Moments of Reflection through Quest and Challenge and Humor

At the beginning of 2013, I was drowning in the emotional tsunami of economic loss.  I was a victim to the housing crisis.   From the wealth of a full-time financially sustaining consulting career,  to the poverty of a part-time,  barely above minimum wage,  temp staffer assignment, I was mentally and financially imploding.

picture credits to
YourEventToGo

I challenged social media to acknowledge my state of loss.  I sought crowdfunding through a GoFundMe account with tragic and disappointing results.

In humored retrospect, I have learned that desperation is not a plausible enticement for soliciting public funding. More interestingly I learned, that my intuitive instincts for survival and independence are formidable and unshakable.

I learned that generosity is a virtue that cannot be extorted.  Many individuals and family members extended their kindness in gestures of both monetary and charitable gifts.  Through genuine acts of kindness, I received welcome donations with earnest and humble gratitude.

But I also realized, my professionally photographed glam shot picture for my GoFundMe appeal was an ideological contradiction. Lol!.. If I were in a state of poverty,  why did my posing picture seem to look so rich?  I was my own funding saboteur. HaHaHa!

In the months of my 2013 seasons of question and introspection,  I exercised my mental muscles in the fields of social media.  In Blogger, I wrote about my bliss, my agony, my intrigue and my curiosity.  As of December, my 33 blogs have garnered over 6800 views. Through writing, I have stretched my public outreach and have opened windows of promising opportunities.

In Yahoo Contributor Networks, several of my article submissions have been published. I am tweaking and streamlining the authority, authenticity, and tone of my writer's voice. OMG! I Am 60 Years, Well Almost, was my first published Yahoo article. My enthusiasm is noted in the opening paragraph with these words:

When life throws you a lemon, you got to add some sugar and make it lemonade. Looking at the coming of age, as an adventure. Humor in life is healthy. Be thankful for the opportunities. Often they come disguised as disappointments.In the adventure of social media, there are numerous platforms to navigate.  In the Google domain, I have expanded my circles of engagement.   I have reached an allocated 5000 count to my circles and now there are new niche inroads to map out. There is  creative stimulus for artistic demonstration in the Youtube landscape. In addition to the written scripts, my stories also include picture presentations displayed in photography and video productions.

The event of my class Reunion in Trinidad and Tobago in October 2013,  was both real and cosmic.  The months leading to the reunion date were filled with expectation and anticipation.  In spite of every wall of denial, impossibility, financial detour, and emotional roadblock,  I became the accidental tourist.

With a gift from my son, the bounty of the kindness of family, and the generosity of lifetime friends, I experienced abundance during my holiday visit.  In social media, I celebrated moments in pictures and videos.  My field of exploration in video app development technology widened and blossomed.

A most celebrated moment of the Reunion was a tribute to our teacher Jovita Lee. The privilege of being in this moment is shared in this blog So How Do You Thank Someone who has taken You from Crayons to Perfume. The revelry and joy of being with classmates after 41 years are shared in this Youtube video 60s are the new 40s.
Disappointments and trials have been exhaustive,  but!.. another year begins every year on December 31.


In commemoration and tribute to Nelson Mandela and to his life contribution, I have themed the following message of victories won.

One gains success by conviction, not by trial.

These words in the last refrain of the poem Invictus,  champion resilience:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,                        

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

 (This is a Poem 'Invictus' (Unconquered,Undefeated) by William Henley. Great South African Leader Nelson Mandela(Madiba)  was inspired by the poem, and had it written on a scrap of paperon his prison cell while he was incarcerated for 27 years on Robben Island )

These words ignite my resolve to remain steadfast in conviction and to be inspired in optimism.

As I captain my approach to new territories of consciousness in the coming years, I will continue to practice optimism rather than defeat.

My task is not to design new resolutions for the coming years.  I can look over the past year and find hidden treasures of discovery, new accomplishments, recognition by acknowledgments, and fulfillment in worthy achievements.

I can now prospect my capabilities and competencies on the merits of my work, my experience and my talents. My video blog is the latest career tool that I will use to promote and enlist the consideration of prospective employers.  

In a recent post to social media, I stated without reservation, that my practice of social engagement is not about me.  I have been nourished, nurtured, schooled, and charmed by the many people including family, friends, loved ones, and circles of associates, whose lives and stories continue to impact and impress me.

