Pledge Journal
A Note for our Children and Youth
Your Mental Backpack:
"AN EDUCATION AND THE PLAN"
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However, if you are not aware of the game of life, you will not be able to understand the value of the setbacks and they will work against you, not for you.
Once you are born and able to think for yourself, you must understand your purpose for being here.
You should be able to find clues to your purpose by thinking of your Dreams. One has many dreams, but only one is a purpose. The right dream is the one that gives you a positive picture of where you see yourself in the space of the future.
A negative dream is a distraction to your purpose. Without an education, you may not be able to understand or defeat the distraction.
However, to make the purpose and/or the Dream a reality, you must take two very critical and important steps. These are steps that would give you all the power and magic you need to make the Dream come true, but you must take the steps!
One is Education.
And the second one is a Plan.
It is very simple! All you need to make a positive dream come true is an Education and a Plan.
Education is not what many people tell you it is. For example, you don’t go to school to get an education in order to find a job, or prepare for a job.
An Education is a journey! it is a lifetime trip you take as a human being. You meet new friends, friends who look different than you and think different than you, friends with different ideas and opinions. And some dress different and speak a different language then you.
If you keep your mind open, and if you listen to what you are hearing, and give vision to what you see, your education is on the way track! An education is a preparation for enjoying life, to open your mind to all the options available to you.
An education gives you a real vision to what you may like or not like, to prepare for a job or to prepare to have your own business or corporation; to become a consumer where you work for someone, or to become a provider where you have your own company and have people working for you. You can decide to be a worker, a supervisor, a manager, a president of your own company, and much more.
The main thing to remember is that an education introduces you to the world of possibilities and options. It gives you a realistic imagination to work with. To have an education is to have a system of values and standards, and you are not afraid to face hard and difficult challenges; as well as the ability to think and make right choices and decisions.
With an education, you should be able to have the discipline to have a plan to navigate, step by step until you reach the realization of your Dream. The plan is a roadmap of proper choices and decisions to get to your Dream.
Life is that simple, as well as magical and fun.
Life stops being magical and fun when you bypass and ignore the dream and the plan. Without the dream and a plan, you make choices and decision that has nothing to do with your purpose. You become lost in the world.
Take a look outside the window and you can see the number of misguided and unfortunate people who made wrong choices and decisions.
An Education and a Plan provides you an opportunity to appreciate and understand the spiritual value and gift of your presence on this planet.
You are a gift to this world. Make the right choices and decisions and make the marks, leave meaningful footprints for the generation following you.
You
Tube
Rosaura Torres
Author
"Rosa Torres’ autobiography redefines the spirit of courage and strength. Her story will take you on a spiritual journey about family, love, betrayal, decades of domestic abuse and finally, redemption. Rosa's powerful message of self-affirmation and love of one's self-worth is a remarkable reminder that hope is the entity that will prevail in life's darkest moments."
Anthony P. Johnson, Author, Ph. D. candidate
Rosaura Torres was born on February 26, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to parents of Puerto Rican descent. Ms. Torres now resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother's name was Carmen and her father Ismale Torres. They taught her never to give up, to continue forward regardless the challenge. They were hard working and loving parents.
Ms. Torres is the mother of three children and grandmother to three grandchildren. She comes from a modest and humble background. During her childhood, Ms. Torres attended schools in Philadelphia; Camden, New Jersey and Fort Myers, Florida.
Ms. Torres has a range of talent and experience: Receptionist, Administrative Assistant, Fitness Consultant, and Sales Executive (Al Dia Newspaper), to serving as Public Relations Coordinator for pharmaceuticals in Camden, New Jersey.
Due to two (2) retinal detachment surgeries stemming from her experiences with domestic violence, Ms. Torres is an avid activist speaking out against domestic violence and more specifically “The Code of Silence” within police departments. She stands for the right of everyone regardless your gender. "You have the right to not get violated!" says Ms. Torres.
Torres latest accomplishment has been eleven (11) years in the making. She has authored and published a provocative and controversial new autobiography titled “ABUSE HIDDEN BEHIND THE BADGE”, which is available on-line and at bookstores. The book is her personal story and experience of domestic violence during her relationships with two police officers, one in Philadelphia and the other a Pennsylvania State Trooper.
She is proud to announce that the book took first Place in “Best Book in Women's Issue” (English Category), at the International Latino Book Award Ceremony, held in New York City, on May 25, 2011. The book is now available in Spanish (as of November 1, 2011).
