drawing

Map Something Out

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When you are going somewhere, map something out so that you will have a sense of where you are going. A map will give you a landscape of what you will encounter on the way so that there are no big surprises.  It will also tell you how you will travel and how much ground you will cover.

When I start fleshing out an idea, I map it out. Since I am a visual person, there are little shapes here that hold small ideas and big shapes there that hold big ideas. The whole thing will become my response to the journey that I am on.

Your map doesn’t have to look like everyone else. It just has to tell you the information you need when you need it. It can be a representation of items to remind you what you need to do.

It can show where you start and how far you have gone.   It will give you a visual representation of your journey also reminding you of what you have been through. Sometimes at the end of the year, we review our progress and it doesn’t seem like we have done much.  It may seem like we stay in the same place for a long time, but we forget about the times we go up high mountains or down to deep valleys. We should account for those times and think about what we learned in the process.

Map 2

Where You Come From?

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Always remember. Honor it. It made you.

Fort WorthHonestly, there are some days I don’t get me. But when I visit home it becomes clear. Crystal.

My hometown is Fort Worth, Texas where the west begins, but still stuck in the old south. It had great chicken fried steak and sweet tea. There are good schools that pass out fine educations.  I went to school with some of the best and brightest.

In high school, I got to interview Alan Bean, Astronaut from the Apollo 12 mission for the school newspaper because he was a graduate from the same school. I remember this moment because he made all of the other media wait and gave me the first few minutes of his time.  It made a lasting impression.

For many years the city was gerrymandered so that Republicans could maintain control of government positions.  I lived in an African American neighborhood south of downtown Fort Worth, and my congressional representative was a physician who lived in South Lake, one of the richest neighborhoods in the state.  There were no town halls with him but I did learn that I lived in a food desert, which is an urban area where it is difficult to buy affordable or fresh food. This neglect made a lasting impression.

It is still a city plagued with racist ideas because the current leadership does not appreciate what marginalized voices bring to the table.  The majority still believe that electing a sheriff that kicks out immigrants is the way to fix our problems. The majority believes electing officials who cover up abusive police officers is the way to handle problems. It is making a national impression.

Knowing that I come from this type of environment makes me cautious because some things I might think are normal, are probably racist. Some of the things I have learned to live with, I probably should not have.

So look at where you come from because it will definitely affect where you are going.