I’m listening…

“To my beloved, think we need some time away

They say if you love it, you should let it out its cage

And fuck it, if it comes back you know it’s there to stay

It’s tugging, at my heart, but this time apart is needed”

Double entendre’s maybe…

♥,

Syreeta

Death is wack! And even though it’s not cool we all know that it’s something that is inevitable. It makes me ponder a lot especially for people that have left an impact in other human’s lives; regardless if it was one million people or one hundred people. Leaving an impact and legacy that is here after your gone is the shit.

I will never forget when Michael Jackson died; I was in Boston at a Youth Summit and one of the few Black folks participating. The first thing I thought of was the end of the Notorious BIG’s song Suicidal Thoughts when Puffy says  “you got a red dot on your head” and his comrade states “you have a red dot on your head too” then both men in unison say “Ooo Shit”. I was floored hearing the news not our King Of Pop, not our Michael. Who just like a family member we criticized him for his choices some being mere reflections of our own and had numerous celebrations for his successes for those to ours. For he was one of the many symbols that “We did it baby”. As I pondered a bit more I realized that for me Michael was simply a distant cousin. I didn’t have any real memories of him other than what other kinfolks might have spoke about. Don’t get me misunderstood as I got older I was clear why he was “That dude!” but unlike others I didn’t grow up listening to him.

So as I watched the nation in distraught I wished I had knew him better. I felt that I had only knew him on the surface level: The Pepsi commercial, Jay Z bringing him out during Summer Jam, The Jackson 5 Movie, We are The World Tribute, The Moonwalk and Thriller. As I moved through Boston I couldn’t understand why people weren’t as messed up, as I knew they would be in the Empire State, I mean its MJ. The day went on and I felt I had to do something I mean that’s family and family first right? I remember talking to the group I was in and decided to do the famous homage selection at the Jay concerts. I said “excuse me can I get two fingers in the sky for MJ” they looked at me confused and uncertain but I did it anyway. Mission Complete. It was very light but I had to pay my respects, for it was only right.

A few years later we (and I say we “cause if I’m here you here”) are at this crossroad again, this time with The Queen of Pop Whitney Houston for she has gone to the Stairway to Heaven. I heard it on the radio then instantly went to Twitter to see of it was true, then Facebook to confirm (because twitter gets crazy sometimes; folks die everyday in those tweets). It’s confirmed! This can’t be life!! Now Whitney on the other hand I remember. She was like the favorite cousin who just happens to live down south and you couldn’t wait every year to see her. My kindergarten graduation we sung The Greatest Love of All and I’m Every Women. And how could I forget? I mean I got a purple skip-it for graduation, which was indeed a memory never to be forgotten. I remember watching The Bodyguard; for I was there regardless if I was not yet a decade old. Whitney was the ONLY brown chick that was a mega pop star and though her skin color had nothing to do with her it was a reminder that there were bad brown chicks in the game. Which gave me sincere promise that I too could run the world. I mean she was it! When you have the Queen of Soul as a godmother, Gospel singer as a mom, amazing songstress as a cousin and a mentor that is willing to have your back you through hell or high water and you can sing in which your voice is clearer that Avian to say the least “You got the juice”. To top it off, your resume is consistent and longer than my life span, which speaks for itself. I mean when you can make the Star Spangled Banner a hit you’ve done it.

But to be honest I really didn’t know how to feel the media was out of pocket talking about your habit more than your contribution and it was completely blowing minds. So I let it marinate and the next day (Feb 12,2012) the third year anniversary of my grandmothers passing I was talking and or venting to a friend. I just remember saying I’m tired of us going HAM when our heroes leave us and we don’t go hard about their contributions while they can still hear them. And my homegirl hit me with the famous question among friends “Well what you going do about it?” And it was like someone open the door and let God come in but I still had more to say, so prior to my decision to make something happen.

