I have a pretty good memory, I believe I actually remember my own birth. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel it to be true. I am thankful for my superior memory because it allows to keep special moments close to my heart. One of the new memories added to my ever-growing memory bank is that of my great-grandmother Fannie Mae Taylor. She was born on December 23, 1907 in Louisiana. She was born to a large family. She went on to marry at the tender age of 16 and had 9 children naturally. She raised them in racist Louisiana ; amid segregation, poverty, and sexism she maintained her family. She held down a job, supported her family, and she was a faithful member of the Zion Springs Baptist church for over 45 years. Her death was a total surprise to us all. Her last few years were spent between hospices, hospitals, and family homes in Monroe, Louisiana. She was in pretty good health those last couple of years, especially for being over 100 years old. In the bible you are promised 75 years on this earth; Mama Fannie exceeded that by 27 years. THAT IS A BEYOND BLESSED WOMAN! And as much as I cried, I could only cry tears of joy. She lived such a full, rich, and diverse life and was so good to everyone she encountered. She helped my grandma with my mother when her mother passed, she remained married when so many others divorced or separated, and she never forgot God throughout it all. In fact I believe she kept God very close to her especially when she was enduring the Women's Rights Movement, The Great Depression, and The Civil Rights Movement. She even made it to see the first black president, Barack Obama. What an incredible life! Her life will forever be celebrated because what she endured as a black women living in the limited South is nothing short of remarkable. Mama Fannie just know you have left a permanent mark on our hearts, we will praise your name for many years come. We will also pray that we could even live a fraction of the life you have. Thank you God for blessing us with your one true angel on Earth. Sincerely, Oriel Martin
I have noticed that as you age, Christmas's sense of value differs greatly. You go from being in love with gifts, cookies, and trees to shopping for others, trying to score good deals, and planning on how fabulous your New Year's will be. Though the value of Christmas could never be equivalent to a gift, as a child that was all I cared about! Sure we went to church and visited with family, I can honestly say I never appreciated Christmas. It was all about candy canes, dolls, a wish list, good fattening food, and seeing my family. I guess as you get older, Christmas changes for the good. You buy the people you love one really nice gift, put up reasonable decorations, and cook a tasty meal to share with others. To overwhelm Christmas with gifts and other superfluous things truly devalues the meaning. Celebrating the pagan reality of Christ's alleged birth is what Christmas pertains to, not gifts. Gifts should be the last thing on everyone's mind. With that being said, everyone gets a nice, reasonable gift from me, I will be going to church to join in fellowship and celebration of our Christ Lord, and I will take a moment to reflect on how grateful I am for CHRISTmas. Because without CHRISTmas, there surely would be no me! Happy Holidays to all.
Seven years ago God blessed me with the most surprising, precious Christmas gift; a lil baby girl named Aaniyah! I will never forget the first day I met her. My mother had called me from upstairs, I was doing homework as I was a junior in high school. I reluctantly came downstairs and I was immediately surprised. My mother was holding this lil tiny baby in her arms. She was just laying there cooing. I took one look at her and I FELL HEAD OVER HEELS! She was beautiful. I asked if I could hold her and I didn't put her down until her mother came to pick her up. I felt this magnetic force pulling me toward her. Aaniyah's journey was not easy; she was almost 3 months premature and almost didn't survive. The almighty God we have saw her through her trials and now she has turned seven and hopefully will turn many more ages. I forged a close relationship with her mother, Ms. Devonee Peterson. We spent so much time hanging out. Every week we would watch our weekly lineup and favorite shows at the time; the first 48 hours & Chappelle show! There was never a dull moment! That was seven years ago, now I am 24 and Aaniyah is 7! I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW TIME FLIES! It honestly has been quite an adventure watching her grow into a little lady. She is so smart, intuitive, charming, and most of all, HILARIOUS! I have to credit her mother for such a great child. On her birthday we went to go see Tangled and had a pure blast. I pray we have many more birthdays where I can stand back and rest assure that my favorite little girl is growing into a lovely, talented, and even more beautiful young lady. Love you Pooties, forever and always! Love, Auntie O
As the year approaches an end, I reflect on what I accomplished. I managed to write pretty regularly on this blog, did pretty damn well in school (4.0 gpa), earned a little bit of money, bought some awesome gear, reunited with old friends, had a lovely family reunion, *MET MY GODSON, bonded with my brother, managed to readjust to living with family again, had a beautiful Thanksgiving with my great-aunts from Dallas, worked 3 jobs, *WORKED MY FIRST HAUNTED HOUSE, worked my first movie premiere, rode the bus alone, went to New York several times to see my love, hung out with great friends from college in New York, narrowed down my career path, and lastly, officially set up a five year plan and goal.
However, there were some bumps in the road too. I ended a few paralyzing/one sided relationships, officially removed my disastrous ex out of my life, *missed my car like crazy, *reminiscenced, missed, and regretted some things about my "L.A." life, found out some disturbing news about a friend, *had my precious foot stabbed by a sensor at popular clothing store Juicy Couture, didn't save much of anything, overspent, let silly things get me down, didn't invest my time in my career, *did not write as much as I could have, almost let the devil interrupt my relationship, judged my family way to harshly, ate my own words in a weird, but sobering way, *messed up an very important application, cried instead of becoming proactive about misfortune, and *lastly allowed the devil to get in the way of my family (blood is always thicker than a demon).
Overall, I rate 2010 with a 7. I am closer to true bliss, I met a man that I feel wants to take me there, and finally select a career that is fit for me. I will allow 2010 to be a careful set of reality based reminders, pointers, and suggestions for what to do & what not to do in 2011. Never make the same mistake twice.
