My Symphony.

by Maya Shah, Sophomore, WLI Coordinator of Development.
Shared during Woman II Woman Talent/Creativity Session, 12.10.10

I’m going to pretend to like you, I’m only going to pretend to care.
Because you’re the only one that’s here. The only one that’s always been there.
Like those seven notes of music sprawled across those sheets.
Let me turn you into those seven notes of music.
No let me refrain.
Let me analyze you like the structure of a sentence.
Because I’m not Michelangelo creating the sculpture David.
You are already made and though there’s a lot of cracks on the surface. These flaws are placed in all the right places.
No I’m not a composer so that the world can listen to your beauty.
But instead I’ll be there like Microsoft word, there to point out all your typos, giving you the option to hit the change, replace, or ignore..
Because I honestly can’t invest into this. No I truthfully don’t know how it all even began.
It was like a capital letter letting me know who was in charge.
It showed up and found a home around my heart. It was a Brick Wall.
And it was cemented to the ditch too stubborn to move.
It’s subject surrounded you.
You and the way you trembled the wall a bit to fill up my holes, like filling in my voids.
Your ending predicate let the air escape out of me as if to think it was my soul.
I kept it in too long.
Questioned it’s run on sentences as it beat around the bush like a child refusing to take a nap.
But you held me, you laid with me counting sheep, spreading your warmth, singing me lullabies…
extenuating each of those seven notes of music.

Power. You write your own book.

By Janita Mercado, Freshman, WLI Class of 2011
Shared during Woman II Woman Talent/Creativity Session, 12.10.10

-Every individual has a story; their stories are all unique. That’s the obvious.

-Now does every individual understand the power that they hold within because I don’t think so

-Im not speaking about the physical power to let's say punch through a wall but the power they hold over the daily decisions they make, the power of overcoming certain challenges, the power to recover after every fail, and so much more.

-I don’t think everyone here, in this room, at this second fully understands that each and everyone of you are beautiful females, with strong wills, smart thoughts, talented, with great features, big hearts, and may I add females that hold power to control their own life whether it be personal, professional, or romantic life.

-See after spending some time with you girls, exchanging a handful of words with some of you and spending time with myself I have learned so much about my power. I have taken advantage of my power to write my own story.

Life is rough; deal with it and stop bitchin

Life is dumb sometimes, so what

Life tends to throw love at you at all the wrong times; ugh I hate boys

Life is so hard; oh well build a bridge and get over it

Life is complicated; yea that’s because you procrastinate so much duh stupid

I'm not smart enough. WOW WOW WOW, stop don’t you dare say one more word wtf are
you thinking? Never ever think less of yourself. Fuck that, you are more than smart and if you continue with life with the mentality that you're not smart enough, give up now. Say "forget this". Yea right, you know damn well life is not going to bring you down without you putting up a fight.

Life isn’t fair; yea well name one thing that is.

See one thing that I fully understand is that life will never be easy, it won't build a sign in the road that says “hey you, go this way, it’s the right way” or “yo, turn around stupid you're going the wrong way”

Usually, we have to learn on our own, we have to experience dumb things like love, dumb things like stress and complicated choices. But in all reality the experience is never dumb, it's only going to teach you something that you didn’t know before.

Life is not easy but be a woman and be strong, I'm sure you know you are strong, I'm sure you just need to find that strength to fight and never give up. So the fuck what you failed. The world is not going to end, the story doesn’t end, it's just beginning. Don’t give up, just brush your shoulders off and try again, and again if you have to… why?

Because you can, because you have the POWER to do what you wanna do.

You're beautiful and you're not the only one who sees you are; others do too. Don’t tell yourself you're not worth something and don’t let anyone treat you like you are a piece of shyt. You're not, and we all deserve the world like my mom used to tell me. I never realized why she used to go crazy on people that used to talk shyt about me or who told me I wont measure up to them. (I'm talkin bout she went all ganster on their asses sometimes) But now I see, she believed me from scratch, I now believe in myself. It takes someone else to see the beauty within you, point
it out, in order for you to see that it is true; you deserve the world. Love life and cherish it. Even the negatives. Do something that makes you feel beautiful.

As for now I'm going to do something that makes me feel beautiful; I'm going to dance!

I Promise (A Woman Keepin' It Real With A Man)

Poem shared during Woman II Woman, 12.10.10:

I promise
That if you give me a choice between a burger and a salad
I'll choose the burger

I promise
That I will react to you looking at another woman
With the stereotypical Latina fire

I promise
That I will complain about something at least once a day
Whether it's my weight, or the newest economic policy

I promise
That I will try not to interrupt you during the game
Unless "the game" turns into 4, or 5, or a whole weekend

I promise
That I will gain weight
But I'll try to keep it in all the right places

I promise
That once a month I will REALLY want to throw shoes at you for no reason
Give me chocolate, let it pass, and DON'T tell me it's "just hormones"

I promise
That when you take the garbage out
I'll say that was the best taking out of the garbage I've ever seen

I promise
That when you wear the same sweatpants so much they can stand on their own
I'll quietly put them in the washer for you, and put them right back where you left them (on the floor)

I promise
That, although leaving the toilet seat up is disgusting and selfish
I'll just put it down when I need to, and leave it down, just to make a point (quietly)

I promise
That I'll make your favorite dish
When you're mad at me (but not if I'm mad at you too; there's drive-thrus for that)

I promise
That when times are hard and I have to pay the bills for a few months
I'll still let you be "the man"

I promise
That when even your mother puts you down
I'll lift you up

I promise
That when even your homies doubt you
I'll have your back

I promise
That when you need to hear the truth
I'll say it

I promise
That, when all else fails
My love for you will never fail
My love for you will never die
My love for you will conquer all

I promise.

By Patricia Gonzalez, WLI Advisor