There are many other people whose life situations have made them soldier on against greater odds than my circumstantial occurrences. I am empowered because of  all who have shared their stories and have demonstrated success despite personal setbacks.

The journey of quest and challenge is our universal common road map.  Victories Won, Defeats Surrendered, but Resilience Triumphs and Optimism Prevails are my signature guidelines for yesterday, today, and with each new year.

Achieving Abundance is my ultimate goal of self-expression and expectation. To this end, my optimism prevails.

In all of this, I am eternally grateful.

The Scourge of Blackface

It seems every time someone idiotically sports blackface in the US of A, the clamor of racism is touted. The prudent and socially conscious voice their alarm and discontent. Inevitably, around Halloween every year, we get to repeat and repeal our disgust with people who arbitrarily find amusement in blackface painting. Strangely enough, most often, these people are white.

This year, celebrity Dancing with the Stars, Julianne Hough caused a major twitter and social media stir with her orange face. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/orange-new-black-star-offended-julianne-hough-blackface-article-1.1500580 There was also the pervasive obscenity of the individuals who decided to masquerade as the neighborhood watch and the hooded blackface individual with blood stained hoodie.. a sick joke on the Trayvon Martin tragedy.http://pix11.com/2013/10/30/trayvon-martin-blackface-halloween-costume-may-be-even-worse-than-these/. And yet another blackface, and this one was arsenic. A black woman, choose to have a noose around her neck, while two white friends are play acting as her captors.http://obnoxioustv.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/obnoxious-extreme-ratchet-behavior-black-woman-dresses-as-a-slave-for-halloween/. While the latter two characterizations are revolting and disgusting, and there is no apology for their obvious sickening displays, I thought about what blackface conjures up to me.

I am an unapologetically black, Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago female. We have a yearly celebration that we proudly boast as the world's greatest dance party, Carnival. Rivalled only by Brazil, the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago features the ghouls of J'ourvert, the dawning of the days of celebration, with black faces, blue faces, red, green and all colorations of mud indiscriminately plastered over the face and body. We also are costumed in the regalia of beads, glitz and glitter, sequins and feather in ornate and flaming opulence. It is called masquerade.

Back in my childhood days in Trinidad, I was a big fan of Al Jolson. Toot Toot Tootsie goodbye! Toot Toot Tootsie don't cry!.. I would tap and sing and pretend to tip my hat and cane just like I saw on TV. On our families black and white tv in the living room, we would all gather to enjoy, the Black and White Minstrels show and sing along to all the songs of the yesteryears.

Busted!! Paula Deen to the rescue! A good fit for the inside kitchen.. I surmise.

In the Caribbean, our education was steeped in academic excellence. Ingrained in our culture of pride and sophistication were the values of self worth and self esteem. Education above all else was our defining glory. Anyone, Negro as was the correct "Black" label in those days of the early sixties; West Indian style; Indian, Chinese, Syrian, Portuguese, Lebanese, the Whites were all party to academic achievements. Some were richer, we were poorer but we had all a fair chance to improve.

As a citizen of the USA since the early nineties, I have learnt the nuances of why prejudice is the rationale for even the absurdities of masquerade. In all its extremes, no one justifies the demeaning of the history of "black" people. Yet, were I to paint myself "white face" will I create the furor and uproar that "blackface" evokes? Are yellow, red, blue face sanctioned because it does not reek of racial profiling of other communities?

Many are using the "black" script to perjure society to be baited by the ridiculous. So a "black face" characterization by white America immediately conjures Racist. Even, as in Julian Houghs case, an apology is necessary for an orange face "caricature" "masquerade" because it is discriminating and "racist" .

Every year Trinidad and Tobagonians, and people who play "MAS" paint their faces black, blue, green and yellow… and it is, what it is "Masquerade"…

Pound the Alarm!!, http://youtu.be/0Zb7WO685Ko, the title song on Nicki Minaj hit record about Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago depicts all the fusions of colored faces with glamor and revelry.


There is nothing "Racist" among people who respect and treat everyone with respect

The Writer's Block : The Process of Creative Distraction

http://pekoeblaze.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2013-artwork-writers-block-sketch.jpg

Lest my posts go unnoticed, my writing has taken a leave of absence.


