Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Gwendolyn Brooks - Part 2 - The Power of One | Episode #436

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Gwendolyn Brooks - Part 2 - The Power of One | Episode #436 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make your
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, international
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: leadership expert and trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: your Life Count. I am so delighted that you joined
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: me today. I want to give a big thank you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to those of you who are listening. I also want
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to give a great, big shout out to all of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: you listening around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that you are here today. I sure hope you're enjoying
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a fabulous day and that you're having a fantastic week,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: because you know what, in the grand song of the universe,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: life is very short. It's short and sweet and very precious.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So I hope you're making a difference in your own
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: life because when you do, you also make a difference
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: in somebody else's life. Now, a lot of us, a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: lot of folks really want to make their life count
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: for something, but they don't know how, or they don't
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: know where to begin. So they ask me, doctor Gloria,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: how do you do that? How do you make your
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: life count? Well, it's very simple, very simple. You make
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: your life count day by day, step by step, moment
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: by moment, every single day, ere sixty five, twenty four
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to seven. Now, I'll say much more about that later on.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Right now it's time to step back and listen in.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: That's right, it's time to hit the pause button. It's
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: time for today's episode, which is all about the power
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: of one person. Now I want you to imagine that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: we're in the same room. Maybe it's your kitchen or
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: your living room, and I'm sitting right across the table
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: from you. I'm pouring you a cup of coffee or tea,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and we are about to have a small cup of
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: what matters. So again, today's focus is all about the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: power of one the power of one person who can
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: be the difference, who makes the difference in their own
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: life or in someone else's life. Now, today's episode focuses
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: on one of my favorite people on the planet. Her
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: name is Gwendolen Brooks. Her life is what legacy living,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: make your life count is all about. Now, most of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: us know miss Brooks as a marvelous poet. I know
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: her as a poet extraordinaire. I also know Miss Gwendolen
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  Speaker 1: as a kind, gentle, smart, fiercely caring human being for me.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: She was the one person who made a difference in
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: my life at a time in my life. You know that,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: just the right time in my life. She showed up
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: for me and made a difference during a particular season
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: when I really needed it. So what does that mean? Well,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: sometimes a season is just for a minute, for a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: very very short time, and yet the impact of someone
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: showing up in your life for that moment, when in time,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: their impact ripples far out beyond the few months or weeks,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: or days or even a few hours that you're graced
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: by that person's presence. I was so blessed by Gwendolen Brooks.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: She was one of those individuals who made a difference,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: who made a significant difference in my life. She was
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: there at just the right time, at just the right place,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: in just the right season of my life. In fact,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I had the good fortune to meet miss Brooks not once,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: but twice. Now. I talk about both of those occasions
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: in part one of this podcast, so be sure to
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: listen to it. Today's topic is poetry in Motion, so
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: we're going to pick up where we left off in
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that first podcast. Again. It's all about the power of
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: one person and that person that we're focusing on is
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Gwendolen Brooks. So we are here to celebrate miss Gwendolen
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  Speaker 1: and to lift up this prolific poet, writer, teacher, lover
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  Speaker 1: of children, activist, publisher, and humanitarian. I can just feel
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: her presence here with me today. I feel her presence
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  Speaker 1: in so many ways. One of the most powerful ways
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: that Gwendolen's presence shows up is through the voices of
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: other poets, the voices of other writers, the voices of
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: other artists. So let's keep this real right, we would
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: not have a Lucille Clifton or Nikki Finney, or Rita
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Dove or Tayamba, Jess Cornelius, Edie toy, Derrikott, Elizabeth Alexander,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Natasha Truthway, Hayes Davis, Carl Dargon, Tara Bets, Amanda Gorman,
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  Speaker 1: and I dare say, dozens and dozens of other poets
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and writers African, American and otherwise, we would not have
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: these poets or their poetries without Gwendolyn Brooks. That's the
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: power of one person, the one person who impacts so
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: many lives, and the ripple effect is positively astounding. Now
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: many years ago, when I was working with high school
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  Speaker 1: students who were looking for a poet with a strong
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: sense of narrative style, with a strong command of language,
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  Speaker 1: and a robust imagination, with a wide ranging repertoire of experience,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: experiences that could be distilled into the sensuous language captured
