Mi gran esperanza es reír tanto como llore, tener mi trabajo hecho y tratar de amar a alguien y tener el coraje de aceptar amor a cambio.

Katsoin eilen Yle Teemalta elokuussa tallentamani ohjelman The Ballad of Greenwich Village, joka kartoitti kiinnostavalla tavalla Manhattanin boheemikortteleiden historiaa ja elämänmenoa. Hieno sukellus: mainioita haastateltavia, värikkäitä muistoja, kiehtovia tarinoita.

Sain ohjelmasta myös voima-ajatuksen tälle viikolle. Kirjailija ja ihmisoikeusaktivisti Maya Angelou pohti, mikä hyveistä on tärkein, ja päätyi rohkeuteen. Ilman sitä ei ihminen hänen mielestään kykene muihin hyveisiin säännönmukaisesti. Me tarvitsemme rohkeutta voidaksemme olla omassa jokapäiväisessä arjessamme reiluja, kilttejä, anteliaita, armeliaita, oikeudenmukaisia, rakastavia ja aitoja. Niinhän se on.

Huntington Beach is known for its lush scenery, as well as, the laid back demeanor of its residents, but in one fell swoop, that entire image has been ruined. At least for fans of one of America’s most celebrated public figures.

Several members of a Huntington Beach activist group is lobbying to remove  one of Maya Angelou’s most famous literary works, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” after having deemed it as being  inappropriate for elementary and middle school aged children.

In an effort to convey the method behind their madness, several members of the group descended upon a city council meeting for the city, choosing to read some of the title’s more grizzly portions to all in attendance.

“I’m not happy to read this, I’m not proud to read this,” said Judy Ahren, a resident of Huntington Beach, to local media. “It’s very uncomfortable to read it, but for the sake of our kids we have to do things that aren’t comfortable for the sake of our kids.”

According to the superintendent of Ocean View School District, the book has been submitted for review.

It has only been checked out five times in the past two years.

I know it is the job of parents to be concerned for the safety and well being of their children, but seriously, is this really what their collective “anger” should be used on? With rampant violence, drug/alcohol abuse, and a myriad of social problems plaguing America’s public education system, is this REALLY what they should be worried about? I bet their children have seen more “interesting” images during an early evening HBO session. Porn is a multi-billion dollar industry that, whether these concerned parents want to admit or not, more than likely has their children proverbially gripped by their tiny throats by now. Yet, they choose to focus on a book that was meant to inspire by offering a tale of perseverance???

Lunacy. . .

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

- Maya Angelou

After Maya Angelou. What do you think of it as a middle?

I am king, hear me speak roar.

Quack?

We are only all too human. Verbal communication is the very basic of social interaction, but with the myriad of languages and cultures in the world, miscommunication may result from misinterpretation.

That’s the boring stuff. Moving on.

You’ve been suckered guys.

Words can be used to manipulate the thoughts of the person or just to deceive. Think sales people. I quote a friend, “When you’re purchasing cologne and you ask the salesperson what they think of the cologne on you, they’ll definitely say something like – oh you smell really sexy in it. That’ll boost your self-esteem and make you think hmm, she’s right, I think I should get this bottle.”

If a message supports current beliefes, attitudes, and values, we tend to find it compelling. If it enhances our sense of self-worth, we may accept it without question. Yet it is in exactly these situations that we should be wary. (Thinking Through Communication 5th Edition – Sarah Trenholm; page 57)

It’s not all gloom and doom with words though. What better way to express emotions but through words?

The famous scene in Love Actually.

Sometimes I find myself looking at your pictures over and over again. Sometimes I enjoy the feeling of missing you because then I know that I’m not a freak of nature. Sometimes I try to memorize the look on your face, the feel of your hands, the taste of your lips because I know the night is over too quickly and I will wake up without you. Sometimes I go to sleep looking at your texts, just so the night feels safer.

