Finding My Power, Claiming My Potential and Embracing Me in 2008!

It's a new year and so many of my friends and acquaintances have already made commitments to effect change in their lives. While I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, I do believe it is a perfect time of year to say no to junk food, walk a mile a day or realign your spirit and empower yourself to follow your dreams. This year I am not just focusing on being the person that other people have told me that I am destined to become, but who I have always known myself to be. You see, I finally get it! I realize that everything I need to be successful I already have. I am a writer, humorist and speaker. So in 2008, I am cultivating my writing and motivational speaking career. This is the 'Year of My Yes'!

At the end of last year I launched Out Black Voices. The purpose of this blog is to provide commentary about being black and gay. I wanted to be able to provide a vehicle for myself and other gay black folk to talk about issues that affect us. Although I began writing about ‘coming out’ as a black lesbian and the black church, I fully intend to talk about issues relative to the entire black community. Upcoming articles such as The State of Sisterhood in Black America, Why Can’t I Critique Tyler Perry? and Stop Blaming Hip Hop will be found along side articles such as Who You Calling a Butch?, The Other Side of the Tracks: Poor Black and Gay and You’re Out: Black and Transgender. I recently began reading some of the may works of James Baldwin. His assertion that 'love is love'--"too rare a commodity to corrupt with deceit and equivocation" is

why I accept the opportunity to talk about the importance of love, family and the black community. I 'come out' every day of my life now because I hope to dimistify and normalize who I am to other people. The fact that I began with discussions about being a lesbian was primarily because I finally felt comfortable enough with myself to provide honest insight about my sexuality. After living my life for almost twenty years in silence, I have a lot of suppressed thoughts and musings. I plan to use my flair for humor and infuse satire into the plethora of commentaries I will write throughout the year.

As some of you may know, I wrote my first play Fall of the House of Snow and I was a recipient of an Individual Artist Award in 2007 from the Maryland State Arts Council. I am now working on my second play tentatively titled, An Awful Wicked Thing which tells the story of Virginia Christian, a black wash girl who murdered her white employer and was the first woman to die in ‘old sparky’, Virginia’s electric chair. I am also setting the goal of finishing 10 short stories for my book, Stories from Cool Lane.

Yesterday, I began reading, Speak and Grow Rich. I am going to teach myself to become a motivational speaker. I am very passionate about education, the black community issues related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, women and youth and violence. I fully intend to become a much sought after guest speaker and panelist who will offer observations,insights and perspectives about issues related to education, community and human rights.

While I know that achieving my fullest potential will require me to maximize each moment. I believe that by strengthening my resolve and forging adhead greatness is attainable. Ultimately, if I can just convince a few people to love, honor, respect and be civil to each other, inspire someone to realize their dreams or help a young person to understand who they are in this vast universe, I will have accomplished something even greater. I have never had to look too far to note that I am much more capable than I give myself credit, and I hope that sharing these goals with you, will help you to realize the same about yourself. Here’s to 2008 being your year of the ‘YES’!