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: by the sights and sounds, and smell and tastes, the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: tactile worlds that are conveyed in poems. In my students
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: search for such a poet, they would inevitably turn to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the poetry of Gwendolen Brooks. Why because it was in
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Miss Gwendolen's poems that my students learned so much. They
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: learned about love, about tenderness, about cruelty and compassion, about
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: hatred and bigotry, and perseverance. They learned about defeat and courage,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and faithfulness and fear and vainglory and victory. It was
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in Miss Gwendolen's poems that my students learned about voice,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the necessity of voice, of the poet's voice, as well
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: as the necessity of their own voices. So again, I'm
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: so very delighted that you joined us today. Did you
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: know that Ms. Brooks is the first female African American
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  Speaker 1: poet to win the Pulitzer Prize, and she's the first
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  Speaker 1: female African American to become Poet Laureate of the United
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: States of America. Now, during her life, she was awarded
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: numerous honorary doctor degrees, numerous prizes, and many many other
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: worthy tributes. But the best way to introduce our woman
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: of the hour is not by sharing her many many accolades. Oh, No,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the best way to introduce Gwendolyn Brooks is through her
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: own words, through her own poetry and prose. Now, this
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: woman with a keen sense of observation, social and emotional intelligence,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and a great love for people, that's the person we're
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: honoring to day, This woman whose great gift was to
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: see into and inhabit the personhood of another person, and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to write in a voice that sounded like their own
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: first hand account. This account could be about a life
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: lived in a frugally small, cramped and cluttered, cold water flat,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: or the kind of living space that was furnished with
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the carpet of kinship, enlarged by a fondness for fellowship,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and warmed by the hearth of love. In one of
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: her poems, Miss Brooks writes about Paul Robeson. In this poem,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: she boldly declares, we are each other's harvest, We are
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: each other's business, We are each other's magnitude and bond. Wow,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: that's pretty powerful stuff. In other words, Miss Brooks is saying,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: then and now we belong to one another. We belong
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: to one another, and thank goodness for that. Miss Gwendolen's voice,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and now I'm talking about her actual voice was very
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: measured and steady. Her voice was tinted with hues of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the South. The body, the sheer weight and measure of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: her voice had the kind of gravitas that made you
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: listen real close, that made you pay attention. Her voice
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: hung in the air, embracing you with a sense of certainty,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: with a knowing and a deep wisdom of a life
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: blessed with abundance. Now I'm not talking about monetary abundance.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the abundance of people and place and
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the mighty, enduring presences of poetry. Hers was a voice
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: that sparked diverse responses. One response was a common thread,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: a response Miss Brooks heard throughout her life. You read
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: your poem so beautifully. How does this happen, and she
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: would respond, when you're writing a poem, you're not sitting
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: there all cold and dull and dim. You're all excited.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Miss Brooks also said, I tried to read poetry to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: give an impression of how I felt when I was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: writing it. Now, just a few moments ago, I shared
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the closing lines of one of her poems, the poem
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: called Paul Robison. Here is the whole poem, Paul Robison.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: That time we all heard it, cool and clear, cutting
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: across the hot grit of the day, the major voice,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the adult voice for going rolling river, foregoing tearful tale
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of bail and barge, and other symptoms of an old
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: despond warning in music words devout and large, that we
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: are each other's harvest, We are each other's business, We
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: are each other's magnitude and bond mercy. In this amazing,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: amazing and beautiful poem, Miss Gwendolen distills a life the
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: life of renowned scholar, activist, and humanitarian Paul Robison, This
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: human being who was blacklisted by Hollywood, This human being
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: who had the courage and fortitude and integrity to wield
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: his magnificent intellect as a force for human dignity to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: lift up his mighty voice as an instrument for change,
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  Speaker 1: to convey by his presence the power and the indomitable
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  Speaker 1: force of the human spirit. This is Paul robeson the
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: human being. I'll read that poem again, Paul Robison, that
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: time we all heard it, cool and clear, cutting across
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  Speaker 1: the hot grit of the day, the major voice, the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: adult voice, foregoing, rolling river, foregoing tearful, tale of bail
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and barge, and other symptoms of an old despond warning
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: in music words devout and large. We are each other's harvest.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: We are each other's business. We are each other's magnitude
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and bond. Another one of my fas favorite poems by
