A Writer Writing

A new month is upon us, and the truth about it is that we have been blessed to see another month. We are well into 2026. Thank God for the January that he brought us through. We survived the frigid temperatures and the days that came to greet us with open arms. 

I am on a new reading challenge that I joined, where I committed to read 100 books this year. I read four this month already and am on my fifth one, ironically, which is a book of inspiration for writers entitled "1000 Words: A Writer's Guide To Staying Creative, Focused, And Productive All Year Round," by Jami Attenberg. 

This book encourages writers to write 1000 words every day, and one of the things I put to paper was an acrostic poem for the February that is about to embrace us:

Frozen days that have not changed since December

Every day seems colder now than I could ever remember

 

But hope stands tall when the new month comes to play

Ready or not, February swings into bat and comes in to stay

 

Under the frigid temperatures that linger in the air is what we ride

A handful of salt we scatter all around us to not slip and to not slide

 

Running to love because God up above saw it fit to keep us and to bless us

Yes to living life as if it were golden and we leave our lives in his hands and trust

_____________________________________________________

I don't know about you but, I am grateful to have been kept and am beyond grateful for God's grace that got me through January in its entirety 

https://youtube.com/shorts/EfcQ7xedv60?si=TK0CkK5Xqx3Cel0H

_____________________________________________________

If you liked that poem and are interested in checking out some of my other poetic pieces, please support my creative endeavors by investing in one of my poetry books:

Pulchritudinous: The Poetry Collection

https://a.co/d/6bRnrY3

And Then There Was the Music

https://a.co/d/iiPTpq2

Songs For My Mother

https://a.co/d/40AE8Wo

Songs for My Father

https://a.co/d/fAciQp0

Learning is Fun

School is a great place to learn. They say go to school and learn something each day from a teacher that cares about your mind. That means the teacher must have a good mindset that holds on to the idea of teaching with love and focus on developing minds to grasp the information that they are sharing.

Make sure then that the information being shared is the information that is needed and not ideas that “you are not smart enough,” or “you are not worthy of respect or care,” or “your needs or voice or ideas do not matter,” or “you are beneath me and not worth the time.”

If students are coming eager to learn and a little behind the curve, answer the questions they have and respond to their requests for help. Don’t just assume that all students are at the same level just because they are the same age and in the same classroom setting. Don’t just take a student’s acting out as being a person who is out of control. Sometimes that is the request for help without them actually asking for "attention."

Did you pay attention to their need for help? Did you see that their hand was up when you were asking for student input? Did you put off their request or need, treating them just like everyone else with a need, or did you use it as a distraction, and instead something to be frustrated by?

We get it, they are your students, not your kids. Yes, you came to educate and not babysit. No, it is not your job to console because your title is teacher, not carer of a child’s feelings. Yes, they did not obey your first command, but that does not mean manhandling is the only way to get the desired result.

School is a great place to learn. It is a great place to see how to act and to formulate a mindset. Let the mindset be, you can do this, and you got what it takes, and you are an intelligent young lady or gentleman, and you matter so that the desire to learn escalates. Let them know.

Don’t let the mindset be based on stinking thinking. Adding value should always be the goal. Let’s add value for our future. The students are the future. They deserve quality learning experiences and treatment to carry on into their future so they can also have the mindset that learning is fun because it can be if you show them the way. Happy belated World's Teacher's Day to those who take the time. You are loved beyond measure.  

___________________________________________________________

I created a YouTube channel for kids: Learning with Ms Steph and it was started on the basis of getting kids to learn how to read with the idea that "Reading is Fun." Check out the first song written for the channel, Reading is Fun

__________________________________________________________________________________

BTW! What did you think about my drawings? I love landscape photography the most; working with lines to tell stories. If you liked them even a little bit, let me know or give me advice on how to improve them. Thanks for your input.

Currents of Love Flowing From My Heart through 'Songs For My Mother'

I want to tap into your emotions and share with you how my mother created magic in my life. I want to convey the story of a woman who made a melodic statement everywhere she escaped to.

I have accumulated so many facts over the years from the multitude of scenarios that she bolstered. She is a woman of faith, a warrior and a jewel. And so, I thought it would be nice to expose others to some of the ideas and concepts that my mother shared, as currents of love flowing from my heart.

If you have yet to get a gift for your mom and are looking for something different, perhaps she will enjoy the strong lyrical content found in my most recent collection of poetry entitled, “Songs For My Mother” by Stephanie Jeannot.

It is a collection of poems dedicated specifically to my mother but appropriate for any mother. It speaks of my family being clustered close together submersing into the idea of being in unity.

The overall mood of it is happy. The poems concentrate on the woman that I have been blessed to call mom. It is an emotional minefield with an endless trove of golden moments shared.

My mother bolstered faith. She showed us how to make our existence dynamic and fun. She showed us how to recognize the errors of our ways so that we could bounce back from our series of stupid mistakes and successfully navigate the world. She gave us a passion for knowledge. She built us up strong so that when we were ready to take off the training wheels, we would be capable of doing big things. And she cooked the most delicious food that you can find on the face of the world.

