Monday, January 18, 2010

So I'm Starting School...


So I'm starting school tomorrow, and I feel... anxious. I'm really excited, but at the same time, I am unsure that I have the capacity to do well in two Internet classes, because I was always the type that benefited from hands-on education. Taking on Internet classes, along with my other full time job (you know, the Mommy stuff) is just slightly daunting.

God has been really great to me, because he has shown me many great examples of stay-at-home mothers who also go to school. Some of them have outside help, like in-laws or parents or other relatives that help them with the children. I do not have these wonderful people in my locale as of right now.

However, I told myself I would stop finding excuses not to go, and just take the semester on like a charging bull. I recognise that it is a major blessing from Allah to be in a position where I can attend school in the first place.

I took two classes while I was pregnant, and had been looking forward to going back ever since. I declared my major: Journalism. I thought about World Affairs and Creative Writing majors also, but I think I need to just have faith in my abilities as a journalist since that is what lites my flame.

Pray for Me!!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Phenomenal Woman

This poem written and narrated by none other than famed poet Maya Angelou is dedicated to all the beautiful sisters holding down families, households, careers, or maybe just themselves. I just wanted to let you all know that you ARE intelligent and beautiful and worthy of being loved and appreciated. YOU ARE PHENOMENAL!

Phenomenal Womanby Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.


I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.


Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.


Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.


Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman” from And Still I Rise. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.

Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House, Inc., 1994)