Would You Have Compassion?

Today was an emotional day. I had an interview for my magazine (Ujima) with a mother who lost her daughter at 15 years old. She was killed by her boyfriend at their high school. I was very nervous about the interview because of the subject.  I haven't ever done an interview with someone who had lost a loved one; not to mention a daughter. The mother talked about love and forgiveness. I felt her love for her daughter and carrying out the forgiveness for the young man that took her daughters life. So the question that came to my mind is what would I do ? Would I have the love and forgiveness in my heart as she does? I think I would be able to reach out to others and assist them as she does, but I just don't know if I could love someone who hurt me and my family. Someone who took away my love one. But in all of this tragedy, she pointed out two people were lost that day. That statement then changed my mind again. Then I thought to myself she's right. He's hurting too. He lost his family as well as his parents lost him. Some may argue they can still see him, touch him, talk to him. But if you have a heart and compassion as this mother does, I can see where her love and forgiveness comes from. She knew a side of this young man before he committed the tragedy so that may play a part too.  This conversation made me think and wonder about my inner soul and if I would have the compassion and love God wants us all to have. I want to believe I would, but my deepest belief is I wouldn't be so kind. But I learned about love and compassion and caring about other people besides my own feelings. It reminded me it's bigger than me.

What would you do?

February Issue of Ujima Magazine

Today the Ujima team met to review and approve the February issue of the magazine. The process to this day is a lot of interviews, writing, editing, editing again and then the final review. I do have to admit my favorite part is going to the printers and viewing the proof. Everything we have worked on for the whole month is on the table in color. All the photos and words come together into a magazine. It's still amazing how it happens. We usually have a good laugh about something that happened on the way to the final print. It's fun to see the final product. 

In the February issue, you can read about a woman who healed from an abusive relationship through music, the Central Texas African American Family Support conference, hair tips, a turkey recipe, the monthly book list for both children and adults and much more.

Please visit www.ujimamagazine.com for the current issue of Ujima Magazine. Look for the February issue the first week of February. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Where Has The Time Went?

I don't know where the time went? Well.. that's not exactly true. It's been a good while since I wrote anything on my blog, but a lot of life has happened to me also. I have all intention to re-commit myself to this blog. But today I'm taking a break from my magazine Ujima that I launched back in September. I have worked hard to get an issue out each month. I'm proud to say I'm working on my February issue. It's been a fun but a stressful ride at times.

One thing I have dealt with is the fast turn my life has taken and how I try hard to remain quiet and unnoticed. The reason this is a struggle is because I'm a shy person by nature. I have had to learn to talk up and be noticed somewhat in my past job as a caseworker and now as a magazine publisher. My husband and I always laugh because it's sort of funny for me to choose a new career owning a magazine when I don't like to be in any type of "spotlight" per se. I like to be in the background. I have managed to stay in the background so far, but the magazine has received such a good reaction from my community, it may be hard for me to continue my "mask writer" image as my husband calls it. But I'm still very scared of the reaction and good, positive comments I have received about the magazine. My expectations were I would produce this magazine each month and people would read it but no one would want to be apart of it. Why? I don't know, I didn't know what to expect. I pray every day that God doesn't take it away from me. When people say nice things, I freeze but I'm proud of my work and I'm glad people in my community is interested because I'm doing it for my community. It's a Black magazine for my black community. It shows our positive images and all the wonderful things we do. So, I know I got to just go with the flow but it's hard for me.

I'm happy to be able to do something I love; write and interact with people in our community. I love speaking to people and learning something from them. I love bringing out stories of people in my community that are doing positive, good things that sometimes go unnoticed. I don't want them to go unnoticed because so far the people that have been involved are making a difference in people's lives. This is what it's all about. So, if you are thinking about living your dream, work on a plan to do it. We all can contribute something positive to our communities no matter where we live. I plan to remain very low key until things warrant me to be known. Take care world.

Grow and Learn from someone today!

Damita

Virtual Magazine

Today I worked on my virtual magazine.  It's a lot of work but I'm loving it. I'm hoping it will reach many people. I still got a long way to go before it's ready but at least it's beginning to look like a magazine website. Once I have it completed I will look at how to make money from it. But for now, I'm just concentrating on laying it out. I have purchased several books and found good information to help build it. Being able to empty my brain after a long day of work helps me to move on to the next day. Again, if anyone has any experience with magazine websites, please let me know. I'm learning all I can from whomever is willing to give me some advice. Thanks in advance.

First Day of My Writing Journey

Today was the first day I spent as a writer. It has been difficult;harder than I thought. I believe my expectations were too high. I thought I would write an article or two and do some blogging. I was able to blog but couldn't come up with a topic to do an article. But tomorrow I will have a different approach and hopefully reach my goal. The one positive thing is I did write. This is very important so all is not lost.

Learning To Blog

I find blogging to be fun. However, I have a hard time figuring out what to say. I have read that you should write about your interest or things that you think about etc. But I keep thinking no one will find it interesting. But I will just write and not worry about opinions. I want to improve my writing skills and blogging is one way to do it. I like the freedom of writing a blog. Again, you can write about anything and my hardest task will be having things to write about everyday.