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: miss Brooks, and probably one of her most well known poems,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: is another short one, and it's called We Real Cool,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: We Real Cool, The pool Players seven at the Golden Shovel.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: We Real Cool. We left school. We lurk late, We
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: strike straight.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: We sing Sin, We fen Jen, we jazz June. We
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: die soon. You know, it's such a short poem, yet
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: it is filled with atmosphere. I'll read it again. We
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Real Cool, The Pool Players seven at the Golden Shovel.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: We real cool. We left school, We lurk late, We
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: strike straight, we sing sen We then gen we jazz June,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: We die soon. Mmm. Poems are like that. Poems are
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  Speaker 1: like that. Sometimes they want to be read a second
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: time or even a third or fourth time right.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Unlike being in a museum or taking in sculpture or painting,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: where we can pause and consider for a good long while,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the words of a poem can fly away. They just
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: fly away from us as soon after they land on
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: our ear. They are God. If you like hearing poems
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: like I do, I encourage you to download this podcast
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: so you can listen to it again and again. And
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: if you like to hear poems read on the poet's
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: owned breath, you can just go to a good poetry
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: website and listen to an audio recording. You can also
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: find audio and video recordings of Miss Brooks sharing some
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: of her poems on YouTube. How cool is that? You know?
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: As I did my research for today, I was absolutely
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: amazed at what I found out about Miss Brooks and
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: her prolific volume of written work, as well as her
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: service in her community with youth in our schools, youth
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: on our streets, with prisoners with people in taverns, right
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: in bars and in churches. Here's another poem by Miss Gwendolen.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I know I've said that, You know I have a
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: lot of favorites already, right well, this is one of
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: my favorites as well. And this poem is called Kitchenette Building.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Kitchenette Building, we are things of dry hours and the
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: involuntary plan grade in and gray. Dream makes a giddy sound,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: not strong like rent feeding a wife, satisfying a man.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: But could a dream send up through onion fumes. It's
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: white and violet, fight with fried potatoes and yesterday's garbage
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: ripening in the hall, flutter or sing an aria down
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: these rooms even if we were willing to let it in,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: had time to warm it, keep it very clean, anticipate
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a message, let it begin, we wonder, But not well,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: not for a minute, since number five is out of
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the bathroom now we think of lukewarm water. Hope to
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: get in it now. One of the reasons I love
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: this poem, and I love it for many, many reasons,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: But I think the most significant reason is because it
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: helps me recall in an instant my own life, my
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: own life of living in the projects. Now, these were
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: not the projects in Chicago, but the projects in Detroit, right, Detroit, Michigan.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: And it also connects me to the dreams that so
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: many people had, dreams that were seldom realized because the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: urgency of life, I mean the urgency what was right
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: in front of you day in and day out, week
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in and week out, just took over. And you know what,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: over time, the dreams began to grow smaller and smaller,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: until one day there was no dream. There was only
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: the concrete reality of the undi in fumes from somebody
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: else's cramped apartment. Right. The smell of your own or
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: somebody else's garbage whenever you walk down the hall toting
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: your family's garbage to drop it into the chute that
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: led to the incinerator, right. The concrete reality of waiting
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: for one of your neighbors to hurry up and finish
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: in the bathroom so you can have your turn. The
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: concrete reality of the hot smell and scorching sting of asphalt,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the playground for us children just outside the revolving front door.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Miss Brooks is so attentive and exquisitely skilled at capturing
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the essence of a person's life in just a few
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: well chosen words and images and tastes and smells. One
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: of the hallmarks of her writing is that she's also
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: gifted in being with people, not merely writing about them.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Sabrina Miller, in writing an article for the Chicago Tribune
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: about the legacy of Gwendolen Brooks, Miss Miller reminds us
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that long before the black Arts movement of the nineteen
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: sixties brought fiery rhetoric into the mainstream, Miss Brooks was
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: holding poetry workshops in her home with members of the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: notorious street gang called the black Stone Rangers. Susan L. Taylor,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: former editor in chief of Essence magazine, calls Brooks a
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: master writer who communicated the most profound ideas in a simple,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: accessible way. She was truly a humble queen among us,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: who loved her blackness, who loved being a woman, and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: who had a generosity of spirit that is UNPAIREDLD. Can
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I just get an amen? Now Here? Is one of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Miss Gwendolen's simple, accessible, and I might add savvy poems
