When I Choose a Husband

When I choose a husband, he would have to meet certain criteria. First, he would need to be good looking. He would have to have a good job, and he has to be able to accept my kids into his life too, not just me because we come as package. Also, he is going to have a good personality, he has to be patient and kind and interesting to talk to. He will like going places as a family and doing things with us, like going to meet each other’s family and things like that. I want a fun husband. He will have to like to go out to eat and go to amusement parks together and just do things as a family.

Takeya

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was hailed as a global renaissance woman. She was a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. She was born on April 4, 1928 in St Louis, Missouri. She grew up in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination. She also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African American family community and culture as a teenager.

Dr. Angelou loved arts.  So, she won her scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco.  As a  laborer, at 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African American female cable car conductor.  A few weeks after graduation, she finished high school giving birth to her son Guy.  As a young single mother she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook. However, her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage. 

Maya Angelou read and she also studied and mastered French, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.  While in Ghana, she met Malcolm X.   In 1964, she returned to American to help Malcolm X build his new organization of African American unity.  After she arrived in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated and his organization dissolved. 

Maya Angelou served as northern coordinator for the southern Christian leadership conference.  Maya began on her book that would become I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which was published in 1970.  Also, it  was published to  international acclaim.  Maya appeared on television and films, including the landmark television adaption of Alex Haley's Roots.  President Clinton requested Maya to compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1933.  Maya Angelou read her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning”.  It was broadcast live around the world.  Maya also won awards of arts in 2000 and the Lincoln medal in 2008.

Takeya

Don't Go to School with Your Friends

Being a student is a difficult, but important job because you are in school trying to get your education and doing all the things you need to do. The reason school is important is because you need to get the education you need in order to get a better job, so you won’t have to settle  for any job that’s not worth it. In the past, when I was in grammer school, I liked school because it was kind of easy and I always passed to the next grade. When I was in high school, it was kind of hard, because I knew a lot of people and every time I saw them we talked and they always interrupted me.

The reason they interrupted me was because every time we switched classes, and we saw each other in the hallway. One of my friends would find me, and then we would start talking and after we finish talking we would be somewhere else like in the bathroom or in the library ditching class. Then when the next class came around we would go to it and then it was time for lunch. We would go to lunch and then after we would go home and not come back to school.

When we did stay all day in school, we would have to turn around and fight because it was always like projects against projects. We were always into it with other projects. So we would have to fight other people if it wasn’t everyday it would be every other day. Then the police would come and break it up. They would have locks on chains or cans in a sock to hit you with. When we were out fighting somebody would get hurt and then some of us would get suspended.

When I got kicked out of school, this is what I had to overcome. I have learned my lesson by not going to the same school where I know a lot of people that go there that will interrupt me and get me in trouble. This experience has made me a better student by getting me back in school and continuing my education. So I can improve both for myself and for my child too. Now, I go to a school where I really don’t know anybody that can get me in trouble and interrupt me. I was working hard in school at first and then I fell off because I knew a lot of people. The thing that I learned from is to stay away from negative people that can distract you and stop you from doing what you are supposed to do instead of doing the wrong things. On the other hand, I can hang around positive people because I know they won’t distract me and get me to do the wrong things. They want me to do the right thing like going to school and continue to get my education and not let me miss any days of school.

You can learn from my experience, to be a better student, don’t go to the same school where you know a lot of people. Because if you do, they will distract you and you will not learn what you are supposed to learn. So you could get all the education you need, and you will become a better student.You will not miss any days because you will not know anyone at the school. So they won’t distract you. It is better to go to a school where your friends don’t attend to and you won’t have to worry about anybody distracting you.

Takeya

A True Best Friend

One of my best friends that I have known all of my life is Mandy. We met up in kindergarten and started talking to each other and playing with one another. Ever since then, we became best friends. We stayed in the same building together. We were always going outside with each other and going up to each others house to play together.  

Ever since then, every time we went to another grade we were in the same class together. Every grade we passed up until we got grown and we still talk to one another, hang out with each other, we watch each other kids for each other. Whenever we need a favor from one another -- if she got it she will give it to me and if I got it I will give it to her.

When I was about 23, she let me stay with her because I didn’t have a place. I stayed with her and her mother. Everywhere they moved, I moved with them. And now, if she needed a place to go, she knows she always welcome into my house and she can stay as long as she wants. I will never tell her to move because she never told me I had to go. She said I could stay as long as I wanted.

One of the reason she is a good friend is because she is truthful and speaks her mind about how she feels. She doesn’t hold it in. Another reason why I say she is a good friend is she has a good heart.  Anytime you need her for something, like moving in with her or asking for money, if you don’t have it she will help you. If you are her friend she will let you move in with her or let you borrow the money because she doesn’t want her friends to be out in the street like that or without any money. If she has to borrow from one of her relatives, she will, just to give it to you. That’s why I say she has a good heart.

Another reason I say she is a good friend is because she is kind. She will give the world to her friends if she has it and she won’t let anyone talk about them either. Another reason why I say she is generous is because if I told her I was getting put out of my apartment, she would come and rescue me and take me into her apartment. If she didn’t have any room she would take me to her mother’s house and ask her mother if I could stay there with her. She wouldn’t leave me in the street or nothing. She will ask around until I found another apartment or somewhere else to go.

Mandy came to my house the other day to come and see me. We sat in the house for a little while and she ate and then we went outside together we rode around for a little while. We still go out to places -- like taking our kids out to the park or other places like Chuck E Cheese or we will find a babysitter and we will just go out and have fun with one another.

The last time I saw her was last week. She came over to my house to spend time with me because we haven’t seen each other for a while, but we still talk on the phone.

What someone can learn from my experience of being her friend is that she is a good friend of mine and she is nice and sweet. It is important to have good friends because they will always be there when you need them.

Takeya

Helping Hand

The time that I did something that made me feel good about myself was when I let my cousin come into my apartment and stay. She is not staying in there forever; she is only staying for a period of time until she finds her somewhere else to stay. Why did I let her stay with me? Because she didn’t have anywhere else to go, and when she had her apartment she let me come over and spend a couple of nights at her house. However, she didn’t let me move in.The reason she needs a place to stay is because she lost her apartment and she couldn’t find anywhere else to go. So, she asked me if she could come to my house and I told her, yes she can come and stay.

When will she move out? I don’t really know yet. She says she is looking for an apartment or a shelter, but she is always saying a date and when the time comes she doesn’t leave. She either says the shelter doesn’t have any beds or when she looks for an apartment they want too much for rent. I think other people could learn from my experience is that don’t let people with you any longer than they say, because when they say one thing it doesn’t happen so you have to wait until they find somewhere else to go.

Even though this has been difficult, it makes me feel good because I let her come into my apartment when she didn’t have anywhere else to go. So, I let her come into mine and she is homeless.

Takeya