"It's late and loud... can you turn it up a smooch?"

I have shared with many what my dream is: Build a community center with an emphasis on the arts, sciences, and of course, community and as well undoubtedly, make the community stronger. As I dig deeper into my dream and my need for building this community center, I find a lot within my reasons and within my needs.
I think my biggest reason for building a community center is the focus that I wish to share with young children about chasing their dreams and building on their future. My background comes from living in a community, or at least what I thought was and is a community. Living in Harlem and being raised within a very multicultural area, I was never one to think of myself as separate from anyone or anything else. My mother was wise and strong in character to raise three children in what was at the time one of the roughest parts of New York City. I can still safely say that I have not purchased, sold, smoked, or used any illegal drugs of any kind.
Growing up in such a diverse community, however, also taught me that as strong and wise as my mom could be with me and my sisters, there were so many other children in Harlem that did not have a mom like mine's. As I am very grateful and privileged to have a mother like I have, I wish to pay it forward, all the wisdom and care and most of all, love that my mother shares with so many still (however, my mom is too humble to ever state something similar to: "I know I am right and that I am a very good mother"). So the challenge for me as well, is making sure what I am doing I am doing it for the righteousness of morality. In a sense, it's kind of like: What would mom do? But I would rather refrain from that practice and follow my own heart which of course has been nurtured by my mother but as she has told me, she does not ever want her ideals or beliefs to interfere with either my sisters' or mine's, in her eyes everyone is different and unique in their own way, not one way person is the same but yet at the root of it all, we are all the same, we all come from the same thing, we are all created beautiful.
Recently, I have been studying many of Malcolm X's speeches. I took very strongly to Malcolm X earlier in my life when I helped my cousins start a grassroots organization in Washington Heights, another area of New York City where the youth face many challenges not only on the streets but at home. As I study Malcolm X as the leader that he was, there are so many differently characteristics that make up this individual who was looked at as a revolutionary hero, as a rebel, as a leader, and posthumously as an icon. My study of Malcolm X has allowed me to find more will power to build my community center and cleared my vision for my reasoning.
Here, at Hale Akua Garden Farm, I am a farmer, simple as that. I plant seeds, I water them, I even send them love, and I hope they grow. Similarly, I wish to plant seeds of hope onto the youth for I feel if not for them who will direct the future? There are also many different role models to follow, different people to believe, but what value is there in following a "role model" or believing someone, if one cannot follow one's dreams and words or believe in oneself? And also, considering how the youth sometimes pick someone to idolize of believe, the person(s) they choose to follow, are not even in within their existence plane... they can't talk or see them in person everyday! In my case, I idolized and believed my mother. As children develop, they begin to make sense of what they see, hear, touch, smell, and feel... why would I have wanted to follow someone on T.V.? Or someone I don't see or talk to often? And, even, thinking someone should follow my lifestyle, I feel would be incorrect, because I am human, I can and will fail, it is part of being human. Learning by one's own measure of what success and failure mean, by far has more strength in words and belief, it holds more consistency as to what is true and not true, and it is the reality of success and failure for oneself not by what someone else or something else is saying.
The basis for this post was to bring about more awareness of our society as I see it. I also wished to extend my dreams with any and all who read my blog (I truly appreciate it). As well, I wanted to share my beliefs with you all, hoping that by sharing it, it also brings about more consciousness to sharing our beliefs and not imposing and ridiculing others for being different. My time on Maui, has been spent ever so charmingly. I have enjoyed feeling my body and identifying myself physically and emotionally when need be. I have learned much about the human will and in my case, even as it relates to my dream, I can without any restrictions affirm that I have no fear of anyone or anything... and for me that speaks far more than expressing myself in other words. Peace and love!