Every week for the last 5 months, I wrote; about something.   I have written about me, family, social media and even have contributed articles that have been successfully published on Yahoo voices.


As I perked in my writing efforts, I also notice, there has been a change in my tempo. I am having a slow spell in my writing creativity. I haven't submitted any new posts to blogs or articles in weeks.  The writer block affliction is upon me.

As many writers have shared,  writer's block  is a unique atrophy of the writing muscles, that comes when least desired. The uncomfortable paralysis of the silence of the writer is as dreaded as a repeat dereliction.   As with all maladies, there are prescriptive interventions.  And for interventions to be meaningful and successful, progressive actions must follow.   In the case of writer's block, the first step to progress is admittance.  The most effective treatment protocol is to be receptive to the insights and learning that come with silence.

For myself, the writer's block is like a temporary restraint in thoughts.   Has my writing voice gone silent?   I feel a sense of disconnect with my writing character. I question my credibility as a writer.   Am I having a flirt rendezvous with writing?   I wonder if other writers share similar experiences. Can I sustain my writing with passion, or is this a mere fleeting pastime?   These questions gnaw at me as I search for answers.    Truth be told, writer's block occurs with far more frequency, than the regularity of new scripts and ideas.

Writer's block is a common affliction that most writers will experience at one time or another  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer's_block#cite_note-Clark-1

In my effort to write this piece, I seek to gain perspective in transforming thoughts to words.   In scouring my mind for new ideas I hope to return from the writer in absence and reconcile with my writer in residence.   My inner writer is touring through many excuses and is seeking affirmation. Revise, rewrite, repeat are the continuous exercises of thought.  Juggle, balance, and streamline are the repeated messages of thought interceptions.  At times the mind games are filled with copious streams of information.  Until the information is ready, there are the constant interplays of withholding and release, and the waiting.

In the subtlety of no thoughts and words and waiting, there comes a script of insightful illumination.   Writer's block” is a transitional pause for the writer's inner voice to birth a flowering identity.    Ideas are constant and fertile. Even while there is the draught of  artful creativity in expression, the words are being germinated and when they have ripened they will bloom forth.

In the article,  The 10 types of Writers'Block and how to overcome them, there are two paragraphs that resonate with my personal writing anxiety of  loss for words:

 1.  'You can't come up with an idea' .."where you literally have a blank page and you keep typing and erasing, or just staring at the screen..." and;
10.  "You're revising your work, and you can't see your way past all those blocks of text you already wrote..."  The writer suggests much to my reassurance and relief, that the writer's block is "rather just the natural process of trying to diagnose what ails your novel"  in my case my blog.http://io9.com/5844988/the-10-types-of-writers-block-and-how-to-overcome-them

In December 2012, I began to write as a means of  venting.   I was immersed in the experiences of constant despair and challenge.    I was seeking emotional solace and sanctuary.  Writing introduced me to an inner place of emotional turmoil that needed expression. The outlet for my thoughts became blogs.

As a writer/blogger I am still searching for my personal voice.  The courtship with my writing pen is my most intimate indulgence.  Writing is where I share my heart, soul and all that matters.  Writing is my ever engaging, most mentally stimulating long term companion.

For me,  writing is as individual and unique as my own dna.   The thoughts that I speak to, and the way that I phrase them are distinctly personal.  My signature style of writing comes from who I am and how my conversation is translated into words.  I want to convey more than a script.  Whether I write on generic topics or on my own personal life situations, my writing contains and resembles the character that defines who I am.

As part of my growth in the field of writing, I anticipate that the routine of creativity will be peppered with the pauses and stops.  While the writer's block wreaks mental exhaustion, with the repeats of revisions, recreations, redrafts, and the redos, there comes refreshed and renewed results.

Every thought is an idea.  Every idea comes to life as crafted with the artful brush of a writer's pen.  There is unlimited talent in the art of writing and for every pause, every silence, every writer's block, a profusion of artists in numerous specialities emerge.  Creative process in writing is not for the instantaneous self applause and opportune adulation.   Sometimes, when there are the pauses, the void of no demonstration, thought has a place to find nurturance.

Luckily, the way I see it, the writer's block is a period of gestation to refine, enhance and allow the creative juices to come to full fruition.  The writer's block is pure creative distraction.