Just to let you know - I've been yelled at by friends for not updating this more often. Being that my friends now live all over the world - this is one of the cheapest and time efficient ways we can stay up on eachother's life - so even though this Blog is about me as a writer - it is also about me as a friend. Hope you enjoy!!!
I'm totally addicted. There's just something about living your best life (or being told to live your best life that makes a 2 hour 1 way commute to work bearable) - I mean 2 hours after listening to Jean - Gayle, Mehmet, Robin, Maya and 'em (yes we are on first name basis) makes you feel like you did something good for the day - you're all ready to pass out hugs - say all the right things - and make decisions without fear. Hey did I ever tell you guys how Oprah convinced me to drop out of grad school ...
In May of 2005 I went to see Oprah Winfrey on her Live Your Best Life Tour... This is my journey.
I arrive at the Naylor Road Train Station. It’s not opened yet. I assume it opens at
The gatekeeper opens the gates. We mill in. Still a train won’t be here until seven at least.
Damn it’s cold! And the escalators are noisy. Are they always this creaky? They sound like they’re unraveling themselves – tired of moving people up a level when the steps beside them will do.
A bum ambles up the staircase ignoring the perfectly good escalator. He chooses to sit on the ground between two bystanders when there is more space anywhere but there. The electronic board announces the train will arrive in 4 minutes. It is now
The train is here sparsely peopled but still with more than I was expecting on a Saturday. This early. I choose a seat facing the traveling direction. I get car sick at times. Even on trains. My stop is
The bum may not be a bum. He’s on this train too. Needs a metro pass to be here. Do bums buy train rides? Who am I in my assumptions?
The train stops at my stop. I exit the train in search of the
Shit! I went the wrong way. I’m going to stop and wait for a minute then casually stroll the other way. I have to; people are watching me. I know they are, hell – I’m watching them.
I make it out of the train station. $1.35 later, I pull my burgundy overnight bag over my head readying myself to walk in any random direction. Don’t know where I’m really going.
A little after the escalator delivers me from the subterranean, my cell phone rings. It’s Korn. She ask me where I am. I tell her. She faces me in the right direction and I walk. She tells me I have a red bag. I see them waving at me. We agree to meet in the lobby. I’m glad they are up after all.
We sit for breakfast inside of the hotel restaurant. It is a really nice hotel. The Renaissance. Bub and Korn order the $15 buffet. I’m sitting here pouring over the menu feeling like Chris Rock in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka; what can I get for 2 dollars and a nickel? I order the eggs any style with homefries for $4.50. I ask the waiter for cheese in my eggs then have to back track to get the cost for the cheese. He says the cheese is free with a chuckle. So I go on and add it. This is a really nice hotel.
After much primping and preening and weave combing – no you really should have seen the weave combing – we are off to the convention center. The doors open at
I almost fall trying to write and walk. I don’t have rhythm, remember (I have a book about it)? But the things I see are too funny to wait for a more convenient time to write. So I write and I walk and I trip and I laugh. People are everywhere. Well dressed people and homeless look-a-likes alike are touting homemade, just made and roughly made signs. These signs are made from construction paper, notebook paper, and the cardboard boxes they, for all I know, live in. the signs read: NEED TICKETS!!!.
No, they are not trying to scout tickets. These people are prepared to buy. 200, 400, 550 dollars – it doesn’t matter. Whatever price someone is willing to sell their ticket for the sign holders are more than willing to pay. No wonder some look like they live in card board boxes. Clearly, this is the rent money they are prepared to give up.
We are in line. This line wraps the
Screams and cheers go up. No, Oprah wasn’t sighted. The doors of the center are opened. People at the front of the line start going inside. We are not moving yet. We still have an entire building to lap before we make it to the front. But its ok we are being entertained.
Staff are walking around and a man is blowing up balloons. I think he is making animals and puppets and other circus treats. I find he is instead making flower wrist bracelets and rings. Out of balloons he is doing this. And he even makes them to coordinate with the outfits. So cute, I want one too.
