Education Talk…
BEAUTIFUL, BLACK PEOPLE! HAPPY JUNETEENTH! ✊🏾❤️🖤💚 it felt really good to be black yesterday, let me tell you. It felt like I had something that was my own. Something that me as a black man can be proud about. I’m thinking about why I have never celebrated Juneteenth before? I know that to some it may not matter, as long as we do it now and always, and I get it. I totally get it. All I’m saying that I don’t know who’s to blame for my tremendous lack of black or African-American history. I don’t know why I did not get all of the knowledge I felt that I should have received about my own culture growing up as a child. I know that we are moving forward but I want to find a solution as to how we can better educate our young people. Our young, BLACK people. Who makes the decisions on the history books that are issued to our schools? Who cuts the check and orders these books? Is there a book store that the government buys from? Is there an assortment of cooks to chose from per subject? Are there any books that are written about black history, only? Are those books available at this “book store” Im assuming exists? I just want Se answers and I really don’t know how or who to talk to but I’m going to find out. I want to know what can be done to change the. A restive in our black communities. I want my kids to know more about Marcus Garvey than Christopher Columbus. More about Fredrick Douglas and less about about Abraham Lincoln. I want my kids, OUR KIDS, to be able to have that luxury. To be able to learn from books that teach solely To whom the student is, BLACK. This is why I think the education system should go through some internal and systemic changes. And there should be more classes that are electives for middle schoolers. I think that reading, writing and English language should be mandatory and everything else should be electives. And then that is when you start having “African American studies” courses or music classes and performing arts available. Finance classes, law classes, military if that’s a goal for some. And the parents and children’s should be able to chose a “major” for their child, that way, it’s in the hands of the families on what career path they would want their children to be on, right from the very start. Real estate classes. I think there should be therapy available for all students. In middle school and in high school. I believe this will work because I believe that we are living in a time where most children in middle school are growing up with tablets and smartphones in their hands and they are much smarter than what we give them credit for.. A plan to homeschool for that’d the day, if you want.. I just have a lot of ideas that in think would help move the needle forward in education. I’m gonna figure it out but it’s definitely been on my heart a lot, lately. A music product course! And you can probably take an electronic, anonymous poll and ask specific questions about career paths and specific interests in order get a better read of what PARENTS WANT as well as what the kids want. I believe it should be more of a collaborative effort as opposed to just dropping your kids off like it’s a some sort of day care and not really be involved in PTA meetings and curriculum meetings and town halls. It’s important that our parents get more involved in the pathway for their children. This goes for me, also. This idea has definitely picked up steam as we celebrated Juneteenth, the national holiday day black slaves on June 19, 1865. Although it was passed two years prior, word didn’t get to the slaves in Texas until 1865, so that is the date and I celebrate it with confidence in blackness, boldness for my black brothers and sisters. To all of the black ancestors, who suffered and died and sacrificed their lives do that we can be free, will not be in vain. Ever. We stand on their shoulders and we fight harder, we march more, we speak louder and we take action on the journey. And celebrate the wins along the way. On the way to real freedom. A freedom where we can be the very best versions of ourselves, uninterrupted. No resistance. No oppression. Raising our families on our terms, living our lives, on our terms.
Well anyways.. Happy Juneteenth everybody body and I hope you have a great weekend. Stay black, God bless and Power to the people. ✊🏾🖤 -Jermy
4:13am..
Just sitting here in the dark, early in the AM. In silence with my thoughts. Thoughts about life. Career. Love. The works. I’m thinking about winning. I’m thinking about letting go. I’m thinking about holding on. I’m thinking about us. I’m thinking about freedom. I’m thinking about patience. I’m thinking about common sense. I’m thinking about how not to be distracted. Stay focused. Know your limits and push them. I’m thinking about winning. I’m thinking about longevity. Thinking about injustice. Thinking about lynchings. I’m thinking about Rayshard. I’m thinking about Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna TAYLOR. I’m thinking about the screams in the street. I’m thinking about protesting. I’m trying my best to think positively. I’m thinking about you. I’m thinking about our race. I’m thinking about our culture. I’m thinking. I’m thinking about our children. I think about them. I think we can make a difference. I think that’s what’s necessary. I think it’s a good day to be great.
“Fashion versus Style” by Amanda Neal
Fashion is what you are shown four times a year by designers and Style Style is how you FEEL. Style is how you move. Style is how you show up and show yourself to the world. Fashion is for consumption. But, style? Style is for creation. With style, you can create a moment, a mood, and memory.
My first understanding of fashion, comes from my living room at maybe 10 or 12 years-old. The HLN channel (now CNN) used to have a Saturday segment, featuring all the fashion shows from around the world. It was the best 10 minutes of my Saturday! I would watch those runways come to life with sauntering grace and ranging colors. Everything was perfection to me. The accessories, the makeup, the color combinations, it was all a flow. And I consumed every drop. Every color, every neckline, every hem; I consumed every story presented to me. The voice each designer wanted to be heard. I consumed it all.
Using fashion to express how you feel, is style. I watched my mother for hours, shopping through how she felt And how each piece she picked up, made her feel emotionally. Happiness is a cowl neck blouse with a midi skirt and only a statement earring as not to draw away from the neckline. Sexy, is a sheer camisole, under a blazer that no one knows is there, but you. Style, can also be used to give you confidence. It can change your mood with various pallets of color; marrying families that will never be close in the Crayola box. Ever changing, ever growing just like us as people, style grows and changes without notice. At the end of the day, fashion is what’s given, but style will always be what you choose. -Amanda Neal
Amanda Neal.