Although poor, Mary always placed a high value on education and eventually used that value to open doors for many African Americans.  She opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School which originally focused on training girls to take care of the home. With her continued hard work and efforts she eventually founded Bethune-Cookman College which is still training students today. She also was involved in politics and was recognized for her contibution to the fight for rights of African Americans and women.

A great quote from her: “From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.”

Imagine what we could do if we used this to guide our lives.

Read hear if you would like to read more: http://www.usca.edu/aasc/bethune.htm

Although I am upset about losing my car and the financial, insurance, and inconveniencing burdens of the lost. The worst part is the violation and my shaken sense of security. I know it is important to talk about things that will effect our emotional and mental status so, that is what I am trying to do.

I am sure I am all over the place b/c it is hard to make sense of everything that happened.

My supervisor and I have talked about healing and recovery before, and decided that the sooner someone can look for the jewel in a painful experience, the sooner that individual can heal and find peace.

I AM ABOUT TO START LOOKING FOR THE JEWEL. Wish me luck.

By the way… That isn’t my car, but a picture of a similar car: same model, year, and color.

As I am sure we’ve heard so many times over the upcoming weeks… Today is a very historical day. The first black president, Barak Obama, was sworn into office. No matter what your political beliefs, our country has made a huge statement on the progress we are committed to making regard to our nation and our stance towards discrimination. One thing that President Barak Obama emphasized in his speech was the need for every individual to contribute to our government, in its attempts to improve the nation. How will you contribute? I’ll be thinking about my contribution as well.

As part of my plan to honor Martin Luther King Jr., I attended the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Breakfast Celebration at the Columbus Convention Center. There were so many awesome speakers, but one thing that I find myself reflecting on was a point made by several of the speakers. They were asking were we willing to stop being spectators of history and willing to commit to being co-authors of history. I have been spectating for far too long and I am pledging to become a co-author? Are you? What does that mean for you?

These are things that we often plan to do when the new year starts. However, by Valentine’s day I often lose sight of my resolutions. So this time I plan to make SMART goals. SMART is an acronym often used in goal-setting to help increase the possibility that the person will actually be able to stick to their goal. So, a SMART goal is…

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic 

Timely

And here are my goals. I hope that by posting them it will make me more accountable.

1. I will reserve at least one day per week where I will not do work and I will do something that I enjoy.
2. I will dedicate 2 hours a week (9am – 11am on Friday) to write.
3. I will try at least one self-care activity a month and record it.

*** I’ll let you know how it goes***