We need to understand this history if we want to advance this country because we still are facing many of the same problems we have for hundreds of years with the issue of superiority.  In my opinion, no race is more superior than the other, and that's why you can never catch me saying that Black people are better than any other race.  Still, I have my pride, but there is a thick line between thinking that my race is better than another and loving my Black self.  It pains me that we don't celebrate our Black culture as we did way back when, and I know that I was put on this Earth to instill that self love, and awareness to the struggle so that I may uplift me people as the Great Ones before me did.  So, this is one of many of my Black History Month posts, so I hope to post more in the future so that I may uplift, whomever reads this.

Love,
             Blackness PEACE!