And the outfits!!! Put it this way, no matter what you have on you fit in. Let me clarify and say that no one is hoochie (well except the one girl but…) and I figure this is because we watch enough Oprah Shows to know better. Hell, if you can afford a $185 ticket (well in my case $405) you should be able to afford to look decent, unless you’re the homeless people look-a-likes still trying to cop a ticket to get in. But all in all the women are dressed real well. I feel all I need is a cart because I could go shopping in the line. Just about everyone has on something, from the earrings to the shoes, that I would not mind buying. All three of us agree on this.
And speaking of threes, another trio of women are carrying placards protesting. One sign reads:
"Hey Oprah, Did You Know That Tickets Are Being Sold On-Line as High as $1300!!!"
annnnnnnnnnd? I mean really, what can Oprah do? And if this is really a big deal why’s it just three of them? Obviously they were on-line too and still did not get tickets. They find a way to be part of the event anyway –they’re protesting. They just want attention I figure. News channel 8 is here. The picketing trio will probably get an interview. The balloon guy will probably too.
We get our first treats. Lunar Lemon Zest and Smores bars from the New Balance team. They are in a spot on the back side of the building. As we pass them they give us handfuls of bars. There is a lag in the line here. Everyone loves free treats and don’t mind slowing down to get them. After I have my eight bars in purse, I have to run a little to catch up with the rest of the line. Why run? Because the girl in front of me is.
We make it through the pearly gates of the
Seems the scouter (Oprah and Picket Trio know this – I do not support scouters – really I don’t it’s just that…) I had got my ticket from is well known. The lady with my ticket says they should not have agreed to hold the ticket for him. She gives the ticket to me anyway. Bless her now or sue her later, I’m glad she made it easy. And boy am I blessed. Aren’t I? When I purchased my ticket on-line it was for section eight. The one she places in my hand is for section three. This is the first section center stage. Clearly its better than what I had.
We make it through security, stuffing our pockets with toilet paper for the weepy moments, and long lines that were much ado about nothing without incident. I can point out some not so high and tacky moments with the sponsors – but this is Oprah so I got to keep it positive.
For lunch I choose the boxed grilled vegetable option simply because there were fewer boxes on the table. To me less means everyone is choosing this because it is better than the other selections of tuna or turkey sandwiches. First lesson learned: less does not mean better – it means they obviously didn’t have to restock the grilled vegetable boxes. Korn and Bubbie are pretty satisfied with their tuna salads. As we sit picnic-without-the-blanket style on the green carpeted floor next to a designated lunch area, I pick my way through unrecognizable vegetables on even more unrecognizable bread. I soon give up the effort of trying to chew through both rubber mushroom looking slabs of eggplant and freschetta bread and just eat the bread. Mind you I never had eggplant or rubber mushrooms so I am just assuming that this is what these vegetables are through process of elimination.
The voice over the speaker announces the
Wow, even in our seats the place has such energy and no one is even on stage. The audience is singing and clapping along to the Patti Labelle, Luther Vandross, and Stevie Wonder pumping over the speaker system. In a Coming to America moment I find I’m very happy to be here.
Everyone starts standing sooooo I stand too (‘til this day I do not know the reason why). Since I am up I start dancing and singing by my lonesome. There is a lady to my left. She’s not all that friendly. As I lean in to say something to her, she leans away. The chair to my right is empty. Good my notepad will rest on it. Bubbie and Korn are in section 2. Their legit tickets sits them in the section to the right of me. But it doesn’t matter that we are not seated together. The whole audience is my friend (besides the lady beside me) so in their company I dance.
We sit. Don’t know why but we (the entire audience) do. The stage background is beautiful - teal green and shades of violet. Yellow sits on the sides. A huge, bigger than your body ‘O’ is at its center. The stage houses a single velvet plush sofa chair. It is colored in a light purple. There are mahogany colored coffee tables on both sides of the chair. On one table sits a vase (pronounced vaas when in the Oprah aura) of white roses and a glass (could be crystal) pitcher of water. There’s a single glass too and it too could be crystal. To the rear of the stage stands statuesque arrangements of white flowers. Two of these arrangements are on both sides of the stage.