I started going IN about why homage is so important. Let me be clear this is not to compare any two artists but to acknowledge the fact that if there weren’t people to open the door we wouldn’t have the opportunity we have. I mean let’s be honest it there wasn’t a Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin) there could not be a Queen of Hip-Hop & Soul (Mary J Blige), if there was no Muddy Waters there would be no Rolling Stones; no Supremes, no Destiny’s Child; no Berry Gordy, no Diddy; no Zora, no Dream; no Huey, no Pac and the list goes on and on and on. We need these folks from all generations to continue to have our culture evolve. So I’m not going to talk about what I’m going to do I’m going to be about it. Let’s celebrate the lives of the hella dope folks that have come before us. For like Kanye says “We make history EVERYDAY” let’s continue to celebrate the ones we can and remember the ones that aren’t here. For we are the ones that give them Life After Death.

#ripWHITNEY

#ripMICHAEL

#ripDON

#ripGIL

By: Syreeta C. Gates

Sister Souljah:

My name is Syreeta Gates; I am 23 years old and from South Side Jamaica, Queens. I first read The Coldest Winter Ever at 14 years old, a sophomore in high school. I was not a reader. But my friends were reading a select group of books, so I decided to try it out. “The Package,” as I came to know it, included The Coldest Winter Ever, True to the Game, Flyy Girl, Addicted, B-More Careful and Push. What made me enjoy these books were a few things:

• They were very quick reads
• The main characters were females
• All my friends were reading these same books
• I knew people that related to the story lines

It was very personal. I read it thinking: “I know Midnight, I know Winter, I know Ricky Santiaga … I know all of these people. They live in my neighborhood or down the block; I used to date a dude like Bullet and had a homegirl like Natalie.” On an intimate level, this book is our Their Eyes Were Watching God.

This book did something for my culture that no book had done – it told us that OUR story was important. On a societal level, it was our modern-day Color Purple. It was enough for people outside of our blocks, neighborhoods, and even the United States to spend millions of dollars to read about. It became important to me because not only did I see my friends and myself in the characters, I saw an opportunity to re-imagine our culture.

I read the book again when I turned 21, and the new book had the character analysis (which, in my opinion, was the absolute best part). We finally understood your motivations behind the characters. When I decided to go back to undergrad, I wrote papers for a Cultural Anthropology and an Intro to Hip Hop class based on your book. The opportunity to do that was yet another affirmation of my story, my value, my passions. That was when I decided that school was going to be a place where I would take on exploring, healing, and redefining urban youth culture.

This book NEEDS to be a film. My generation was born in MTV’s infancy, created Youtube and reality superstardom, and had the first smartphones. With women making Black novel-turned-film classics – The Color Purple, Women of Brewster’s Place, Waiting to Exhale, Push/Precious– it is time to bring your book to the big screen.

While we all have seen movies that reveal “the hood” in a dynamic perspective (i.e. Do The Right Thing and Boyz in the Hood), we have yet to see a film of this potential magnitude that highlights our music and our urban experience through a young female lens. The Coldest Winter Ever would join the aforementioned films in the American motion picture canon and be highlighted in film school texts.

However, it won’t simply be celebrated because of the casting, directing, etc. With your permission, it will also be remembered for, and credited with, changing the role audiences play in filmmaking – allowing them to drive investors’ and production companies’ choices.

Imagine a world was created where The Coldest Winter Ever is the force behind:

1. 24-hour crisis resources for girls
2. Young people furthering the book’s message through community-centered products, services, and media
3. A national conversation and curriculum around the book’s major themes
4. Television and online programming that sparks an explosion of quality, record-breaking entertainment generated by young Blacks and Latinos

Notorious BIG said: “It was all a dream.” I don’t know what happened with talks of HBO and Jada Pinkett Smith helping to bring it to the screen. And I’m not someone that has any experience in Hollywood. Nevertheless, I am writing this letter to demonstrate my commitment to bringing Winter to theaters and flat screens all over the world and making the messages in the novel ring loud and clear in the ears and hearts of youth globally. No matter what it takes.

CLICK HERE to see the big vision.

Best,

Syreeta Gates
September 2011

The Gospel of John in the Bible, speaking of the creation of the universe, begins, “In the beginning there was the word, and the word was with God, and the word is God” (John 1:1).

In The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, the first and most important Agreement is “Be impeccable with your word.” According to Ruiz, being impeccable with your word means to

speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

In relation to the word integrity, I automatically thought of the phrase that is commonly heard in rap lyrics: “Word is bond.” What does this really mean? In hip hop we constantly make promises to ourselves as consumers, the MC’s and their crews all make agreements about trust and loyalty.

