International Cultural Connections: February 2006

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-- And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

- Langston Hughes

Ok, so I'm 26 now and 4 years more until I'm the big 3-0. This has caused me to reevaluate my future plans and how I'm going to prepare for it. I looked over my resolutions/goals from 2005 and I think that I did pretty well. Of the things that I wanted to accomplish, I DID actually ...DO those things (+=successful, -=not successful):

Career : get serious about it-- +
Savings : (I won't divulge that info, but I got to go on a much-needed vacation to the DR w/ it).+
Travel : Thailand +, Cambodia/Vietnam -, Europe -, Florida +...added bonus: Dom. Rep.
Get politically active :(
Take spanish lessons: started it, but didn't finish -/+
Take belly dancing lesson : +, added bonus: took Yoga classes too
Writing : take online lessons and submit some work for publication -

2006 will be the year that I prepare for the big year: 2007. In 2007, I plan to be on the road to writing professionally, and/or going to grad school at NYC's The New School for an MFA in Creative Writing and living in Brooklyn....

Speaking of Brooklyn, the New Year's Eve party that I went to there was amazing! I went to this party with my cousin, Simon's, girlfriend. His girlfriend, Aisha, is an artist. She has some amazing art: www.superhueman.com that she has had in gallaries all over. Her friends were all these 20 and 30-somethings who had followed their dreams from day 1 even when they were struggling. They were graphic artists/designers, soon-to-be nightclub owners, black indie-film company-owners, abstract artists, lawyers, muscians, oh it was so cool. I left that party SO inspired to do what I've always dreamed of doing, even if it meant struggling: to be a professional writer. This year, I'm going to keep chugging along at Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org ) as the institututional advancement assistant and soak up as much as I can. I am learning SO much there that I can use in my own future as a creative professional. The president of our NGO, Zainab Salbi, is such a dynamic woman (buy her memoir, Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam on www.amazon.com ). Just being in the presence of such amazing people at this org, is reason enough for me to want to do more to help AND to figure out how I can do something to better myself. I'm really impressed by what happens there every day....

Oh yeah, back to my dreams.... I have since posted copy of a poem by the famous African-American poet, Langston Hughes, called A Dream Deferred (see copy of poem above) to remind me not to get sucked in at work at this amazing organization and to remember that I'm supposed be working on my future as a writer. I wish that I could write all of the ideas that I have for The Adventures of Bianca Sukiyama and my other short stories, but they'll have to be unveiled at a later date. I CAN unveil my 2006 Resolutions...

2006 Resolutions
Save More Money
Start my own online family business
Travel to Europe: Already in the works...going to Amsterdam, Paris & Brussells this Spring
Road trip with my girls: Napa Valley Wine Country? The Dirty South? California Coastin'?
Artistic Collaboration with Neil? Amanda? (see Bianca art on this page)
Take Writing Classes

I think that these are all possible...don't you?

Family and the Holidays

This past Christmas was pretty good. It was my first time back in the States for the holidays since coming back from Japan. I decided to stay in the Washington, DC area for Christmas with my dad's side of the family and NYC for New Year's with my grandfather's side of the family. I went to a Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Ivy's house and I had a good time. For New Year's, I met up with Nikkii (from Japan) and I went to this awesome New Year's Eve party in Brooklyn (see New Year's Resolution).

The holidays haven't been completely about family. Since Thanksgiving, I have since moved into a new apartment with my roommate/one of my best friends, Melissa, to Silver Spring. I LOVE this area. The downtown area is so beautiful and there's so much to do down here. Not to mention it's so convenient to DC. It's been hard trying to furnish the apartment though. We've been living here for two months and we have yet to furnish the living room. I think that it'll all come together by the end of February though. We'll be having a house warming then, so be on the lookout. I hope to have some pictures uploaded later.