Willful Servants

“The servant of the people is down among them, living as they live, doing what they do and enjoying what they enjoy…such beliefs are the very elements that distinguish true teaching as an art of service (Dowdy 51). This particular quote as a resounding affect on any and everybody who reads it. I have found that the greatest leaders, Pastors, Doctors, Lawyers and yes, teachers are those who look past the title that was afforded to them and stand in the gap to inspire those who follow them. Through this belief not only do those who follow these inspirational individuals change, but they also become inspired to one day be leaders themselves. Maybe not in the realm of leadership that the one that once inspired them occupied, but a leader in what they were called to do rather that be a missionary, mailman, counselor, dance instructor. These individuals take in so much by watching these “servants” that they decided to serve themselves and the theme of “Teaching to touch a life forever” becomes “Leading to touch a life forever!” Even today in my life, those teachers and leaders who were and are passionate about what they are doing in their lives always inspire me to do my very best and in school always cause me to like a subject such as U.S. History way more than I did before I entered their classroom. It is our job as the current generation to prepare to inspire and leave lasting impacts on those in the next generation and by being a willful servant we will accomplish just that.

Lessons from Down Under

In the article the author describes her literary experiences in the south. She explains how her oral literary experiences shaped her as a African American female. She concludes that what she learned in school did not teach nor enrich her culturally. In the article it also describes how she feels about oral traditions and how this has preserved our history as African Americans over the years. I completely agree with this article. I feel as though school prepares you to handle the real world but the literary experiences you have with those who look like you are the most important. When you are not culturally astute how will you function around those who are culturally different from you. In the article the author also explains how oral tradition is discredited by mainstream society. I completely agree with her opinion, some believe that it is inaccurate because of human error. Most of African cultural traditions are rooted in oral history. Hence, by American standards African American culture is obsolete. For so long blacks in America were not allowed to read and write. Was there any other way we could safely communicate? The article also describes race in America and how she experience racial struggles with literacy. The author explain how she was complementing for making her race "look good" due to her intelligence. She questioned this statement and wondered why she couldn't make society look good. I feel that often times this is the case with most African Americans. Whites will only see you as a token to your race. They will never see you as contributing to society in any way. It hurts me to see that black people even now are not excepted because of their literary capabilities. At the same time I do believe that black perpetuate negative stereotypes about themselves. Until African Americans educate themselves as a whole and strive to be literate we cannot change the standards put on us as a community.

Black and on Welfare Blog

Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women by Sandra Golden was an eye opening essay about the often neglected personal side to women on welfare. She started the essay with the following quote from Maya Angelou, “Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated, and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory”. Angelou is a renowned writer who is known for inspiring black women to be aware of their strength and use all of their positive attributes to build on to their self esteem. Golden dissolved the barriers among black women from different financial backgrounds by pulling from a writer we could all relate to.

In the essay Golden recalls her experience being on welfare. She starts by outlining her pregnant, unemployed, and homeless circumstances. At the time Golden was 20 years old and she vividly expresses how she felt dehumanized and humiliated after leaving the welfare office. Golden goes further to claim black women are stereotyped as ignorant and lazy with minimum education or skills by the social workers. Like a good writer she is vulnerable in her testimony and used her personal experiences to make the story of a single woman on welfare more compelling to the reader. Like a great writer she followed her account with several accounts from different black women, and writers to report similar stories. Golden even used the welfare reform law of 1996 to discredit welfare training programs designed without integrally learning about the women who need them.

I enjoyed the essay because I could relate to Golden’s experiences. The women told stories that reminded me of things my mother had said. Being polite despite a person looking down on you was a big one. My mother knew she needed to take care of her family and sometimes smiling when you wanted to cry was necessary. Honestly I did not like going down to those offices and in some ways this experience inspired me to do better. Golden was 20 and on welfare and now is pursuing a doctorate degree in curriculum.