women Archives - Linda Orji Creative Universe

Molasses and African American Women

Linda Orji — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 01:54:07 +0000

Molasses — thick, dark brown syrup obtained from raw sugar during the refining process…

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Yes, the way my mind is set up I really did wonder what would happen if ALL African American women could reflect molasses? What do I mean by this? Well, what if we all formed a thick texture between us from our brown beautiful sweet melanin, raw strength, and mentality? Imagine the number of people we could feed and delicacies we could create when all the impurities and unwanted elements are removed.

Yesterday I had an encounter with an African American woman who was so bitter that she could not even accept a compliment from myself to her. I acknowledged her beauty and complimented on her job well done with raising her children as they were very respectful and kind toward me. She disregarded my compliments and continued to complain about her issues. I listened to her as she spoke and threw subliminal shade toward me while at the same time stating, “I have nothing against you.” This woman had become so blinded and manipulated by her own pain that she believed it was healing her. Ouch! Now, please know that I can only recognize this because I am a retired master of it. I used to be her. I was good at not seeing the God in the good but seeing the enemy in the good. I trained my mind to believe that everyone who came my way for good was after something else. This came from years of being hurt and lied to by others. I held on to the baggage. It piled up and eventually weighed on me so much I had no choice but to get rid of it.

After we finished speaking, I was upset. Not because she didn’t say thank you or because she threw so much shade my way but because this is my sister, granted I don’t know her at all but she’s another woman whose roots stem from the same continent as me. Then I wondered, how can we love our children enough to raise them but not love ourselves enough to let go of past pain for their sake? Isn’t the weight of jealousy too much? Aren’t we tired of dragging envy everywhere?

We are living in a world full of mental and physical shackles, how is it that we African American women are not looking out for each other more than what we are? I found my answers to those questions once again within in the word molasses, however this time I dug deeper into the history of it.

“Sugar’s most bitter legacy is that the labor of slaves caused the enslavement of even more Africans.”

– Jean M. West, Sugar and Slavery

You see where I’m headed with this whole molasses thing? Sugar which is sweet represents us African American women. Molasses which is sweet and thick in texture represents African American women united. Our most bitter legacy is the labor of slavery. This bitterness we carry is part of our legacy or history. So much so it runs through our genes which explains why it flows from us so naturally?

At the beginning of this blog post, I introduced the idea of re-defining how we treat each other by defining the unity of African American women through the definition of molasses. In the end, I explained the reason for the lack of unity of African American women through the history of molasses.

The goal is that you never look at molasses and African American women the same again. That every time you see or hear the word molasses, you think of an African American woman’s sweet texture and shackled history. Understand that although it is a choice for us to treat each other kindly we must over stand the years of hurt that we are against. It is not easy for every one of us to step into that thick texture of brown beautiful sweet melanin, raw strength, and mentality.

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It’s moments like the one that happened yesterday that make me appreciate being part of an empowering women’s group where the love is genuine. There is no hate or shade and our mission is to genuinely love and inspire other women to break the years of enslavement of our natural pure molasses.

February 24, 2018 The leading women of Empowerment Palace (left to right): Kimberly Moore, Diane McArthur, Annisha Timmons, Linda Orji, Veronica Jamison, Erica Malachi, Marie’ya Gary, Alicia Price Photo Cred: Cease the Moment Photography

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The Uncommon Woman Taking Flight: Arrival

Linda Orji — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 17:00:42 +0000

You may open your eyes now. You have arrived at your destination. Captain God-In-You would like to welcome you to YOUR BREAKTHROUGH. There were a few zones of turbulence but you made it safe and sound. The current temperature is just right, and the local time is… NOW. Safe travels to YOUR DESTINY and may you enjoy your stay at YOUR PURPOSE.

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Before you exit, I would like to share with you a recent BREAKTHROUGH experience, which occurred on January 20, 2018—starting from preparation to the presentation of Sweep it Out. It was spoken out loud for the first time at the amazing Empowerment Palace’s 2018 Women’s Taking Flight Summit.

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Sweep it Out was inspired by my grandmother, my father’s mother. She stood at about 5 feet but even in her upper age you could still see her strength, from her tiny size of 4 ½ feet to her white teeth.

Cecilia Orji

She would sweep the entire house bending over for long periods of time—no complaints. She mopped the entire kitchen floor on her knees with a rag—no problem. One thing I remember is the way she fixed her lips when she was focused on something. When she inhaled and exhaled she took the air in and let it out by fixing her lips in a round shape as if she was whistling—and you knew she was in the zone.

You see, I have an old soul and I’m always interested to know how the older generation would think in certain situations. I ask my father questions about my grandparents because I believe that the wisdom the older generation carries with them is something that needs to be recycled into our future generation.

Mazi Michael Oguagu Orji

I believe it’s the duty of the living to capture the wisdom of the ancestors in some shape or form, to nurture it and provide it to the world. Many of us are at war with ourselves because we are missing those values that existed years ago.

The picture above was captured not too long before my grandfather passed back in 2014. As stated on Instagram, I never thought I would see such grandiosity of beauty, strength, wisdom, love, and pain simultaneously, until that very moment.

