By:Rikita Spencer
November 5th, 2020 5:08pm
We started off today’s class discussing the election fiasco. At this point, it’s pretty evident that Joe Biden will be the President-elect, but we all know Trump, his administration, and his supporters aren’t going to accept anything other than this feeble, idiotic man being president again. i find it very interesting that the first time I am able to vote is during this mess of an election. Just an observation I noticed. I am just ready for everything to die down and for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to do all the things they promised because America needs some reform. I kept hearing all the newscasters and officials say that Joe Biden was able to overcome personal loss. I don’t know much about any of these political and government leaders (all I know about Trump is that he is from New York and is a crooked “businessman” and a former reality TV star) so I decided to look up all this personal loss all these people are talking about. Joe Biden’s first wife and infant daughter died in an atrocious, fatal car accident several years ago. How sad. To lose your life partner and newborn daughter at the same time. I don’t even want to imagine. Back in 2015, his son passed away from some type of brain disease. Very sad. He followed in his fathers political steps and was a representative for Delaware in some type of way. I don’t know seeing that someone of Joe Biden’s stature and reputation made me realize no one’s perfect and we all go through things. It is a good example of leadership when you’re able to grow from trauma. Growing up, my parents told me to always be a leader and not a follower. “I am the head and not the tail, above and never beneath.” It’s been several instances in my life where I was compelled to step up. Fading into the background was a comfortable mechanism, but was not expected from my authority. As
long as I’ve been alive, my mother has had to deal with battle with herself and her health. For the longest, my older sister was our leader. She stepped up when my mom didn’t have the strength to, and watched out for us and carried us even when she didn’t feel up to it. Soon, my sister graduated from high school and was off to college. I was very happy for her but also, sad and scared. She was a crutch for my brother and I when my mom was dealing with her own personal battle, so with her absence, I worried what would happen. Before she left, I thanked her for stepping up, even as a small girl, to be a leader for my brother and I. After that, I knew my time had come. I had no one to lean on anymore. It was time to step up and step out. My mother was better, but not in tip-top condition and still had struggles of her own. 2 months after my sister left, my mother’s health wasn’t good again. She went away to obtain help. Nothing new under the sun, but now my sister wasn’t here to lead us and guide us in our mother’s absence. I knew now, even with him being 15, my brother needed me. He didn’t express how he was feeling initially, but I knew once my sister left, he too felt distressed about what was to come. I couldn’t let what I was feeling halt me from being there for my family. My dad was working more now than ever before. So when my mom left, my brother started to spiral. His grades were getting lower; he was hanging around the wrong crowd, constantly playing video games with no other priorities. I had to step up and lead him to the right path. Not only for my mom, but to prove to myself that I could do it. I had to prove that I could step up in times of disarray and get my family back in order. I started working with my brother daily. If he didn’t understand something in his classes, I would tutor him till he got it right. I would monitor him being on the video game and just made sure he wasn’t falling short of his potential for his life. When there were times where my mother called us and I could tell he was upset at her and her health, I would always comfort him and was sure to remind him that my mother loved us and couldn’t help the situation she was in. I had to lead in the way my brother should follow. God doesn’t give us anything that he knows we can’t overcome. I had to learn to not only look out for my well-being, but for others too. I feel not only was my brother’s character and integrity improved, but also I discovered that I was never destined to fade in the background. What was accomplished was a 360 revelation for my brother and I that we are more than whom we make ourselves out to be. We should never count ourselves out or not think enough of ourselves. We shouldn’t have to feel like we are anyone’s burden, or that we have to lean and depend on others for every little thing. Independence was our virtue. Leadership is a quality everyone should strive for in his or her lifetime, but it’s how it is accomplished that determines your ultimate outcome. Anyway, next in class Dr. S gave us a lesson on white skin and blah blah. It was a small race discussion on the characters we had been looking at this semester. The whole conversation was confusing and boring.It reminds me of the topic of white passing in the black community. That’s all I could connect to this weird topic. He said that the only white, heterosexual, character we studied was Otolera. Then we had a conversation about vision and where we are called to lead. I am a huge visionary. I have so much I want to do with my life. Personally, professionally in my career, everything. I am called to lead in my community. The black women community, the black youth community, the southern impoverished community. I can’t wait to embark.
November 7th, 2020 11:28am
So I just found out that Joe Biden surpassed 270 electoral votes and the AP announced him as the President Elect of the United States. I am not surprised. Now that him and Kamala have won, history has been made. I don’t get on social media but I re-downloaded Instagram just to post on my story this monumental occasion. I mean Kamala and Joe both have done shady and questionable things in the past, but history is being made!! Hopefully going forward, they aren’t crooked and are inclusive of everyone. Kamala is going to be the first female Vice President. And she is a woman of color? And she went to the very same BLACK college I am attending and was a woman of Alpha Kappa Alpha incorporated?? YES PLEASE! I had to flex on Instagram real quick. I deleted the app right after. Social media is just a deep rabbit hole of toxicity, negativity, vanity, and fraud. Not concerned. Joe and Kamala’s reign is opening doors for women, non-binaries, minorities, BLACK FOLKS, people of the trans experience, and all other people who do not fit into the traditional American social normative (which is white male heterosexual) to be represented in Government and politics. It is a truly an interesting time to be alive. I am honored and privileged to be going to Howard University. My degree’s value just increased expeditiously now that this woman is going to be Vice President. I’m so excited. So many little girls across the world finally see themselves in this woman. A product of immigrants, THE FIRST FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! STOP PLAYING WITH HER!
November 10th, 2020 4:19pm
So today we started presentations for our final project. Mile’s group was first. Their chosen topic was the song Changes by Tupac Shakur. I didn’t really feel like they touched on the song much. They were talking about music in general. All I really took from the presentation was that music was “important” to them. They didn’t analyze or ask questions about the actual song. Next group was Kendra’s. I must say Kendra herself looked amazing. Hair, makeup, demeanor, class, truly admirable. Anyway their presentation was on Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. I personally still have not watched the movie. I saw the email for their presentation late, and I fell asleep trying to watch it. The movie’s been out for a very long time and it’s monumental because it’s Disney’s first black princess. It was finally representation for all the little black girls that watch Disney to see themselves. I was a little girl myself when it first came out, AND I STILL HAVEN’T SEEN IT! Their presentation was good and informative though. I enjoyed it. I heard that the movie was Disney’s first hand-drawn movie in 5 years because they laid off a lot of their animators. See, Tiana is even breaking barriers in the real world. I remember where I was the weekend it came out. I was seven years old and I was at church that Sunday. The Sunday school teacher, I forgot her name but I’m going to ask my grandma so I can reach out to her, had told us that the movie had just come out. She was honestly one of the nicest, sweetest woman I had ever met. Only positive memories of her. She was moving to Texas and a gave us a parting gift. I say us as in me and my sister. She gave us a Tiana pen that I still have to this day. I will never forget that. This was my first time seeing Tiana and I was so happy to see a beautiful princess that looked like me. I was so excited to see the movie. But life got busy and hectic and my parents would always put off taking us to the theater. So yeah to this day I have yet to see the movie. I will watch before I die, I promise.
