Dr. Maya Angelou Takes OSU by Storm !

 
Dr. Maya Angelou, is a Rainbow in the Cloud’s of many. Sixty-five Doctoral Degrees later, she is a vibrant, alive, example, of the American Dream come to real life. Dr. Angelou is a songwriter, author, composer, educator, poetess, Grammy Winner, and Multi-Lingual Interpreter to the United Nations, having written and performed for President Clinton’s Inauguration, Written the Anthem for the 50th Anniversary for the United Nations, Performed in many movies, written songs for numerous Top 50 Billboard artists.. She is a current Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. As the French say, ‘she has reached a certain age’, (ie. Seventy something approaching eighty).
She was substantially raised in Stamps, Arkansas; one of the poorest rural areas in the entire United States of America. She was primarily raised by her mother’s mother (4th grade education) and her mother’s brother, (local general’s store owner for poor blacks), Uncle Willie aka Crippled Willie. At the age of three she and her brother were told that her mother and father were separating and she and her brother were bagged and tagged and stuck on a train from Los Angeles, unsupervised in the 1920’s, transferred like baggage several times until they reached Stamps, Arkansas.
At the age of seven she was sexually attacked by her mother’s boyfriend in St. Louis, then once again returned to Stamps Arkansas, where she remained mute until the age of fourteen. Upon speaking again, she immediately pursued poetry, writing, languages, and boys at the tender age of sixteen when she graduated early and found herself pregnant with her first born. She mastered more than a dozen languages; Spanish, French, Arabic, Fanti, Serbo-Croat, Swedish, among others.
She practices a very rare philosophy in our culture, Terance, Rome circa 154 b.c.”Nothing Human Can be Alien to Me!” He was a slave from Africa, and one of the most celebrated authors of his time. He was the property of a Roman Senator who freed him to pursue his studies and his publications. She told us her stories, shared her experiences through; oratory, recitation from memory (Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and her own pieces), chanting, and singing. She almost never looked at her notes or her books over the 100 minutes of her Oral. Some talk about how smart they are, Dr. Maya Angelou is a living and breathing example of a scholarly, intelligent, and caring human being.
Dr. Angelou asked us to consider reading all cultures. Blacks read Asiatics, Whites read Hispanics, Asiatics read Blacks, Hispanics read Gays, Heterosexuals read Lesbians. “Be Educated vs. Trained”, ‘It is our job as students to pay it forward for the next generation of students to enter these halls’. When we pass one another, say ‘Good Morning’ , it does make a huge difference to someone else’s day.
“We are members of the human family!” She appealed to the audience to put an end to sexism and racism. She further commented on liberation for; females, gays, all religious backgrounds, all ethnicities; “Stop it, Don’t be ignorant all your life! At our very best we are human.” She espouses pride and tolerance, no racism, no separation, no sexism. Peace and love via education! ‘Be the Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud. Each of us is a child of God!’ She clearly admonished us all; “WHEN YOU GET, GIVE ! WHEN YOU LEARN, TEACH ! BE THE RAINBOW IN SOMEONE’S CLOUD!