And when we're done, let's do the same for ourselves...
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
School Flash: The Effects of Racism on Education
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| This stack is much larger in real life, lol! |
A topic that I find near and dear to my heart is the effects of poverty on student education. No, I did not grow up impoverished (and I'm well aware that was a blessing because my mother did), but I am one of the most empathetic people you have ever met. I know it is simple to say that people can overcome their circumstances, but the simple answer to that is there is NOTHING simple about that. Recognizing that your students have been affected by internalized racism and stereotypes, makes you that much more sensitive to their educational needs.
Read this passage written by my professor, and if you get a chance, check out the article:
As written by Dr. Christine Schwarz, Saint Joseph's University
"Related to this week's topic is this report of research explaining why African American babies have the highest infant mortality rate in the developed world.Kashef's article reveals what research has shown to be the case again and again, that the stress of racism causes even well-nourished, upper-class African American mothers to give birth to low-birthweight babies. A more recent report was aired nationally last Fall. "
Educate yourself, you'd be surprised what you can learn about life that you never would have known.
Updates!
Happy New Year! Once again, I've taken quite a bit of a hiatus, but I won't apologize since breaks are needed.I decided I would update everyone on what I've been doing, so you know what I'm doing if this happens again.
Life Update: I'm starting graduate school on Tuesday. I'm very excited! I've decided to get my Master's in Education and get certified in teaching! It took awhile to decide, especially after I got ill following graduation, but now that both feet are planted on the ground, I feel like I've made a great decision that I will continue to be happy about. I'm probably looking the most forward to my field experience where I'll get to observe in actual classrooms. Hope to pick up some great pointers and work with some amazing high school science teachers!
Weight Loss & Exercise Update: I've picked up quite a few pounds over the holidays. Not that I haven't enjoyed myself, but I'm definitely feeling some tightness in my jeans again. No worries though. I'm over being depressed about it and have picked up with my Zumba and Pilates class on Tuesdays, and hopefully I'll start working out at home again with some yoga and walking workouts. I'm hoping to be down my first 10% by March 31, 2012.
Cooking Update: I've been quite the baker lately: I helped my honey make a red velvet cake for his catering event, and I've been baking up a storm at my house. For Christmas and New Year's I made: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, and Chocolate Pecan Pie. Not to mention the Brownies I have cooling in the kitchen- I know I'm definitely explaining those extra pounds. But all these recipes came out amazing and if you can spare the calories-even if you can't, lol- I'd definitely give them a try. And just as a tip, my stepkids love the Peanut Butter Cup Cookies so as long as your kids don't have nut allergies, they'll love to help eat and make those.
Hair Update: This hair has been growing like weeds! When I get a chance, I will post a regimen update, but for the most part, things aren't out of the ordinary. I started reintegrating shampoo every now and then and I found it didn't do much for my hair so I went back to ACV rinses as soon as I could get my hands on some ACV. I deep condition about once or twice a month, either using my hooded dryer or leaving it in overnight and rinsing in the morning. I don't always use Yes To Carrots, but have found that I also enjoy Garnier's Pure Clean Conditioner since it's silicone free and results in my hair having a coily-er texture (totally made that word up lol). I've been doing mainly twist-outs with rollers on the ends but am DYING to color my hair red. Not just red, but obnoxious in your face red. I would henna, but that looks like a mess I don't have the patience for just yet.
Well this was pretty long, but let's just say I'm enjoying myself and life. I have been debating on adding some new features to the blog like occasional outfit posts, but I'll see what I get around too. Hope your year has been amazing so far!
Smooches!
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a safe, happy, and healthy New Year. Even with 5 days in, I can tell there will be many exciting things to come...
Stay tuned...
Stay tuned...
Letter of Intent
So I had to write a letter for this program I was considering and they asked me for my intentions...that was difficult. It was so much easier to beg: PLEASE PLEASE LET ME IN...I AM THE BOMB! lol. Not that I would say that, but it's to the point. Instead I had to gather everything from deep inside of me, and say what I wanted and like I said it was hard. But then it got me to thinking, what if we wrote letters of intent to each other. Now it wouldn't be to just anyone, to your lover or a best friend, but it would lay so much on the line that every line would have to be concise and mean exactly that. Because everything looks different on paper. So maybe when you don't know what to say, decide your intentions, and maybe there will be so much to explain, or you'll realize there's absolutely nothing worth talking about.
