“We are tied in a single
garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality” (Dr Martin
Luther King Jr)
It is not a bad thing to have
an emotional response to others when you see the things that they are going through.
Sometimes you might feel a sense of urgency to pray for others because of what
the media shows. That’s the right thing to do because we are all one body of
people on this one earth. Right?
Not everyone’s life feels like
a sweet joyride. Some people are unable to commit themselves to a grind and
straggle behind because they are physically incapable of it. Some people live crying
in agony on a daily basis because there is no hope to build on or to be
maintained and instead, they sit and suffer every day. Some people die for a
meal a day while others have the opportunity to eat six small meals a day. Some
people sleep in a warm bed every night while others sleep in cardboard boxes.
Some people have the ability to walk to wherever they want to go while others cannot
because they are in wheel chairs. Some people cannot dedicate themselves to
reading because they were not taught to read nor did they have educational
opportunities available to them.
Some folks carry on traditions
that are different than the ones we live. Some go to church every day. Others
may go only on Christmas and Easter or not at all. Some folks celebrate their
birthdays with laudatory festivals. Others fast to celebrate their new year.
We all are the same because we
all are different. We all have baggage, songs and dances. We all lived romances
and have taken chances from the moment we started on our life journeys.
We all make memories that resonate
through the years. We all feel things in our hearts in different ways. We all
have a diversity of ideas and are packed with emotions and we all perspire beads
of sweat making an effort to be the best version of ourselves.
Even though we are different,
we can still praise each other’s effort. Some make an effort to feed their five
kids. Some make an effort to survive the mean streets that they live on. Some
make an effort to simply have a voice in society. Some make an effort to overcome
the ravages of cancer. But we all as a people make efforts to fight the battles
of life and to overcome our own obstacles, regardless of what they are.
It is important to consider
others and to not generalize or make assumptions. Don’t topple someone else’s
confidence just because they live in a different bed of roses than you. Don’t
make judgments because someone’s educational background was different than
yours. And don’t tumble in the waves of measuring someone else’s work, monetary
or life situation on yours. Sometimes it is good to strike up the conversation with hopes of building a new perspective,
so we can root out bigotry, confront discrimination, fight for inclusivity, and
stop the unsavory stereotypes of people who are different from us. Please check
out my original song and video entitled, “People United.” Lyrics by me, Stephanie
Jeannot. Music by Paul Garrod. Video edited and produced by Stephanie Jeannot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKL0kS92s10&t=59s
At the end of the day, we
should hold high esteem for each other because we are all people alike. Let us
no longer look at people based on their age, class, color, gender, sexual
orientation but as human beings as we challenge old ideologies and instead make
provocative moves towards accepting responsibility for the progress of humanity.
In my opinion it seems more pleasing to the ear to hear stories of shared
humanity than struggling and fighting each other over the same nonsense because
at the end of the day, we are all equal. We are the change that is needed in
this world and we have the power to be in a position of influence to get everyone
to see the world from a broader perspective.
After all, Ujima is all about building
and maintaining the world together and to make our Brother's and sister's
problems, our problems and to solve them together. Happy Kwanzaa!
From Umoja to Imani, may all
the blessings of Kwanzaa be yours.
I will admit it. There are times when I am not my best because stress has got me all discombobulated and the best thing for me to do, is take time away from the very things that are causing me to be less than 100% to clear my mind. Gotta Go I was sitting at home at my desk one day and I received a plethora of phone calls, both good and bad. The bad ones seemed to hit a chord that instantly warped me into a dronish mood. The saying goes when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And so I did! I needed to relieve the stresses of some of the things that tried to steal my joy and so, I packed my bags and was on the next morning flight out of there to visit one of my favorite places where all I experience there is a wealth of inspiration and recharging for the road ahead. Talk about lemonade. I think it was flavored so well that I could not help but put my words into a song. It is entitled "Gotta Go." All lyrics are my lyrics. Music by Paul Garrod. Please check out the full length video here: https://youtu.be/vnsqyqGqpJU
If you are like me, then you might be someone who goes and takes a walk to prevent an outburst or maybe you get into your car and drive two hours away to your favorite park where you can enjoy moments of peacefulness and solitude. One of the places that calms me is the beach. Once I am on the sand and the sun kisses my skin all over, I am in this happy zone that feels simply beautiful. And then I dip my body into the ocean and for a moment, all that matters is how refreshing the water really is. The other place is the nail salon. These are just some of the few ways that I have found that help me to cope with the world and all that comes with it, so that I can be back at 100% without losing too much of myself while on this journey called life. What is your favorite place to be refreshed & renewed?