For more information visit her website at www.torrespublishing.com
Website: http://www.torrespublishing.com
Email: rts215@hotmail.com
Tel: 215-758-0338
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Try to always remember that life is a game…
And the setbacks you experience are actual tools that try to educate you and teach you how to play the game
Review:
"Karen's work is unrivaled in young adult literature."
--Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand
"[The Magic Pencil is] particularly interesting and valuable... It is a very clean and well-written book. Certainly one that I recommend..." --Dr. David Rambeau, Executive Producer of For My People/Project BAIT
From the Author: My reasons for writing The Magic Pencil
To encourage the uninspired, reluctant and discouraged reader to develop the desire to read for pleasure. To develop the desire to read for greater knowledge.
To increase self-esteem; especially within African American/black youth.
To remove the stigma applied to African American/black people when they use colloquial language. To recognize all people engage in this behavior. To understand that there are special and new words used when one is a part of a particular group (the language among computer technicians, for example) which may or may not become known among the general population.
To increase vocabulary by creating a desire to know exactly what a particular word means and how it relates to what is occurring.
To demonstrate the opportunities available by learning how to effectively navigate unfamiliar territory through education.
To honor the "community/home" language of the speaker and to realize s/he may be articulate within that language. To, thereby, foster a willingness in the person to adopt other ways of speaking while retaining his or her present mode of speech -- if needed and desired.
To become respectful and tolerant of the differences in others. To focus on the commonalities between self and others.
To foster self-respect, self-determination and self-reliance.
To learn how to constructively debate over preferences and beliefs.
To learn to be empathetic towards another's problems.
To work together for the greater good.
To feel hopeful about the future.
For information:
Email: dabsandco@att.net
Phone: 313-632-3384
Website: http://dabs-and-company.com
Maria, the new Latina Doll, by Norma Arriaga, from Buffalo, NY
Jim Hernandez
Our new Motivational Speaker
Inspired by the lifestyles of athletes, actors and other millionaires, Jim Hernandez knew that he wanted more out of life than a 40 hour work week at a dead-end job.
If those people could come from humble backgrounds and achieve greatness, so could he. Jim Hernandez has been a motivational speaker since 2009. His specialty is speaking with youth and young adults, teaching them to expand their personal and educational horizons, designed to help them change their “train of thought” so that they can begin to take direct control of their lives and allow them to see that there is more to life than what they know and are accustomed to
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Jim Hernandez is a fanatic of enlightenment and empowerment and loves sharing knowledge with young people and their families. He is also a mentor with the One-On-One Mentoring Program (Bronx, NY), and makes it his business to embody the message that he speaks
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Using his passion and vision, Hernandez developed the CREATE your LIFE Development series program which brings and introduces motivational speaking and personal development strategies to inner city youth.
His goal is to continue learning and experience as much as life warrants him, and to continue sharing his positive growth and development with the young generation, especially in communities of color.
The Latino Film Makers from the Bronx
HOLLYHOOD'S MISSION: HollyHood Productions is a movement. One that is grounded in the belief that despite all the evidence to the contrary, a team of underprivileged but focused Latino filmmakers from The Bronx can rise up and flourish in a market where good films are rewarded for their originality, their characters, and their authenticity.
We understand that film is a collection of all art forms, and when executed with respect for each craft, it has the ability to make us hope and dream, laugh and cry, and sometimes, in those rare and magical times, it makes us do so all at once.
We use the word "Hood" not only as a play on words in regards to our Tinseltown aspirations, but as a reminder of where we come from. The neighborhoods and the projects we grew up in, the struggle it took to get us to where we are today. We use it as a reminder of the struggle we must endure to get to where we are going tomorrow.
We consider ourselves fortunate to be surrounded with such an immense wealth of talent both inside the New York City area and beyond - actors, make-up artists, directors of photography, sound engineers, and musicians, all of whom share the same love of film that propels us in the face of adversity to push forward, knowing that the lessons learned will make us better equipped, not only as professionals, but as human beings.
We are grateful to anyone who has watched and supported our films and who has encouraged us to follow our passions. It is because of them that we dream, that we hope, and most importantly that we believe!
As we channel this into our films, we hope it translates into what you see on screen, so that every film and every scene is a "thank you" in and of itself. We promise that you will never see anything less than our best, and at times even if you do not agree with our views, we hope that our films will at least help you to understand them, where we come from, and who we are.
Contact Adel L. Morales, President,
Advisory Board of NALIP-NY
Email: thefreaks@optonline.net; or on facebook: http://facebook.com/?adel.l.morales, or by telephone: 917-226-2957
Karen E. Dabney
Author
