The Rollercoaster Called Life!!!

Thanking God:

I was in a car accident Feb. 24th, on the morning of my niece Amina's 21st birthday, 5 days after her father (my brother in law) died, making her an orphan. I can't thank God enough for the fact that we're both alive and seem alright. Also, that I just renewed my car insurance a week and a half prior! Both cars were messed up but although mine stayed in the shop a few days, I'm able to drive it again now. A week and a half after getting my car from a mechanic & paying ridiculously absorbitant fees, I was right back to doing the same thing again! I bought it wholesale 8 1/2 yrs. ago for half the retail value & it has served me well for most of these years. But I still need a lot more expensive work on it and that will now have to wait along with numerous other priorities I planned to spend all this money on.

Though Chuck had passed on Feb. 19th, my niece's stepmother was thoughtful & considerate enough of Amina to postpone the funeral until last Monday so it would not be during the same month as her birthday. She invited me to join them in one of their limos for my brother-in-law's funeral in NYC which I was going to take off from work for but then I did not need to because school was cancelled due to a blizzard and I ended up not getting to attend due to the storm & challenges with getting transportation to their place before the afternoon. However, I met them at the house afterwards & we had another good talk & cry as she shared how beautiful and special it was with me. Despite the blizzard, it was a full house and funeral at the beautiful Riverside Church in Harlem and Rev. Al Sharpton gave the sermon. Amina is still our little trooper (all grown up now), as admirable, strong, and lovely as ever, even through the sad times which slip through her usual optimism and practical stances.

It was heartwrenching for me to see Chuck on his deathbed and to be with him during his last night though I'm so glad I finally brought myself to deal with him leaving before he was totally gone. But it tears me up every time I think of that call when Amina woke me up sobbing right after they'd called her at college to say Chuck only had two weeks to live. She was only four when my sister Janet was told she was dying. It reminds me so much of that first week when Janet was hospitalized and I found Amina on her knees in front of the couch in our living room, praying and crying with her tiny folded hands for God not to take her Mommy. This was the summer before I began teaching. Even though Janet fought hard for her life and lived four more years (keeping her doctors in shock) as the best mother I've ever known, she finally succumbed to it in July of 96' when Amina was only eight. Her last words were "What's gonna' happen to Amina?"

Although Lynn lived in Atlanta all of Amina's life other than when she walked away from her store management position to take care of Janet during Janet's last couple of months and until moving to N.C. in Jan. 05', she and Amina were still always very close. Lynn's last big trip taken with that advance on her life insurance was to take Amina on a Spring Break cruise to the Caribbean as a high school graduation gift. It was right after this trip that we saw the most rapid physical deterioration and countless hospitalizations. She tried hard to get me to come too like she'd gotten me to do on all these other last trips and I regret to this day, turning it down. Lynn died during the fall of Amina's first year in college and then Chuck was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half later. His passing was the worst of a series of crisis in my life over the last month and a half. But I know that the sun always follows the clouds. By the way, guess what Amina's major is? You've got it! She followed --and furthered--the path laid down by her mother, aunts, and grandmother who'd all majored in art where I teach and her major is fine arts! Isn't she lucky? That's her in Janet's arms in the photo above. Lynn is hugger on the left & I'm hugger on the right--w/the short fro' :)

Great news which I may go into more detail about at other times:

1. During the week of the accident, I was nominated by my good friend since college (Kimeth, who I consider the Queen Bee of Creativity & who gives parties to die for) & selected to be on a panel discussion at our alma mater (Rutgers New Brunswick). This was given by current members of our Black & Latino campus newspaper, "The Black Voice, Carta Boricua," which I & the other alumni panelists had strong connections to when there!!! (Partially because I gained a strong following through an editorial and the poetry I contributed to it. I was also advisor to the school news staff where I teach for 2 1/2 years thanks partially to this experience and many staff members at my school told me that our best issue was also the best one they'd seen throughout their career at Arts High.) The panel discussion was last Wed. evening, and it turned out to be a great experience & wonderful event. Other panelists included the famed Kevin Powell (newspaper, magazine, and book author; MTV personality; leader; and lecturer; plus recent Congressional candidate seen at http://www.kevinpowellforcongress.org/ who attended R.U. and was an activist with me. Alfred Edmond Jr., editor-n-chief & Sr. V.P. of "Black Enterprise" magazine (http://www.blackenterprise.com/) had graduated the summer before I came and he was another panelist. It was good seeing some old friends and even a few that I've maintained since college. I'm looking forward to my 20th college reunion in May. (Hope to lose at least 30 lbs. by then.)

2. Yesterday, I was notified that I am amongst 25% of 60 grant applicants accepted for a Geraldine Dodge Foundation (http://www.grdodge.org)/ Teacher Fellowship I applied for in early December!!! It allows teachers to get thousands of dollars to fulfill a proposed dream of a lifetime and professional development simultaneously! I'll be going to Fiji and possibly also New Zealand!!! I discovered after only applying for the "Reef Survey & Cultural Immersion Project" in Fiji on my Dodge application, that I can combine programs within the program applied for if accepted. So I am going to find out hopefully tomorrow if I can also do New Zealand's Karori Preservation Project as well as be a teacher's assistant in an art therapy class with inner city New Zealander youth. Now my good friend Michelle who I had a good time hanging out with for a while yesterday really wants to go too even though she wouldn't apply at the time I tried getting her to; so I'll find out if that's possible also since she is a Newark Teacher as well and this year they limited the applicants to our district.

3. You may recall that I said here months ago I'd be taking photography lessons so I could improve the photos of art displayed on my blog. Well guess what? I just didn't get around to noting that in the end of Jan., I finally went & enrolled for a number of them to be provided by the top museum in our state, the Newark Museum--which I coincidentally became a member of last summer during its centennial year (http://www.newarkmuseum.org/. I was taking part in a series of workshops there for the Teaching American History Grant won by my school district at the time. I also went to the annual Black Film Festival at the museum once last summer for the first time in over a decade after an Academy-award-winning filmaker-turned-Newark history teacher invited me. We happened to meet shortly after I took a screenwriting workshop in June. So be on the lookout for a film by yours truly one day back to the future. Hey, I did also take a TV production workshop series a couple of years ago! It just takes a little longer for my seeds to grow than many people thank you very much! You see the TV production studio from that workshop series in 2 photos above.

4. I also registered for a series of art workshops at the museum for the first time since my mom did it for us when we were kids! They are in oil painting so I can finally complete all of my paintings begun in aTi without the distractions of working from home). I've wanted to take these workshops again for years!

5. Today, I took the first of the photography workshops, entitled "Photographing Your Art!" The professor Rich Russo from http://www.richrusso.com/ took 3 photos, including the one above, which are drastic improvements over some of those seen elsewhere on my blog (under titles of "Shades of Grey," "2nd painting in aTi --Summer 2007," and "aTi Summer 2008 Art Exhibit."). Unfortunately, had I known he wasn't taking photos of all of my work or allowing us to apply what he taught there (after telling us to bring several samples of our work), I wouldn't have let him use the "print" above vs. the original for his first demo during the workshop. Moreover, since I forgot to put my signature on the other 2 in advance, you all will have to wait until I can apply what he taught me myself before you see what a dramatic difference true photography skill & equipment makes. I can now make them turn out just as good as they all came out in his Dover studio. (Yeah, right!)