There are so musicians, bands and songs that inspire me as a
vocalist. It is always pleasurable for me to listen to music and to discover new sounds and
artists.
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to
the mind,
flight to the imagination, & life to everything”
-Plato
Spotify has this challenge to create a playlist of the top
100 songs and I can say that I have been listening more and more to the
different artists and music on Spotify lately; especially since I currently have
a new project on the platform entitled “We Are People United” on there.
I am always up for a good challenge or ideas to be prompted
by; especially in writing because I want to be able to write as much as I can.
Through the process of trying to gain ideas, I came across this book that has
benefitted me a lot to put pen to paper and write new songs, poetry, blog posts
and more. The book is entitled 365 Journal Writing Ideas Plus 400
Quotes: A Year of Daily Writing Prompts, Questions & Actions To Fill Your
Journal With Memories, Self-Reflection, Creativity & Direction by
Rossi Fox and I really like it.
It is sorted by the day of the year and has
prompts that can make you reflect and gain ground in storming. This is always a
good benefit for any writer in my opinion because this is a way to prevent
writer’s block when getting into the process when scribing is necessary. For me, it seems like it is a need everyday as is water and sleep because, I can honestly say that there is not a day that goes by without me writing something. This book helps with more directional writing if needed. Perhaps it can help to enhance your writing as it has for me in many ways.
One of the prompts read like this: List your favorite musicians, bands and song. And so, here we go, exploring
my favorite five on my favorite topic that the world has to offer; music.
Five of My Favorite
Musicians
“I was born with music inside of me. Music was one of my parts.
Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart.
Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the
scene.
It was a necessity for me. – like food
or water.”
- Ray Charles
1. Sarah Vaughan
I have loved her for a very long time. Her voice was
amazing. I don’t think that there is anything that she couldn’t do with her
voice. Her range was amazing. And my favorite thing about her voice was her low
tone.
A friend of mine knew that I loved Sarah Vaughan
so much, that he gave me a DVD that featured about 500 songs that she has done
in her musical career. Of all the artists out there past and present, she is
who I listen to the most.
I currently
have just over 18 hours of music in my library that feature her voice. I also have two DVDs featuring her live
concerts. I am constantly searching for new live footage of her on Youtube and
also indulged in the book Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan
which I found quite interesting to take a deeper look into her life and her being,
aside from just the music. I love her.
I think Prince was amazing. There are so many layers to him
and so much music by him that I am discovering. I think he was a genius at
writing and getting into the groove of the music. His songs are tight and so
enjoyable. And I really like his voice.
I read a book on his life entitled I
Would Die 4 You by Toure and it was excellent reading about his
life, musical journey and everything about what made him who he is.
I have always loved listening to the way
that he played his music but I don’t think I liked him as much as I do now
after conducting research to write my college thesis on jazz, identity and
racism, came across his book Miles: The Autobiography and
read some really interesting things about his life and his personality. I loved
his response to stigmas and I appreciated how he came across growing as a musician
and individual in the world. He played that trumpet so well and I really
like listening to his music.
I can’t think of a day that I did not love Whitney Houston.
I don’t think I was as devastated hearing of a musician’s passing as I was when
she did. I cried as if she was a family member because I have lived her since I
was a little girl.
If I could credit to anyone for the big voice I have that
can carry very loud and fill an auditorium without a microphone, I would give
it Whitney Houston. I used to spend entire afternoons singing her songs to the
four walls of my basement and used to always choose songs by her to go out and
sing in live settings.