So I went to Webster’s dictionary and looked up the meaning of “integrity”:

Integrity

1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility

2 : an unimpaired condition; soundness

3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided

Then I went to the Urban Dictionary and looked up “word is bond”:

Word is Bond

1 : Shortened version of “My word is my bond”. You’re saying that what you’re saying is true and without reproach.

2 : Late 80′s early 90′s term…in the bible it is said not to swear, let your word be your bond..hence word is bond; this was at first used by members of the 5 Percent Nation AKA 5%ers

“The R” -Eric B & Rakim:

Pull up in the park and then pop the trunk
Turn up the bass and let the system thump
A block party starts to form, people start to swarm
Loud as a ghetto blaster, word is bond

“Gimme The Loot” -Notorious BIG:

And I’m stressed, yo Biggie let me get the vest
No need for that, just grab the fucking fat
The first pocket that’s fat the tec is to his back
Word is bond, I’m smoke him yo don’t fake no moves

“Nas Will Prevail” -Nas

I catch wreck with my intellect, suckers are incorrect
I’m gonna win cause you slept
on Nas, word is bond, I leave the microphone torn
False rappers, you need to write your own song

“Moment of Clarity” -Jay Z

My balls and my word is all I have
What you gonna do to me?
Nigga scars’ll scab
What you gonna box me homie?

If our word is our bond why aren’t we using it intentionally to bring what we are doing up a whole new level?

“If rap was Harlem, I be James Baldwin” -Common

As the story unfolds it has taken me a while to read this prolific piece of work suggested by my good friends Fritz, E and Perea! So finally in a dark room in DC (my friends new apt & there aren’t any lights yet except the kitchen) I start to read this & POW the battery gets inserted in my back instantly!
James ughhhhh. I pay tribute by re writing these words here.
Did you hear what this man said:

“The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever”

“You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity”

“Any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one’s sense of one’s own reality. Well the black man has functioned in the white man’s world as a FIXED STAR, as an IMMOVABLE PILLAR: and as he moves out of his place heaven & earth are shaken to their FOUNDATIONS.”

“For this is your home, my friend do not be driven from it, great men have done great things here & will again and we can make America what America MUST become. It will be HARD James but you come from a sturdy, peasant stock, men who picked cotton & dammed rivers and built railroads and in the teeth of most terrifying odds, achieved and unassailable & monumental dignity. You come from a long line of POETS some of the GREATEST since HOMER. One of them said, THE VERY TIME I THOUGHT I WAS LOST, MY DUNGEON SHOOK AND MY CHAINS FELL OFF.”

This piece of work is so prolific because not only does Mr. Baldwin have this conversation with his future self, but also he is trying to teach himself how to deal with the future in a white world. The dialogue expresses how it is the love that got him and his family through those tough times, and how it is imperative to survive if solely for love alone.

At birth you were given a deck of cards and due to the given circumstances you must now move with your back against the wall. He explains the intent that the ghetto has among its people, it wants us to fail. He explains what we were dealt, solely because we were Black in America, and therefore what society expects us to attain or not due to our Blackness. Because of something you cannot control, not only were you not supposed to be dope but also no one even dreamed that you would be, and that is the problem.Baldwin highlights the importance of knowing where you come from, the type of people you were born from and the experiences you hold. Even those people that don’t expect anything from you, you must still show them love. Because in order to create a world where you feel comfortable you must make the first move towards change.

Specifically in reference to My Dungeon Shook, Kanye describes some instances of the importance of knowing what great people you come from in ‘Chain Heavy’. And how sometimes it’s unfortunate that the story we get is the one they want us to know rather than the truth:

take too long for niggas to get their turn,

probably be cremated before I get my urn,

they try to tell that aliens built the pyramids,

I swear life’s a bitch on a period,

For every inch they cut the nose off the Sphinx,

I made my jeweler add a few mo links,

you can look at me and tell I don’t care what nobody think,

and my face always lookin’ like somebody stink.

Some people try to erase these gifts, works of art & thoughts behind the revolutionary work that Black people specifically have contributed & implemented to create CHANGE. But love them anyway!

