In Washington

Many of you know that I went to Washington and you know that I was going to Capitol Hill and that I was going for some policy work. Or maybe you didnt know any of this.

 I was really nervous going to Washington. I wanted to make sure I spoke eloquently and i wanted to deliver my message the best way possible. Everything went better than I expected, we succeeded.

The reason I went to Washington was to meet with Senators and Representatives who are in charge of California. I met with Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Lee's staff. . Our goal was to have them sign on to a letter written by Secretary Duncan to the U.S. Department of Education . This letter asks the DOE to continue provide more attention and support to preventing teen dating abuse. How? By expanding school based policies. By training school staff on how to respond to a dating abuse report, to develop a clearinghouse ( a resource site) on campus so teens and parents can have access to help and to compile and analysis of the work so others can find best practices regarding effective policies particularly those that are prevention focused.

The first day we met with Barbara Lee's office, my partner Nicole Edwards from the Family Violence Law Center , My coach Jennifer Calloway and myself sat down in her office and met with her legislative staff his name was Teddy Miller, GREAT GUY. We introduced ourselves told them about the work that our agency did and I shared a story about how our curriculum empowered my student to make a healthy decision about her relationship, we closed out with our asks. The first one was that Barbara Lee attends to a youth focused event in September where we will honor her. The second ask was that she signs on to the letter written by Secretary Duncan. It was a successful meeting ... Teddy seemed really engaged and had great questions.

While having dinner and sharing our stories of how our meetings went with the rest of the Start Strong staff, Nicole and I received an email from Teddy Miller letting us know that it was great meeting us and said " it is a testament of how compelling your message was that the Congresswoman signed on to the letter so quickly. " Nicole and I jumped with joy and shared with everyone else in the room our good news. This email made us very popular among our staff. We were the only pair to get the letter signed while in Washington. :)

Besides politics Washington was cool. Actually it was HUMID! The weather was really crappy, It was scorching hot but raining. I did a little shopping , saw monuments and went to a museum. I learned alot and ultimately that was my goal.

for now

This morning I was on the phone with Debra Barnes the Executive Director of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation and she reminded me of these pictures that were taken that I had not seen.

I leave you with this for now ...

my mother and I , she is my angel.

I like this picture , my face looks kind of weird but its not often that you get to see this angle LOL

The guest speaker

After speaking , I received a standing ovation. Im most proud of this picture because the CEO of Highland is standing and he is one of my heroes!!!!!

DEAR LIFE

I HAVE SOOOOO MUCH TO SHARE WITH YOUUUU!!!!!!!
I GOT BACK FROM THIS WASHINGTON D.C. POLICY TRIP LAST NIGHT.
IF I COULD DESCRIBE IT IN ONE WORD IT WOULD BE.............
WAIT I CANT DESCRIBE IT IN 1 WORD, TOO MUCH HAPPENED.

AT THIS MOMENT I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO RECAP BUT I WILL FILL YOU IN SOON!

whats my favorite word?

BITCH  [bich] noun
a female dog: The bitch won first place in the sporting dogs category.
2.a female of canines generally.
3.Slang .a.
a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person, especially a woman.
b.a lewd woman.
c.Disparaging and Offensive . any woman.
4.Slang . a person who performs demeaning tasks for another; servant: Tom is so her bitch; she just ordered him to go fetch her some pizza—and he went without a word.
5.Slang . a convict who is in a homosexual relationship and/or dominant relationship willingly or unwillingly in the prison setting: The new inmate was immediately forced to be the bitch of the prison's top dog.

True story , if you walk into an Oakland middle school and you ask the students:
"whats my favorite word?"
 99% percent will reply with pride in their word ..."BITCH"
 
Music makes the world go round, so its no secret that music is also influencing our youth. Especially in very misogynistic ways. 
Some of us may say we just like the song because of the beat. That may be the case but these melodies and lyrics are so catchy that before you know if youre ranting "I said it must be ya ass cause it aint ya face" or calling yourself a "5 star bitch".

 

Rap songs glorify being gangsta, selling dope, cookin crack , hittin licks, fuck you pay me, revenge and having hoes.
Now a days music glamorizes sexual exploitation.
...follow me.


Why is it that most of the girls that I grew up and went to school with are now escorts in different states or sexually exploited women on e.14?
These girls arent youre regular drug user-self esteem issues-daddy wasnt there type, they are huge hearted family oriented beauty queens with the potential of being America's first lady president.

I recall a few years ago when selling your body was looked down on , it was much more secretive and private. It was a sensitive subject.


Now EVERYONE is putting themselves up for display. I believe the music plays a vital part.
The hottest rapper in the streets is Rick Ross.
The base of Rick Ross' lyrics are drug sales and romanticizing "fly escorts".
Ross describes the life of an escort as a commodity.
Its not even just Rick Ross, its almost every rapper. The trending topic in music is "hoes".
It makes me very disappointed to see these gorgeous girls exploiting themselves this way.

Im not implying that everyone should stop listening to rap music, im just saying : dont let the lyrics influence you , be a critical thinker.

I believe that if a woman is physically attractive she should become a positive example to younger girls looking up to her, because automatically she has their attention.
It is also a slap in the face for girls who work legitimately hard for every dollar. While we are breaking our backs and saving every penny for the chance to take a nice vacation or buy a nice handbag ...these shallow girls are at the mall milking a trick for everything they have.

Its disturbing. I just want all the beauties to get together, educate themselves and make for great examples. Imagine how much more powerful we would be.