I’m In a “Get Right” State of Mind

Hey Homegirls!

I almost forgot to my weekly “Letter from the Editor.” Forgive me for my lateness, but it’s been a busy week. So let me rewind for a momentito, last week I had a moment. I think there were four days in there where I didn’t post anything. Not.a.thing. Troubling, since I had all sorts of things all lined up- a post on the start of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15); a post on Stepfamily Day (September 16; did you know there was such a thing?); mentioning that it was Citizenship Day (September 17); I really wanted to get a post up about Ramadan (the last day was September 19); a post on this really compelling documentary about this teen hip-hop project here in NYC;  and I thought that a post on Georgia O’Keefe was be ideal. But I fell short.

Why, you ask? Well, to be honest, I got discouraged. See, I’ve been planning this magazine for a long time and even planning what I want to do in and with this blog long before I started it (I have an editorial calendar and everything. yes, I do.) But when things started to fall through (like the Muslim teen who I was going to interview about Ramadan or the interview I had with Miss Teen New York), I went through what I will call my four stages of pissivity, which lead to inactivity. That is : 1) I got annoyed. I had a plan, I did everything I could to make it happen and people were messing me up. I don’t like that. So 2) I got pissed. Especially since it was beyond my control. That made me 3) frustrated and feeling like the devil was trying to bring me (and my idea) down- blast him! Which made me 4) sad. I doubted myself, my idea and fell into a mini-sleepression. Which meant no blog, no posts, no anything really. I wasn’t eating right and just couldn’t get myself right side up again. What, you ask? What brought me out of it? Don’t laugh, but it was actually the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song, “Empire State of Mind.” Really. I had never heard the song, as I don’t listen to the radio (shocking, isn’t it?) and didn’t watch the VMAs. But after reading so much about the much ballyho0-ed performance (and song. and tragic error that was Lil” Mama’s involvement), I decided to watch it. And I got SO inspired! So I went through the four stages of “get right.” That is I 1) Got inspired! which made me 2) remember my purpose, my reason for doing all of this- the youth! the girls! creating change! doing something I love! so I 3) re-focused my energy and remembered what my mom always says (hi mom!) why get upset and stress yourself out about something you can’t do anything about? You need to focus on what you can control. Which I did, and in doing so I 4) got off my ass and went to work. I mean all that thinking and being excited and inspired is all great. But at the end of the day, it’s really about the work. you have to do.the.work. full stop. So I went out to the Bronx Native American Festival, came back, passed out from fatigue, got back up and went to work.

And yes, I’m still bumping the song on my ipod. Thanks, Mr. Carter!

You can look up the VMA performance with Alicia Keys if you want to, but I’m definitely feeling this Bridget Kelly chick on the hook way more! Now doesn’t that make you want to “get out your dreams,” as Kanye would say? Bright lights, skyscrapers, concrete…doesn’t the incredible challenge make you want it more? I know I do.

I’m back