Do not share my joy when I’m whole
And not have compassion on these holes
Cuz
I’ve seen some wars and I admit
Some of these memories are like scenic routes to civil wars
Some of these
Bruises are footsteps soldiers left on my self-esteem
Some of these
Birthmarks led to scripture
You see
Some of these injuries are walking Deuteronomy’s
do not love me
Hypocritically
Do not praise my sunshine without offering me shelter when it rains
Cause trust
I’ve been left out in the cold
That
Forming crease in your face, yea I’ve seen it before
Do not
Love my sun rays just cause you aint seen my floods
Do not accept my heart until you know that there are earthquakes
that left its cracks in my skin
Till you can understand that
Tornadoes left destruction lying desolate in my memories
Do not weep for me
Hypocritically
If you can’t share my joy
And my pain too
Do not praise my strength
then abandon me in those moments I aint too strong
Don’t mutter my lyrics and throw rocks at my song
Do not love me whole
Without having compassion on these holes
Unconditionally
Do not love me
Hypocritically ……
No, I’m probably not going to take this course. It’s not something I want to do at this time, but I will be taking part in some of its prompts from time to time. Truth is I’m still a new blogger but I’m not new to blogging. I’m new to blogging at this rate, in this form and with this much interaction which has been extremely cool (yaass). I’ve been at this address since August, but I have done some blogging before going back two years so I’m not that green. When I saw the “Introduce Yourself” prompt though I considered diving in. Not necessarily because of the course itself, but because I think it’s a great way to re-establish my goals for this blog and to strengthen my relationship with my readers, especially those of you just coming aboard.
I know Pearls Before Swine is an awkward enough title, so let me briefly explain what it means and how it relates to this blog and me as an individual. For a more in depth explanation however please visit my about page here:
Pearls Before Swine is first the title of a book series I began a year ago. The story surrounds the discovery of forbidden magical diamonds and their connection to the alleged rape of Ja’mella Jones, a famous hair stylist on the West side of Chicago. This project was the initial inspiration for this blog.
The Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
Pearls Before Swine is also a phrase taken out of Matthew Chapter 7 verse 6 of the bible which obviously indicates that I am a bible believer. I am not a Christian, but I believe in the bible from Genesis to Revelation and it is the foundation to which my life is built. While I do not consider myself religious in nature it hasn’t stopped people from referring to me as such which is annoying, but I don’t sweat it. I know a lot of people are not used to disassociating the bible from religion, to understand that it is not a religious book, but that it is a history book, an instruction manual for all of mankind. In short, I am a spiritual centered individual and you will often see me reference this spirituality in my writing. Don’t expect me to preach to you though, I believe more in the actual putting to practice of the bible than the quoting of scripture. I believe the physical is important because we live on the physical, but I also believe the spiritual is important because it is higher than the physical.
Symbolically Speaking
I chose Pearls Before Swine as the title to this blog because I love to write symbolically, objectively, and metaphorically; being able to compare objects or use them as symbols to stand-in for a much more complex, and generally more abstract idea. Experimenting with the creativity that embodies this form of writing is most exciting. I notice that one of the most interesting ways that people learn is by way of symbols because it appeals to the subconscious, and I enjoy incorporating this into my writing. It is the reason for both the title and subtitle of this blog. Pearls Before Swine and Truth is Stranger than Fiction encompasses my style of writing, my inspiration, my poetry, my mission, and my foundation.
Why Blog?
I still keep notebooks and the notepad on my phone stays full. While I don’t share all of my thoughts with the world I’m always writing. Though I don’t publish a post, I’m still writing in some way. Over time I’ve kept my poetry and short stories within the private confines of my mind. It was a personal, regional thing that belonged to just me. As time progressed however I would go on to publish my first book of poetry and begin attending Open Mic Nights. Public speaking took those things that were once personal and brought them to the mainstream. As such it has helped me to come to terms with my own voice and how it is needed in the world. It helped me to see that not only did I need to share these words but the power of words when they are combined with voice, tone, and emotion. As someone once said, “a poet knows they will never trade the written word for the spoken word”. Who said it? I don’t know, read it somewhere.
While some poems are written to be read on paper, some are also written to be spoken. I’ll be the first to tell you that feedback is as essential to the art as putting it into practice. Blogging is kind of like an internship, a way to work at what you love and receive the same kind of attention and open dialogue as you would if you wrote for a magazine. Believe it or not blogging is not a small deal; it does actually help to put experience under your belt. It is the reason some have elevated to celebrity status simply through the impact their blogs had on others. I’m not trying to do the celebrity thing, but the point is that it helps. It is networking and community management. So I do appreciate the feedback whether it’s in the form of encouragement or constructive criticism. Introducing my writing to the world stage by way of books and Spoken Word has helped nurture my writing and speaking in ways I could not have done alone. From this perspective, I blog because I think blogging can help nurture writers the same as debates can help develop the skills of an aspiring attorney.
My mission then for the existence of this blog is to spread truth by way of the spoken and written word, to provoke thought among the limited ways we tend to think and feel, and to inspire others the same as others have inspired me.
“If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you’re going to limit yourself. That’s a very strange way to live.”
