I was a revolutionary. In middle and high school, I clung tight to my "blackness" ...owned it, sold it every opportunity I had. When we had to do biographies on an american hero, I did Malcolm X. We had a compare and contrast paper to do in English...I argued that the Klu Klux Klan couldn't be compared to the Black Panther Party because the KKK was a fraternal organization and the BPP was a political party. In the 7th grade we had to draw and color this guy named Strevenski upside down...mine was Black! (0nly one ever made:) When Bush ran against Gore...I argued on behalf of the Democratic party in Government. When it was time for debates I was Pro-Affirmative Action...Pro-choice in a Southern, Predominately White, Conservative, Christian School.

In the 8th grade I had to memorize a poem to recite to my class and this is what I chose. I began my love affair with who I like to call, Nikki G.. I love her. She's womanly, powerful, real, gritty, and eloquent all in the same line. To this day, each time I read this poem I 1. laugh at how adult it was for the circumstance 2 . feel proud of my revolutionary ways and 3. am happy to be me

WOMAN

she wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields

but he wouldn't agree to be the dandelion
she wanted to be a robin singing through the leaves

but he refused to be her tree
she spun herself into a web

and looking for a place to rest turned to him

but he stood straight declining to be her corner
she tried to be a book

but he wouldn't read
she turned herself into a bulb

but he wouldn't let her grow
she decided to become a woman

and though he still refused to be a man

she decided it was all right
-Nikki Giovanni

Now Reading : Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day, Nikki Giovanni