I like to take bits and pieces from the stories my parents tell me about my elders and create my own story, then turn it into a conversation. The conversation is a form of meditation for me. I hear the voice how it would sound. In my grandmother’s case below, it was with a heavy but yet soft sounding Nigerian accent. I would then write about the experience and turn that writing into poem format. I know it sounds weird, but this is how I create. In my honest opinion, as long as you’re not harming anyone in any way, then there is no wrong or right way to create.

When I closed my eyes and found myself talking to my grandmother, contemplating about what I should speak about in my spoken word at the 2018 Empowerment Palace Women’s Summit, the conversation went something like this…

Grandma (Nigerian accent in full effect): Linda, my granddaughter. The one who was created for this purpose is asking me what to say. I am not the one you need to confirm with. It is God. Ehh? But because you came to me I will answer. You know, in our culture, we don’t like to bring things out, like the story you have. It is not something we do, but you must lead the way, because there are many many other women—not just in our culture but in many others—who have accepted such abuse as part of their life.

When I was small, my mother made me sweep the house. I asked mama why am I sweeping dirt when the ground is made of dirt already. I didn’t understand then but when I became a woman I understood she was teaching me the importance of keeping your house clean. Not just the house where you live, the house where your spirit and mind live. We must always sweep out every day because each day something new comes in. Some people don’t dust and you see the piles of dust well… well, when the sun shines. People are good at covering things up and making it look good but when the sun shines, God will show you truth. There will be women sitting in front of you who need to hear your voice. Let your sun shine so they may see well- well. There is an Igbo proverb that says: Kpachara anya gi. It means to wipe away the dirt from eye or to ‘be mindful.’ Open your eyes and foresee. Linda, it is time…

Soul Survivor Writer:

Yes! It’s time to talk.

About the dirt that soiled my soul, sharpened my tears, and halved my whole

Body—coated with mud, from adolescent years into adulthood.

Confused and misjudged.

Mentally and spiritually confined to memories of being molested by my own bloodline.

Beginning at the mere age of nine.

Disgusted by the pounds of litter that came with every jitter.

When I heard his voice it sent a quiver, cold and bitter!

I asked, Why God? How could you consider to not reconsider?

You knew his intentions for me when I was alone in my own father’s home,

Jersey City, Woodlawn Avenue, no one knew…

To be continued at a women’s event near you! See you there! And once again, enjoy your stay at YOUR PURPOSE!

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Unique, original, mind puzzling, backwards poetry book by me Coming Soon!

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The Uncommon Woman Taking Flight: Departure

Linda Orji — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 22:53:24 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be your chief flight attendant for this blog post. On behalf of Captain God-In-You and the entire crew, welcome aboard The Soul Survivor Airlines’ flight 2020, non-stop service from NOW to YOUR BREAKTHROUGH, then continuing on to YOUR DESTINY and FULFILLING YOUR PURPOSE. Our flight time, as estimated, will be 1,272 hours and 76,320 minutes. We will be flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet and at a ground speed of 1,400 miles per hour.

At this time, make sure your posture and heads are in full upright position, and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Please set your portable electronic devices to ‘airplane’ mode until a purpose-filled announcement is made. Now, I would like to direct your attention to the reading below and introduce you to how I became a part of the Empowerment Palace’s 2018 Women’s Summit.

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As I mentioned in Apostrophe, A post trophy, I’m in this phase of overcoming my fears and allowing only my creative purpose to lead me. After speaking at Apostrophe Lounge, I was on an incredible spiritual high that drove me to want to share my art with more people, more women. So I searched Google for ‘women spoken word Charlotte area.’ As I was scrolling down the list of events on Eventbrite.com, five words on a flyer pulled me in like bait, THE UNCOMMON WOMEN’S TAKING FLIGHT.

The fact that those words described my current state of being was not just a coincidence, so once again before fear took over the moment, I reached out and inquired about the event. I know right—me and my hellos (shout out to Adele). The message read:

Hello, I am reaching out to inquire about sharing my art at this empowering event. I am a spoken word artist, blogger and inspiring author simply desiring to share my message. Feel free to visit my blog www.lindaorji.com Thank You

A few days later, completely forgetting I had sent the message—because like I told you guys, when I do these things I’m in a trance; after it’s done, I really do not remember it—I received a reply.

Good evening, Linda Orji. Thank you for being interested, and I will look at your website that is very pretty on my day off tomorrow. I love spoken word and I would like to chat with you more. Looking forward to speaking with you before this week is out. Thank you, Linda.

It was signed Pastor Erica Malachi. I looked at the flyer again, this time more closely. I found it interesting that the flyer states, Founder Erica Malachi, not Pastor. That hinted to me that the title pastor did not define that woman. Now, if y’all know me y’all know my thoughts began to march around in my head like an HBCU crankfest marching band, and all the things I didn’t initially pay attention to started smacking me in the face.

