Getting Ready for 'Round 12...

I would have never imagined that when DIVAS launched it's inaugural year in 1999, that 12 years later we would be still here.  I imagined that both me and then co-facilitator Krystal Gooding would have graduated from University and gotten married, living somewhere else with our own children and going through similar trials that we saw the parents of our participants going through with their children. 

Now, in 2011, we are planning for our 12th DIVAS Summer Class and it is quite surreal how culture and teenagers have changed but also how things have remained the same.  In the meanwhile, we have established traditions that have stood the test of time, deficits, layoffs, fallouts, and life in general.  We have had over 300 young women participate in the program in the last 11 years, and now we have former DIVAS coming back to work with the summer program to keep it alive as a community tradition.  Boy, am I getting older;)

But there are also greater, more exciting things to come.  This year's DIVAS Summer Program will launch our statewide DIVASFlorida Mentoring Network.  This network will serve as a forum for communities of women to help launch programs in their City/County and provide resources, information, motivation, and support as they seek to transform their society and their lives.  I AM SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS... it's been a long time coming! 

I personally invite women in Tallahasse, Leon County, and the Big Bend region who have a heart for youth to join us as we start a movement towards reclaiming true womanhood... one DIVA at a time.  For more information on how you  or your organization can get involved, please email us at DIVASFlorida@gmail.com. 

A Community of Women

It is easy to have this diva-complex... this notion that you know everything and that what ever you know is for the 'good of all mankind' because it is coming from you. That is the problem with the self-centered universe... it usually doesn't provide a space for others to shine because, well, you are in the way.

I must say that this weekend at our first Creative Brunch I was blindsided with the wisdom of others.  As our discussion agenda proceeded and we talked more and more, I found myself listening... listening as if my life depended on it.  In our small circle of women, women who came from all background, perspectives and experiences of life, I found that there is much more to be understood and for the first time in a long time, I was the mentee and not the mentor.

These women spoke of the pain of seeing their daughters being influenced by a society that objectified and culturally molested them.  They spoke of their bad decisions and the need to counteract the message of videos and songs that seemed to hold their daughters in a net of negative choices and consequences.  They spoke of militant action and community consensus to deal with these issues and stand up for their children. 

One mother spoke of the pain of confronting her child with the confession of the bad choices which led to her single motherhood.  She shared how she had to humble herself and tell her daughter the truth in love and communicate her desire to see her loved, settled, and confident in who she is so that her fate would not repeat itself in her.  I saw love in action and I was blessed to be there to hear it.

What would happen if all the mothers and big sisters and aunties of the world surrounded our young women and stood stronger than the Nation of Islam ever has in defense of their virtue, their innocence, and their womanhood.  I got a feeling that is what is happening here... the arms are beginning to link together and we are slowly standing up.  We can not stand idly by while culture degrades our young sisters and turns their minds into brothels... it can not happen on our watch. 

It is time to listen, it is time to take a stand... we invite you to join us.