Hotep,
The pace of my passion is moving full steam ahead. Ya heard?
I mean, I’ve been writing between the hours of 12:30am – 7am throughout
this month of March Madness.
Today is
April 3, 2k14. The tempo of my penmanship increased beyond belief. So many projects have been occupying my
time, I haven’t had the chance to give the blogosphere the full breakdown on
how my writing classes have been progressing.
On Monday (3/24/14), Mrs. Tessie Castillo – my journaling instructor
– critiqued my rewrite of “Finding the
Good.” (http://word2themasses.blogspot.com/2013/04/finding-good.html)
To her credit, she’s an excellent writer, so I respect her breakdowns of my
work.
She gave me a printout of her drug
policy, posted on the Huffington Post.
It’s called, “White People Are Not Exempt From Drug Overdose” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tessie-castillo/white-people-are-not-exem_b_3975732.html
). It is absolutely a fabulous article.
Tessie also included an outline on the structure of writing
a pitch. In two paragraphs or less, she
wants me to sell her on why “Finding the Good” would be a good read, for the
Huffington Post. I couldn’t believe it;
the Huffington Post?!
That’s the largest blog in the world – 34 million
followers and counting. I was so amped,
I completed my rewrite in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Real talk.
Tessie reads W2TM regularly, so this is a strong vote of
confidence she’s showing, by possibly giving me the opportunity to run this
particular piece on the Huff Post. Crazy, right? SMH I can’t wait for her to read the pitch
package I’ve prepared – along with the updated rewrite.
On Wednesday (3/26/14), I turned in a written assignment
titled, “Hey! Hey! Solitary is Torture.” The teacher, accomplished memoirist
Jonathan – Wilson Hartgrove (“Strangers At My Door” & “Becoming the Answers
to your Prayers”) gave the class the prompt, “Solitary Is Torture” the week
prior. It was an optional exercise, but
I’m always up for the challenge. Na
mean?
This prompt had to be expounded in a narrative sense, so I
used an inspirational cartoon character from my childhood, to tell a detailed
story about solitary confinement. Just
trying something different. I’m looking
forward to his critique.
Thursday (3/27/14) was surreal. The “Hidden Voices”committee (Lyden, Cathy,
Lamar and Jessica) returned. This
meeting has a much different vibe when I introduced our literary team as,
“FFLOW” (Fanatical Fists Lights Out WordPlay).
Big Bank, Bucktown and Lyle presented some heartfelt spoken word. I closed out the session with a recital of,
“Pace of Passion.” It was truly a great moment in my life. Word is bond!
My sister Deb came to see me on Friday (3/28/14). I shared the entire week’s events with her,
so it was a pleasantly emotional union between brother and sister. She then made me aware of my
homegirl/editor’s decision to take a one year assignment in Dubai.
I knew she was gunning for this position
because she’s a career driven woman.
It’s one of the many things I admire about her. Congrats Boss Lady! Turn Up!!
It would seem like monumental career opportunities are
happening form the both of us, simultaneously.
It’s crazy because I told her right before Christmas that 2k14 was going
to be a big year for us, and we’ve still got 8 months to go. Just doing what we do. Welcome to our time to thrive!
Stay Tuned,
MannofStat
Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann
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