My Saturday A Poem...A Hip-Hop Song

Woke up this morning...planning, plotting, somewhat worrying.

I have a lot of things I need to do and not a lot of time to do it. I have failed myslef but at least I recognize it and I am not putting them on anyone else. I could have followed the syllabus and passed, instead, I procrastinated and fell behind...it's my fault, I take the blame.

Jumped out of bed after going over that in my head...and cleaned up my house, staring with the living room, moved to the dining room, then to the kitchen, and last my bedroom. Cleaning up helps me put things in order...may soound funny but and orderly house symbolizes and unoderly life. I am spontaneous but I need order when it comes to matters of the home, career goals, and thoughts (depending on the particular thought). My house was clean, I felt as though I could breathe a bit easier...ligther. It was 12 noon. Sankofa starts at 1pm, gotta get ready to go.

Jumped in the shower...and got dressed, took my sewing machine to Wal-Mart for some basic instructions, then I was off to Sankofa. I drove through the city listening to Fela...don't know the exact name of the some but it sounds like "Water Have No Enemy". The song I am speaking of was sampled on Common's album "Like Water for Chocolate" as his father spoke over the track.

Try that sometime, grab and old school soulful cd, some Afro-Beat, your favorite song...ride through the city, through the hood...and notice how the groove of the neighborhood flows with the music. It can be a very beautiful experience even in the grimmiest of neighborhoods. Today was beautfiul...sunny, warm, kind, and inviting and I loved every minute of it.

I had the pleasure of seeing Ashwa Kwesi speak. I am really without words, in a good way. As I sat in the lecture, there were some many thoughts running through my mind about history, what this "American" nation is built upon, Afrika...so many thoughts...the babies, our next generation, the ancestors, our past generations...there is so much of everything everywhere. So much to learn, so much to unlearn...where does one begin. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Sankofa today and I look forward to the next Sankofa.

Afterwards, we went to MP Island Carribean Cafe for some grub and down time. Today felt like a dream...felt like a "back in the day" day. I really don't know how else to explain today...it was beautiful and it felt so good...as poetic as a poem and as good as a Hip-Hop song with all the Jazz and Soulfulness one could take.

Freedom Class
Sankofa was full of so many goodies; Afrikan Dance, Capoeria, Jewels...lots of jewels. I ran into a brotha I hadn't seen in a few months, Manny. He's a cool, down to earth brotha. We briefly caught up on the past few months, in doing that he mentioned my blog. Basically he said I should update more...I'm cool with that because I always have a lot on my mind but rarely blog it. So I'll try to stay on my toes from now on.

As Brother Latif and Mr. Kwesi spoke today...I thought about the children, the youth. There were some babies running around the center today and I loved how free they were. When I was in elementary school, we had recess...from what I've heard about school these days, recess is a thing of the past. I brougth that up to pose this question. What would a freedom class be like? Picture this:

From grades K-12th, for 45 minutes to 1 hour out of the school day, every classroom of children will have "Freedom Class". In Freddom Class, there is no particular subject to study...only what the children or youth want to do. I know some maybe thinking, "Isn't that a bit unstructured"? Not really. Although the fore name of the class is Freedom, the purpose is intended to open the minds of the youth. Brother Latif said that he'd give the children their would, tell them they have 25 minutes to finish it and they can sit anywhere in the class to do it. I thought that was fresh for real. What if school devoted an entire period to free range of thought for the youth...they'd come in class, put their book bags by the door, grab a piece of paper and each day, the teacher would tell them to write down one thing that is on their mind.
For example, one day they'd come in class and the reacher would say, "Write down what the first thing that comes to your mind", another day, "Write down how you feel about math, another day, "Write down your goal(s) in life", after they've finished, they'd have an open discussion about it. Sometimes the class would be inside, if it's warm the class can go sit on the grass outside, and so on and so forth.

I mean...I know that it seems like somewhat of a scattered idea but think about how Freedom Class can boost the morale of the youth. Sometimes children just need someone to talk to instead of always having to sit in a structered setting...that's apart of the balance right?
Just a thought...