Amanda Gorman is an inspirational woman. She grew up in Los Angeles, with a twin sister, raised by a single mother who taught the sixth grade in Watts. Amanda graduated with honors from Harvard in 2020 with a degree in sociology. She was chosen the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. In December 2020, First Lady Jill Biden asked Gorman to deliver a poem at the upcoming inauguration that would contribute to the over-all theme of “America United.” The committee placed faith that she would get it right!! Amanda was not the first Black Inaugural poet laureate, no one more accomplished than Maya Angelou or revered as Robert Frost. She set about her task by reviewing the work that proceeded her and famous orators including; Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Winston Churchill. She was officially informed of her selection on December 30, 2020, not much time before the scheduled January 20 date.
You have probably read this story but it serves as a great reminder of the importance of history. Half way through the poem and a bit stuck, she witnessed the attack on our United States Capitol. The storming marked “the day that the poem came to life” as she worked those events into powerful words. The poem was complete by the night of January 6th. 723 words to remember, it begins “when day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” The acts of the terrorists are a “force that would shatter our nation rather than share it”. Amanda predicts “while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. As a descendent of slaves, Gorman, left us hopeful, America is “not broken but simply unfinished.”
Imagine Gorman’s shock when her best selling poem and book, “The Hill we Climb”, was restricted in a Florida school. I watched her CBS interview as Amanda was asked about the “banning” of two of her books for children below middle school. The parent who lodged the complaint said the material is not educational, has indirect hate messages and indoctrinates students, this person admitted they had not read the book and she noted the author was Oprah Winfrey. Gorman was not upset but concerned for the students, she is composed and articulate. According to one report, over 1600 titles were banned from school libraries in the 2021-22 school year across 32 states. No shock, Florida and Texas lead the nation. We see it happening in Idaho.
Gorman points out these books feature LBGTQ+ characters, characters of color, or race related topics. Gorman believes the banned books are “more about creating a bookshelf that doesn’t represent the diverse facets of America.”
The woman sounds “woke”. Imagine wanting to understand the past so that we can learn from it and build toward a brighter future.
The picture is of the amazing storm that dropped nearly an inch of rain on Boise in a few hours. The sky turned an amazing and unearthly shade of yellow as the wind howled and rain was interspersed with marble sized hail. I am very certain we humans have had a very negative impact on our own environment. It is going to be a challenge to rewrite this chapter in our history simply because we do not like it.
Oh by the way, the Government indicted the twice impeached former President last night. More to come on that front. What goes around should come around.
Enjoy the week end. Mike
Amanda