But sometimes it feels like there’s a huge weight sitting on the middle of my chest. Sometimes I fight the urge to buy a plane ticket with my savings and just leave everyone and everything behind, no explanations and no forwarding address. Sometimes I walk by the places where we used to sit and wonder where you’re sitting these days. Sometimes I repeat the saying “Action is the enemy of thought” in my head to keep me going, one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, some days, all I want to do is cry.

How are you interpreting this?

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

Maya Angelou

Well in other words, watch your words.

This will bring us to the other point of SELECTION. People choose what they want to hear or read and they’re already making judgements.

You’ll go crazy.

There’s too much information going around in the environment for us to take in everything and process it at the same time. Our brain (wonderful thing), sorts out what should be processed based on specific criterias (consciously or sub-consciously). Ranging from frequency, contrast, intensity, novelty to beliefs, preferences, motives, priorities, culture.

Too much info – Brain burn.

In other words, we perceive what we want to take in, limiting our views on things. (omission *failure to select critical info, distortion *failure to prioritise important info or to select wrong info, oversimplification *selected salient info, failing to select significant info. yawn.)

What do you think? Do words lose their colour if used too often? Does clichés change your perception of words said or written? Are people coming to a conclusion too quickly?

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”

- Maya Angelou

“We Had Him”
by Dr. Maya Angelou

Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing
Now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips
Like a puff of summer wind,
Without notice our dear love can escape our doting embrace,
Sing our songs among the stars,
And walk our dances across the face of the moon
In the interest that we learn that Michael is gone we know nothing
No clocks can tell our time
No oceans can rush our tides
With the abrupt absence of our treasure
Though we are many each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone
Only when we confess our confusion
Can we remember that he was a gift to us
And we did have him
He came to us from the creator
Trailing creativing and abundance
Despite the anguish of life he was sheathed in mother love
And family love,
And survived
And did more than that he thrived
With passion and compassion
Humor and style,
We had him,
Whether we knew who he was or did not know
He was ours and we were his
We had him,
beautiful, delighting our eyes
he raked his hat, slant over his brow
And took a pose on his toes for all of us
And we laughed and stomped our feet, for him
We were enchanted by his passion
Because he held nothing
He gave us all he had been given
today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower
in Gana’s Black star Square
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh
in Birmingham, Alabama and Birmingham, England
We are missing Michael Jackson
But we do know we had him,
And we are the world…

Maya Angelou tribute1
I have disclosed in my first ever blog entry that I will post first my old entries from my other blog site. But I changed my mind. Some of those “articles” were crazy things that I kept secret even from my family and some friends. Madukol man jud ko nila ni tatay ug nanay if they ever read what I was up to before. hehehehe.

Now, I will just post the ones that are harmless (nyok!!!) starting with this poem I made when I have first fallen in love with Maya Angelou’s poems. She knows the meaning of “girl power” in its truest sense. And this poem of mine dated march 5, 2003 is just a pathetic attempt of trying my hand at poetry writing.

 
I am woman
A song in my lips
Merriment in my eyes
Happiness in my heart
Love on my sleeves
Im not afraid

I am woman
I go nuts when mad
Rage against a cad
Chew nails if I have
Or cut my enemy in half
I am dangerous

I am woman
I always cry when blue
Yes it is true
But I always pull through
All this because of you
I am in love

Some 20,000 people gathered inside the Staples Center on Tuesday for a somber, spiritual ceremony, watched by untold millions more around the world as they celebrated a man whose immense talents almost drowned beneath the spectacle of his life and fame. A star-studded lineup of performers closely linked to Jackson’s life and music reached back for the essence of the man. They remembered Jackson as an unparalleled singer, dancer and humanitarian whose music united people of all backgrounds. “Don’t focus on the scars, focus on the journey,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose fiery eulogy was an emotional high point of the service.

“Every time he got knocked down, he got back up,” Sharpton said, and the applauding crowd again jumped to its feet. Sharpton rode the moment, building to a crescendo. “There wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy.

It was strange what your daddy had to deal with!” he said to Jackson’s three children in the front row, drawing the longest ovation of the service. Jackson’s daughter, Paris-Michael, later provided the only real surprise of the service: the first public statement of her 11 years. “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father I could imagine,” she said, dissolving into tears and turning into the embrace of her aunt Janet. “I just want to say I love him so much.

