Found Poem

Push, Hard work, Guts
The mission is to prevail
It doesn't matter
Fight
People wish to vision
Life
Aspirations
Excellence
Don't waste guidance
Want it
Love it
There will be growth

After Ever After

This video, by John Cozart, is probably one of my favorite videos on YouTube.  In this video, he sings about what happens after the "happy endings" of the Disney princesses Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, and Pocahontas. Not only is this video hilarious, but he also brings attention to current and historical events. Hint: oil spill, terrorism, bestiality, and guns, germs, and steel. What I loved most about this video is that every beat, rhythm, or note heard in the song is all done by John himself. Everything is done acapella, and he did it all by himself.  He was very interested in music at a very young age, so his parents had him take piano lessons.  From then on he wrote his own piano music, then lyrics, and then he began to make YouTube videos in middle school.  Towards the end of high school, he began to take his videos a little more seriously.  He began to make videos about movies such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but his song After Ever After is his most popular song right now.  This video took up to four months to make.  It took him three weeks to write the lyrics, and a month and a half to record the audio.  What made the process longer was having to re-record certain parts of the song. I'm glad he put so much effort into this song because this guy really has some talent.

Fannie Lou Hamer

"I feel sorry for anybody that could let hate wrap them up. Ain't no such thing as I can hate anybody and hope to see God's face"

Bio of FLH from biography.com:

"Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. In 1944, she met civil rights activists who encouraged blacks to register to vote, and soon became active in helping. Hamer also worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which fought racial segregation and injustice in the South. In 1964, she helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Hamer died in 1977."

In spirit of Black History Month, I decided to do a profile on Fannie Lou Hamer. She played a very important role in the civil rights movement, however not many people know who she is. I found out about her from my grandmother when I was in 6th grade. One day we were talking with each other when she said, "You know you're related to someone famous." My mind immediately started racing of thinking who it might be, but I was completely wrong. Fannie Lou Hamer. Someone I had never heard of before. She told me she was a civil rights activist, who was very passionate about the right to vote, and she was my cousin. 

At that age the only famous African American activists I heard of were Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Marcus Garvey.  And I heard the same stories of the marching, and boycotts. That's what my lessons on black history always consisted of. I decided to do research on FLH myself, and what I learned made me feel proud, yet angry at the same time.  Her life was constantly full of sacrifice from a very young age. When she was about 12 she dropped out of school to work full-time and help her family, she was given a hysterectomy, preventing her from having children, without consent by her doctor, and she put her life on the line for her people. She became an activist in 1962, after attending a protest meeting, and her life changed radically.  She lost her job and her home, was threatened, beaten, and also shot at. One beating she received, by Mississippi police in 1963, was so severe that she was left with permanent kidney damage.  She managed to stay persistent on her fight for African Americans and their right to vote, however. She continued to march, attend conventions, and she was even televised at the 1964 Democratic convention

Learning all that did about my cousin, Fannie, was very enlightening to me. She was very headstrong in everything that she did, and always saw everything as an opportunity. She never allowed anyone to knock her down, despite all that tried. Her life shows how we take so much for granted she fought things, such as education and voting, things people no longer value. Her story really changed my life, and I am proud to be related to such a strong woman and role model.