What's on the Mind

Since I am always having thoughts in my mind. This will be a great forum to relate, relax and release. Share your thoughts?


 

 

January 06, 2008

New Beginnings! Dare to Dream.

Every year is a year to begin fresh, giving thanks for accomplishments and "yes" struggles. There comes a time when you realize to that following your dreams can lead to unimaginable personal and professional fulfillment, and ignoring it can have negative consequences. "When you're living your dreams, it energizes you," says Kevin Ross, a Florida-based life and business coach (www.kevinrossspeaks.com). "When you're not, it exhausts you."  Here are some "Tips to Help You Dare to Dream"

Trust your desire. Understand that "it came to you for a reason." No one else is equipped to fulfill your dream like YOU are. Remember that you are settling when you don't listen to that inner voice.

Develop thick skin. Your critics will be themselves. Don't argue! Use the words they bring to you as fuel, to fire your competitive nature. The hits are worthwhile if your're pursuing something you believe in.

Protect your dream. Maintain a healthy distance from toxic people. "In its early stages, the dream is very vulnerable." Be optimistic! Keep hope alive.

Stay the course. Ask yourself, "Who will be let down if I don't follow through?" The only person you should be concerned about letting down is you. Build your arsenal of supporter to help you stay focused and block out the pessimists.

Fuel the flame. Say yes to your dream or dreams and find new things to love about it or them daily. You have permission.

These words are fitting for so many reasons. Today is my birthday. As always, I dare to dream. I share a day with a man who is known for having a "Dream" and in  2008 America is daring to possibly have its first black male president (Senator Barack Obama) or female president (Senate Hillary Clinton).

February 14, 2008



Tremé America's Oldest African American Neighborhood

Tremé– America's oldest black neighborhood was the site of significant economic, culturally, political, social and legal events, that have literally shaped the course of black america for the past two centuries.

Commonly referred to as the Faubourg Tremé area, which Faubourg is French for 'suburb' or neighborhood. The area received its namesake from one Claude Tremé a model hat maker and real estate developer who migrated from Saugiviny in Burgundy, France settled in New Orleans in 1793. As an American city it is a place of difference. African slave and freed alike, along with American indian shared their cultures and intermingled with European settlers. Almost as a social experiment of cultures, the French government encouraged this interaction which marked New Orleans as a different and special city from it's inception.

Most different from the early American settlements Massachusetts, and Chesapeake Bay, New Orleans served as a distinctive cultural gateway to North America, where people from Europe and Africa initially intertwined their lives and customs with those of the native inhabitants of the new world. This resulting way of life, our life, my life differed dramatically from the culture that was spawned in the English colonies of North America.

The city's isolation helped to nourish the differences. From its founding in 1718 until the early 19th century, New Orleans remained far removed from the patterns of living in early Massachusetts or Virginia. Established a century after those seminal Anglo-Saxon places, it remained for the next hundred years and out post of the French and Spanish empires until Napoleon sold it to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

To further add to New Orleans peculiarity among American cities, the French Louisiana was quickly connected to the rest of the country with the emmergence of steamboats and sailing ships, but in true independence, New Orleans remained guarded about it way of life. Even becoming a Dixie cotton and slave market, it remained a strange province of the American South.

In later years, free persons of color and eventually those African slaves who either obtained, bought or bargained for their freedom were able to acquire and own property in Treme. There are hundreds of examples of 18th and early 19th century ownership of large and small land areas in Faubourg Treme by free peoples of color.

Today Treme is the locale for visitors and natives alike to celebrate the achievements of African Americans. Scholars and historians have shared their immense knowledge with New Orleans residents and now Treme is home to several museums dedicated to African American life, art, and history, as well as Armstrong Park, a memorial to the great jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
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