Put on Your Crown by Queen Latifah

Author:Queen Latifah [LATIFAH, QUEEN]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: SEL021000
ISBN: 9780446564717
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2010-05-06T04:00:00+00:00

Lost in the Cracks

But I really did disappear for a while. My role as wife and mother had overtaken my life. It was only when my husband and I divorced, some ten years later, that I really got to know who Rita was. That’s one reason why, to this day, I don’t like being referred to as Queen Latifah’s mom, aka “the Queen Mother.” I fought so long and so hard for my own identity. I’m Rita Bray Owens, Ms. O, Mamma O, teacher, artist, proud mother, and many other things besides—things that I’m still in the process of discovering.

Studying, going to conferences, plays, galleries, exploring new ideas, and discovering the artist in me again was an awakening. At Kean College, where I got my teaching degree, I found mentors and benefited from their brilliance. I met Dr. Elaine Raichle, who saw my potential and believed in it before I did. And Mary Jane Austin, an art education administrator who encouraged me in my creativity and always made me aim higher. I saw how successful, strong, and independent women of my generation could become, particularly in a nurturing community of educated and enlightened individuals.

Every child starts out in life with that potential and the self-confidence to realize it. But then life tears them down. They get distracted and lose their way. I’ve been through a lot of what these kids are going through now. I was also a teenage mother. I know how hard that is. I’ve made my own share of mistakes. I’ve lost my way. But I went through what I went through for a reason. Because when they say, “Ms. O, you don’t understand!” I can say, “Oh yes, I do!”

I’m an adult who’s navigated through this crazy thing called life, and talking to the younger generation about the things they should be looking out for on their own journey is the right thing to do. That’s why I wanted to teach. To repair some of those broken links in the chain. To look at each individual child in my classroom and make him or her feel like they’ve really been seen.

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