Listen to Kanye’s voice: My chains heavy my chains to heavy, they say my chains broke the levees

Ahhhhhman so if you can imagine I would be GOING IN standing on desk getting my Malcolm X by any means necessary on. This is an extremely powerful piece, as my good friend G$Money would say so #8000.

I’ve always wanted to display not only my genuine love for hip hop and its culture but also how I have been taught, influenced, challenged and inspired by it. One of my friends calls me the “Hip Hop Oracle”. I believe it’s because of my ability to drop (yes, just like Funkmaster Flex) a dope line so relevant to the cipher that you might miss it even though its reference is profound to the conversation at hand. What can I say it’s a gift!

This blog was intentionally created for my publishing class but it’s a perfectly purposeful opportunity to brain vomit my thoughts about hip hop, as a cultural phenomenon. These upcoming posts illustrate who I am and how it’s shaped me. I remember the first time I sat back and reflected on how hip -hop exposed me to an idea, person, place or thing. The knowledge dropped in infamous hip hop lyrics was self taught, not introduced in school let alone college in for that matter. It was just something that I kind of stumbled upon. I am great listener when I want to be, but what captivates me most are thought provoking lyrics. I am quick to Google something I’m not familiar with, and I am most intrigued by aspects that I don’t recognize.

One day I was listening to Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor album (needless to say it is absolutely brilliant). I was vibing to a track called “Just Might Be OK” and he starts spittin’…

I’m cool I don’t for tell best

I ain’t nicest MC, I ain’t cornel west

I am cornel west side chi town Guevara

Malcolm eXorcise the demons

Gangster leaning

My first thoughts were, “WHOA WHOA WHOA”. I immediately run the entire track back, pull out a pen and paper, and write down all the names he shouted out. Yes, I’ve heard of Che Guevara assuming Lupe was speaking of Che in the context of that specific bar, and of course I know Malcolm but Cornel West was a first. So on my journey home I was amped because I’m thinking I have to know this dude, who and why is he relevant for Lupe to mention. A flux of questions fire through my mind, is he from South Side Chi-Town?, what type of people would be named with Malcolm and Che? He for sure has to be some revolutionary type dude. I get home and Google him immediately. Philosopher, Check! Pro Black, Check! Discusses Biggie & Jay, Check! So now I am caught up. I look into purchasing something that he has published. His latest book at that time was, Hope On A Tight Rope, and it includes a free CD –, let’s do it! I get the book and I fall in love. Dr. West has so much to offer to the world and I am blown away by his work. I love Cornel to da West because he uses language that forces me to expand my vocabulary. In some way I felt ashamed that I didn’t do my homework on him prior but I guess in due time it was meant to happen. While reading this book I found a speech he did called, Festivals Of Ideas, which has been something that I now use in a lot of the workshops, I run. In this video he compared Charles Darwin to Biggie, enough said! To say the least, this book was tight!! One of my very favorite quotes in the “Identity and Race” chapter was:

The black middle class in the United States has become drunk with the wine of the world- materialism, narcissism, and hedonism. And then we wonder why the younger generation does not have access to the traditions of the struggle. Preach to young folk to be success rather than to be great and they will think it’s all about success. Do you really believe that Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randoph, and Malcolm X died so that you can just be successful? Do you think they died so that you can just be peacocks, walking around saying, “Look at me, look at me, look at me!” Somebody needs to remind everyone that peacocks strut because they can’t fly.

Just re-typing that gave me the “BBM UGH” face. I will discuss in later posts the parallels in Hip Hop. I appreciate Lupe introducing me to one of the most remarkable philosophers of our time.

Until next time…

They keep asking me what did your mother feed you?

I say she fed me Stevie Wonder’s Paradise, Aretha Franklin’s Daydream, and Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine

And I’m still hungry

So she gave me more, more than I would have ever dreamed of

Told me that “If it’s Magic” I seek, I will forever have “A Place in the Sun”

For if you didn’t know Steveland Morris is one of her favorite dishes

And Syreeta Wright was the perfect side dish kinda like macaroni and cheese with a side of collard greens

So she knew that would be the perfect name for me, while humming “Nothing’s too good for my baby”

As I got older she started teaching me to cook, first by preparing the food

She said Syreeta, I want you to “Think”, keep a “New Attitude” and always show “Respect”