Is Cara Jakes Coleman related to T.D Jakes? Let me Google her… Yes, she is! OMG, what did I get myself into? And I can’t believe I reached out to a Pastor! I hope she doesn’t judge my website. I have some curse words in some of my poems and posts. Am I “Christian” enough to speak with her? My art doesn’t have the word God written all in it, but it does have God written all over it. Will she be able to see that? I hope she doesn’t ask me if I have a home church because right now I enjoy my alone time with God and my art and am not looking to be a member of anyone’s church but my own.

Talking about how society impacts our thought process, right? For a while I had stopped attending church on Sundays just because I needed to spend more alone time simply meditating. Church distracted me sometimes. When I tried to explain it to devout Sunday morning church goers, they didn’t really comprehend, with which I was completely okay. I can’t be sure if there’s anyone out there who feels the same way, but if there is—you aren’t alone. I strongly believe that if God is in you, church is where you are.

A few days later, I was laying down, thinking about my own things, and—ring, ring!—an unrecognized number flashed on my phone. I let the person leave a voicemail, and lo and behold—it was her! Oh no! I wasn’t ready (in my Kevin Hart voice). I said to myself, “I need to sit up, and get my pen and paper ready, and put my “professional” voice on for this call. I’ll have to call her back.”

When she picked up she greeted me with, “Girl, what is up!” I was so confused—that’s not the way I was expecting a pastor to talk to me! The conversation was quite natural, and my “professional” voice faded about two minutes into it. We talked about my background, and I even broke it down to her about why church was at times a distraction for me—and she completely understood!

Erica even said that sometimes she would do the exact same thing as me: spend time alone, outside of the church. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. To hear her confirm this for me was a total weight off my shoulder. She went on to explain her vision and mission for Empowerment Palace. As we continued to converse I became more and more relaxed.

The topic of spoken word eventually came back around, and she informed me she has already gotten everyone she needed for the event in January, but she will be happy to make space for me to speak. How did someone who’s never met me or heard me speak have so much faith and trust in me?

She also said she wanted to offer me an all expenses paid opportunity to attend a four day three night annual Ladies retreat to Myrtle Beach. It was an amazing trip. To be around such a strong group of women was beyond inspiring. The bond and sisterhood we created spiritually is truly unbreakable.

Initially when my Uncommon Woman Taking Flight journey began, my inner voice said, “What!? God? Hello… (Adele melody playing in the background) Can you hear me? Is this something I am supposed to be doing right now? Already?”

A response came right away, “Hello, can you hear me? You were created to be all that you can be, my light will shine through you. You have endured so much pain in your past because I was equipping you for elevation and high altitude.”

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Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your purpose-filled announcement. Captain God-In-You has turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, and you may now move around the cabin. However, we always recommend to keep your seat belt fastened until you reach YOUR DESTINY.

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Bronx SHēk

Linda Orji — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 00:24:19 +0000

Pardon my back, but these dudes out here gonna make me take it to a whole other level. I had to switch it up on ’em. RE-DEFINE it on ’em. Get Soul Survivor Writer on ’em.

The title Bronx SHēk (pronunciation of ‘chic’ not to be confused with ‘chick’) was inspired by a moment that occurred just a couple months ago, when a guy questioned my “Bronx Chickness.” I guess he was accentuating I was fake; because of how I was raised and how I moved, and made decisions. In other words, I was born in the Bronx but my mannerisms didn’t fit the role.

He said to me, “I need me a REAL Bronx chick” At the time I was so distracted by not fitting into his standards of a “real chick” that I didn’t even realize how stereotypical his standards were.

Granted, there are some things I’m still learning as a woman. But how does me being a real woman have anything to do with where I was born and raised? So because my father moved me out of the Bronx and raised me elsewhere I don’t fit the role of a real Bronx chick? What does that even mean?

Fast forward, weeks later, I was brainstorming for my second Creative LLC’s Paint & Play spoken word piece at Apostrophe Lounge, and for some reason, that moment came back to me. Everything I didn’t say to him overflowed and the contractions of birthing Bronx SHēk began. It created an indescribable roller coaster of sad, angry, positive, kiss-my-ass emotions.

https://youtu.be/FcHJ96XV2gk

Ladies!

Let’s do those out there, who are dividing us by putting us into stereotypical categories to fulfill their insecurities a good service. Let’s come together and make this world better for the future, our children. Let’s show them that we are more than our hood (where we were born) and some. Yes, we may rock name brands, but they do not define us.

Let’s not get so distracted by money and possessions that we become blind to what’s happening around us. Let’s start embracing our own swag and stop trying to copy the swag of another for the sake of “fitting in.”

Let’s put all that we have learned into a pot and brew something uniquely strong, elegant, and beautiful. I’m here to tell you, you are NOT just a chick from Baltimore. You are NOT just a chick from Bokoro or San Juan. You are NOT just a chick from the Bronx.

You are Baltimore SHēk.

You are Bokoro SHēk.

You are San Juan SHēk.

You are Bronx SHēk.

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chic

/SHēk/

adjective

elegantly and stylishly fashionable.

synonyms:

stylish, elegant, sophisticated, dressy, smart;

noun

1.

stylishness and elegance, typically of a specified kind.

“French chic”

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