Keiza,
patient, silly, bald, respectful,
wife of Akinyela, and mother of Aurelius, Kylon, and Aley,
lover of God, journeys, and growth,
who feels pensive, grateful, determined,
who fears staleness, rejection, vanity,
who earned a culinary arts degree,
who would like to see happy neighbors, no hypocrisy, and real love among others
resident of Saint Louis County,
Taylor
I love that you used the word staleness, as a teacher I think we should all fear this. Great to meet you! :)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear the story of your children's names. As well as your culinary arts degree! Wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteWell, my daughter's name is my husband's backwards (what he'd wanted for his daughter since he was a youngster), my son Kylon (which means "crowned with laurels" was named so by both of us. We wanted something that started with a K and was original (which is weird that now it seems to be creeping up in popularity everywhere) and my last one, we gave the honor of being named (an A name) by my brother and he wanted something that sounded powerful and interesting. (I think he was thinking of Marcus Aurelius, like in Gladiator. LOL) It means "golden".
DeleteWhen I first got with my husband, I did not know how to cook. I started out cooking hamburger helpers, and he encouraged me to explore more and be more bold with food. So I started adding things here and there and enjoyed it. Then he felt that since I liked it so much (and I didn't have a degree yet) I should go for a culinary arts degree, which I did pursue at Forest Park Community College. I worked in a restaurant afterward, but the pace (or atmosphere) was not for me. That was okay. And I started working at my son's elementary school, in the cafeteria, because it was convenient and I wanted to work. My ideal would probably be to someday work in a place where kids in-need could get educational help and mentoring in the summers or after school (so they would be safe off the streets) and get good, hot food for free.
DeleteMy daughter is creative in the culinary field also, though did not pursue a degree. (I love that Forest Park offers this.) AND she works in food services at Camdenton High School. She gets more opportunities to get creative with recipes than I imagined. I've worked in an after school program where kids received help with schoolwork, been exposed to new learning opportunities and fed a small meal. You're right, it is a life changer for some of them.
DeleteWonderful life poem Keiza! Love your blog background too!
ReplyDeleteI like your "no hypocrisy" statement. I am a big proponent of leading from the front. "Might is right" or "do as I say" are not proper leadership tools and does not lead to the cohesiveness needed for positive classroom climate.
ReplyDeleteKeiza your poem is wonderful. I love the statement about no hypocrisy and real love among others. I hope one day we live in a world that is like this, until then the best we can do is build a classroom that has these values.
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