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: called Sadie and Maud. Sadie and Maud. Maud went to college,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Sadie stayed home Sadie scraped life with a fine tooth comb.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: She didn't leave a tangle in her comb, found every
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: strand Sadie was one of the livingest chicks in all
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the land. Sadie bore two babies under her maiden name,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Maud and ma and Papa nearly died of shame when
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Sadie said her last, so long her girls struck out
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: from home. Sadie as heritage, her fine tooth comb. Maud,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: who went to college, is a thin brown mouse. She
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: is living all alone in this old house. Now. This
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: poem is simple and accessible, Yes it is, And like
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: any good poem, there's much much more to it than
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: meets the eye. That's where savvy comes in, you see.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: On the surface, this poem is about two women, one
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: named Sadie, the other named Maud. But when we pay attention,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and when we hear the song beneath the song of
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: this poem, it really is about relationship. It is about
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: our relationships with other people, our relationship with the world,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: our relation with ourselves. And on another layer, this poem
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: is a metaphor for life, a metaphor for life, for
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: how we live. And you know me, I always say
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: how we live is how we do everything else right.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: It's how we parent, it's how we teach, it's how
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: we serve, it's how we love, It's how we lead
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: in any aspect of our lives. Now, if you want
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to learn more about Miss Gwendolen Brooks and her life
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of writing and service, be sure to visit the Poetry
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Foundation website. That's right, it's the Poetry Foundation website and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the url is www dot poetry Foundation dot org. Okay,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: www dot poetry Foundation dot org. There you can read
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: more about Miss Gwendolen's life, read her poems, and even
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: hear her reads of her own poems. You can also
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: find a wonderful tribute to Miss Gwendolen's life in a
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: beautiful book called I Dream a World. This book is
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: composed by Brian Lanker. I Dream a World is a
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: lovely photo narrative book. It's oversized in fact, the photo
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: portraits take up one full page, and on the facing
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: page of each spread is a narrative, words from each
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: woman's own mouth, words that paint a picture of who
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: she is, Words that paint a picture of her values,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: her loves, her family, her work, her struggles, her hopes,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: her joys, her facing and dealing with barriers and obstacles,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and ultimately words that paint a vivid picture of her
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: victories and triumphs. The book was published in nineteen eighty nine.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: When I bought it many many years ago, I recognized
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: many of the women in it, and some of them
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I became familiar with only after reading their narratives and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: studying their photos, and just looking into their eyes, looking
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: into the eyes of a woman who looked back at
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: me from those very pages. More than that, I imagined
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: these individuals as as full bodied, not simply as talking head,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: so to speak. I imagined them as full bodied and
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: standing on the shoulders of the many men and women
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: who made a way, who built roads and bridges, who
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: gave these women a place to stand, who gave these
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: women a place to belong, who gave these women the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: oxygen to dream, the centering oxygen to keep on breathing
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: into their dream, over and over and over and over
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and over again. Even now, all these years later, I
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: continue to be inspired by these amazing women who grace
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the pages of Brian Lanker's book I Dream a World.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I continue to be inspired by their lives for They
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: are a fountain of renewal and rejoicing. As we celebrate
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Miss Gwendolen, I'll call the names of some of her
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: sisters who stand alongside her. These women are divas and dancers,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: actors and athletes, educators and evocateurs. These women are artists,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: activists advocates. They are poets and politicians. They are community
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: organizers and champions for our children. Some of these women
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: are now part of the ages, but they are all
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: women who have finally been knitted into the larger fabric,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: who have been woven into the larger tapestry of the
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: history of the United States of America. Mercy, Hallelujah. These
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: women include Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Lena Horne, Shirley Chisholm,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Fannie Lou Hamer, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Tony Morrison, Leontine Price,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Marian Anderson, Merley Evers, Maya Angelo, Barbara Jordan, Odetta Ruby
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: d and more of my favorites, Sonya Sanchez, Catherine Dunham,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Janetta Cole b Richards, Ernestine Anderson, Willie may Ford Smith,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Betty Shabbaz, Wilma Rudolph, Alexa Kanadi, Septima p. Clark, Eva Jesse,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and of course Gwendolyn Brooks. I consider all of these
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: women mentors. All of them joined me in celebrating these
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: women who changed the game, these women who transformed the world,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: their own world as well as the world beyond their
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: immediate spheres of influence. Can I just tell you something.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: To call the names of these women is a blessing