I have every
album she has ever made and can actually claim as my truth that I will always love her voice, her
movie The Bodyguard and the songs that she was known for;
especially Saving All My Love which is still my favorite song by
her.
I love Dizzy Gillespie. He was an amazing musician and I
love the music that he contributed to the world. I have grown to love his personality more and more as I watched many documentaries or interviews where he was speaking with an
interviewer. I love how he spoke with such knowledge, intelligence and attitude. I also read
a few excerpts from his book To Be or Not to Bop and I
really loved some of things he talked about in regards to the culture of jazz and its music. I listen to his music a lot
and I admire what he contributed to the world as a world-class musician.
This is a current band that is often performing live at
Smoke Jazz and I love the music that I hear coming from them. Slick sounds and
fresh to the ear.
If you have not heard
them yet, you definitely need to get down to Smoke Jazz located at 2751
Broadway in Harlem, NY for their Sunday late night session to see them live.
I think you will really enjoy them.
2. Paradyce
A nice group of musicians who recently released a studio
project entitled East to Egypt featuring seven really cool jazz tracks of
songs that you will just be bopping to. The NYC based group features
keyboardist Steve Palmer, drummer David Griffin and saxophonist Saxy Ric. I recently
had the opportunity to interview them on my radio show, Jazz on the JNote which
originally aired on WNYE 91.5 FM on August 6, 2017. You can check out Part one of the
interview here: https://youtu.be/QIobFFVze4c
3. Sade
Who doesn’t love the group Sade? And who can say that they
do not enjoy listening to the lead singer Sade Anu sing away? I think I can
sing all their songs back and forth and I love everything that they do. Such
cool songs and a great, mellow vibe that comes from them. This is one group
that I never get tired of listening to. Beautiful tone, amazing songs.
4. Out of Eden
I love out of Eden and I can listen to their music all day
long. Out of Eden is an all-girl Gospel group of sisters which featured Lisa
Kimmey, Andrea Kimmey-Baca, and Danielle Kimmey. I learned about them years ago
through this music promotion site who would introduce artists and their music,
I think the site was called What’s Hot Now.
But anyway, they have some amazing soulful Gospel songs sung
to R&B influenced beats that I just love. I was even able to teach a few of
their songs to the youth choir at Mt Moriah Baptist church when I was the choir
director there and the young people loved it.
They had six studio albums which
I have all of them, with my favorite being No Turning Back: an album that featured ten up-beat and beautiful songs that I simply love.
I love, love, love Earth Wind & Fire and everything that
they sang and the fire they brought onto the stage with them each time that
they performed. I never get bored listening to their songs with my favorite
being Sing a Song because that is my favorite thing to do;
sing. LOL!
I also appreciate many of the songs that they wrote for many
of the artists I enjoy listening to such as Deniece Williams and the Emotions.
Still a favorite of mine. I think I love that I wrote and
produced the entire song it is such a special tune for me. I love performing it
and it is one of the few tunes I have shared at a live setting here and abroad.
I love the words on this song. Such a pretty tune. I love
the way Sarah sings this song and every time I hear it, it leaves a beautiful feeling
inside.
I have loved this song since I was in high school. The job I
worked at used to play 106.7 Lite FM all day long and this tune was constantly
being aired. I have adored it ever since. Such a pretty melody. I love it a
lot.
I love this song. I started liking it when I first saw my
favorite movie Stormy Weather and saw the composer of it, Fats Waller, being his humorous self on the piano, tickling away and singing this song. Awesome tune and once of may favorites to
perform live.
It would be wrong of me to not include you into this musical favorites theme. I would love to hear about the musicians, bands
and songs that you love the most. Care to share?
Perhaps you can guide me on a new path of discovery. I
would love to hear your favorites. Who do you love to listen to and what are
your favorite songs?
Some folks carry on traditions
that are different than the ones we live. Some go to church every day. Others
may go only on Christmas and Easter or not at all. Some folks celebrate their
birthdays with laudatory festivals. Others fast to celebrate their new year. 