We stand up again some people scream, as for me I see nothing so I clap to the music. Hell obviously we are celebrating something.
Screams begin again. This time the three huge jumboTrons above the stage light up and I see Maya Angelou. I cry. No longer that girl in the subway, I cry. And this time I don’t care who is watching.
A montage and slide presentation is flashing across the screens – the life of Oprah is being narrated by a big voice from the sky. It could be God for all I know. The people who know Oprah the best are giving us what we want – snap shots of Oprah, the Oprah they know and the Oprah of who we are in awe. And this is so surreal to me not only because I love Oprah and Maya Angelou but because I am here – in this place with… no one because right now only I exist and this is the message that is made for me.
Maya Angelou is back on the screen in what could be her living room. She recites Phenomenal Woman and as she ends it Oprah begins her walk to the stage from the back of the auditorium. The people go crazy. They are reaching to touch her, leaving their seats – they are running to feel her hand, her shoulder , her sleeve , her something. Anything, even if it’s just the hem of her skirt – if touched, they know they will be changed. And I, I’m standing on my chair. Why not – she is not coming down the aisle closest to me so there is no way I’d be able to get closer to her. For now all I want to do is see her, this beautiful side of God, I want to see her make her auspicious entrance and so on the chair I stand. And I swear we make eye contact – and in that contact she sends me a telepathic message – she passes me a baton (not her baton – but a baton) and says run. I hear you Oprah, I’m running!
As she makes her way up the steps on the right side of the stage she is reciting Phenomenal Woman and she even acts it out as she taps her hip at that part, yeah that part. The first stanza completed she greets us and her presence is amazing. She is so beautiful – and her body looks so tighhhhhht. I mean nothing is jiggling. She is wearing a fitted yellow sweater and her skirt looks bedazzling – this is Oprah so the skirt could have diamonds in it for all I know. She looks elegant and casual and rich at the same time.
She starts off by saying that even at every salary range she’s made (because she’s made them all) she doesn’t know what she’d spend $185 dollars on. She reminds us that she can’t sing – can’t dance – can’t rap so what is it that we think we’d be getting for $185 dollars when all she can do is talk – and motivate perhaps. (that’s it Oprah, I’m in need of some serious kick me in the butt motivation).
She lets us know immediately that she isn’t getting anything from the ticket sales and in fact the Angel Network is donating $25,000 to the DC non-profit organization WEAVE (Women Empowered Against Violence). She tells us the reason she is taking her Saturday off to be with us is she has a desire for all of us to leave empowered to be who we were meant to be. I hear you Oprah, I hear you!
She tells us that every life has been called for a reason – a purpose and we are on this planet to heed that call. Imagine Oprah’s NAACP speech (Google it if you can’t imagine), now imagine her talking like that for three hours straight (in three inch heels and standing the entire time).
She shares with us a lot of anecdotes, life stories and pearls of wisdom. I feel like I’m at a church revival but its better than that – like I’m in the audience of a Def Comedy Jam show minus the cursing but its better than that – it is really ‘O’mazing.
Overall she gives us a lot of inspiration. She is motivational speaking at its finest. Know that these are not direct quotes for I am writing as she is speaking but this is a gist of what she is saying. She says there is a flow to the universe and it is our job to find a way to move with the flow; the energy greater than us. She says to find the flow – the frequency – the rhythm that moves with the current of our lives and we will be the most powerful and greatest people we were meant to be. When we live our life on purpose we are supported by the entire universe – the universe supports those who choose to live their truth.
She quotes Gary Zukav, “The alignment of the personality with the soul is the creation of authentic power..: .” She says it is our job to find a way to do more of what we love then what we don’t and then surrender it to that which is greater than ourselves. She tells us about her obsession with the Color Purple and how it created an energy field of its own (if you ever see her – ask her to tell you this story. It’s really good – it really is). Yet it was only when she surrendered it did things start to happen for her in a stress-free natural way. She explains that surrender means release the desire that that thing will define you. She says to say if this thing is meant for me it’s alright and if it is not – it’s alright.
