Weekly Journal #11

Peer Presentations

I had wifi issues on Tuesday so I wasn;t able to join the live class, but I did go through the presentations both groups provided.

Tuesday Group One (Kendra, Alicia, Anna) — Princess and the Frog

Princess and the Frog is one of my favorite Disney movies, it was such a huge deal to me personally when it came out in 2009.

Leadership Behaviors of Princess Tiana:

• teaching someone how to make or acquire what they need — throughout their times as frogs Tiana teaches Prince Naveen multiple different things
• showing sympathy for someone’s success or misfortune — I think Tiana does this with Charlotte, she knows how much Charlotte wants to marry a prince and supports her. She also shows sympathy for Prince Naveen after learning about his life and she sees that just because he’s a prince doesn't mean he can’t go through things people who are not royalty go through.

I don’t think it follows the definition of leadership that we use for class but Tiana’s self-leadership is something that always stuck out to me. I really identify with how determined she is to get what she wants and the do it for myself mentality. I see myself in her because she centers her life on her dreams/career development and that’s what she wants to accomplish before anything else. I do acknowledge that like her mom and others around the town imply that there’s more to life than a career. I respond the same way Tiana does, I take it as an attack on me. When someone disagrees with what you are dedicating your life to it can be very hurtful even if it's not meant in that way. This is why she’s one of my favorite Disney princesses, while of course they still make it a love story, her story is about drive, dedication, and getting what you want.

My favorite scene is at the beginning of the movie with her dad. After they make her Gumbo he talks to her about one day owning her own restaurant. Her dad tells her that she can dream but she still has to work hard because dreaming is only half the battle. It reminds me of Athena and Telemachus because Tiana’s dad is instilling in her the ideas of dreams can be a reality and hard work is how dreams become realities. I think this scene is so important because of what it sets up as far as her leadership development. I think that when you have dreams as a kid that sticks with you until adulthood it's usually challenging. Again this really shows self-leadership with Tiana because she knew that having her own restaurants was her dream and she would do whatever she had to get it. It shows that you don’t give up on dreams no matter how hard.

Tuesday Group Two (Madison, Miles, Ethan, Obi) — Tupac “Changes”

Tupac is of course one of the greatest rappers of all time. I’m really into 90s music so I know most of his music. I honestly never understood why he was such a big deal until I heard songs like “Changes”. This song still has relevance to this day.

Assignment Questions

• Key Questions: Does music inspire your leadership? Name a song that inspires you? What specific lyrics? Does music inspire someone else you know either in your personal life/public figure? Music does inspire my leadership. Even though I don’t make music it just shows that leadership can come in many different forms. There are honestly too many songs to name.
• Explain your favorite inspirational song? How does this relate to your leadership development? What behaviors do you exhibit from this song? My favorite inspirational song is “Tell Him” by Lauryn Hill. To me the lyrics are her saying a prayer of some sort, asking for these better qualities or traits so she can be a better person. This relates to my development because I find myself wanting the same qualities but I don;t really know how to get them.
• Explain your favorite inspirational artist? What behaviors of leadership do they exhibit? How do they influence your behavior? Has this artist influenced how you act towards others/ people in your community? Again I have so many but just picking one it would be Big K.R.I.T. He’s a rapper from Mississippi and he’s not as well known but I think he’s definitely well respected. He influences my behavior because he shares the struggles he had with leadership so it allows me to avoid those mistakes.

Verse #1

I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself

Is life worth living should I blast myself?

I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black

My stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch

Cops give a damn about a negro

Pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero

This verse is Tupac mirroring the everyday thoughts that Black people have. Police brutality was very rampant during the time he made this song and it's also very rampant in current times.

Verse #2

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this

One better place, let’s erase the wasted

Take the evil out the people, they’ll be acting right

’Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight

This is another verse that mirrors today’s society. It really shows how society hasn’t changed because we see the same stuff today that he was talking about back then. And it wasn’t that long ago but it’s long enough to have substantial change. The last line reminds me of our conversation after class about a scene from Dave Chappelle’s special. Tupac is kind of saying the same thing, poor white people and poor black people are fighting the same demons sometimes but yet we fight with each other rather than help each other.

Verse #3

We gotta make a change

It’s time for us as a people to start making some changes

Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live

And let’s change the way we treat each other

You see the old way wasn’t working

So it’s on us to do what we gotta do to survive

This verse really shows his leadership because he’s calling on people to change themselves. While the external forces may make us think that what’s going on personally is less of a problem, it's not. We have to be alright individually so we can be a cohesive force. Good energy(change) attracts more good energy (change), so we must start always start with ourselves.

Verse #4

And only time we chill is when we kill each other

It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other

And although it seems heaven sent

We ain’t ready, to see a black President, uh

It ain’t a secret don’t conceal the fact

The penitentiary’s packed, and it’s filled with blacks

But some things will never change

This doesn't have a lot to do with leadership in my eyes. I just like this verse because of Tupac’s comments about a Black president. That’s probably the one change we actually do see is we actually got a Black president. The first time I heard this song the line just made me laugh, especially because I grew up only knowing a Black president. Of course, I know that he was the first but it wasn’t that much different to me because I didn’t know anything else.