” Unlike Jackson’s life, the ceremony was not spectacular, extravagant or bizarre. The atmosphere was churchlike, assisted by an enormous video image of a stained-glass window with red-gold clouds blowing past that was projected behind the stage. The ceremony began with Smokey Robinson reading statements from Jackson’s close friend Diana Ross — “Michael was part of the fabric of my life” — and then Nelson Mandela — “Be strong.

” While Jackson was among the most famous faces in the world, today’s megastars were largely absent. Those present mostly reflected some connection to Jackson’s life or work. Among those conspicuously elsewhere were Elizabeth Taylor, Ross and Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife and the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children. The fans, clutching tickets that 1.6 million people had sought, were a visual representation of Jackson’s life: white, black and everything in between; from Mexico, Japan, Italy or America; wearing fedoras, African headdresses, sequins or surgical masks.

“Words can’t express how I feel,” said Dani Harris, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom from Los Angeles. “You think about one person, larger than presidents and kings and queens,” Harris said. “People in countries you can’t even see on the map know his face, his music.” The pre-ceremony stillness was broken by the organ strains of “Soon and Very Soon,” a gospel hymn by Andrae Crouch.

“Hallelujah, hallelujah, we’re going to see the King,” a choir sang. The crowd cheered and rose to its feet. The Rev. Lucious W. Smith of the Friendship Baptist Church in Pasadena gave the greeting, standing on the same stage where Jackson had been rehearsing for a comeback concert before his death on June 25. Then Mariah Carey sang “I’ll Be There.

” Queen Latifah read a poem composed by Maya Angelou for Jackson. “Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon,” Angelou wrote.

Video:

I feel reverence to site: click

I wrote this poem as a tribute to honor Dr. Angelou on her birthday.  She continues to be an inspiration. 

Ode to Maya Angelou

A Grande Dame of the literary world

Discovering why the cage bird sings from the time she was a little girl

Wisdom of the ages dripping like priceless pearls from her mouth

Offering hope to the masses

From north to south

A rarity among women

A statuesque queen

Dramatist, authoress, actress of stage and screen

Dancing undaunted upon life’s stage

Movement as eloquent as words

Fluidity captured on a page

Inauguration Poetess  

Issuing a rousing call to fellow countrymen

Lay aside the foolishness of the color of skin

Activists for the rights inherent to all women, children and men

From America to Africa

No dearth of mountains and valleys in between

Always graceful

Always a queen

Articulate words of hope seeping from pores

Permeating our atmosphere

Manna for those having  ears to hear

Eloquent

Elegant

Vibrant with life

Unafraid to take a stand

Still fighting

Still writing for the betterment of man

Black American Queen

Crossing classes

Feeding the masses

Slaying mendacity

Faithful

Steadfast

Always true

Forever

Maya Angelou

My last three complete reads were all poetry. I had forgotten about this beautiful literary art form until I began researching for some of my theatre classes. I was trying to find meaningful poetry to enrich the lives of the students I was teaching and little did I know I would be getting the most education of all.

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou:
This is actually a book, but also a poem and I am not quite sure which came first. As I read this piece I was astonished I had never read it before. Her words soaked into my body, my soul. I was so absorbed in the beautiful language it was almost like I was reading a piece of art work. All I can say is you must must must must read this books. Now. Go run out and get it! I think if I were a dying woman this would be the last thing I would want to read before I went. Strong words, but this book really stirred strong emotions in me.

Howl by Allen Ginsberg:
This is an extended poem sandwiched in a book with some of his other poetry. This poetry style is not for everyone. Sometimes it almost feels like a run on sentence, but it is the true vision of what life was like in the 60’s and especially in the area of Berkley CA where students and young people were really rallying against the war. Howl is actually not one of my favorite poems within the book but it does resonate as we look at all the damage created by the war in Iraq. In the back of the book is a poem he wrote in 1954 called Song, and again you must at least read this!

