Serving with light and love…
Month: March 2020
(For all the mothers working from home)
You want what?
You want it when?
Really?
Chile please.
Do you know who I am?
I am a mother.
I am their first teacher.
I am his wife.
I am his reason why.
I am a servant.
I am available to them first.
You’ll get that report when
I am
ready.
Picking up the L
Just outside Philly
Love
Language
Linguistics
Literate
Like
Love speaking
Lost in the chaos of a
Life where everything is uncertain
Live tweets
Live class
Live instas
Live DJs
Live parties
Life lost
2020…BOLD as HELL!
Can you see it?
A blank page
A world where lines are so blurred
They are invisible
Like man
Not confined by shadows
But liberated by their presence
Stories without linearity
No rhyme
No script
No meter
But rhythmic
But storied excellence
That sings
As the words
DANCE on the page
Like no one is watching and everyone is reading
Them
Together
“…it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows. That sky was bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time…” (DuBois, 1897)
I am thinking about
My students
A student
Gifted in profound ways
Searching for her voice
Her place
Her look
In a crowded room
Where
Her
Soul
Beauty
Song
Language
Story
IS NOT
Celebrated.
Where gaze devolves into contempt
Filled with fear instead of joy
Filled with rage instead of admiration
Filled with jealousy instead of acceptance
That
This gift to our community is
LOVE
Principled
Ethical
Celebrated in her home
Where two nations meet
Like blue skies
Welcoming Blackness
Before rain.
A new day lies on the other side for you.
“…confusion and doubt in the soul of the black artist; for the beauty revealed to him was the soul-beauty of a race which his larger audience despised, and he could not articulate the message of another people.” (DuBois, 1897)
I am thinking about
My students
A student
Gifted in profound ways
Searching for her voice
Her place
Her look
In a crowded room
Where
Her
Soul
Beauty
Song
Picture
Story
IS NOT
Celebrated.
Where gaze becomes admiration
Joy
And
LOVE
Principled
Ethical
Accepted
Like blue Skais
Welcoming Blackness
Before rain.
A new day lies on the other side for you.
#Economics and #housing has such a racialized history
#racialliteracy and #financialliteracy go hand-in-hand
50 years ago The American dream to own a home got the politicians to broker with the banks. They developed policy to make home ownership affordable for nearly anyone. Special incentives were invented to encourage even folks who had no money for a down payment to seek homes through assistance programs—because “home ownership provides an opportunity to build equity and wealth.” No one questioned how these programs would build exponential wealth for the bankers and the politicians.
30 years later
The plot thickens. At just about the time the first generation home owners payed nearly three times their original loan amount (in interest) to finally earn the deed to their homes, a new idea was launched. Offer home equity loans at a low rate. Encourage home owners to buy big ticket items with their loans—things they always wanted but were unable to buy without saving. And to further discourage the…
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Joy Barnes-Johnson, Ph.D. 