She said, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”, “Do Your Thing” and always be on the quest for “Love and Happiness”

And if ever things get rough, and they will do remember that you can always “Lean on Me” because “We are Family”

Then it was time to cook…

Trying to be fast I got burned in the kitchen feeling like “Ain’t No Love In The Heart of the City” so I just left, now riding around town with the “Diamond In the Back, Sunroof Top, Diggin the Scene”

And then it happened, I fell right into “A Love Supreme” he would whisper “For The Love of You” and “Love TKO” he was indeed my “Sweet Thang”

When things got rough, just like my momma said it would I would think about all the “Games People Play” and the “Backstabbers”, I mean “All I Could Do Was Cry” it was simply a “Thin Line Between Love and Hate”

But I had to look in the mirror and remember, that “You Bring Me Joy” and repeat “I Wish You Love” and “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep”

So as I got back in the kitchen my taste for food changed, so my mom switched the dinners up

Currently making candied yams and turkey wings

Now telling me “A Change Is Gonna Come”, and “People Get Ready”

Blasting Heron’s “Comment #1”, I was even thinking I could “Fly Me Too The Moon”

But I had to step back and be at one with my “Reflections”

For dinnertime was almost over

I remembered I hadn’t written anything down, no measurements, temperatures anything

She said all along, I’ve been simply giving you food for thought

Now get in the kitchen and do the dishes

This piece is dedicated to my mommy

I was inspired to write this piece because a good friend of mine wanted me to talk to her mentee. She described this young man as being  “pro self-education”, in other words, he just doesn’t see how college can help him. My friend knows me well; She knew I would be a good person for him to talk to because I was in the EXACT SAME BOAT! She also knows how I was able to take what I learned outside of school and leverage it inside of school for Life Experience Credits towards my degree.

Here is a link to my Life Experience Portfolio!: http://sgclifeexperience.wordpress.com/

This Is A Journey Into Sound…

I graduated from high school in 2005. By Spring 2006, I had decided to drop out of college. I made this major life decision for several reasons: 1) I had NO clue why I was there in the first place; 2) I was taking wack classes; 3) The algebra placement test was kicking my butt; and 4) I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew that college wasn’t it. So I did it. By Fall 2006, I was no longer enrolled in college.

Now here’s the fun part: I had to figure out what I wanted to do fast.  My mother made it very clear that I could not sit in her home without getting a job or doing something productive. I chose the latter. Around that time, I was online looking at one of my favorite brands, POLO Ralph Lauren, when I saw something very unusual — some Black kids on POLO.com! I immediately saw this unusual sighting as an opportunity. I called the corporate office and asked to speak with whomever was responsible for having those young people on the website. They connected me to someone in the Corporate Responsibility Department, who then suggested that I call Mr. Divine Bradley, the founder of Team Revolution (the organization that partnered with POLO to run the POLO Fashion Business School).

So I called Divine, and after I introduced myself and realized he was a cool dude, the conversation basically went like this:

Syreeta: I need to be down with Team Revolution

Divine: I can already tell you’re a go-getter because you called POLO Corporate offices to get to me, who does that?

Syreeta: HAHA… Me

Divine: I see, let’s change the world!

I seized the opportunity that I had just made for myself and off I went, with Divine, to change the world! While rocking with Team Revolution, I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. With that burning question always in the back of my mind, I began my quest.

The Tipping Point…

I’ve always been interested in different things and thirsty to find out about things that I didn’t know. Things I DID know that I was interested in were: hip-hop, graffiti, photography, community service and rocking with my peers and teenagers. I also knew that I always wanted to be, as my uncle says, “Front Row at the Game”. So since I knew I had these particular interests, I started to seek them out.  I read about the subjects and got to know who’s who.  I began to reach out to folks, cultivating, building relationships and did my research on the topics that I enjoyed. Then I took it up another level; I started to do actual projects in these areas of interest.

My first was a community service project. I got to work on a mural with one of the dopest graffiti artist of our time – Cern YMI. We created an amazing mural for the community AND I was also extremely privileged to work with, and learn from, some really astonishing artists –  Cope2, Stem YNN, Toofly, Space YMI, Erodica, and Clark Fly to name just a few.