The collected poems of Dorothy Parker:
One of my fellow teaching artists introduced me to this poet. We were searching for some poems with strong images for one of the classes we taught together. I fell in poetry love. She is comparable to Sylvia Plath in the manner of her lifestyle, she often wanted to commit suicide. Her poems are mostly about the male race and how they affect her. But the images and the witty tone she uses are amazing. So many of her poems spoke to me, a young female in her 20’s that I actually had to go buy this book.

Currently reading Walden By Henry David Thoreau and Testomnies 4 Plays by Emily Mann. Trying to get all my highbrow reading out of the way for those easy summer beach reads…

Well, the much-talked-about day has finally arrived. The crowds are gathering in Washington, the retrospective analyses of how Obama got where he is today are playing on televisions the world over, famous inaugural speeches take up pages on news websites and in newspapers, a sense of almost evangelical hope swells and swells so that it could almost be felt on this side of the Atlantic — and, predictably, Maya Angelou is wheeled out to put in her two pence worth.

The BBC’s World News America took it upon themselves to ask “personalities from various walks of life” to give Obama the benefit of their wisdom — telling him what “they think he should do when he takes up his new job on 20 January”. A recipe for disaster if ever there was one, I thought to myself, still feeling the lingering fatigue from my recent bout of flu and, admittedly, feeling especially grumpy and cynical. The very idea of asking “personalities” to give anyone advice on anything fills me, even at the best of times — and quite justifiably, I think — with a sense of dread. But this was Maya Angelou, after all, not some plastic, no-panties party girl spouting her like, you know, superficial, unintelligible nonsense. Granted, I’m not exactly a fan of her work (I find it rather predictable and… well, frankly, unimpressive), but I was still interested enough to take a look at what she’d said.

Her first four words? “I am a poet.” Brilliant start. Always good to get that out of the way right at the beginning. What follows, however, she is quick to point out, is not a poem (phew.) What it is is “ruminations or reflections upon the advent of President Barack Obama.”

Okay, I thought, not exactly the most groundbreaking of beginnings, but I was determined to keep an open mind and read her insights with as little cynicism as I could muster. Perhaps predictably, however, by the end of the second paragraph I was yawning at the banality and jingoism of it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I too have high hopes for the presidency of Barack Obama. When Angelou says “We needed him”, I can and do empathise. A new direction is needed, a sense of hope has been lacking for far too long. But the over-emphasis that the likes of Angelou place upon this “yes I can” attitude, the prevailing assertion that one man really can make a huge difference — a force for good and only good — is, to my mind, asking for trouble.

So today — without wishing to claim any authority on the subject, offering this only as a grumpy, fatigued observer — I’d like to introduce a note of caution. Obama is unquestionably a good man. His intentions, I feel quite certain, are the best they can be. But he is just a man. He is not a 21st-century Moses leading his people into the Promised Land. Yes, enjoy today. Celebrate the possibility for change. But where Obama, Maya Angelou et al insist that what it is to be an American can be summed up in the three words “yes I can”, I suggest you as a nation select another three instead.

I can try.

Because, ultimately, that’s all any of us can do. Great things can nevertheless be achieved — not only because the willingness to try is in itself a positive, but also because with these three words the weight of expectation is a little less burdensome. Hope for and strive for success, but do not weigh the man down with messianic aspirations.

© 2009 Gary William Murning

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

~ Maya Angelou

Image:  Nick Edens, Apple Orchard in Winter

Zen images at JPG Magazine

When writing my recent post on Ayn Rand, I visited the Ayn Rand Institute to gain more information about the author. Although the site deals with Rand’s life and works, it also remains strongly connected to broader issues of economics, philosophy, and current events. After I left the site, I started thinking about the number of authors who have given their names to institutes not limited to, the field of literature.

Their contributions were literary, but the impact went far beyond the pages of their novels or books of poetry. Though literati, they were not blind to the other issues affecting the cultures in which they lived. As a result, they left a legacy that went beyond the scope of literature. Their example reminds me that great minds, no matter their primary field of work, are always capable of creating or inspiring broad-based, positive change.

