KRISTI B

If your thinking of purchasing gifts for anyone in the near future - there is this organization called World Concern (you can google it or it's worldconcern.org I also have it as a link on my blog space) They have unique gifts like purchasing a child's education for one year in Africa for $45.00, buying a dozen chickens for someone in Asia, or help give a woman a loan in Africa to start a small business.   

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It is never between you and them anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness they might be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It is never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa

Two Raindrops
by Joseph Morris

And one was so pompously proud of his power,
He got in his head an extravagant notion
He'd hustle right off and swallow the ocean.
A blade of grass that grew by the brook
Called for a drink, but no notice he took
Of such trifling things. He must hurry to be
Not a mere raindrop, but the whole sea.
A stranded ship needed water to float,
But he could not bother to help a boat.
He leaped in the sea with a puff and a blare--
And nobody even knew he was there!

But the other drop as along it went
Found the work to do for which it was sent:
It refreshed the lily that drooped its head,
And bathed the grass that was almost dead.
It got under the ships and helped them along,
And all the while sang a cheerful song.
It worked every step of the way it went,
Bringing joy to others, to itself content.
At last it came to its journey's end,
And welcomed the sea as an old-time friend.
"An ocean," it said, "there could not be
Except for the millions of drops like me.

For Mother's Day I decided to sit down and do one of my favorite things - writing down what's on my mind. In college, I majored in Human Ecology (fashion and design) What I loved most about this major was its focus on clothing and its meaning in different cultures. For instance in India, Indian generals separated themselves from the British by wearing adornments such as sun emblems (plus much more), the ritual of what an Indian woman goes through before she marries, and the rings around the African womens necks and their meaning. (their place in society, how many children they have)
Today what I find interesting, is the clothing and jewelery of actors and singers. I know they are probably told what to wear, but what I have noticed recently, is the use of black gloves/white gloves over a period of time among African males. I was recently reminded of this one night while watching Eddie Murphy on Youtube.
Throughout the years, it seems as though many African singers, and actors have worn gloves. Micheal Jackson with his black sequined gloves, Eddie Murphie on stage doing comedy routines with black gloves, and O.J Simpson and the awful tragedy with his ex-wife Nicole. Today, I don't watch much T.V. - But the places I do frequent constantly have the media blaring in your face. At times I see videos of young African male singers. Some of them are now wearing white gloves. I think because of my major I really examine what is going on around me.
My husband and I had a discussion about the gloves and what the gloves may represent. Here is what we came up with:
Don't mess with me
The passing of the torch from one generation to the next.
Nothing at all
Or something so shocking nobody would ever believe

Now I can stop thinking about this and hand it to you.

Food for thought: African American slaves communicated to each other through music, song and dance. Are we missing something?

Thanks for reading!