For my second project,  I worked with both Team Revolution and Life Camp Inc to put on a Hip Hop Conference for my peers called “Team Rev’s Hip Hop Life”. Around this time, I was also going to hella photography and graffiti exhibits and was meeting and building relationships with inspiring artists like Jamel Shabazz, Lady Pink, Akintola Hanif, Toni Blackman and Martha Cooper.

At some point in the middle of all this activity, I realized that I was actually creating the perfect curriculum for myself based on what I passionately wanted to learn.  I realized that I was going through a school of my own creation as I gathered these experiences first hand. It could be called “The School of Hard Knocks” if you will, but I loved it!

I was committed to just doing MAD ISH! If I was working on two or three projects, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything! I had a Blackberry and wanted to be busy! So I turned it up another notch, just like Emeril Lagasse. And I stayed busy for three years straight. From 2006 to 2009: I participated in POLO Ralph Lauren Business School, Public Allies, Life Camp Inc, and StartingBloc; I ran the SYEP Video Program, the Mural Program, the Ministers of Culture, Young Woman’s Group and  ASET; and it was during this time that I created The SWT Life.

The Council & The Purpose…

It was during that busy time, that I realized that I was organically generating a council of people who not only challenged me, but also supported me personally and professionally, like a board of directors or advisors. Some of them are:

Erica Ford and Divine Bradley

Eden Connelly and Daniel “Fritz” Silber-Baker

Shawn Chandler and Doni Pitchford

Robin “Khep” Kearse and Michael “Zaki” Smith

Sallome Hralima and Jullien Gordon

It seems a little funny now, but if you asked me how my council worked, I would have told you the simple truth — I thought they were superheros. To me, they were and are just that. Remember how, in the movie Hancock , there were two superheroes that had the same individual powers but when together each became stronger? How each would build up the other? Well, there were MANY MANY…MANYtimes when I wanted to give up, (drops mic and walks away) when I failed and wanted to say, ‘eff this ish’, but they kept me on my toes.

It’s always important when doing anything to have a team of folks that are soooooo down for you to be dope, that they don’t accept any less from you and will check your BS in a heartbeat. I am eternally grateful for each and every one of them. I also realized that when you’re grinding or going hard your circle changes. I have mad love for my friends, but as I was ‘moving and shaking’ I came into contact with other people that were doing the same thing. I learned that “Steel sharpens Steel”.

As I was meeting these folks most of them tried to convince me of the urgency of my going back to school, which I completely ignored. To be honest, I was absolutely ANTI-school at a few points during this time. My view was that if Bill Gates, Jay Z, Mary J Blige (or insert your favorite billionaire, millionaire, entertainer or sports figure here) didn’t need school, I definitely did not. NO WAY! NO HOW! I figured that since I put myself through my own “school”, what could college really teach me that 1) I didn’t know, or 2) I couldn’t learn on my own? But because the people that had invested so much time in me were all saying that I should, I started to seriously think about it. And of course, my advisors shared some reasons (that added up for me) on why I should return. So I wrote out a pros and cons list that went a little something like this:

Pros

• Getting a degree
• Meeting some really dynamic people
• Cultivating relationships with professors/staff
• Participating in college clubs/activities (I could infiltrate the system muhahahhaha)

Cons

• Paying tuition
• Having to take wack-ass classes
• Not having the free time to do other projects
• Not being able to get the MOS (T) out of school

Better than a Michael Jordan Comeback…

So after I wrote that list, I sat on it for a few months and let it marinate. I decided to enroll back in school Fall 2009 to major in Labor and Community Organizing. This made sense for me because I had been doing tons of organizing with Team Revolution, Life Camp and Public Allies. What I learned when I returned was that if I take classes that I’m interested in, such as Intro to Labor and Community Organizing and Social Movements that’s where the “money” is. Because I took classes that I was genuinely interested in, I started getting A’s in school, which I hadn’t done on a regular basis since elementary.