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: and honor. To breathe their sweet fragrance, and to sing
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the marvelous music of their names is litany. It is Hallelujah,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: It is healing prayer. Oh my theirs is a music
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: that carries the enchanting melody, the intoxicating aroma of gardena honeysuckle, night,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: blooming jasmine, hyacinth, tuber rose. To call their names is
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: a prayer lifted up to Heaven, carried carried on the
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: wings of the dove. It is a precious holiness carried
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: in our ancestors, bosoms, lifted up to the rafters, in
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: rooms that breathe with sweet remembrance of bread broken together,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: in rooms that exhale, shouting and wailing and falling on
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: our knees as we call on the sweet name of Jesus.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: It is the red dirt roads, the blood orange dusk,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: and the pipe drift of cherry tobacco lifted onto the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: breezes at dawn. It is a humming and trembling and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: clapping our hands as we lift them up, as we
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: sing our hallelujahs, for we have come this far. We
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: have come this far by grace. Can I just tell
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: you something else? We are blessed by these women who dreamed,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: by these women who sacrificed and persevered, who cleared paths
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and broke new ground for you and your children. Gwendolen
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Brooks signifies and represents with all of these women she does.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Miss Gwendolen. We absolutely salute you, we honor you, we
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: love you, and we celebrate you during National Poetry Month,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: during Women's History Month, and not only then, we celebrate
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: you every single day. We celebrate you from making the
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: invisible visible, for your compassionate artistry and marvelous gifts of
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: being awake to life and turning life the good, the gracious,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: the ugly, and the tragic into astonishing works of reverence
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: into astounding works of art. We express our deep, deep gratitude.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: We thank you for showing us the power of poetry
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: in motion and the power of one person, of one
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: person who lives their life to make a difference. Now
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: that's exactly what we talked about earlier, and I promise
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to say more about how you can do the same
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: thing to make a difference and to make your life count.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: So here we go. You can make your life count
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: by being there for someone who simply needs the sweet,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: precious framegrants of your presence. So what do I mean
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: by that? Well, maybe they just need you to listen
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: to them talk about their day or about how their
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: mom is doing. Or maybe they need to talk about
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: their relationship with their thirteen year old daughter or son,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: and they don't want to just talk with anybody. What
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: they really need is to talk to you. Why, Because
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: you listen. You listen with a smile in your heart.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: You listen without having to jump in and give advice.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: You listen because you really care. You make your life
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: count by the simple loving things you do for someone.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Maybe you make your wife a cup of her favorite tea,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: not because she asked you, but because you know it's
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: one of her favorites. You also do it because you
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: know her love language. Or maybe you play her favorite music,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: or perhaps you go for a nice long walk with her,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: not because you need the exercise, but just because Now,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: maybe you take a time out of time, maybe thirty
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: minutes twenty minutes, to go through your closets and you
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: pull out your gently used shirts or blouses. You're gently
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: used sweaters and slacks, and you fold them up and
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: take them to your local goodwill or thrift store. Or
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: maybe you take whatever extra money you have and you
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: buy some food to donate to your local food bank.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: Or maybe you read a story to a child. Did
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: you know to a young girl or boy? Attention is
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: spelled l O v E right. To make a difference,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: you don't have to do anything fancy or extraordinary. You
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: don't have to be a superhero or superhero right, none
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: of those capes right. You just have to have a
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: heart full of love. You simply have to serve others
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: without any expectation of return. You could put a handful
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: of fresh herbs from your deck or garden and give
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: them to a neighbor. Or maybe you could bake a
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: batch of cookies and take them to the nursing home.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Be sure to give some to your mom when you
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: visit her, and give some to the staff. You could
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: also call a friend or remember, when you write a
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: note to someone, just tuck in a few stamps, or
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: a bag of tea or a pack of coffee. Right,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: my sister calls my mom every day just to say
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: and to tell her how much she loves her. When
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I call my mom, I love to sing songs with her,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: the song she sang as a little girl. Now sometimes
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: she can't remember my name, but she remembers those songs.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll read her stories or share scripture with her. Now,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: what's my point. It's simply this. You can make a difference.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: You can be the difference with who you already are,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: with what you already have. You make a difference by
