Easter & Dottie at dawn

I woke this morning with the refrain from this poem going through my head mixed with thoughts of the mother of a friend who had a massive stroke yesterday. [I just learned that she passed away.] Though she was a white woman whose cultural background would seem to have little to do with those referred to here by poet Maya Angelou....even yet, I quote the poem below and send it in honor of Dottie Sines, Deb's mom.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

A YEAR-END UPDATE ON MY LIFE'S WORK

What a year this has been! ~ a personal update

Some of you know, in quite intimate ways, just how I set out to respond to the calls from our brothers and sisters ~ to respond to The Call ~ that voice that guides from within. I've had my heart broken wide open by the living conditions of many in two cities this year ~ Chester, Pa and New Haven, CT. At the same time, these communities have brought me abundant joy. The ride has been tremendous as I dwell in the living waters of possibility and responsibility.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011

* With partner, Chester Eastside Ministries (CEM), I ran a Life Skills, Mentoring and Arts Program for youth of the Chester Upland School District

* We co-sponsored and coordinated a Spring event called, Making a Difference which featured speaker, Euware Osayande (osayande.org)

* In April, I traveled with CEM Pastor/Director Rev. Bernice Warren - a fact finding trip to the Bokamoso community in Winterveld, South Africa (www.bokamosoyouth.org ). We hoped to learn from them, bringing the lessons back to benefit Chester youth.

* We ran another successful Peace, Leadership and the Arts Summer Camp increasing the length by one week.

* The 2011 summer camp confirmed for me the need to further promote inner peace and self-care. This awareness seeded the emerging vision for a year-round space in Chester that would promote radical peace and empowerment. Just as I began to see the vision for this space, my eyes landed on the book, Super Rich by Russell Simmons. Simmons' guidance accompanied me as I began to take steps toward manifesting this vision.

As we move into 2012, the 4 Circles Beyond work in Chester expands. We are now creating the House for Peace and Empowerment. This house - the very one that had been my home for the past 5 years - has a new Caregiver - a dedicated Chester activist. We hope to sponsor activities in this space that will be healing and transformative in Chester.

Many people worry that I feel pulled in too many directions these days. Quite to the contrary. The peace~work in Chester, the community-building work in New Haven, facilitating Beyond Diversity 101 and continuing to produce transformative music with Tribe 1 - it all feels to me like one stream ~ one purpose. My job each day is to extend the willingness to be an instrument for peace, try to release my fear and controlling attachments and seek to answer the call for a transforming re-alignment that returns us ALL to wholeness!

Co-creation

A truly co-creative process assumes that as reality unfolds, each person plays a part and each part is significant. Its about use of POWER

Listen | StoryCorps

Hey ya'll. I know. This twice a year bloggin's got to go. But, as the tears of joy and hope streamed down my face while I listened to these fellow travelers, I had to tweet, fb, email and yes blog it out. Peace to you all ~ Ni

Listen | StoryCorps

What can I say? http://99problems.org/2009/09/a-message-from-van-jones/

Turning my back on Gaza

Here are some of the excuses that I hear going 'round and 'round in my head for not responding to the siege in Gaza:
1. I don't understand the history
2. People have a right to defend themselves
3. I should read a book first about the history before I open my mouth
4. Well, people are dying right here in Chester, PA
5. Maybe they are only exaggerating the number of civilians being killed
6. Well, if Hamas would just stop their violence then the Israelis could be peaceful
7. If I speak out about the injustice that I see there, someone will call me out as a fraud, not really knowing what I'm talking about
8. Other black folk will be looking at me saying, "how do you have time to focus on those people, when our people are so oppressed?"
9. I'll be dismissed so, why bother?
10. It's all too big - too complex - been going on for so long that nobody can speak about it with any clarity -
11. I’m not living in the fear that the Jewish people endure, or the daily suffering of these Arab people, so I should shut-up and stay out of it
12. It's just too horrible to look at right now...rather focus on the Inauguration
13. Anyway, I’ve got tons of stuff to do.

And, so it goes on, filling my head so as to block out my senses. The senses that alert me that there is no justification, that the excuses are bullshit and that its time to speak out. THIS IS WRONG PERIOD. Just like bombing the people - babies, daddies, teenagers.... in Iraq was and IS WRONG PERIOD. IT NEEDS TO STOP!
Turning off my senses now means I can stay comfortable NOW and have amazing hindsight later. When will we be sick and tired of hindsight...It is totally inexcusable to allow hindsight to be an option when we have been shown the signs clearly - over and over again. How many lives, How many times?

My list of reasons serves to assure my place as signatory to the cover up contract, - covering the the seemingly unfaceable truths - the family that I deny, the work that I resist engaging in, the words that would have to flow strongly and powerfully from my lips and the actions that I would passionately undertake as soon as I really opened my eyes, my heart, my mouth, my mind and all of my senses - as soon as I opened my world and exercise my God-given RESPONSIBILITY.
http://www.gazasiege.org/

A blessed time indeed and much work to do

Greetings, here is a regular occurrence of injustice worth being reminded of ~ http://vcnv.org/criminal-on-wheels