Here is a short list of some of the organizations I have found. This is, necessarily, an incomplete list: if you know of others, please send links!

The C.S. Lewis Institute - to develop disciples who can “articulate, defend, and live faith in Christ.”

The Ayn Rand Institute - the online source for information on the life and works of novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand. 

The Pearl Buck Center – creating opportunities and providing support to individuals with developmental disabilities, their children and families. 

Helen Keller International – HKI provides expertise, training, and technical assistance to establish nutrition and eye health programs in partnership with host countries.

The Maya Angelou Institute for the Improvement of Child and Family Education

The Walden Woods Project - preserves the land, literature and legacy of Henry David Thoreau to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility. 

The Thoreau Center for Sustainability - green nonprofit centers that house more than 70 nonprofit organizations in San Francisco and New York.

The W.E.B. Dubois Learning Center - providing tutorial services for the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the areas of reading, mathematics, science, and computer science.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners - a statewide network that fosters innovation to stimulate Pennsylvania’s economic growth and prosperity.

The Emerson Instiute for Freedom and Culture – working to change the culture by promoting progressive natural classicism in the arts and humanities.

And this is just a sampling, not including the many schools, hospitals, libraries, and museums also dedicated to the great minds of literature.

     These days the news seems very grim. Economic stats dominate every media outlet, layoffs, mountainous debt personal and institutional. Our country has been viewed with resentment and disappointment abroad. Things seem so bad that most of us agreed that the time was ripe for change. No matter how you voted the historical significance of recent events is amazing and unprecedented. From this struggle and change, hope has emerged. I haven’t felt this hopeful in many years. The way events have unfolded I am encouraged by the process in a way I haven’t felt in many years. How bout you?

“We are not enemies but friends… though passion strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” 
 Abraham Lincoln

” I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou                                                       

David Alan Grier as Maya Angelou on Chocolate News  

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=75f_1224180574&p=1 

Maya Angelou: ‘I’m So Proud’

Background Articles and Videos

Maya Angelou Introduces Michelle Obama

And Still I Rise

Maya Angelou – A Brave and Startling Truth

David Alan Grier

As Election Nears, a Black Voice Enters Comedy Fray

By FELICIA R. LEE

“…Chocolate News” borrows the fake-news template from two of Comedy Central’s most successful programs, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,” but uses the conceit to fill a void of politically charged black-oriented comedy. The first season of this show, also created by Mr. Grier, a comedian and actor, is an equal-opportunity offender, skewering rappers, Maya Angelou, gangbangers and election fraud.

“This is the perfect chance,” Mr. Grier said during an interview on Monday at the Bowery Hotel on the Lower East Side. “I wanted something where I could have the clearest and most unfiltered artistic and creative voice. I had done the sitcom thing to lesser and lesser degrees of success.”

The timing could not be better for the 52-year-old Mr. Grier, most famous for such characters as Antoine, a gay film critic, and Loomis Simmons, a crooked infomercial host, on “In Living Color,” the sketch-comedy program on Fox from 1990 to 1994 that made stars out of Keenen Ivory Wayans and his brothers Shawn, Damon and Marlon Wayans, as well as Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey. High ratings this season for shows like “Saturday Night Live” demonstrate that this historic presidential election has whetted a public appetite for political comedy and topical satire. And since Dave Chappelle abruptly and noisily left the popular “Chappelle’s Show” in 2005, Comedy Central has not had a black host of an original sketch-comedy series at a time when race and racial politics are front and center. …”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/arts/television/15grie.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&referer=sphere_related_content&oref=slogin

David Alan Grier

“David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1955) is an American actor and comedian known for his work on the sketch comedy television show In Living Color. He currently hosts Chocolate News, a show on Comedy Central. …”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Alan_Grier

A preview of Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem for Obama

By Michelle Malkin 

“A lifestyle is what you pay for; a life is what pays you.” — Thomas Leonard

“The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for.”  Zig Ziglar

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.” — Maya Angelou

“Let’s be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming gardeners who make our soul bloom.” Marcel Proust