Random...
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| Jourdan Dunn ripping the runways... |
I just love beautiful women in beautiful clothes.
It makes me feel empowered.
To Be In Love
(This is the perfect first response to the Google search: "To be in love")
To be in love
Is to touch with a lighter hand.
In yourself you stretch, you are well.
You look at things
Through his eyes.
A cardinal is red.
A sky is blue.
Suddenly you know he knows too.
He is not there but
You know you are tasting together
The winter, or a light spring weather.
His hand to take your hand is overmuch.
Too much to bear.
You cannot look in his eyes
Because your pulse must not say
What must not be said.
When he
Shuts a door
Is not there
Your arms are water.
And you are free
With a ghastly freedom.
You are the beautiful half
Of a golden hurt.
You remember and covet his mouth
To touch, to whisper on.
Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!
Oh when to apprize
Is to mesmerize,
To see fall down, the Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.
By: Gwendolyn Brooks
To be in love
Is to touch with a lighter hand.
In yourself you stretch, you are well.
You look at things
Through his eyes.
A cardinal is red.
A sky is blue.
Suddenly you know he knows too.
He is not there but
You know you are tasting together
The winter, or a light spring weather.
His hand to take your hand is overmuch.
Too much to bear.
You cannot look in his eyes
Because your pulse must not say
What must not be said.
When he
Shuts a door
Is not there
Your arms are water.
And you are free
With a ghastly freedom.
You are the beautiful half
Of a golden hurt.
You remember and covet his mouth
To touch, to whisper on.
Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!
Oh when to apprize
Is to mesmerize,
To see fall down, the Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.
By: Gwendolyn Brooks
We've all been here...
And I can remember when I felt like this...
Jill Scott- "Hear My Call"
[Verse 1]
Here I am again asking questions,
Waiting to be moved.
I am so unsure of my perception,
What I thought I knew I don't seem to
Where is the turn so I can get back to what I believe in?
Back to the old me and
[Chorus]
God, please hear my call.
I am afraid for me.
Love has burned me raw
I need your healing
Please, please, please.
[Verse 2]
I am such a fool
How did I get here?
Played by all the rules
Then they changed
I am but a child to your vision
Standing in the cold and the rain
Lost here in the dark
I can't see my foot to take a step,
What is happening?
Oh, this hurts so bad. I can hardly breathe.
I just want to leave so...
[Chorus]
God, please hear my call.
I am afraid for me.
Love has burned me raw
I need your healing
Please,
God, please hear my call.
I am afraid for me.
Love has burned me raw
I need your healing
Please, please, oh, please, please.
God please hear my call.
I am afraid.
Love has turned me cold,
I need your healing.
Please, please, please, please, please, please.
My Dream Birthday Cake
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| Simple and pretty :) |
- The first, would be a vanilla bean cheesecake with Oreo crust and a delightfully fluffy chocolate mousse topping.
- The second, a strawberry shortcake with light fluffy layers of yellow cake, offset by layers of vanilla scented whipped cream topped with more whipped cream and strawberries.
- And the third, a chocolate and vanilla marble pound cake with fluffy chocolatey whipped icing and the number "25" ablaze on top.
Yes, I'm dreaming, and yes I'm hinting, but a girl only turns quarter of a century once!
Random...
I love my boyfriend because he makes even the simplest dreams come true...I would say my wildest, but I really don't ask for much.
Just Another 24...
He knows I love this song...
He says I never write about him,
But that's because he's perfect.
And perfect has never been what I write about.
I write to soothe nervous energy.
And to mend my broken heart,
And I write to solve unanswered questions.
We've been through our fair share of ups and downs,
And there will be more.
But he's never forced me to go at that alone.
He's held my hand and helped me through every mistake I ever made,
And I can say that of not many else.
I could never imagine life without him.
Because living wouldn't be living without you.
And it takes every part of me
To not want to share my every waking breath with him.
But we must go through our monotonous day-to-day knowing,
That when we get home and get under the covers.
The warmth we feel won't only be from our hearts,
But from our bodies snuggling close to each other.
"Just a sunny day, without you...
Just another 24 that passes by."
-Brandy
Even after food poisoning, I can say this was one of the most memorable weekends of my life,
Because ever time I looked past my shoulder,
You were there.