Oprah says she wants us to leave knowing what our intentions are. She says intentions are one with cause and effect – the third law of motion. Know that the energy you put out into the world is the energy that’s going to come back. As an example she uses when a person says “Lord, I just want enough to make it to the end of the month.” And that is exactly what that person gets – enough to make it to the end of the month. She goes on, but if a person has a dream that goes beyond the end of the month – the year – that person will see the Lord can dream a bigger dream than that person ever could. (And immediately after she says this I have an ‘aha’ moment and know that my intentions for getting a master degree in information systems is impure. Come next semester I’m dropping out of school. I’m a writer dammit).
About marriage and relationships she gives a great way to look at it. She says to think of it as you are there (in that relationship) to have yourself mirrored back to yourself through your partner. The partner you choose is the energy force you need to help you heal from your past life (or the things that’s happened in your past).
Other pearls she drops are you become what you believe – what you believe is manifested and whenever you exceed other people’s expectations of what they think you’re suppose to be – it forces them to have to do better. It forces them to have to challenge themselves and a lot of times they do not want to do the work and will resent you for this. She says it is a form of self-hatred.
Change what you believe is possible for yourself – surrender it – go to the source of your creation and ask the source what is possible. She says our life is speaking to us and all we have to do is listen. She says God first speaks to us in a whisper and when we don’t hear it or listen that whisper becomes a problem – the problem becomes a crisis and the crisis becomes a full blown disaster – and still it is our holiest moment when we can stand inside of ourselves and say no this (problem, crisis, disaster) is not who we are – this is who we are. we are not our circumstances – we are our possibilities.
She says what she has is sun rise faith (and remember I am paraphrasing). She defines sun rise faith with the analogy of being in an airplane on a stormy day and when the plane flies above the clouds it is then we see it’s still sunny and beautiful and we realize that though it is still raining below the clouds that the sun has always been there. She says the miracle of life is when it appears that there is no sun and we still have faith and see the sun anyway. We know that the same force that created the sun – dependable and always rising – created us. The same God that allows the sun to rise in the morning can rise up in our life. She says that God and the universe love gratitude. She says surrender and show gratitude – in everything you do – be thankful. She ends this with those of us who feel we can’t find anything to be grateful for – take a breath. And then take another.
She says if you look in your wallet and say I only got five dollars you will feel the dearth of that. But if you say well at least I have five dollars your mind set of that changes to one of gratitude and gratefulness. Then when you find an extra dollar or ten dollars it will feel that much more the blessing that it is. She says that if you find you can’t get further than where you are it’s because you do not appreciate what you have. If you concentrate on what you don’t have you will always be a person who never has.
She quotes Mary Ann Williamson:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate -
our deepest fear is that
we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest
the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Well she didn’t actually quote this entire thing right here – she breaks it up and quotes it in sections. She tells us, after a woman from the audience ask her a question in which the word fear was used, that fear is trusting in your own power. She says if she has to trust in herself she would be afraid too. She says for us to understand there is a higher power and surrender to it.
A woman in blue in the audience asks her if we are to leave and share one thing she told us with others – what would she have that one thing be? She said for us to leave here with the intention to live our life on purpose. She says she is not special, no more special than any one of us, she says what she is is obedient. She reminds us to listen to our lives. She says that nothing happens out of order with us. Everything – every action – every interaction – every moment is happening in a way to show us to our best selves. Our lives are talking all we have to do is listen. I hear you Oprah and I hear you life.
Oprah closes reciting Phenomenal Woman, and she reminds us – the women of DC (or wherever you happen to be – that we are all phenomenal women too. We hear you Oprah, we hear you.
(Okay the question part actually came after the reciting, put on paper – this is the order that looks better).
Until another time – another event,
Ciao ya’ll
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