Still I rise

When I was in high school I wrote my Senior Thesis on a very inspiring woman, Maya Angelou. This woman was abused as a child, spent time as a prostitute and transformed her life to stand beside Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement and become our national poet laureate.

I highly recommend reading her series of memoirs beginning with "I know why the caged bird sings". Her life changed my perspective on what is possible. Circumstances are just obstacles that have to be overcome. Anyone can become anything. You just have to believe and persevere.

One of my favorite poems of Ms. Angelou is "Still I Rise". This piece of prose embodies the spirit of a woman who will not let anyone or anything stand in her way. It is inspires me to dream and pursue my life's purpose. What does it mean to you?

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

97 days to go :)