Tigger Band-Aid

03Mar08

Depression GONE!

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Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

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ANNOUNCEMENT: I MET SULAYMAN ALBASSAM TODAY! I WAS ALSO COMPLIMENTED BY HIM;D

PS. He’s hot for an “older” man;p

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Today at school, there was a seminar by African American author, poet and professor Brenda Flanagan. Yes, be jealous! First Sulayman AlBassam and now this amazing woman! So, she honored us with a talk in the occasion of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.

Flanagan told us stories about “women who wanted to become more than what they are forced to become”; for example, Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, and the first Muslim woman to express her beliefs in Flanagan’s village. References to writers and poets who are the embodiment of her previous quote were also made: Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, and Toni Morrison.

As this author, poet, and professor has moved to America from Trinidad, she spoke to us about her visits to slave castles in Ghana. She expresses her sorrow about the emotionless guide telling the story of 200-300 slaves who were cramped in the room they were standing in who were later sent to work on sugar plantations. She later visits Elmira, where she “felt a hand pushing [her] out of that place.” She staggered and linked this feeling to a subconcious realization that someone of her bloodline had passed there before. She argues against the demolition of these slave castles as they are standing proof of “man’s inhumanity to man.”

Between stories, Flanagan eased our hearing by singing lines sung by slaves “to create solace in their bones”: “Swing low sweet charriot, coming to take me home…”

She emphasized that the best contribution a woman can make is to bring up good men and women who will be of use to the world. This belief brought back the memory of her mother, who has fourteen children, welcoming guests into their house, feeding them, and giving them a bed to sleep in. This means that some of the fourteen children have to give up part of their meal and their bed. The children used to argue with their mother expressing frustration at her welcoming of strangers while they were poor. Their mother reminded them that they were fourteen, and she hoped that they would all be helped in return for this favor they all participated in.

Proudly, Brenda Flanagan overcame many obstacles thrown into her path. As she puts it, she lived “a life above ground and a life below ground.”

To conclude her amazing lecture, she captivatingly performed Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” and “And Still I Rise” during which she made us women smile knowingly. She made the men stand at: “The fellows stand” and the women repeat the following lines:

“I’m a woman

Phenomenally

Phenomenal woman

That’s me. “

Then, she made the men go “Aaaah!” How great is she? That was my favorite part!;p

She’s equally nice off the podium. I asked her if I could hug her before I left for class, and she said, “Of course!” We also took pictures with her. Ya7lailha, she should be proud of herself:)

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