Kwanzaa in the 21st Century: Kuumba

Today marks the fifth day of Kwanzaa, Kuumba, meaning creativity.  It is defined as always doing as much as we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. (Source: The Official Kwanzaa Website) I can't think of a more creative people than African Americans.  For centuries, people of African decent were ridiculed and condemned for expressing creativity.  How we wear our hair, how we speak, how we dress, our traditions.  All have been reviled and rejected...until the 20th century.  Our influences are felt in music, art, business and in popular culture.  It's now cool to embrace the things we were once hated for...how we wear our hair, how we speak, how we dress and our traditions.

The single most modern day example of Kuumba is the internet.  The digital age has taken creativity to the next level and beyond.  It has enabled each of us who are able and are comfortable with it, to create within our own little slice of the web.  Graphic art, music, journalism or blogging (like myself) has multiplied a gazillion-fold, giving each of us a voice that we may not other wise have.

I dedicate this post to the most creative person I know, my mother Roseann.  She can take the most rudimentary of objects and create a work of art.  She can take a group of friends and create the Classy Chassis of the Red Hat Society.  She can take bits and pieces of different items and create my beautiful wedding dress.  Roseann can take a hodgepodge of resources and talents and create a stellar event. Roseann is an absolute genius with a needle and thread, a diva of style and the best artist I know.  (A side note: A lot of that Kuumba skipped me and landed right on my only daughter! I guess it skips a generation.  Don't worry, I cultivated my own Kuumba over the years...LOL!)

Her creative love was able to take a big ole' mess like me from the 1990's and create the woman of God I am today in the 21st century.  In the name of Jesus, I thank you Momma.

Your task for today:  Create something!  Create a song. Create a poem.  Start that novel.  Get jiggy  with that term paper next semester.  Create a solution for a problem.  Create a way out of no way.  Make it happen!