Welcome
6/22/2009
Welcome to MaToyaSwagher! If you are here you are either a friend, family, hater, coworker, curious, nosy, classmate, bored, a stranger, interested or an inspiration for my blog. Whatever your reason for being here, you are WELCOME. I plan to use this blog as a place to express who I am, my views on the world, my daily encounters, the things that people know about me, but most importantly the things that people may not know. I hope to grow with this blog and become an inspiration for others to express themselves. I am not sure how prolific or politically correct this blog will be, but I can guarantee that it will be me! I have been writing since the 1st grade, but was truly inspired to "launch" my blog after the Homegoing Celebration of Mrs. Nancy Howery who literally wrote her life, the highs and the lows. My other inspiration comes from teaching. Out of all of the stories, poems, and plays that I have read as an English teacher I believe that I am most inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance." If you have time or care to research him feel free to do so. His words inspire the way that I live my life and is a direct influence on me being known for speaking my mind. The following is an excerpt from Emerson's "Self Reliance:"
The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.
But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then?
Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood---
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Damn It...I'm GREAT!
Again Welcome to MaToyaSwagher
I know you the same way that the rest of the world does; as the singer, as the actor, as the writer, as the producer, as the dancer, as the artist, as the icon, and as the legend. If you notice I am talking in present tense because it is still hard for me to grasp the idea of you not being here, giving us hits like: Lady in My Life, Human Nature, Heaven Can Wait, Bad, and Thriller. And just like the rest of the world your death was a total shock. I was driving home from work in midday traffic, when I heard Donny Divo on Power 92 state "Breaking News, our own Michael Jackson has went into cardiac arrest, when we receive more information we will let you know." I instantly thought "he will be okay, its Mike." It felt like a dream, because in my eyes you are....I mean you were immortal. I listened to radio, my friends, blogs, and even LA times confirm that you were gone....but, I wouldn't accept it. I was even mad at people who were sending condolences to your family because I didn't want to believe that you were gone. But you are gone....only in the physical. The impact that you have had on music, philanthropy, and humanity as a whole, will probably never be reached by another artist. Your name will rank not only with the Elvis and the Beatles of the world, but more like the Bachs and Beehtovens who have proven to be the Greats, the ones who have withstood the test of time. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to post about you in my blog and I have finally figured it out...I want to say THANK YOU. Thank you for breaking barriers, bridging gaps, building communities, billie jean, and most importantly, being you.