As opposed to letting these truths of our upbringing sit up in the storage of my mind, I thought it would be nice to share the memorability of it all; mostly because our upbringing was teeming with life.

Hopefully, you will feel inclined to perhaps get a copy for yourself or for your own mom, to slip away and leaf through the pages.  I realize that we all hook our own meaning to the life that we lived and the parents who generated energy into the lives we pursued but I am thinking that some of the elements of our upbringings might have some similarities and you might be able to relate to many of the scenarios presented in this poetry collection.

The poetry collection, “Songs For My Mother” by Stephanie Jeannot, features 24 poems. Each poem is uniquely equipped with a different length with a sense of openness to my heart woven into it.  This book delivers a series of thoughts meant to celebrate the royalty that a mother possesses in her queendom.

I invite you to support my efforts. This book is well worth the purchase. Somewhere in the world, there is a heart that might need the dazzle found within its pages. You can get your copy on Amazon. It is available as a hard copy or in a Kindle format here: Click Here to Get the Book "Songs For My Mother" by Stephanie Jeannot

Songs For My Mother

I hope that you received my blogpost in an open-minded manner. My thoughts shared were dispensed with gusto.  If I connected with your state of mind through this promotional platform at all, I appreciate your network of support. 

Sharing this with you all was quite humbling for me and I am thankful to you for indulging for a moment on how I am trying to satiate my appetite of being a writer and an author that is currently giving me gravity.

On Reading Michelle Obama's "Becoming"

I am on a good start in trying to finish my 25 books by the end of the year.

That is only two books a month which is not so much of a demand, though it requires me to get the ball rolling on the reading thing. I mean, we are already in month two of the year. But I think I can do it.  

I finally finished reading Becoming by Michelle Obama and must say that it is an excellent book. 448 pages of words that are both engaging and inspiring as she talks about her life, her family, and being a part of the first black family to ever be situated in a presidential role. 

I laughed at times. Sometimes even found myself surprised at her remarks. Her words are edgy, provocative and motivating; especially for woman like me. Perhaps it would be a great book for young school aged girls to read as they journey into their purposes in this world. 

My favorite thought in the book was, “If we belong than so too can many others. I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey. In sharing my story, I hope to help to create space for other stories and other voices to widen the pathway to who belongs and why” (Michelle Obama).

You can check out the book here if you are interested: "Becoming" by Michelle Obama.

"Becoming" by Michelle Obama

The audio book is even better because it’s read by the author who reads and projects different emotions and nuances with her voice, as the story unfolds. Love, Love, Love it!!! I listened as I drove, cooked in the kitchen or did cleaning around the house. The book never got boring and kept me interested in listening more and more. 

If you are interested in checking it out on Audible, join now and you can get this and 

another book for free for joining. Here is the link: Click Here To Join Audible

If you decide to read or listen to the book, I hope you  enjoy the read as much as I did. For me. it is an excellent book worth engaging in. What are your thoughts on this publication? 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. 

Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and may earn an fixed advertising fee if you are anyone should click on this link and become an audible member. 

Jazz Flowering Within Like Sunflowers in A Garden

It is amazing to me that as I delve more and more into the culture of jazz, love for it grows more and more within me like flowers in a spring garden.


First it was an appreciation for the sounds of the musical art form. Then it became a desire to sing like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Then I started singing the songs that they sang not realizing that it was more than just an art form but identifying who you are, your experiences and your life through the music, like jazz musicians have been doing since the beginnings of what Miles Davis calls "the only cultural contribution that America gave to the world which came from African Americans." And now, it is a deep fondness for the culture. 

I started to study Jazz, wanting to know about it which has become a case study for me for my undergraduate thesis and I came across a wonderful read. "The Culture of Jazz" by anthropologist Frank Salamone which offers an anthropological look of the musical genre and culture and is a very interesting and enjoyable read starting from the beginnings of jazz and providing background information as well as historical events and accounts that occurred in the history of jazz. I love discovering more about different aspects of icons of jazz's attitudes. This book is a walk through history and I love it. 

But what I am loving most is reading and seeing all these throwback accounts and images of pianist Danny Mixon and vocal stylist Marion Cowings, and to have shared a stage with Mixon and gained vocal instruction from both Cowings' vocal workshop and at jazz mobile makes me feel honored. Loving this book! 

I am also appreciative to follow in the footsteps of so many of the jazz greats of the past and to sing some of the wonderful standards and popular songs that make up the cornerstone of the jazz repertoire; which gives me deep pleasure to invite you out to

A Spring Affair
Hosted by the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble
at Medgar Evers College
1650 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, NY
(Corner of Bedford Avenue & Crown Street)
on
Thursday, March 31, 2016
6PM to 7PM


I am a member of this awesome group and will be singing with them and hope that you will join us this evening, and perhaps the sounds that oscillate from this group will uproot in your heart like sunflowers and keep the sunshine beating within you. 
Look forward to seeing you there!