This is a question I ask myself often. I must admit it didn’t turn out to be what I initially intended it to be, but that’s a good thing. Personally I think it’s important to be reminded of the answer to this question every now and again. It doesn’t just help me to stay focused on my objectives, but it can also help to produce post ideas. I know that the primary challenge to blogging is to come up with ideas to surround a post. The funny thing about this though is that many of you already have a lifetime worth of post right there in your head. The challenge then is not to consider what to write about, but to dig into your purpose for writing in the first place and connect that with the moment at hand. There’s this exercise I like to do when I’m stumped on what to publish each day. The exercise is that I pretty much just sit around! It looks like I’m staring out in space sure, but there’s a lot actually going on here. I’m digging into the moment. I stop and think about what is happening right now. It may just be the hum of a heater, the ticking of a clock, the whispered conversations of others or the constant stream of updates from CNN. Silently and attentively all of these seemingly unrelated happenings can easily culminate in a nice short story, a poem, or a random list of whatever.
I’m not sure what direction this blogging thing could go. I would like to add more short stories, more poetry and more insight into the Self-Publishing world for sure. I also plan to continue with the daily quotes that concludes each days posts. Speaking of which, quotes were not part of my initial purpose for this blog. The quote thing actually came from how I usually interact on Facebook under my personal account, where I post lots of inspirational quotes. I decided later to add them here because there is more room to expound, plus I don’t like Facebook like that. As I polished my goals and plans for this blogging thing, I decided that since I like happy people, why not implement something for that purpose. So I think quotes are important to keep up with the inspiration aspect of my purpose.
Quotes from other authors, writers, and poets are such a refreshing part of the motivation a lot of people need to keep going. Reading other people’s work is also one of the best ways to learn a new skill. And let us not forget about Recipe Sundays! For a little over a month now I’ve been posting delicious recipes to this blog every Sunday which was definitely not part of the plan. How exactly did this begin? To start, I just happen to love recipes. I’m actually not much of a cook (my husband’s the chef around here) so recipes helps motivate me to cook and to find the easiest, yet most delicious ways to do so. The Sunday part is simply because I’m usually at home on Sundays. Because of my already hectic every day schedule, Sundays have become my day to do it all, cook, clean, and anything else left lingering around during the week. I didn’t create a category for Recipe Sundays because I wasn’t sure if I could stay consistent with it, but maybe that is something I will implement to make it easier to find.
In the end, my hope is to produce quality posts that are not just words to publish for the sake of publishing, but words of substance, of flesh and of bone. Words that don’t just capture your attention but come frequently; complete with all the hunger and thirst that is needed to stick around. I suppose my hope for this blog is that I can transform it into the living, breathing personification of all the symbolism that embodies Pearls Before Swine. We’ll see where it takes us.
As many are polishing and re-polishing their blogs for what 2015 has in store, there are people on the internet contemplating starting a blog. They may be tying up the loose ends and deciding on a template this very moment; or categorizing a host of topics to cover. Some of them are writers, poets, chefs, professional business men and women, teachers, lawyers, publishers, or just people who would like to share their thoughts with the world. Wherever they are we will soon meet them. For this reason there are some tips I think we can all use to help increase productivity, or ideas we would like to share with future newbies or old heads looking to expand and or increase traffic.
One tip I would like to offer from my tiny corner of the Blogosphere is a suggestion: One Reason to Never Ask Someone to Follow Your Blog. While I admire the courage it takes to step out on faith and all, and give it the old college try, personally I think it’s kind of tacky, screams of desperation, and that we’re all worth so much more. I do not want to thrust my words into your mouth and force you to swallow them and I don’t expect to be forced to do the same. I will never write specifically for your approval because I’m not built that way. If you disagree you have a right to do so and on to the next one. But to ask you to follow me is disingenuous. While the person may just follow you because they investigated what made you bold enough to ask and decided they actually want to follow your blog, the offering side of that coin is not so bright. I imagine we all want people to follow our blogs or to interact with them in some way because we all have something to offer. Even if it’s just a blog created specifically to vent, to rant and to rave about how much life sucks, you still have something to offer otherwise you could have just bought a journal and scribbled till your fingers grew numb. But you didn’t. You decided to browse the internet where millions of people live and share your thoughts with them. Call it therapy, or call it a hobby, whatever, but don’t pretend feedback isn’t encouraging for you because otherwise why are you here? My point is that even if you’re content with one follower, I think he or she is worth all you’ve got to give. I’ve had to do lots of things that required an audience and only had a few people to show, but I’ve always believed that no matter how big or small, it was my responsibility as the host to give one-hundred percent. People are drawn to passion, so give them some—but show, don’t ask.
You want people to interact with your blog because something you said drew them in and they simply could not resist themselves, not just because you asked them to. In this way you already have their attention as opposed to trying to grab their attention. You must strive to keep their attention of course, but you do have them in this moment. No matter how weird and quirky you are people like what you have to say. My suggestion is that you grab them first and let them decide if you’re worth following; it makes for a much sweeter victory. Let us fall in love first before deciding whether or not to make this a commitment.
Oh my goodness! Ok, this was much unexpected. I had no idea I would be nominated for a Blog Award and I also didn’t know I would be this excited to receive it. I would like to take the time to happily accept this nomination *waves to the crowd* , and to thank Rebirth of Lisa for nominating me, and to urge yall to run on over there and check her out at: http://rebirthoflisa.wordpress.com.
What exactly is The Premio Dardos Award anyway?
Now, for the hard part. Technically I’m supposed to nominate 15 other blogs I feel are worthy of this award but chances are I’m going to break that rule. I have no idea who to nominate for an award. Guess I should get myself over to these awesome blogs and see whose names to list here. Pardon me if it takes a few days, I’m a little slower than the rest of you people. But, I happily accept this award and the boost of encouragement. Thanks Again Lisa!
The PBS Blog 