People have many stereotypical opinions about Scorpios; we're freaks, controlling, manipulative, and self-absorbed. I digress! I do not feel I am any of those things. I have the ability to be that way, but so does anyone else. Those traits do not stop at Scorpios! I just needed to clear that up for all the Scorpio haters. So, my birthday was bittersweet, I was injured at Juicy Couture, saw my friends, and actually had fun for the first time since I went to Miami in June. Thank you God, for allowing me to have a rich indulgence of fabulosity. I read a blog this week that sparked my interest, Are Black Girls too Loyal? In a word, YES! We have always been down for our men despite cruelty, been patriotic to a country that openly despises us, and work hard in spite of various forms of prejudice. In my humble opinion, women are more loyal on all levels. We typically see the glass as half-full, we fight vigorously even with the odds stacked against us, and we love hard even when we are being pushed away. Double all those qualities for Black women. The hardships we face in the world, NO OTHER WOMAN COULD EVER IMAGINE! The only reason we are not completely ignored is because our complexion is not fair, but our needs are rarely answered efficiently. I am not saying this to complain, I am saying this to say that, being seen and being heard will always be separate entities. When the two unite, it is a powerful combination! Women have always been discouraged not to merge the two. Double for Black women. That is why we fight. We have a somewhat guarded or stoic stance because our supposed protectors, abandon their jobs. That leaves us weak and vulnerable for anything. So excuse, the few of us with bad tempers or attitudes, we have just had way too many awful experiences not to be cautious and sometimes being a bitch is the only thing a woman has to hold on to.
So I am walking through a crowded department store and I see two guys browsing the latest shoes. One guy is wearing a mauve colored, button down cardigan with boot cut JBrand jeans. The other is wearing a Burberry, long sleeved polo with some dirty denim boot cut JBrand jeans on. I immediately assumed them to be a happy, homosexual couple just out and about shopping and enjoying a nice day. Then something truly shocking happened, they were joined by two girls. Both the girls came up and embraced the men, one passionately kissed the guy wearing the Burberry polo. They coupled up and continued to browse. I felt terrible. Terrible because I am automatically assumed both of those men to be gay. Why? Can't two, healthy, viral young men be fashion forward anymore?! Society says no. Whenever a man has a strong sense of fashion or is aware of top designers and hot trends, he must be GAY! No way can a straight man have a keen eye for what is haute without being gay. There has been much speculation on the subject; Trey Songz has a new article written about him weekly regarding his alleged gay lovers, Kanye West is too innovative, stylish, and kooky to be straight, and of course Diddy is too brilliant to not be gay! It is so sad. We have been hypnotized into believing the hype, sadly, so have I! I took a quick glance and made a distinct assumption based on wardrobe and nothing else. I felt ashamed of myself. Men can be fashion forward and not be gay. I have a few friends who live for runways, Vogue magazine, and beautiful Italian leather shoes and they are happily committed to their women. One of those friends is even married! Society places an overly masculine label on all men. Men are supposed to think a certain way, behave a certain way, and even dress a certain way. Anyone who does not conform is "suspect." Is it right? No! Will it change? No! I guess the only thing a person can do, use the famous saying as their personal mantra in everyday life "When you assume, you make an ass out of yourself." And I mostly certainly, made a nice, big, round one out of myself that day. Hopefully, never again!
Crazy weeks lie ahead, but I am loving every single minute of it! I had to write two tiresome, exhausting, and relatively boring papers for English, but I feel the results were stellar. Now I am gearing up for a informative paper about the often controversial justice Clarence Thomas. This Pol-Sci paper will be my most intriguing yet. The Fair is ending Sunday and my sister and I decided we need to do it right so we will be going and thoroughly enjoying every single ride, funnel cake, candy apple, and deep fried snickers available! Work has pretty much taken over my life for the last couple of weeks. I finished the Haunted Nest job on Halloween and BOY WAS IT AN ADVENTURE! We were supposed to leave at 10pm, it was 10:37pm when we got a call for a bomb threat from two meth-head, acid tripping idiots who were mad because they were thrown out of the Nest for physically assaulting actors! We waited outside in Rawhide (fictional Western town) for an hour and 30 minutes before we rushed in to finish the last couple of scares. The scares were OK, but most of the crowd were so angry at having to wait in the freezing cold for over an hour that they pretty much left. I was a bunny for Halloween. The costume was originally supposed to be a true rabbit but it turned out looking somewhat reminiscent of a playboy bunny! I had fun, met lots of exciting people, got my first taste of horror theatrics, and learned how to make my face look like a skeleton! Oh and I earned an extra $700 bucks for the month of October. When asked the question if I would ever do another Haunted House, I would have to decline. As much fun as it was, hard work does not describe the magnitude of that kind of job. It is simply put, PAINFULLY TOUGH! My god son was born a healthy seven pounds, 9 ounces and he is as cute as a button. I can't wait to meet him. For Colored Girls came out Friday November 5th and my sister and a few friends are going to see it this evening. Every time I think of For Colored Girls, I remember the best part of my college experience. That play changed my life, made me a better woman, and made me want to BE A TRUE ARTIST! Because only an artist like Ntozake Shange could have created something that perfect! The young girl that existed before that play was transformed into a real woman when it was completed. I am so thankful for that experience. I guess God does put you in a certain place for a reason. Had I not mistakenly looked through the paper at the last minute, I would not have seen the audition for The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and gone on to not only audition, but get accepted, do extremely well as a student, graduate with flying colors, and be the artist that I am today. Thank you God, you may not always come when I want you to, but you are always on time!