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: showing up as who you are day by day, every
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: day of your life. You make a difference by being
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: grateful for who you are, being grateful for family and
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: friends and neighbors and co workers, and by counting your blessings. Now,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: we can go beyond simply counting our blessings. Right, we
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: can go beyond by being a bless Not too long ago,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: I was teaching a class, and it was a class
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: for leaders who want to take their faith into their work.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Not as pastors or rabbis, right, but these leaders want
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to take their faith into the nonprofit and education and
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: civic and corporate sectors. They work as police officers and firefighters.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: They work as agency directors and mental health as leaders
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: on our school board, right. They're leaders in the military
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: administrators and our healthcare system. They're educators who work with
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: our youth. All of these folks are about making a difference.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I say all of this because, just like you and me,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: sometimes these leaders, Okay, these leaders that I'm talking about,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: they get so focused on making it difference in somebody
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: else's life that guess what they forget about themselves, right now,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: that's what happens when you're so focused on serving, when
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you're focused on passing it on, when you're focused on
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: giving back. So, if you're born to serve, like me,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: we have to remember that one of the best ways
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: to make a difference is to first take good care
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: of yourself. Right Because we all know that if we
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: were to create a list of our to do items,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: of our to serve items, we would be nowhere on
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: that list. So one of the first things to remember
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: is to take good care of yourself so that you
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: can serve with a healthy body, mind, and soul. How
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: we live is how we serve. It's how we serve. Teach, parent,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: lead right in any aspect of our lives. So let's
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: remember to take good care of ourselves every single day.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Three sixty five, twenty four to seven. All right, now,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: if you missed any part of this week's episode, you
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: can listen to the recording at your convenience. You can
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: even listen to it on the go, right, So check
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: us out at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: That's quite a mouthful, all right, so I'm gonna say
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: it again. That's www dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. Now. If you want
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: to be the change you seek, be sure to listen
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: to this podcast again and again and be sure to
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: tell somebody right share the wealth. You can also find
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: me on iTunes, Audible, Alexa, SoundCloud, iHeart, tune in, spreaker
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: dot com, and just as I mentioned, Talk Network Radio
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: and so many other places you can learn more about
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: my work and Legacy Living. Make your life count by
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: visiting the Gloria Burgess website. That's g l O R
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: I A b as in boy. You are Geess dot
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: com the Gloria Burgess website, And as I've mentioned before,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: if you love to be inspired, you can actually subscribe
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: to my inspirations right on my website. You just scroll
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: down a little bit look on the right sidebar until
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: you see a place to add your email address to
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: subscribe to my weekly inspirations. It's that simple. Now each
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: week you're going to get a lovely photograph and a
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: very short quotation that inspires you. You can also find
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: me on linked In or on Facebook. On Facebook, you
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: can find me at Facebook dot com. Forward slash dr
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: for doctor Dr Gloria Burgess, pH d. Forward slash. You
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: can hear and see me by visiting the tedex website
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and listening to one of my ted talks. Just type
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: in my name to find me there. Now, before I
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: close today, I want to thank each of you again
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: for being here, for allowing me to share a bit
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: about my journey with what legacy living is all about,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: not just living and learning, but living and learning and
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: serving so that you make a difference in your own
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: life and in the lives of others. It's about being
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: on purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Legacy living is one of the many ways to make
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: your life count. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: and this is legacy living. Make your life count. Please
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: join me again next time for legacy living. Make your
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: life count, and remember, don't just count the days in
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: your life. Make the days in your life count. That's
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: make the days in your life count. God bless you.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: That's our show today.
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: join me again next time. Until then, don't just count
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: the days in your life. Make the days in your
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: life count. That's what legacy living is all about.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Here's to you. Have a fantastic day and be sure
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: to make it a yes kind of day. Remember to
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: celebrate the music of your life. Make the days in
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: your life count.