He says I never write about him,
But that's because he's perfect.
And perfect has never been what I write about.
I write to soothe nervous energy.
And to mend my broken heart,
And I write to solve unanswered questions.
We've been through our fair share of ups and downs,
And there will be more.
But he's never forced me to go at that alone.
He's held my hand and helped me through every mistake I ever made,
And I can say that of not many else.
I could never imagine life without him.
Because living wouldn't be living without you.
And it takes every part of me
To not want to share my every waking breath with him.
But we must go through our monotonous day-to-day knowing,
That when we get home and get under the covers.
The warmth we feel won't only be from our hearts,
But from our bodies snuggling close to each other.
"Just a sunny day, without you...
Just another 24 that passes by."
-Brandy
Even after food poisoning, I can say this was one of the most memorable weekends of my life,
Because ever time I looked past my shoulder,
You were there.
Write Byte: Untitiled
I loved him like he was my air.
A toxic crutch I couldn't let go of.
I was intoxicated by it.
The air that breathed through me so deep that I was blinded and couldn't see.
There was nothing fake about this, because I was in love.
But as we grew stronger, I did not.
I sacrificed my body for it.
Loving so deep that I left nothing for myself.
And when I left I realized, that I needed to see, I needed to be free, I needed to be loved freely.
To be my own me, and be able to be me with someone else.
And like karma, he always comes back to me.
And like karma, I am always punished for it.
I had to break this never-ending, loving cycle.
Because toxic will always be toxic, no matter how good it once felt.
Once upon a time.
Write Byte: Courage
Courage isn't all about forcing a cowardly lion's spirit to grow older, or jumping head first out of airplanes.
It takes a lot of courage to say good bye.
And even though our love used to span a dozen ocean's worth of blue waters and steely white shores,
All love can't be eternal.
Some is finite.
Some is death.
And though I'm dying to speak to you with every living breath bestowed graciously upon me,
I can't bare the pain I'd feel to regress and degenerate the courage I've kept,
To leave you alone forever.
It takes a lot of courage to say good bye.
And even though our love used to span a dozen ocean's worth of blue waters and steely white shores,
All love can't be eternal.
Some is finite.
Some is death.
And though I'm dying to speak to you with every living breath bestowed graciously upon me,
I can't bare the pain I'd feel to regress and degenerate the courage I've kept,
To leave you alone forever.
I Tend to Forget...
Fashion is all around us.
Even on the Broad Street Line where a man uses his forearms as a frame of reference for the garment he's drawing's measurements.
I have a love/hate relationship with this city.
But I make the most of it.
Even on the Broad Street Line where a man uses his forearms as a frame of reference for the garment he's drawing's measurements.
I have a love/hate relationship with this city.
But I make the most of it.
Laundry Time: Breaking All the Rules
I have found that menial tasks like washing laundry, have even become exposed to this way of thinking.
I ain't gonna lie, I've jacked up my fair share of my own clothing
I've been told many times that "You're so smart, you're stupid". I simply laugh but I definitely know what they mean. They are saying that even though I have two bachelors degreees, can beat an average person in a game of Scrapple, and can help children in almost any grade with their math homework, that I lack much common sense.
I get it, it happens that I really overthink things most times and that I actually am very smart, but consider too many options when posed with an issue.
I must admit that laundry time used to not be one of those "thinking times".
When mom showed me how to sort colored, whites, and darks, I thought it was as simple as that. I didn't realize that some garments just couldn't tolerate what I thought of as normal treatment, and instead needed a little extra attention.
Whether it be "line dry" or "wash inside out" or "tumble dry low"...I just couldn't understand why my clothes couldn't hold up to a wash.
This was simply because: I wasn't reading the instructions!
Gasp...surprise! I am so frickin silly sometimes. Cheers to the intelligent!
And if you really are having some trouble washing like me...just follow the instructions on this tag:
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| C/O Victoria's DT Blog... |
Priorities...
All My Purple Life from the Bloggers Obsession collection for MAC, dresses for this wedding in July, or a trip to the craft store to start these crochet projects I'm working on...
Sometime life doesn't give you just lemons, and you gotta choose which refreshing beverage to make.
Sometime life doesn't give you just lemons, and you gotta choose which refreshing beverage to make.
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