During that time, I had also started running a program called “Minsters of Culture” with SAFE (PRY was my partner organization with Public Allies and SAFE is one of their teen programs). I had the privilege of running the program with Eden and Kristen (two people that were strong at everything I was not, and amazing ass folks in general). The best part about the program was that I got to facilitate  discussions, workshops, and peer-lead activities on whatever my little ol’ heart desired. So this became a space where I took everything that I was learning and put theory into practice. I got to facilitate programming on the philosophies of Cornel West, Tupac, Mos Def, Common, Lauryn Hill and Jay Z. We explored topics like Malcolm Gladwell’s  The Tipping Point in relation to the Harlem Renaissance; Notorious BIG and gentrification in Brooklyn; StrengthFinder2.0; Lil Wayne’s “No Ceilings”; Freedom Dreams by Robin D.G. Kelley;  Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell and a bunch of other amazing things.

Out of all the programs I had ever run, this program changed my life. The young people that were in the program were like the roster of early Def Jam — they were geniuses. This is when I found my purpose, I knew I wanted to work with young people and create culture for eternity. In the past, like clockwork, I wanted to drop out of school every semester. This time, I was questioning and still conflicted with the question, “Is college really going to help me in life?” But I leaned on my Council and friends and continued to rock it out.

This Is The Remix…

After running “Ministers of Culture” I knew I couldn’t get a regular degree, I had to up the ante once more. I knew my strengths, passion and purpose and this made all the difference. One critical thing that I had come to realize is, when you move in the world with purpose your whole swag changes. You know specifically what you will and will not do just because it either is or is not in alignment with your purpose. Because I couldn’t get a degree that someone else made for me, I started researching schools that would allow you to create your own major. I found two programs that would allow me to do that: NYU Gallatin and CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies (CUNY BA). I applied to CUNY BA and got accepted for Fall 2010 and declared my major as Urban Youth Culture.

From college dropout to my self-devised school of hard knocks to a somewhat late registration in self-defined Unique and Interdisciplinary studies, I have created my own lane. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things that could be useful to that young man I mentioned, my friend’s mentee. Maybe you know someone who’ll find these tools useful too:

1. Find your passion, purpose and strengths

• PASSIONS- Skillshare classes are the best things since iphone and wild berry skittles, you will find your passions NO QUESTION (Take classes in any and everything that even sounds fly)
• STRENGTHS-Take the StrengthsFinder2.0 Test
• PURPOSE- Great article by Jullien “PurposeFinder” Gordon about how to find your purpose here

2. Create something in the world

• Ji Lee talks about the importance of Personal Projects

3. Go to College, start a StartUp, or create your own position within another company…if that makes sense, if not create your own lane

• NYU Gallatin and CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies
• Find a problem and solve it
• Use your personal projects to leverage a problem you want to solve in an existing company

FYI: For those interested, I submitted my Life Experience Portfolio August 2011 and received ALL 15 credits (Maximum number you could receive). A whole semester knocked out for little money down ($50 to be exact) BOOYA High 5’s for everyone!

Syreeta Gates is the CEO/Culture Creator of The SWT Life, and curator and author of Just BE Cause. You can follow her on Twitter.

I am a Diamond Cluster Hustler

That was a reminder in case you forgot

Ladies First so you know I’m the Queen of the Castle

Whether duby wrap with the pins still in

Or reading Toni Morrison

I am the light LYTE as a rock

I come outside and they wana know Who’s that Girl

Out of the ordinary unusual

You gotta have the mind state like I’m so great

Can’t nobody do it like you do

Miraculous, phenomenal and ain’t nobody in here stopping you

I’m a woman

Phenomenally

Phenomenal woman

That’s me

But sometime these dudes get me tripped up

And I have to keep in mind

Who’s bad? Who’s, who’s bad?

Thinking I raised you basically made you into a don

I have to keep it 100 he be having me stuck

Singing Love Don’t Live Here Anymore

Or feeling like I’m Looking for Someone To Love Me

But, Tell me who I have to be to get some reciprocity

So I have decided to make some changes for ME

I’ve made major decisions in my life that consist of: No More Drama, I’m Just Fine and Take me as I Am

Solely for the reason that I am One in a Million

I give life

Own companies

Do EPIC ISH

And I am Supa Dupa Fly

Go thought major triles and tribulations

And I’m Not Goina Cry

So the next time someone forgets that you’re a phenomenal woman

Forgets about your superpowers

Forgets that you are a motha effin G

Remember this

I am gifted

I am all of this

And indeed the Shit

Then look in the mirror wink ya eye and say shewwww shewww